Email's Inevitable Fall From Grace

As I sat down and mentally prepared to write this post, I performed an action that I've come to realize is necessary for me to fully focus when writing. I shut down my email program. After years of multitasking, I finally realized that when I see the little 'new message alert' in the bottom of my screen, I can't help but check. Since emails roll in about every three minutes during my average workday, that's literally a constant distraction.

In order to be productive in the roughly 75 percent of my job that does not consist of constructing and replying to email messages, I've got to shut out email entirely. That's a realization that's caught on around the business world. Information technology behemoth Atos even announced last year that they'd be banning internal emails among their nearly 80,000 employees, favoring chat and cloud technologies instead. CEO Thierry Breton referred to the current email culture as the "pollution of the working environment" in his comments to the press about the decision.

What would lead a major company, especially one in the computer technology business, to abandon the most common form of business communication? According to studies conducted at Atos and independently by the Radicati Group, the average corporate employee spends 2 hours and 45 minutes each day reading and writing emails. With spam comprising 81 percent of email traffic sent, and daily deals, non-work related newsletters, and Facebook updates making up a big chunk of the rest, there's a lot of sifting through junk to get to actual work related emails (even on job-specific accounts, oftentimes). Atos' Breton is likely the first of many executive directors to take a similar step toward streamlining employee productivity.

Already, we're seeing major changes in how email is used. A decade ago, we were more likely to send personal messages and letters via email, a practice that has virtually ended with the youngest computer users. In only a year, between Dec. 2009 and Dec. 2010, email use declined among teens age 12 – 17 by 59 percent!

That coincides directly with Facebook becoming available to the general public in Sep. 2009. The same demographic sends over 3,000 texts per month (over six per waking hour. While email use may still be increasing among the population aged 55 and older, that's not exactly the group that will be defining our business and technological future.

The bottom line is, even with instant email via mobile devices, the platform creates either a real or perceived break in the communication chain. With a phone call or SMS, we feel obligated to reply. In the event that we don't, it's almost required to acknowledge that by making an excuse when we next have contact with the caller, whereas in the case of email, we all have carte blanche to ignore messages. While some workers strive to clear out their inbox by Friday afternoon, others simply allow them to pile up, working from the top of a pile of tens of thousands of messages.

Neither approach is the most efficient. Email in 2012 is but one wrench in the toolbox. In plenty of circumstances, a text message, online chat, or even Facebook or Twitter post prove far quicker and more effective in garnering a reply and progress on a task.

Likewise, instead of prompting a discussion with a work group that will ultimately lead to an inbox-clogging series of 'reply to all' comments, companies will increasingly use cloud technology. When a proposal or draft is prepared, it's posted to a company cloud or service like Google Docs, where all the pertinent parties have access and can update and provide feedback in real time. There is no longer a need for multiple employees to sort through multiple email replies to compile a complete picture of a work in progress.

Email was first developed in 1971. By the mid '90s, it had grown into the primary means of communication for business. At that point, it also crossed the threshold where teenagers began to utilize the platform to communicate amongst themselves.

It's been almost another 20 years since email caught on, and the teens have abandoned it. Forward-thinking businesses are already following the lead of their future work force. Whether they look to Facebook, to Google, or simply to 'the cloud,' email's seniority will continue to be a growing casualty of the constant quest for a streamlined work flow.

Christopher Wallace, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Amsterdam Printing, has more than 20 years experience in sales and marketing. At Amsterdam, a leading provider of personalized pens, promotional pens, and other personalized items such as imprinted apparel and customized calendars, Christopher is focused on providing quality marketing materials to small, mid-size and large businesses.