Poor audio quality on calls can lead to lost productivity

On average end-users are losing almost half an hour of productivity each week due to poor sound quality on voice calls, time spent double checking information via follow-up emails or calls.

Research from Danish audio brand EPOS shows 87 percent of end-users surveyed have experienced at least one pain point due to poor sound quality on calls, whether in the office or working from home.

These issues include background noise (42 percent), having to repeat yourself (34 percent) and asking for information to be repeated (34 percent). These pain points cause a number of costs for companies that lack access to high-quality audio technology.

For the average full-time worker, this equates to around three days of lost time per year. But the business suffers too, according to the study, poor audio quality on calls has meant dissatisfied clients (23 percent), financial loss due to incorrectly undertaking a task (18 percent), loss of a key piece of work or a deal resulting in financial loss to the company (18 percent), or even loss of a pitch or tender (19 percent).

As enterprises move towards unified communication (UC) strategies, these problems are likely to become more acute.

Theis Moerk, vice president of product management, enterprise solutions at EPOS says:

It is clear that employees would benefit from higher quality audio solutions to support their productivity and well-being as remote working becomes more popular. It's a positive development that 93 percent of decision makers are planning to purchase new equipment within the next 12 months, motivated in large part by the desire to keep up with the latest technology.

This is expected to include collaboration tools like headsets and speakerphones to match the ongoing UC deployments, where the importance of the endpoints is getting clearer. You simply won't get the full benefits of a UC deployment without considering the full experience. In the future we expect organizations to provide high-quality headsets to employees in the same way as they do laptops and smartphones; an essential part of the toolkit of the modern worker.

You can find out more on the EPOS site.

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