We will still need email in the future – but we will have to change the way we use it.
Many applications that came with the advent of the internet have not stood the test of time, but email is one form of technology that we continue to rely on.
Furthermore, a recent study suggests we will carry on doing so in the years to come. The Radicati Group expects the number of business emails to increase by 13 per cent every year from now until 2016, even at a time when consumer emails are decreasing.
"It does what it’s designed to do quite well, which is to allow us to securely communicate on a one-to-one or one-to-few basis," Rob Koplowitz from Forrester Research told Computer World.
In addition, it creates an audit trail for important documents, which many businesses need.
However, this growth is likely to mean more headaches about storage capabilities, security, archiving and retention for IT staff – clearly, something will have to change if we are to carry on relying on email.
"We use email for things it wasn’t designed to do," admitted Mr Koplowitz, citing document management and archiving as prime examples.
For instance, some firms may unwittingly have kept thousands of emails dating back more than ten years that relate to trivia such as staff parties or colleagues meeting up for lunch.
The ‘bring your own device’ trend is also likely to cause issues for the current system, as people need access to corporate email but also data protection at the same time.
Sara Radicati from The Radicati Group said one solution she believes will really work is keeping email in the cloud rather than on-site at a company.
"It’s absolutely the way to go," she insisted.
Indeed, a digital storage space for email could be vital, as a recent study by Warwick Business School found that the average worker will fire off or read 10,000 new electronic messages per annum, which amounts to around 40 a day.
McKinsey Global Institute and International Data Corporation also found that employees spend more than a quarter of each day answering and reading emails.
If you need help to prevent workers disappearing in a sea of emails, get in touch with Dajon Data Management to discuss your personal document storage requirements and to have a bespoke solution implemented in no time.