[At last, evidence of what we all suspected ... John.]============================================
Email stunts productivity says Gartner
By Chris Lee, IT Week
Tue, 01 May 2001 14:55:09 GMT
URL: http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/2001/17/ns-22567.html
Over one third of internal business email is unnecessary
Employees spend on average 49 minutes each day managing email. This
reduces their efficiency and clogs up data storage space, according to
new research from analyst group Gartner.
In a survey of email and instant messaging use, 24 percent of staff said
they spent more than an hour each day dealing with email. Survey
respondents also reported that only 27 percent of the email they receive
requires their immediate attention.
Gartner concluded that 34 percent of internal business email is
unnecessary, labelling it "occupational spam", and advised managers to
take measures to counter it.
"Employees are emailing their colleagues in higher frequencies to be
helpful and more communicative," said Maurene Caplan-Grey, senior
research analyst for Gartner. "In reality, they are cluttering inboxes,
filling up servers and sapping productivity with the volume of these
messages."
Caplan-Grey said companies could save money by reducing the number of
emails sent. "In a slowing economy where businesses are looking for ways
to cut costs and increase productivity, simply cutting out the
unnecessary email will have an immediate impact. If a company rids itself
of occupational spam, it will experience a 30 percent saving in the time
its workers spend managing email," she said.
Gartner recommends several measures to reduce occupational spam,
including more cautious use of distribution lists, stopping the
circulation of jokes and chain letters, and sending emails with notes
such as "no reply necessary". Chat rooms, bulletin boards and instant
messaging can be more efficient than email in collaborative situations,
said Gartner.
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