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Thierry Breton, CEO of Atos is calling for a zero email policy, replacing it with instant messaging.
Email is one of the scourges of the modern technological age.
Yes, it means that communication can be fast and efficient and allows us to communicate across time zones in a matter of minutes but it's also one of the biggest sources of time-wasting in the modern office.
With many people receiving dozens if not hundreds of emails every day in their work email many people wonder how they actually manage to get any work done and with many of those emails being irrelevant, it's no wonder.
- How many emails have you received from a colleague sitting just a few feet away?
- How many times does an email run into pages in length, containing all the previous discussions? Useful but not always essential.
- How many times does the subject of the email have no bearing on the topic - usually because the conversation has changed during the course of many email exchanges (see above)?
- How many emails do you receive which are not relevant but you've been copied in 'just in case'?
- How many evenings and weekends have you spent catching up with the backlog?
And that's not taking into account the 'spam' that ends up in our Inbox.
Part of the problem with emails is the amount of interruptions we make to our day to deal with it and the distraction, as another new email pops in to the Inbox.
That's not likely to change if the email interface is replaced with instant messaging. It's not a matter of getting rid of email - it's about dealing with it more effectively.
Contact me if you want to manage your email more effectively.
