What If Everyone Only Communicated via Email: A Corporate Horror Story

We already spend ? of our working hours on email — more specifically, 28%, according to McKinsey research. How much would we spend if we had no other means of communication??

To answer this question, let’s imagine that you’re fighting your way through a cold, and you decide to work from home.?

Now, don’t forget, this is a horror story, as promised in the title? — so let’s introduce a terrifying element, shall we?

All you have at your disposal to communicate with your team is email. And, to make matters worse, you can’t find specific information that you need in order to move on with your tasks.?

Dun-dun-duuuun! Let’s see what happens, shall we?

First circle of hell: Unproductive mornings (and days)

You’ve already spent 2 hours digging through an enormous email chain that allegedly has all the information you need to start your new project, but you still can’t find the details you need.?

The email’s search function is only yielding unrelated results, which would normally infuriate you, except you’re pretty sure the information you need isn’t even in the chain you’re sifting through.?

In theory, every project has its own chain — the team’s effort to streamline information and communication — but you know that separate emails related to this project constantly land in your inbox.?

So, you don’t even know where to look.

Essentially, you just wasted your entire morning on a fruitless task, only to still be in the same position as you were at the very beginning of your work day.

You consider screaming into a pillow out of sheer frustration, but decide against it — no use in screaming when this is something you have to deal with almost daily. When you can’t talk with people face-to-face, the chances of you getting the information you need are slim to none.

Which makes your attempt at working from home borderline impossible.

Second circle of hell: Cluttered inboxes

Emails might prove to be your downfall, you think as you click in and out of various messages that seem even vaguely related to what you’re looking for.?

As if your predicament wasn’t terrible enough, you hear the sound of new emails as you go on with your search. The ding-ding-ding of incoming messages is so annoying that you’re on the verge of giving up, not only on your search but on this entire day.

Emails have always been distracting for you, their constant influx disrupting your workflow and giving you even more anxiety.?

They also make it hard for you to be productive.?

You often get stuck in searches like the one you’re in now, wasting away entire days of productivity.?

But, more importantly, you also often fail to get anything done (even on days when you have all the information) because you’re constantly trying to declutter your inbox.?

Dealing with emails is vital, as you can’t forgo communication. But you still wish it was more effective than this.

Third circle of hell: Missed messages

It’s not just your professional communication that’s affected by the ineffectiveness of email — it’s your personal one as well.?

You have dedicated email chains for chatting with your coworkers, but, more often than not, you have no time to go through all the messages people send over the day.?

Today, for example, 107 unread emails are sitting in the email chain you have with your work besties. There’s no way you can go through them all. You can’t even look through 5 or 10 of them because your search needs to be your priority.?

Already mourning the inside jokes and potential plans you’ll miss, you continue clicking through other, more work-related emails, in the hopes of finally finishing your search.?

Fourth circle of hell: Phishing attacks

In between clicks, you spot a light at the end of a tunnel — an email with an enticing subject line: “Congrats!”

Now, you know that’s not what you’re looking for, but you think you deserve a break after all you’ve been through since this morning, and an email with a great subject line seems like the perfect way to rest for a bit.

The email states that you’re one of the best performers in your department (took them a while to notice!) and names you as the winner of the company’s productivity incentive program — you just won a free vacation!

Frown wiped from your face, you rush to fill out the form and snatch that prize — you deserve it, after all — not sparing a single thought that this particular email could be anything other than a reward for your hard work.

Out of the horror and into the light — Business communication apps

Seems like our story has a happy end, right?

Wrong.

As some of you may have guessed it, the fictional-you from our story just clicked on a scam email and compromised personal and professional confidential data.?

Chances are, the attackers will sell that info to the highest bidder and you will most likely get fired for it.?

This fictional reality is bleak — but yours doesn’t have to be.

With business communication apps like Pumble, you can avoid the fate of the fictional-you from our story and ensure that your communication is:

• Organized — features such as direct messages and channels allow you to organize your conversations by topics or teams;
• Streamlined — you can reply to people in a thread instead of a new message, thus keeping the workspace decluttered and all vital information regarding a specific topic in one place;
• Accessible — features like voice and video calls allow you to call for help at any time and not have to rely solely on written communication,
• Transparent — the superior search function in Pumble allows you to instantly find what you’re looking for, while the unlimited history feature offers storage of all the data, files, and links you’ve shared since the very beginning;
• Secure — there are no phishing attacks in Pumble, so you can rest assured that all messages that you get were actually intended for you (and aren’t malicious).

So, if you’re searching for the perfect solution to your company’s communication problem — and you’d like to avoid the fate described in this article — check out Pumble.?

Save your and your team’s time, sanity, and productivity levels — try Pumble for free today!