PRODUCTIVE COMMUNICATION STUDY MANAGEMENT REPORT

-In Association With -

INDEX

1 Executive Summary

2 Has Communicating Become Unproductive?

3 Driving Greater Communications Productivity

4 Study Methodology

5 Results

6 ntl:Telewest Business IP Multimedia: Business Benefits

7 ntl:Telewest Business & Manchester Business School

8 Contacts

1. Executive Summary

ntl:Telewest Business has undertaken a nationwide study of how UK businesses use communication tools today. The University of Manchester’s Business School examined not only how these tools are used, but what limitations are experienced and how business communication can be made more productive and effective.

Overall, email, phone and fax were the main communication tools in use. While this was a largely predictable finding, it was interesting to note that demand for new types of technology that complement these services exists in many companies and is viewed as an important way of improving productivity and effectiveness.

Equally, team communication currently relies heavily on meetings, telephone and e-mail and most managers felt that improvements in communication could be made that added extra value to these existing tools. New videoconferencing services on the desktop and instant messaging were regarded as having real potential for fulfilling the ‘missing links’ in current forms of workplace communication.

Planned and desired technology implementation showed a strong orientation to videoconferencing, indicating market receptiveness to the technology. However, the perceived barriers to implementing new communication technologies include cost and it not being a business priority. But these have been barriers to the introduction of communication tools before, and once cost issues have been addressed, mass adoption normally follows and the cost savings can be realised.

Additionally, remote and flexible working exist within almost all organisations in some form, although they may not be available to all staff. Benefits that have been experienced include that staff are more productive, the company gives employees greater flexibility, and a better work/life balance, improving staff morale and satisfaction. However, in the past there were some problems, which are now addressed through new communication technologies, such as people being unavailable for meetings and information being difficult to share.

2. Has Communicating Become Unproductive?

The overriding conclusion of this study was that business communications have made huge strides in increasing business productivity in the last decade. However, there remain many more productivity advantages to be gained by adopting new integrated and more versatile communication technologies and services. Additionally, these newer technologies and services can drive substantial extra value from investments in existing communications systems and services.

So communication has not become unproductive, it is simply that it has reached a glass ceiling in its ability to make individuals and teams more productive in a working environment. Moreover, existing communications technologies have begun to show weak points in their ability to meet the demands of changing work patterns, in particular where employees are out of their regular office for extended periods of time but still need to be able to communicate seamlessly with colleagues, customers, suppliers and other business contacts.

To this end, users are beginning to seek new ways of communicating that make it irrelevant whether people are in different locations when they wish or need to communicate together. The primary finding of the Manchester Business School study undertaken for ntl:Telewest Business was that Britain’s increasingly nomadic workforce has begun lobbying for the adoption of additional new communications tools that complement existing ones.

Fundamentally, these new technologies – with videoconferencing on the desktop being top of the list – are being lined up to overcome the limitations of traditional phone, email and fax systems. The difference is that whereas these have hitherto been extremely useful tools for communicating more effectively with others, they lack the ability to detect when an individual is physically present, and therefore attempts to communicate often fail because a message has to be left asking the recipient to respond.

In the drive for enhanced productivity, the demand has arisen for instantaneous, person-to-person communications tools that don’t create unforeseen additional burdens for users. Yet equally, while early attempts to introduce technologies that reduce the need for people to travel often failed to deliver the scale of advantage promised, these technologies have evolved and now offer far more scope for changing working practices.

IP-based communications networks are the technological advance that has made many of these new communications services both viable and practical in the office. Regardless of location, participants can log into a videoconference over IP connections and have a real-time face-to-face conversation without the need to spend time travelling. It makes videoconferencing, for example, far more practical and convenient than many current alternatives for this type of communication.

While virtual meetings will never totally replace face-to-face human contact, more and more business will be conducted through a physical meeting in the first instance and followed up increasingly with virtual meetings. We are accustomed to conference calls over the telephone, therefore easy, affordable ways of adding new elements to existing communications systems will add an extra level of personable business.

3. Driving Greater Communications Productivity

If workplace communications are to drive greater productivity and efficiency from the workforce, employers must seek to accomplish two things. Firstly, they must establish which elements of communication have begun to hinder rather than help productivity, and work out how new technology can be used to supplement existing systems and drive additional productivity.

