RingCentral UK has released its new report From Workplace Chaos to Zen: How App Overload Is Reshaping the Digital Workplace. The report is based on a global survey of 2,000 knowledge workers and reveals that the very workplace apps intended to streamline tasks have sparked an app overload that is costing enterprises billions in lost productivity.
The international survey that included 500 staff across a representative sample of UK organisations found that specifically for communications applications, workers today are using an average of four apps, with 20 percent of workers using six or more. This includes phone calls, text, web meetings, video conferencing, team messaging and more. Sixty-nine percent of workers waste up to an hour each day navigating between myriad apps, amounting to a waste of 32 days per year. To counter this app fragmentation, 66 percent of workers want a single communications platform that will bring a sense of productivity to their workplace. However, the C-Suite is more likely to be content with their current set of tools (44 percent), revealing a disconnect with the cultural shift to newer communications and collaboration solutions.
App overload is creating workplace chaos
Today’s flood of communications has upended the modern workday, creating a sense of workplace chaos that’s taking a toll on employees and their companies.
? More than 70 percent of workers say their communications volume is a challenge to getting work done.
? Sixty-eight percent of workers toggle between apps up to 10 times an hour, and 31 percent of workers said toggling causes them to lose their train of thought.
? Workers find navigating between apps more annoying than doing household chores (53 percent), paying bills (52 percent), and trying to lose weight (50 percent).
? Despite the prevailing feeling of app overload, workers find team messaging to be the least disruptive to their work day.
“The shift towards a digital economy has brought many benefits for organisations across the UK, but this report highlights that there are still a number of challenges,” said Sunny Dhami, Head of Product Marketing, EMEA at RingCentral. “Many apps are clearly delivering productivity improvements, but managing so many channels is proving difficult, particularly as mobile devices start to dominate communications. The issue is likely to become more serious for organisations of all shapes and sizes. This research also suggests workers are recognising the challenge faster than management, and they are looking for a unified approach that is easier to use and more productive.”
Workers seek one platform for simplicity
The report found workers believe a single platform integrating all their communications channels would bring more simplicity to their workday. Specifically, the data shows that:
? Employees believe this would help them achieve better workflow (67 percent), be more productive at work (65 percent), make work feel less chaotic (62 percent) and make it easier to work remotely (61 percent).
? Workers 45+ years old still prefer email (51 percent), but 18- to 44-year olds prefer team messaging (43 percent). Team messaging-centric platforms are growing quickly in popularity as the preferred “home base” for a single communications platform.
“This report confirms what we’re seeing in the workplace -- employees prefer a singular, real-time communications platform that increases their productivity and workflow on a day-to-day basis,” said David Smith, Founder and Principal at InFlow Analysis. "It maps back to the trend toward ‘conversational workspaces.’ Enterprises are striving to enable collaboration combined with real-time communications. As more businesses adopt these platforms, it will encourage workers to use these tools to get more work done with less effort.”
The C-Suite is slower to adopt newer communications capabilities
Despite the growing popularity of team messaging among younger workers, the C-Suite has been slower to embrace this technology.
? While 80 percent of C-level executives are more likely to find their communications volume very or somewhat challenging, they are more likely to be content with their current suite of tools (44 percent), revealing a disconnect with the cultural shift away from email to newer communications capabilities such as team messaging within their ranks.
