BOSTON, Aug. 7, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A recent survey by LogMeIn, Inc. (Nasdaq:LOGM) and Ovum reveals a significant proliferation in both the types and number of meetings today's modern workers are having. More than 50 percent of workers surveyed reported an increase in the sheer number of meetings they are expected to attend, with two-thirds of these workers indicating that at least half of those meetings are not of value. Worse, the study found that the chronic late start times of these meetings are having a very real impact on worker productivity, most notably with executives, who, on average, are losing an estimated three hours a week – five and half days per year – in delayed meetings alone.
Conducted by Ovum on behalf LogMeIn, makers of the popular online collaboration product join.me, the survey explores the changing meeting behaviors and requirements of the collaborative workforce, along with the evolving habits of today's connected employee. Survey respondents were sourced from all major industry categories, including both public and private sector, and included respondents from North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Central and Latin America.
Among the key findings were that virtual meetings – collaboration sessions where one or more participants attend via teleconferencing and/or web conferencing – now account for more than 30 percent of all meetings, a statistic that speaks to the inherent realities of today's increasingly mobile, connected and consumerized workplace. Additionally, a third of all meetings are now ad hoc, impromptu meetings that are neither pre-scheduled nor formal in nature. This trend is especially acute with small, one-on-one meetings, with 43 percent of all one-on-one internal meetings, and 35 percent of all one-on-one external meetings being reported as impromptu and unscheduled.
Other key findings include:
-
Number of meetings increasing: Employees are having more meetings than ever before, with 91 percent of all employees surveyed saying that the number of meetings they are having is either static or rising.
-
Ad hoc meetings on the rise: Today across all meeting types, 37 percent of meetings are ad hoc and unscheduled. Meanwhile, 40 percent of workers report a rise in these types of meetings over the past 2 years.
-
Virtual meetings becoming the norm: 32 percent of all meetings are virtual, a trend that skews higher for younger workers (age 26-35) who report that 38 percent of all of their meetings are held virtually.
-
Half of meetings perceived as having little or no value: 67 percent of employees report that more than half of the meetings they attend are not of value.
-
Late start times frequently cited as key negative culprit: Late start times were cited as a key reason that meetings are perceived to fail to deliver value and are costing executives nearly three hours a week – five and a half days per year -- in lost time and productivity.
-
Devices become the second screen, even in face-to-face meetings: More than 60 percent of workers are taking laptops, nearly 50 percent are taking smartphones and almost 30 percent are taking tablets into in-person, face-to-face meetings. Additionally, 55 percent of workers report that they are using device-to-device screen sharing as an alternative to conference room projectors for in-person group meetings, blurring the lines between the tools used for physical and virtual meetings.
- Frustration, fit leading to desire for new solutions: With the evolving needs for meetings, 66 percent of corporate buyers report that they are actively looking for new collaboration solutions to replace traditional web conferencing tools. More than 40 percent cite a better user experience as a primary driver, by far the biggest factor in their consideration.
"We believe this unique study was the largest of its type to ever be conducted and confirms what many of us feel about meetings at work: that we are having more meetings than ever, but they are not as useful as they should be," said Richard Absalom at Ovum. "Today's highly mobile, connected worker is collaborating more than ever, but often finds that meetings are wasting their time and consequently their productivity. Businesses must be flexible and adapt to the growing number and types of meetings -- as well as the inherent changes in both employee preference and behavior -- if they want to encourage modern collaboration in a productive manner."
"Mobility, consumerized IT environments, and highly connected employees define the modern business and have fueled fundamental changes in how today's worker collaborates with colleagues and customers. This research provides an insightful view into the drivers of that evolution, the rapid proliferation of meeting types and the opportunities to empower efficient collaboration across the business," said W. Sean Ford, CMO of LogMeIn. "We believe that today's businesses can gain significant advantages when they encourage the collaboration tools and approaches that align with the realities of the modern worker and modern work environment."
Related materials:
Full report: http://lgme.in/1tXIP2G
Infographic: http://lgme.in/XEFF6s
Slideshare: http://www.slideshare.net/LogMeIn
About the research/methodology:
This paper was written by Ovum in collaboration with LogMeIn. The research and analysis contained herein is based on original, independent research by Ovum. The survey was comprised of 38 questions with responses gathered through a web-based survey program with 3,926 full time employees across 19 international markets, with regions covered including Europe (1,173), Asia Pacific (1,170), North America (1,040) and Central and Latin America (543). The industry scope spans all major industry categories, including both public and private sector. The survey and panel method employed for this study employs the same as that used for Ovum's annual employee-centric IT consumerization survey. This has been a key source of insight for enterprises since 2009 as a means to measure evolving employee needs, behavior and expectations in the workplace.
About LogMeIn, Inc.
LogMeIn (Nasdaq:LOGM) transforms the way people work and live through secure connections to the computers, devices, data, and people that make up their digital world. The company's cloud services free millions of people to work from anywhere, empower IT professionals to securely embrace the modern cloud-centric workplace, give companies new ways to reach and support today's connected customer, and help businesses bring the next generation of connected products to market.
LogMeIn is headquartered in Boston's Innovation District with offices in Australia, Hungary, India, Ireland, and the UK.