Communication hiccups have become part and parcel of the working day. Being forced to leave lengthy voicemails, waiting for emails to be answered, monotonous conference calls and struggling to track down colleagues when they’re out of the office has become an accepted, yet infuriating, way of life.

This study provides some interesting reading on what types of communications systems are commonly in use today, where the limitations are perceived as being with those systems and what users envisage to be the types of new communications services that they need in order to communicate more effectively.

Fundamentally, the tools in common use for workplace communication changed in the 1990s with the arrival of email, but have evolved little since then. Telephone, e-mail and fax are essential communication technologies for companies. Use of teleconferencing, videoconferencing and instant messaging is not as extensive, although the need for these is recognised by many companies.

In the Manchester Business School study, speed and ease of use were identified as important factors in e-mail and telephone communication. Face-to-face communication is widely used for communicating within teams, indicating the importance of speaking directly when sharing information, and also identifying a desire for desktop videoconferencing, which would recreate face-to-face communication organisation-wide.

As organisations evaluate how these new technologies can be introduced in order to enhance productivity, they need to work out how they will best complement existing communication systems in such a way that productivity and efficiency can increase tangibly.

Few of the companies studied showed any real concerns about the introduction of new office communication technologies. The biggest concerns related to the introduction of new technologies, which were seen as producing an intensification of work and a reduction in face-to-face communication. This indicates that technologies designed to address issues such as videoconferencing may be well received if such benefits were emphasised.

Barriers to the introduction of new office communication technologies included cost, a lack of business drive, business priorities and the need to upgrade hardware. However, cost is less of a factor given the advantages of introducing new technologies compared to existing ones. By outsourcing the services to a service provider, much of the pain and hardware-related risk of migrating to new services can be minimised.

4. Study Methodology

ntl:Telewest Business commissioned Manchester Business School, part of The University of Manchester, to conduct primary research into what workplace ‘desktop’ communication technologies were commonly in use today, how productive they were considered to be and how business managers felt that productivity could be increased through better communication tools.

Manchester Business School’s research team asked business managers (not telecoms or IT managers) at UK companies a series of questions. Research was conducted amongst companies selected at random from the school’s FAME database, which contains details of 2.7 million companies across the UK and Ireland.

In all, 275 companies were contacted and 36 companies agreed to take part in the study. Nine companies were studied from each of these four sectors: manufacturing, public sector, financial services and media. Within each sector, companies were categorised into 3 sizes, either 50 to 500 employees, 501-1000 employees or more than 1000 employees.

The questions asked were:

• What communications technologies are teams and individuals in UK companies typically using today, each day?

• How do you feel about how phone communication helps business productivity/effectiveness?

• How do you feel about how email helps productivity/effectiveness? • How do you feel about how remote working and flexible working helps

business productivity/effectiveness? • How do you feel about how instant messaging/internet-based

communication applications help business productivity/effectiveness? • What do you feel is the ‘missing link’ that would allow their

teams/individuals to communicate more effectively and productively? • Are current communications tools helping people with work/life balance or

proving to be more invasive/ineffective? • Do you feel that employees spend a disproportionate amount of work time

engaged in personal rather than business communication? • Ultimately, has the way in which staff now use the phone and email made

business managers more relaxed about managing people because they can trust them to deliver, or is it having the opposite effect?

• What are the main concerns that you have about introducing communications technologies – misuse by staff, security, or cost of implementation?

5. Results

This section is presented in the format of summaries of responses given to the study questions.

1. Use of office communication systems

All the companies that participated in the study had access to telephone, email and fax. 89% of companies used the intranet, 64% of companies used teleconferencing, 44% of companies used video conferencing and 33% of companies used instant messaging. In many cases the facilities were not available throughout the organisation, but tended to be used by senior management, so there is still room for growth within these organisations. The uptake of internet telephone technology was low, with only 11% of companies indicating use. However, companies commented that it is important to use a good mix of office communication systems, and not to rely too heavily on one method. One large media organisation commented that there is a risk that people end up sitting alone, communicating only by e-mail.

