{"id":3144,"date":"2015-06-04T09:43:40","date_gmt":"2015-06-04T09:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paperstone.co.uk\/News\/?p=3144"},"modified":"2015-10-29T11:50:25","modified_gmt":"2015-10-29T11:50:25","slug":"should-business-ban-email","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paperstone.co.uk\/News\/articles\/should-business-ban-email","title":{"rendered":"Should Your Business Ban Email?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"E-mail<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been estimated that over 144 billion emails are sent every day, 89 billion of those being from businesses.\u00a0 The world census shows that there are 7 billion people in the world. This means that there are more than 20 times the amount of emails sent every day, than there are people on the planet.\u00a0 Clearly, email is getting out of hand.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no doubt that email has advanced the way businesses communicate. Before it was widely embraced, businesses had to rely on snail mail, memos and the telephone to correspond. Whilst this was slow, it did have one redeeming factor; it forced people to only communicate the absolute essential messages.<\/p>\n

On average an email can take as little as a minute to write. This may sound harmless, but it greatly affects productivity. If all these emails take only a minute, then businesses are still using 89 billion minutes a day on emailing alone.<\/p>\n

A report by the Office for National Statistics<\/a> indicated that the UK has the second-lowest rate of productivity among the G7 nations. Whilst email wasn\u2019t the only factor identified, the report suggested that the UK\u2019s development of a \u201cmacho culture\u201d, in which employees wanted to be seen to be available at all hours, was causing stress and depression, and in turn making workers less efficient (Sir Cary Cooper. www.bbc.com).<\/p>\n

Many companies are taking a no email stance. The question is should we ban email altogether, and if so what are the alternatives?<\/p>\n

Why Should We Ban\u00a0Workplace Email?<\/h2>\n

As companies such as Atos have discovered, email stifles productivity.\u00a0 The French company, owned by Thierry Breton, noticed that time in the inbox significantly reduced productivity. His analysis showed that instead of employees working efficiently, too much time was spent answering emails and sifting through the endless bombardment of spam. When under tight deadlines, email correspondence also caused major downtime, which could have been used to deliver products to the client faster.<\/p>\n

The time drain is not the only issue that the present system creates. Email also poses a significant security risk. Symantec \/ Norton\u00a0has reported that their virus and malware base has over 17.7 million definitions. Out of those potential threats to your computer, around 70 to 85% are spread through email<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With the slower productivity rates and the increased security risk, it is no wonder that companies are taking the drastic action of banning email.<\/p>\n

4 Alternatives to Using Email at Work<\/h2>\n

Banning email has its benefits, but it also poses a very real issue. If email is banned what system could replace it? Here are a few suggestions that different organisations have found effective.<\/p>\n