Apple’s catchy “There’s an app for that” slogan coined back in 2009 rings even more true for businesses a decade later. Today, workers use a variety of apps to manage an ever-rising volume of communications but unfortunately, doing so can actually prove detrimental to their productivity. In fact, businesses should cut down on using multiple disparate communications tools as much as possible.
The promise of the digital workplace is to make work easier and more productive. But as market research firm CITE Research found on behalf of communications provider RingCentral, chaos is more often the result. The survey of over 2,000 knowledge workers spanning the US, UK and Australia, 70% found their comms overload hindered completing tasks and half utilised more than four separate communications apps, equalling up to 32 days lost per year per worker.
It’s needless to say the constant to and fro causes employee frustration, with 53% admitting they’d rather carry out chores at home, 52% preferring to pay bills and 45% choosing to wade through junk mail given the option. Moreover, staff cited feeling disrupted when combing for information through various apps and losing track of their own thoughts in the process.
But you can’t just ignore your contacts, so what’s the solution? It turns out workers believe a unified platform integrating all their communications channels would bring much needed simplicity to their workday. Specifically, 67% think it would help them achieve better workflow, 65% foresee being more productive, 62% predict enduring less chaos and 61% think mobile working will become easier as a result. That’s consistently roughly two-thirds of professionals seeing the benefits of a one-stop solution for internal communications.
The digital workplace of the future will no doubt continue to be shaped by the rapid pace of innovation and new collaborative communications solutions. But the key to success is staying above water on app overload with a single-platform approach. This holds the promise of workplace zen for staff, where focus and productivity reign supreme. 