The study shows that size does not have a significant impact on the use of teleconferencing and instant messaging, with small companies accounting for 30% of the number of companies using teleconferencing, and medium and large companies each accounting for 35%. Of the 33% of companies involved using instant messaging, 42% were small, 42% were large and 16% were medium. However, company size did affect the use of videoconferencing, with only a quarter of the small companies involved in the study using videoconferencing, accounting for 19% of videoconferencing users. 42% of medium companies involved in the study used videoconferencing, comprising 31% of videoconferencing users, and two thirds of large organisations had access to videoconferencing

Figure 1: Company size comparisons of office communications systems used

The study shows that sector may have some impact on the uptake of various office communication technologies, with manufacturing showing the lowest uptake across almost all technologies, the exception being the intranet. One third of manufacturing companies involved in the study used teleconferencing, with manufacturers accounting for 17% of all companies using teleconferencing. Manufacturers also accounted for only 19% of all companies using videoconferencing. Companies in the media sector also showed a lower uptake of teleconferencing and videoconferencing than public sector organisations and companies in the financial sector, accounting for 20% of all companies using teleconferencing and 19% of companies using videoconferencing (figure 2).

Figure 2: Sector comparisons of office communications systems used

1.1 Frequency of use

The study shows that telephone and email are the most frequently used communication technologies, with 92 % of companies using email frequently throughout the day and 86% of companies interviewed using the telephone frequently. Teleconferencing and videoconferencing are used much less frequently, with 43% of teleconferencing users and 50% of videoconferencing users only using the technology occasionally (figure 3).

Figure 3: Frequency of use of communication methods

Communication within teams

The research shows that although companies may have access to a variety of office communication systems, these are rarely used for communicating within teams. The most widely used technology for internal communication was email, with 86% of companies interviewed using it for team communication. This was followed by face-to-face communication, used by 83% of companies. Although 89% of companies studied had an intranet, only 8% used it for internal team communication. Teleconferencing and videoconferencing were used for team communication by 5% and 3% of companies studied.

The study indicates that company size may affect the type of technology used for team communication. In the case of teleconferencing and videoconferencing, these technologies were not used by companies in either the 50-500 of 500-1000 size brackets (figure 4). Industry sector seemed to have little impact on the technology used for team communication, with only small differences between sectors.

Figure 4: Size comparisons of communication methods within teams

Companies surveyed commented that communication could be improved through a greater number of team meetings, in order to ensure that information is shared effectively.

1.3 Telephone communication

The study has shown that telephone communication is consistently considered to enhance business productivity and effectiveness, with all companies involved in the survey indicating this.

Ease of use and speed of communication were the most commonly cited benefits of telephone communication by companies of all sizes, and all sectors (figure 5).

Figure 5: Benefits of telephone communication

E-mail communication

Companies involved in the study generally felt that email communication enhanced business productivity and effectiveness. However, unlike telephone communication, 2 companies felt that it did not enhance productivity and effectiveness and 1 company was unsure (figure 6).

Figure 6: Company size comparison of attitude to email

Many companies commented that whilst e-mail did enhance business productivity and effectiveness, on a personal level use of the technology was irritating, as a result of the volume of irrelevant e-mails received during the course of the working day. One large financial services organisation argued that this often dilutes the message being sent, as it is not targeted at its audience, and results in e-mails being discarded rather than read.

As with telephone communication, the most commonly cited benefits of e-mail communication were speed of communication (72% of companies studied) and ease of use (53% of companies interviewed). However, unlike telephone communication, instant communication amongst global teams was cited as a benefit by 31% of companies (17% of companies cited this as a benefit of telephone communication). The ability of e-mail to record responses is an important aspect of e-mail, with 42% of companies interviewed citing this as a benefit (figure 7).

Figure 7: Benefits of e-mail communication

2. Instant messaging

The research has indicated that use of instant messaging is not widespread, with only 30% of companies interviewed using the technology. This does not appear to be affected by company size, used by the same number of companies with 50 to 500 employees as with 1000-plus employees. Industry sector did not affect use of instant messaging (figure 8).

