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The results show a significant uplift in digital communications in pan-European organisations compared to five years ago, with 8 out of 10 respondents (78%) using more online platforms such as IM, email social networks, online collaboration tools and video conferencing. This is in contrast to traditional forms of communication, some of which are unsurprisingly in decline – 22% making fewer desk-based phone calls; 15% fewer face-to-face meetings; 32% attending fewer or no lunch meetings and 34% cutting back on time spent out or spending no time out of the office at conferences.
With less face-to-face interaction with customers, email has become a key driver for this growth in conversations but there is evidence of businesses hitting saturation point – 35% of respondents stated that email usage had not increased and for some had actually declined compared to five years’ ago. This has paved the way for the adoption of a new wave of digital communication platforms. However, the findings show significant variations in how businesses adopt these, indicating a lack of joined up thinking when it comes to engaging with customers and prospects... Exactly half of respondents (50%) now use social networks as communication channels at work and 25% use Instant Messenger (IM) more than they did 5 years ago. The frequency of use of workplace collaboration tools, such as Microsoft SharePoint and Huddle, have increased by 24% over the last five years and now 57% of all businesses have used them at some point to communicate more effectively. However, a smaller proportion of respondents use video conferencing more (21%) with almost half (47%) never having used this facility. There was an even smaller rise in webinars (13%) with a surprising 58% never having used this online medium to connect with customers.
As communications technologies become more fragmented and businesses struggle to cope with the increase in digital content (both information and media), organisations need to find ways of managing their communications strategy or risk damaging business relationships with customers, partners and even colleagues. Dr Graeme Codrington**, author, speaker and expert on the new world of work said: “The promise of any form of communication technology, whether it was paper, the printing press or a PC, has always been to help humans connect more effectively. On this measure, the explosion of information technology in the last two decades has been somewhat disappointing. “More data than ever is being transferred, but it feels as if our human connections have become less meaningful, less satisfying, less significant. We cannot blame the technology. The fault lies in our inability to adapt quickly to new methods, new opportunities and new styles of communicating.” Gary Horsfall, Head of Consultancy Services, Canon Europe, said: “Today’s business environment compared to even five years ago is a dramatically different place. Organisations now are faced with the challenge of maintaining strong relationships with customers but doing so in the most efficient way, using the latest technologies. There is a collision point where traditional information is merging with new media and managing and mining these vast quantities of digital content is essential to keep in sync with your customer and is also the key to creating and maintaining personal, meaningful relationships.” In addition to managing fragmented communications channels, the study also highlighted pan-European organisations’ fear of the impact that digital technologies are having in contributing to the information explosion. 39% of all decision makers said that managing the increase in data is slowing down business processes stating that cumbersome and inefficient internal processes are the main barrier to business success in 2011, especially amongst larger companies (46%). “Canon launched Consultancy Services to help customers unlock the value of their information and the one area where this value is at its greatest is through communication with customers,” continues Horsfall. “Managing the point at which all of these new digital technologies collide is a challenge. Get it right and companies can add significant value to their business. Get it wrong and companies could end up with a fragmented approach to internal and external communications and be paying the costs for a long time to come.”
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