This is the second in a twelve-part series exploring Why Businesses Don’t Collaborate.
The full research report is available for Download.

Question

We asked how many of the emails people receive on a daily basis contain attachments.

65% of respondents said a few of the daily emails they receive contain attachments, and 25% said at least half contain attachments. Only 2% said that the vast majority include attachments.

Survey Comments

• Usually, the attached file is only a page or two long. The content could easily be put up on a wiki for review/comments/reading.
• I have emphasized within those I communicate with to use links to docs on doc server instead of e-mail. In fact, I have an interesting diagram about the problems caused by e-mailing documents (out of synch with master, mailbox full, etc). Many employees at my company ‘get it’.
• We generally include the path to network folder locations rather than attaching files.
• Too many do not grasp the concept of shared folders.
• The government is bad at sending a long chain of emails and responses with an attachment still attached from the original email.