Figure 8: Size comparison of the use of instant messaging

2.1 Attitudes to instant messaging

Of the companies that used instant messaging, 58% felt that the technology benefited the organisation, whilst 33% felt that it didn’t benefit the organisation and 8% were undecided. This is affected by company size, with all of the medium users and 80% of the large company users stating that the organisation benefited, compared to only 20% of small companies. In comparison, 60% of small companies using instant messaging felt that the technology did not benefit the organisation, and 20% were undecided. Industry sector did not significantly affect perceptions of the usefulness of instant messaging (figure 9).

Figure 9: Size comparison of the attitude to instant messaging

2.2 Benefits of instant messaging

As with telephone and e-mail communication, ease of use (71% of instant messaging users that saw a benefit of the technology), instant communication (71% of instant messaging users that saw a benefit of the technology) speed of communication (57% of instant messaging users that saw a benefit of the technology) and time saving (57% of instant messaging users that saw a benefit of the technology) (figure 10).

Figure 10: Benefits of instant messaging

3. Videoconferencing

As with instant messaging, use of videoconferencing was significantly lower than telephone, fax and e-mail, with 44% of companies studied using the technology. Of these, 19% were in the 50-500 employees category, 31% were in the 5011000 size category, and 50% were in the 1000+ employees category, indicating that company size is likely to affect uptake of the technology (figure 11).

The research shows that industry sector may also affect uptake of videoconferencing. Of the companies studied, one third of manufacturing and media companies used videoconferencing, whilst two thirds did not, whereas 56% of financial services and public sector organisations used videoconferencing whilst 44% did not (figure 12).

3.1 Attitudes to videoconferencing

Of the companies using videoconferencing, 88% felt that the technology benefited the organisation in terms of productivity and effectiveness. Cases where companies have indicated uncertainty as to whether the organisation benefits are when the respondent has not personally used the company videoconferencing facility (figure 13).

3.2 Benefits of videoconferencing

The two most important benefits cited by users of videoconferencing were that it enables global communication and that it saves time. These benefits were indicated by 50% of the companies using and benefiting from the technology (figure 14).

Companies commented that the biggest issue associated with videoconferencing was that of travel, and that by reducing time spent travelling to meetings nationally and internationally, they were able to save time and money. However, one small financial services organisation commented that videoconferencing was inappropriate for a first meeting, which in this case should be face-to-face.

3.3 Introduction of new office communication technologies

Few companies involved in the study were concerned about the introduction of new communication technologies, with only 14% of companies interviewed indicating concern. However, the study does indicate that this may be linked to company size, with one third of companies in the 1000+-employee category indicating concern, and large companies accounting for almost all of the companies indicating concern. This was, however, not affected by industry sector (figure 15).

Figure 15: Size comparison of attitudes to the introduction of new office communication technologies

However, one small financial services organisation did note that it was essential to train people within the organisation in order to maximise the potential of the new communication technology.

3.4 Concerns over the introduction of new communication technologies

In total, 14% of companies involved in the study indicated concern regarding the introduction of new communication technologies. Of this 14%, the most common concerns were intensification of work and a reduction in face-to-face communication, with 60% of concerned respondents citing each of these (figure 16).

Figure 16: Concerns regarding the introduction of new office communication technologies

3.5 Planned implementation of communication technologies

Of the companies involved in the study, only 14% planned to implement new office communication technologies in the future, 25% did not know whether implementation of new technologies was planned, and 61% were not planning the implementation of new office communication technologies. The study indicated that this may be linked to size, with 42% of small companies involved in the study planning the implementation of new technology. However, it should be noted that the flatter structure of smaller companies may result in greater knowledge of the implementation at an earlier stage (figure 17).

Figure 17: Size comparison of the planned implementation of new communication technologies

Of the companies planning implementation of new technology, videoconferencing was the most commonly cited, accounting for 67% of responses (figure 18).

Figure 18: Planned technologies

3.6 Desired implementation of new communication technologies

17% of the companies studied indicated that there were office communication technologies that they would like to implement, but had been unable to. Again, these companies were in the 50-500-employee category, and accounted for 50% of all companies in this category interviewed (figure 19). Industry sector did not affect this.

Figure 19: Size comparison of the inability to implement desired communication technologies

Of these companies, 33% indicated that they would like to implement videoconferencing (figure 20).

There were a number of barriers preventing the introduction of new office communication technologies, including cost, a lack of business drive, the implementation of technology not being a priority, and upgrading of technology to support implementation. In the case of public sector organisations the barriers were unknown (figure 21).

