NEW YORK, Sept. 25, 2007 -- New research released recently by Dimension Data shows that e-mail has overtaken telephony as a communication tool in the workplace. Other electronic communication tools are also reaching high adoption levels.

"In today's corporate environment there is a myriad of communications tools available including desktop telephony, mobile telephony and e-mail, among others. However, our research indicates that end-users prefer to communicate using electronic media rather than voice services such as telephony," said Rob Lopez, managing director, Solutions at Dimension Data.

The research reveals that e-mail and telephony are most widely offered by companies, and just as popular among users. 100% of the end-users surveyed use e-mail, followed by fixed-line telephony (80%), mobile telephony (76%) and instant messaging (66%).

At the same time, Lopez warns that the increase in e-mail usage is widening the personal communication gap. In other words, people would rather e-mail than speak to each other on the telephone.

"This raises questions about how effective and meaningful e-mail communication is when dealing with problem resolution and discussing complex issues. Also, e-mail communication can be considered less secure. This could have a negative impact on productivity as end-users struggle to deal with growing volumes of e-mails."

Interestingly, the research indicates that the three most ubiquitous technologies increase productivity the most. More than 70% of the end-users surveyed say e-mail has a positive impact on their productivity, followed by conventional fixed-line telephony (53%) and mobile telephony (52%). From a productivity standpoint, the research shows that instant messaging, blogs and softphones are considered most disruptive, and could negatively impact productivity if not managed properly.

"Consistent with my own research, there is a strong correlation between asynchronous communication, like e-mail, and multitasking," said Dr. Marshall Van Alstyne, professor of information systems economics at Boston University and MIT. "Although users may take more time to complete individual projects, they are actually finishing a greater number of tasks. E-mail does not speed work in all cases, but rather, its advantage is to help people juggle projects and multitask more effectively. This increases project completion rates."

Dimension Data commissioned Datamonitor to study user requirements and decision-maker plans in the areas of unified communications. Unified communications ensure richer interaction by integrating most forms of communication (voice, e-mail, fax, instant messaging, video) through a single interface. Survey respondents included 390 IT managers and 524 enterprise users across 13 countries in North America, Asia-Pacific and Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Other key findings in the Dimension Data survey include: unified communications is a vibrant and developing market; security is a concern rather than an issue; unified communications technologies are more likely to be outsourced or externally managed than other technologies; and unified communications mindshares are dominated by alpha brands within each market.

About Dimension Data

Dimension Data (LSE: DDT), a specialist IT services and solutions provider, helps clients plan, build, support and manage their network and IT infrastructures. Dimension Data applies its expertise in networking, security, operating environments, storage and contact center technologies and its unique skills in consulting, integration and managed services to create customized client services. For more information: Call 866-DIDATA-US or visit http://www.dimensiondata.com/na.