In-Person Convos? No Thanks, We'll Take E-mail

Most surveys that have been conducted over the past few years indicate that while people applaud technology like e-mail, instant messaging, and cell phones as being beneficial to business, the majority rank in-person conversations above all else. But according to a new survey by Robert Half Technology, it appears that IT professionals actually rank e-mail above a face-to-face conversation!

The study, conducted with 270 randomly-selected Chief Information Officers (CIOs) in Canada, discovered that 49% of them would prefer to use e-mail when conversing with staff in the office versus chatting in-person, which was rated second-best at 34%.

I can understand where they're coming from. If I ran down to the front of the office to converse with Lindsay every time I needed to talk to her, I'd be reaching marathon territory by the end of every day! In the same manner, I'd also be less productive if I walked next door to Robert's office every time I wanted to ask him something, or vice versa. (Funny enough, we often use telephone intercoms, or the much less tech-savvy method of shouting!)

Consider, also, that CIOs focus much of their time on numbers, data, and complex figures that require back and forth often resembling cryptic "code". So perhaps e-mail does make the most sense in this case. In person, their conversation might sound like an audition for the latest Star Trek movie (or an episode of House: does anyone understand what those guys are saying half the time?!)

On a larger scale, however, e-mail can most certainly come in handy. It was, after all, introduced as a way to help improve productivity, and make it easier and quicker to communicate. So it does serve a valuable function on the business end, regardless of one's position. But should this apply to inter-office communication, or just to those who are situated elsewhere?

One could make the argument that e-mail began as a useful technology for chatting with friends and co-workers in a different area code or country. That way, you didn't have to incur long-distance fees. But with things like VoIP and free long distance, e-mail really has evolved to become a dominant form of communication for anyone, anywhere to talk with anyone else, anywhere. And yes, that even means two offices away.

But keep in mind that there are times when e-mail just won't cut it. If there's a meeting to be had, something visual that needs to be reviewed, or an important item that should be discussed in person rather than through a series of back and forth e-mails or instant messages, then for God's sakes, get off your butts! And there are some conversations that just make more sense in person than through e-mail. For instance, our office manager Jeanette never sends me an e-mail to ask how my weekend was: she'll walk down and ask me in person.

With that, the survey did surprisingly find that, aside from e-mail and in-person convos, CIOs don't prefer to use many other forms of communication internally. Only 6% would opt for the phone, 5% use instant messaging, and 1% use text messages.

It would be interesting to see how the number skew when talking to sales and marketing professionals, engineers, support staff, HR personnel, or other areas of company operations.

Landline Users Fed Up With Fees

If you think that it's only Canadian cellular phone users that are ticked off about hefty monthly plan rates, think again. A recent study finds that landline phone users are equally as peeved by big bills.

Yak Communications discovered that a whopping 73% of Canadians (based on a survey of 999 Canadian home phone users) think their phone bills are too high; while 59% are frsutrated by unexpected rate increases. Almost half of Canadians don't understand why they have to pay a "system access fee" (a bone of contention in the mobile world as well), and 40% actually think this fee is mandated by the Government.

Yak's V.P. of Marketing Andrew Boone claims that many telephone companies rely on "consumer ignorance", although he admits that some of the onus should be on the consumer for not actually examining each bill with a fine-toothed comb.

A lack of choice in the mobile arena has always been a major issue, but this study claims that customers feel the same way when it comes to landline phone providers as well.

I honestly never thought to examine the home phone industry in such a light since I myself have done away with a home phone altogether, and strictly use my mobile phone (and the Internet) for communicating from home. But it appears that there are many angry home phone users out there that want more choice and, most important, more affordable billing. Hear, hear!

Consumers Consume More Online, Communicate Less

An interesting four-year analysis conducted by the Online Publishers Association (OPA) reveals that consumers are no longer using the ‘net predominantly for communications: the shift is now in favour of consuming content. This is no surprise, given that more and more content has become available online over the past few years.

The study revealed that time spent on content has increased 37% over the past four years. Time spent on search has also gone up (35%), although this represents just 5% of a user’s overall online activity.

What type of content are people viewing online? It ranges from news, to entertainment information, videos, and even checking the weather. Of course we can’t forget social networking Websites, which I’d argue (and OPA President Pam Horan acknowledges) represent not only the consumption of content, but also a new means of communication. Meanwhile, other burgeoning online communication methods, like instant messaging, have hampered the popularity of e-mail; although e-mail arguably still remains an extremely popular method of staying in touch (Blackberry, anyone?)

Marshall McLuhan is famous for having said that “the medium is the message”. In this case, the message is rapidly advancing technology. And that's always a good thing for the CE/IT industry!

The OPA’s index is derived from Web properties that account for approx. 90% of active Web users and approximately 55% of total usage time (excluding .gov, .edu, and domains of a pornographic nature).

For more information on the study, visit http://www.online-publishers.org/iai/.