Figure 21: Sector comparison of the barriers to introducing new technology

4. Working practices

Remote and flexible working

Almost all companies involved in the research allow flexible and remote working practices, with 86% of companies indicating that this was available to employees. However, many companies did not that these were not necessarily available to all employees within the organisation, but were decided on a case-by-case basis. Amongst the companies that did not offer remote and flexible working were one quarter of the small companies involved in the study (Figure 22), and one third of the financial services organisations studied (Figure 23).

Figure 22: Size comparisons of the opportunity for remote and flexible working

Figure 23: Sector comparisons of the opportunity for remote and flexible working

The study showed little difference in working from home and flexi-time, with 67% of companies allowing working from home, and 61% of companies offering flexitime.

Industry sector affects the number of companies allowing staff to work from home, with 67% of manufacturing companies and 58% of public sector and media organisations offering this to employees, compared to 17% of financial services companies (Figure 24).

Figure 24: Sector comparisons of the methods of remote and flexible working

4.2 Attitudes to remote and flexible working

Of the companies allowing working from home and flexi-time, 87% felt that they benefited the organisation, 10% considered that they did not benefit the organisation, and 3% were unsure. All of the companies in the 1000+ employees size category felt that the organisation benefited, whereas 6% of companies in the 500-1000 employee category felt that the organisation did not benefit, and a further 3% were unsure (Figure 25).

Figure 25: Size comparisons of the attitude to remote and flexible working

4.3 Benefits of remote and flexible working

Commitment to the company was the most commonly recognised benefit of remote and flexible working, cited by 39% of companies offering the facility. 35% of companies offering remote and flexible working felt that staff worked harder, whilst 32% felt that staff were more prepared to be flexible and that staff were more prepared to commit when required (Figure 26). However, one large public sector organisation commented that working from home and flexitime had enabled them to implement a system of hotdesking, allowing them to maximise resources. Figure 26: Benefits of remote and flexible working

Many respondents commented that from a personal perspective working from home enabled them to focus on their work without being distracted by other aspects of their working life, such as e-mail and the telephone.

4.4 Disadvantages of remote and flexible working

However, some 10% of companies studied did not consider that remote and flexible working benefited the company, and of these, 67% felt that they actually compromised business productivity and effectiveness (6% of all companies studied) (figure 27). As one manufacturer noted, working from home can be problematic if the individual does not have the same effective communication technologies at home as in the workplace.

The 2 companies involved in the study that considered remote and flexible working to compromise business productivity and effectiveness cited problems with people not being available when needed and poor communication technology at home as the ways in which remote and flexible working compromise the organisation.

4.5 Work/life balance

Companies studied felt in general that telephone and e-mail did help to promote a healthy work/life balance, with 3% indicating that telephone was invasive, and 17% finding e-mail invasive. However, many companies felt that fax (36% of companies) and the intranet (25% of companies with an intranet) were ineffective in promoting a healthy work/life balance (figure 28).

Figure 28: Effect of communication technology on work/life balance

4.6 Personal communication

The study shows that companies generally believe that employees do not spend a disproportionate amount of time engaged in personal rather than business communication (figure 29).

4.7 Impact of e-mail & telephone on delivery & management practices

The majority of companies involved in the study believe that email and telephone communication have improved business productivity and delivery, with only 3% of respondents stating that e-mail and telephone have not improved productivity and delivery, and 6% unsure. All of the companies that were unsure were from the public sector (figure 30).

Figure 30: Impact of email and telephone on productivity

However, many companies commented that although telephone and e-mail communication had improved productivity and delivery, they would welcome more face-to-face communication within the organisation as a way of sharing information and boosting morale.

The most important benefit to companies was the ability to share information more quickly, which was cited by 67% of companies noting improvements from the use of e-mail and telephone. Also of importance to companies are that staff are able to communicate more easily (52% of companies noting improvements) and that staff are able to share more information (39% of companies noting improvements) (figure 31).

The study shows mixed opinions on the introduction of more relaxed management practices as a result of the use of communication technologies, with 34% of companies indicating that they had implemented more relaxed management practices, 46% of companies indicating that they had not implemented more relaxed management practices, and 20% of companies unsure.

