“There’s an app for that.” Everything seems to be app these days. Everything needs you to download and use an app: calls, email, team messaging, texting, video conferencing and the list goes on.
What is App Overload?
Today’s workplace requires a toolkit of apps and programs to work efficiently and effectively. However, these tools which were intended to ease how you communicate with teammates have become a burden for you to manage in their own right. RingCentral found that the average number of communications apps used daily is four, with half of workers using even more than that number.
Thus, you are forced to waste time navigating between these various apps and you risk data loss as you manually work between them.
If you find this disjointed system of communication annoying or frustrating, you’re not alone. RingCentral surveyed 2000 workers and found that 70% say their volume of communications is a challenge and a burden to getting their work done. A staggering 66% of workers say they waste up to 60min a day navigating between apps and methods of communication.
Why is App Overload a Challenge?
App Overload creates friction as you are forced to constantly switch between disparate applications and solutions. It disrupts your workflow and you are unable to get completely immersed in a task. This means a loss of concentration and rhythm in your workflow.
While it may seem minor, consider this: such staggered concentration can easily undermine those of us who have to focus intently on what we’re working on. In the same RingCentral survey, 68% of people reported that they switch between apps 10 times an hour and over the course of a year waste a total of 32 days of work doing so.
App Overload is a challenge for internal and external communication because each app is a communication silo. This form of communication is unnatural to us as humans. Friction, breakdowns in communication and data loss are the result of such disjointed communication.
Examples of App Overload
App overload is normalized so profoundly that we might not even realize how prevalent it is. Think of all the different communication tools you use on a daily basis: email, phone calls, team messaging such as Slack or Google Hangouts, text, social media, audio conference calls, and video conference calls. How often do you switch between these on a daily basis?
Here’s an easy way to tell: do you have a note card with your teammate’s extensions on it? Or do you have to routinely chase down email addresses or phone numbers for colleagues or clients? These are both typical examples of app overload.
Or, think of your workflow during a project with a teammate. You are chatting with each other when you reach a sticking point. So you message your teammate to jump on a call. But during the call you both realize you have to start including other teammates to solve the issue.
This means grabbing contact info for colleagues to include during the next scheduled meeting. So you run around to copy emails, find phone numbers and synchronize calendars. How much time and effort do you routinely waste doing this? We see it all too frequently.
One final example for your consideration: are there apps that your team has to share a license for? We often see teams forced to share a single video conferencing account because it is priced per user license, instead of a single license that covers all end users. These shared apps are yet another silo of communication disrupting everyone’s workflow.
How Cloud Can Help Solve App Overload
Workers want all of their communication methods integrated into a single platform to reduce app overload. They understand this would help them to achieve a better workflow, specifically it would make workers more productive and help work to feel less chaotic for them. In particular, the ability to escalate from chat or email to calls or conferences quickly is important for a more natural style of communication.
The right cloud provider can bring all of these tools together in one app so that you and your colleagues are not overwhelmed and hampered by your digital tools. Instead of a fragmented technology stack for communication with 4 or more silos, you have a continuous flow of communication on a single platform.
Not only does this improve workflow and productivity, it can save you money. By moving to a single communications platform you cut the endless time wasted due to app overload. And even more importantly, you help remote employees to work as productively wherever they are as they do while in the office.
If you are considering a move to the cloud to cut app overload for your team, or if you are simply interested in learning more, contact Converged Technology Professionals today. We can provide you with a free cost analysis so you can see for yourself the financial ROI on making the switch to the cloud.
Suellen Meyers: December 21, 2023
