The end of the email!
IT service provider Atos relies on efficient communication without electronic mail
There is a flood spilling through offices, sweeping away the firm conviction that a quick email is a suitable tool for swiftly sorting out matters or solving problems. Some companies have already banned emailing after work and on weekends, others go on deleting sprees during vacation, and still others hope that seminars will help their staff cope with the overflow of electronic mail. The French IT service provider Atos has a more rigorous, and more innovative approach.
The company is currently moving its 450 Atos employees, and an equal amount of staff from service partners, into the former Solon building. It has introduced a zero mail policy. Why? “Our work generates more and more information that can’t be handled in a sensible and efficient way using email,” says Winfried Holz, manager of Atos Germany. An internal survey conducted by Atos discovered that employees spend up to 20 hours per week reading, answering, archiving, and sifting through email. “Data are considered the ‘black gold’ of the 21st century. The way we are misusing this resource reminds me of the beginnings of the oil age,” Holz says. The survey also showed that young employees are not actually using email anymore – they would prefer the familiar workflow of social media tools. Consequently, Thierry Breton, Atos’ chairman of the board, created the “zero email” project.
Since then 86,000 Atos employees worldwide have been using a set of social media tools to communicate, choosing the right tool for the right situation as they go. “We use wikis, chats, digital audio and video conferences, and shared data repositories,” Holz explains. His employees use an in-house social network called bluekiwi that facilitates professional cooperation across project groups. When the IT company’s specialists go about their work, for example installing SAP systems, they are networked via bluekiwi. “It would take up to two days for a service technician on the job to get a reply via email. Our globally networked groups of experts reduce the response time to a few hours,” Holz reports.
Holz asserts that here has been a broader change in attitudes. “If you require information to do your work, you should acquire this information proactively, instead of waiting for someone to procure them for you.” The social media tool is fed with presorted information that employees can sift through themselves using search and individual filters. Meanwhile the bluewiki network is being offered to the company’s customers that are also creaking under the weight of overflowing inboxes, eager to find a new way. Atos has successfully done this and Holz is able to declare: “We have banned email from the value-added areas of our corporate communication.” This does not mean, however, that Atos has turned off its email servers completely. Its staff still uses email for customers, partners and legally binding communication. For now at least.
By Chris Löwer for Adlershof Special