CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--HeyWire Business, the proven cloud-based business messaging platform transforming business communication, today announced the results of a survey of business professionals that highlights trends in the way they communicate internally with colleagues and externally with clients, prospects and partners. The results are also available as an infographic and a research report.
More than 500 business professionals were surveyed this fall, revealing that:
- Business text messaging is happening – 67 percent are using text messaging for business-related communications.
- Business text messaging has become mainstream in business – 73 percent text with internal co-workers while 51 percent use text to communicate with external contacts, including customers, prospects and partners.
- There is a growing tension between personal and professional texting– 62 percent of professionals would like to separate business text messages from personal text messages.
- Voicemail is dead – 31 percent of respondents rarely use voicemail or are using it less than one year ago, with 37 percent rarely or never check their voicemail anymore.
The research illustrates the rapid adoption of text messaging in the workplace and highlights how today’s business professionals have moved beyond the days of voicemail or email and are comfortable with the fast, direct connection that text messaging offers.
In fact, according to the Mobile Marketing Association, 97 percent of text messages are read within the first three minutes of delivery, making it a much more efficient way to work. In contrast to texting, email is often going unanswered. Almost three-quarters of respondents said they used text messaging to communicate with co-workers – and the success of that communication has led to an increased acceptance of texting and regular use with customers, partners and prospects.
The research found that 62 percent of business professionals already wanted to separate their business-related and personal text messages. As business-related text messaging increases in today’s BYOD-enabled workplace, one can expect that this number will grow, meaning that both employees and company IT departments will need to find ways to better manage this form of communication.
By separating personal and business texting identities, professionals no longer need to share their personal mobile information with prospects and clients – and can better manage professional and personal responses.
Text messaging is a fast, secure way to immediately communicate with your most important business contacts,” said Meredith Flynn-Ripley, founder and CEO of HeyWire Business. “This research shows the revolutionary growth of text messaging in the workplace – and the desire of professionals to have a single business number that separates their personal and professional communication. Among those currently not texting for business, the two main barriers cited – seeking a record of communication and employer willingness to pay for text – are rapidly falling as businesses realize that technology can address their concerns on enterprise security and reliability.”
Additional Findings of Note:
Business Usage of Personal Mobile Devices
- BYOD – 23 percent of business professionals are using their personal mobile phone (as opposed to business-issued phones) for business-related text messaging.
- Privacy – Only 29 percent give their personal mobile number to all internal and external business contacts, while 43 percent provide their personal mobile number to coworkers.
Employee Concerns impeding Business Text Messaging Adoption
- 41 percent of business professionals that don’t use messaging for business today, said they didn’t do so because they preferred a formal record of communication.
- Another 22 percent of those that don’t use text messaging for business replied that it was because their messaging plan was not paid for by their company.
Changing Preferences for Business-Related Communications
- 70 percent of respondents felt that the ability to consolidate all business communications on one number would be very useful to them in their business communications.
- 64 percent said that they’d be likely to use a service that allowed them to use their business phone number (not mobile number) to send and receive work-related messages from their computer, tablet or smartphone.
- 60 percent of respondents said they’d be likely or highly likely to message customers in a professional and secure manner; while 68 percent said the same for messaging business associates.
With HeyWire’s Business Messenger, landline office numbers are entered into the HeyWire Business cloud and immediately text-enabled. Professionals can then access the easy-to-use Business Messenger app to send and receive text messages with both colleagues and clients from a smartphone, PC or tablet. By using their existing landline number, Business Messenger allows professionals to hand out “one number” externally to clients – maintaining mobile access while separating their professional and personal communications. All messages are encrypted and can be logged and stored based on corporate policy and preferences, assisting with compliance needs.
To see the full research report, entitled “Business Text Messaging: Key Trends in Business Communications,” please visit this link: http://heywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/HeyWire-Research-Report-Final_sml.pdf.
To see an infographic representation of the key findings, please see this link: http://heywire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/HeyWireInfographic_Final.pdf.
About HeyWire Business
For efficiency-oriented companies, HeyWire Business is the messaging service that provides the most secure and reliable way to productively connect with customers and co-workers. It does this by sending and receiving multimedia messages across computers, tablets & smartphones to anyone within and outside of an organization. Through partnerships with some of the world’s leading business technology providers, HeyWire Business is actively being sold into a market of over 20M business people. For more information, visit www.heywire.com.
