Tired of Email? Here are Some Alternatives

Ever since the world adopted the Internet, email has been a part of the picture. Initially, email seemed like a dynamic tool compared to faxes and metered mail, but now, the average worker despises their email inbox for its unreasonable demands on their time and its hindrance to productivity. Are there any options that can replace email in the workplace?

It shouldn’t take too much on our part to convince you of the ineffectiveness of email.

• According to email management expert Monica Seeley, “Most companies are grappling with email overload. Companies are losing up to 20 days per person per year, dealing with email poorly.”
• It’s estimated that nearly 100 billion spam emails are sent...every day.
• Spam accounts for over 60 percent of all email sent worldwide.
• Workers spend an average of 2 hours per week working together on documents shared over email.
• Workers send and receive about 15 emails with attachments per day, which adds up to more than 5,000 attachments per year per person. This is significant because the most common way that malicious viruses are spread is through email attachments.

It may seem like it’s impossible to run a business without using email, but there are some great alternative solutions available. Additionally, the replacement of email may be inevitable, seeing that the vast majority of young professionals prefer social media and texting over email.


Yammer
Yammer is a private social network for your company, allowing employees to collaborate across departments, locations, and business apps. Workers that prefer social media will enjoy Yammer because it offers social media-like tools. Yammer is a much better option than asking everyone on your staff to utilize their personal social media accounts for work purposes.


Jive
Jive is an enterprise collaboration tool that also takes cues from social media by giving users a LinkedIn-like function for finding colleagues with specific skills. Jive also gives users the ability to share rich media content.


Chatter
Salesforce has a helpful social intranet tool they call Chatter. Chatter is a communication tool that utilizes a Facebook-like wall. Chatter also gives employees the ability to share documents, create meetings, and manage sales leads.

Solutions like these can greatly enhance your company’s email experience because they will divert your company’s internal communications into an application that’s easier to manage, easier to collaborate with, and more efficient because it’s not bogged down by spam.

However, these tools are all internal solutions. We haven’t yet reached a place where email can be totally forsaken because your business will still need to send and receive emails to customers, vendors, and other businesses. Although, with the entire world experiencing frustration over email, we feel that it won’t be long until a better solution replaces email altogether.

Is the productivity of your business being hindered by the shortcomings of email? If so, then Computerware can help by offering your business hosted email solutions as well as intranet communication tools that will increase productivity. When it comes to communication tools like these, you will want a solution that’s customized for your company’s communication needs. Therefore, before you scrap email and go with something new, be sure to call Computerware at (703) 821-8200. We’ll take the time to assess your needs so that your business can be equipped with a communication solution that’s perfect for you.