The study indicates that size may have some impact on this, with 50% of all large companies studied indicating that they had been able to implement more relaxed management practices, compared with a quarter of both small and medium sized companies (figure 32). This was not affected by industry sector.

Figure 32: Size comparison of the introduction of more relaxed management practices

6. ntl:Telewest Business IP Multimedia: Business Benefits

Business communication has come a long way in the past 20 years. Switchboard functionality has enhanced telephone systems. The fax became mainstream, then found its niche. Email developed virtually overnight into a powerful and ubiquitous tool.

ntl:Telewest Business has given business communication a quantum leap forward. Our IP Multimedia service delivers instantaneous, person-to-person communication without the organisational problems and time wasting that are caused by most existing desktop communication tools.

The vision for IP Multimedia services is to help the modern organisation get the best out of its staff and their time, wherever they choose to work. Rather than necessarily working harder, it is about working smarter through more effective use of technology for all manner of ongoing communication.

That’s because IP Multimedia delivers a crucial ingredient – presence-based communication. Communication is conducted on a one-to-one or group basis with individuals who are actually there. As such, IP Multimedia adds enormous value to existing communication systems by creating links between individuals that the current tools are simply not able to offer. Truly collaborative working also becomes practical, with individuals able to exchange files, whiteboard and share diagrams or charts.

IP Multimedia expands on existing IP telephony – Voice over IP (VoIP) -services. This service carries voice in discrete packets of data over IP networks such as your LAN and inter office WAN, rather than over the legacy circuit-committed protocols of the public switched telephone network (PSTN). But, whereas VoIP only offers services and applications for voice, IP Multimedia adds visual options and presence indicators.

As the concepts of hotdesking and working from home become more and more popular, IP Multimedia offers the user the ability to log in at any hotdesk, or use their soft phone on their PC. This truly gives the user their own phone wherever they are – their phone number, their barring level, their features, even the “last number redial” list from when they were in a different office. Having access to IP Multimedia services will enable ‘nomadic’ workers to work more flexibly.

IP Multimedia also brings a more integrated delivery of mail. Staff with the allotted capability can connect remotely to the network to access email and telephone messages in one inbox. IP Multimedia drives down the cost of making site to site calls as it routes traffic over the IP Multimedia network, avoiding the regular call charges. With IP Multimedia, users can create directories and, for example, reduce mobile phone usage for staff communications.

IP Multimedia represents an evolution of ntl:Telewest Business’ Centrex, a network based, managed business voice solution that offers many advantages over a traditional PABX (Private Automatic Branch Exchange) solution. Being able to add services such as IP Multimedia underlines how future-proof ntl:Telewest’s Centrex network is. As IP Multimedia is a fully managed service, capacity is rented as required, avoiding unnecessary capital expenditure.

With IP Multimedia, cost can be better managed, while productivity can be enhanced through this new technology.

ntl:Telewest Business & Manchester Business School

ntl:Telewest Business has the most technically advanced of the UK’s two national networks. Its vast nation-wide Next Generation Network provides businesses, public sector organisations and service providers across the UK with a complete portfolio of advanced data, internet and voice services. The £13billion network is flexible, scaleable and is already built out to more than 38,000 street cabinets across the UK. As part of a commitment to deliver superior customer service, ntl:Telewest Business sales and support teams are located in close proximity to its customers in over 40 centres across the UK. More information can be found at www.ipmultimedia.co.uk

Manchester Business School is the name of the new school formed as a result of the merger of the Institute of Innovation Research (IoIR), The Victoria University of Manchester's School of Accounting and Finance, UMIST's Manchester School of Management and Manchester Business School.

The school has around 2,000 students on campus and more than 200 teaching staff, making Manchester the largest campus-based business school in the UK. It also supports more than 3,500 students worldwide through distance-learning and external programmes, and benefits from excellent links with both business and the public sector.

Contacts

Please contact the ntl:Telewest Business media centre for any press enquiries:

Louise O'Brien Senior Manager, Brand and PR T: 01256 752 769 M: 07966 152842 E. Louise.OBrien Rainier PR Steve Earl T: 020 7494 6570 E. Searl@rainierpr