Inefficient internal communication: Billion-dollar grave in companies
Multimedia for internal communications has been rare in most companies. A mistake, as the results of a new study by TechSmith show: The consequences are declining employee motivation and productivity losses in the billions.
E-mails, written instructions and other text clutter: Welcome to the supposedly modern working life. A recent study by TechSmith in cooperation with the Centre for Economics and Business Research confirms that internal communication in most companies is still mothballed, despite advancing digitization and modern technologies. Multimedia content? Rather a marginal phenomenon. The consequences: declining motivation and loss of time.
The scientific proof: visual = efficient
As part of the representative study, 4,600 office employees from six countries (including over 1,000 from the DACH region) were surveyed on communication and information transfer at their workplace. In addition, the processing of information was examined with over 100 test subjects under scientific conditions. Two-thirds (67 percent) of the participants were able to complete the tasks set more quickly and reliably if they were given screenshots, screencasts or videos instead of pure text instructions to help them prepare. They were also more motivated than the employees who had only received text instructions.
The practice: Unused potential
Companies therefore benefit from replacing or at least supplementing time-honored methods of conveying information with modern, visual tools. In practice, however, this rarely happens: Only just under a quarter (22 percent) of respondents said that visual elements played an increased role in communication within their company.
Internal communication: the billion-dollar grave of the economy
The resulting time loss per employee averages 33 minutes in a normal working week. According to the study, if companies incorporated more visual elements - images, graphics or videos - they could reduce this time loss and thus achieve significantly higher productivity: Over a year, this equates to a difference of over 1,000 euros (over $1,200) per employee.
In the regions studied, an average increase in gross domestic product of 0.52 percent would be possible - corresponding to a gain of over 142 billion euros (167 billion U.S. dollars). For the DACH region in particular, an average increase in gross domestic product of 0.48 percent would be possible, equivalent to a gain of over 20 billion euros (23 billion U.S. dollars).
The six regions surveyed at a glance
| Region | Possible GDP increase | Possible GDP gain |
| UK | 0.59% | 16,579 billion US dollars |
| Australia | 0.55% | 6,527 billion US dollars |
| Canada | 0.55% | 8,961 billion US dollars |
| USA | 0.52% | 97,298 billion US dollars |
| France | 0.49% | 13,583 billion US dollars |
| DACH | 0.48% | 23,848 billion US dollars |
"Considering that well over half of the human brain is designed to process visual stimuli, it's not surprising that using visual elements to communicate information and ideas significantly improves individual productivity," said Wendy Hamilton, CEO of TechSmith. "Two conclusions can be drawn from the study: First, visual elements play an even greater role in comprehension than previously thought. Second, companies have a responsibility here - they need to be more aligned with employee needs and consider the business implications."
