Is email dead?
When considering what channel to use to best convey your message, has email been relegated to the sidelines of a communicator's plan of attack? Or does it continue to be the most crucial tool in the internal communicator's armory?
Key Notes:
- Internal communicators now have a wide choice of social media tools with which to deliver their campaigns.
- Major advantages of these tools are collaboration and the personalization of communication, enabling establishment of an employee's sense of identity and therefore increased engagement.
- However, not only is email still the most popular communication method, but employees may take email messages more seriously than those they receive via social media.
- Email has its place but in many companies it can be used in tandem with social media tools for the best results. Understanding your organization's culture is key to deciding which tools to implement and where.
The death knell has rung for email use in internal communication. It has been replaced by more advanced, adaptable technology and has been rendered obsolete.
People are used to engaging with other people through more interactive means, rather than just email
How did the statement make you feel? Did it leave you reeling in shock or did you nonchalantly shrug your shoulders?
Obviously, these sentiments are purposely provocative, but with news earlier this year of international software company Atos Origin's aim to become a "zero email company" within three years to help tackle what it calls "information pollution", is the funeral procession for email marching onwards and will other companies follow this lead? Or will email maintain a prominent position in an internal communicator's arsenal? In a move that will not take place fully until 2014, the company said its email system will be replaced by tools like Office Communicator and Yammer as well as social community platforms to share and keep track of ideas on subjects from innovation and management through to sales.
Here we weigh up the pros and cons of email and social media as internal communication tools.
RIP Email
Within the last 10-15 years, our world has witnessed the internet develop and infiltrate our personal and working lives with social media growing and developing into its own sphere. After humble beginnings in basic chat rooms, new social media tools have bloomed into all-singing applications that can, when used in the right way, be a godsend for internal communicators. When looking at ways to deliver internal campaigns, communicators can now use a variety of social media tools including Yammer, Twitter and YouTube as well as different emerging technologies and social platforms.
The question is: to what extent should an IC professional use social networking tools instead of email communication? Of course, email is fully integrated into most companies' internal infrastructures - so to make the leap to becoming wholly dependant on social networking tools could be seen as a risky move. William Rice, the lead for Communities and Social Networking within Atos Origin's Scientific Community - a group comprising employees that aim to craft the company's vision regarding upcoming technology changes - implemented such a scheme. He says that the decision and action of eliminating internal email took place in three stages:
- The company analyzed the formal work processes within the organization and its social media network, examining the way they interacted.
- It then looked at the usage of different social media tools, how they could cater to the needs of staff and, from this, tried to map a future architecture for the internal communication system.
- Finally, it looked at organizational management, where they focused on the company culture and people's attitudes towards email. Atos did not want just one alternative to email, but to be flexible and able to quickly adopt new technology.
From here, Rice says the company witnessed encouraging reactions to the change, which he was initially worried about. He added that the announcement influenced positive behavior as the 50,000+ workforce started making better use of IM and other technologies in place of email. He adds: "This is not about social media, nor riding on the hype of it. The point is to socialize the organization and the way we work."
Social business
But, we have to ask ourselves, what really are the organizational benefits of getting rid of email and replacing it with social media?
Members can read the rest of the article here.
This article was originally published in Strategic Communication Management.
Have your say
Do you think email still has a place within the organization? Or do you think the rise of Web 2.0 has rendered email obsolete? How heavily is email relied upon for communication within your organization?
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