Voicemail leaves users with a headache

Voicemail is the third most hated feature of office life in the UK, dwarfed only by traffic wardens and junk mail, according to a study published this week.

Management Today magazine looked at several surveys to discover how hated voicemail is. One revealed that seven out of ten callers hang up as soon as they hear a voicemail message and another showed that most people consider voicemail to be the most useless communications technology yet.

Dave Bramley, technical director at voicemail reseller, Sotel, admitted to Silicon.com that the technology is still in its infancy and many organisations have yet to work out how to use it properly.

But he stressed that much of the problem is down to a slack approach in training on the part of the company. "Companies have their cake because they have lowered staffing costs but can't eat it because they aren't putting in the training investment", he said.

He admitted the responsibility lies with the vendor as well, saying that many are failing to point out pitfalls in the system.

According to Bramley, the bottom line is that a company using voicemail efficiently has an advantage to one without a system at all.

Management Today have produced a 'Guide to Voicemail Etiquette' which it hopes will ease the voicemail nightmares. It recommends that users update their greetings regularly and keep messages brief. It also warns that using messages such as 'have a nice day' are a waste of time.