With the range of digital communication channels now available, the question of whether or not e-mail will become obsolete is relevant – but ICT and digital professionals believe that email will always continue to serve as a fast, simple, efficient and accurate means of communication.
Leading provider of end-to-end digital services and solutions Obsidian Systems believe statistics, like those depicted in the Radicati Group’s Email Statistics Report, 2018 – 2022, reflect the significance of email in today’s communication paradigm.
Some of these statistics include that as of 2018, there are 6.69 billion email accounts, and in the same year there are 3.823 billion email users and this is expected to increase to 4.258 billion by 2022. Moreover, 281 billion emails were sent and received in 2018 and this number is likely to climb to 333.2 billion by 2022. 72% of individuals in the EU used emails for communication in 2017 and this number was only 48% a decade ago.
Obsidian Systems suggest millennials and Gen Z, in particular, don’t use email except while they’re at work. Consumers of all ages are moving away from email as their primary communication platform in favour of social messaging apps. That’s not exactly breaking the news – according to a three-year-old App Annie report, people between the ages of 13 to 24 spend more than 3.5 times overall usage time in messaging apps.
An issue that has grown in significance is that of security.
Earlier in July 2020, Forbes acknowledged Gmail users struggled endlessly with widespread problems with its email filters could have had a direct impact on inboxes with risky and risqué messages sent to users’ inboxes.
With today’s tech-savvy criminals’ emails are continuously being targeted for exploiting users’ data and information for financial fraud. These cyber offenders have moved on and some have evolved.
Phishing, fraud and harassment emails will not end, requiring business to ensure they have implemented the best measures in place to secure their communication channels.
The pervasive and immediate nature of email and its ability to reach an extensive, expansive user base quickly makes it an ideal marketing tool.
- 88% of B2B marketers say email is the most effective lead generation tactic
- Marketers consistently ranked email as the single-most-effective tactic for awareness, acquisition, conversion, and retention
- 42% of businesses say email is one of their most effective lead generation channels
- 122 billion emails are sent every hour
- 68% of marketers say that email marketing is core to their business
“It turns out that not only is email not dead, but it’s also actually growing. It’s the way we’re using it that’s changing. Experts predict that by 2019, the number of email accounts will increase 26% to 5.59 billion says Muggie van Staden, MD of Obsidian Systems.
“What’s happening is email is evolving. Email solutions need to meet General Data Protection Regulation and Protection of Personal Information requirements and needs to be flexible and easy to manage at competitive price points and we still believe Open Source Solutions provide all of that.”
Obsidian Systems is behind the roll out of Zimbra’s SmarterPostbox offering, a scalable platform to provide open-core email collaboration and multiple integration options. It features best-in-class, out-of-the-box integrations with Slack, Dropbox, and Zoom.