Companies are implementing collaboration technologies in order to cut costs, according to a recent study carried out by Smart Technologies and its UK distributor Steljes.
The manufacturer, widely known for its interactive whiteboard solutions, surveyed British workplaces to try and determine the take-up of collaboration technologies as well as drivers behind their adoption.
According to the results business decision makers are increasingly aware of the benefits of collaboration technologies including video, voice and data conferencing. However, the study appears to show there is a lack of action to capture these benefits. Relatively few organisations had a unified communications or collaboration technology strategy in place, and more than 80% had not undertaken an ROI business review for their adoption.
More than 40% of respondents identified reducing business costs as the top reason for adoption, whereas just 3% identified cutting carbon emissions.
Twenty-nine per cent of respondents identified “increased communication and collaboration across their business” as their top reason.
Voice conferencing emerged as the most used collaboration technologies with 82% of respondents confirming use of the technology. Fifty-nine per cent use video conferencing and fifty-six per cent share and edit documents collaboratively online.
More than half of companies surveyed had a strategy for unified communications and half had a collaboration strategy for meeting spaces.
“This survey tells us loud and clear that the overwhelming priority for business when adopting collaboration technologies is cutting costs. We believe that businesses care about their carbon footprint, but IT investment decisions in the current economic climate first and foremost need to deliver measurable savings in pounds and pence,” said Lisandro Nunez, manager of Business Solutions, EMEA, Smart Technologies.
The Collaboration Technologies Survey consisted of ten questions and was completed by more than 200 business decision makers at leading companies, all employing over 250 people and from a range of sectors, including financial services, real estate construction, publishing and computing.