WHAT Word Costs Your Business the Most?

EPOS’ Understanding Sound Experiences report highlights the expense of poor audio

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Published: May 7, 2020

Maya Middlemiss

How many times have you experienced interference or friction at some point during a video or audio call, with a colleague — or worse still, a client? If so, you’re in good company, according to new research by global market research firm IPSOS and high-end audio brand EPOS. Perhaps the disruption only lasted a second, required only a single repetition… but what do those seconds cost you, when you add them together? Worse still, how about the cost of misunderstandings you don’t even know about, such as frustrated clients, lost opportunities, and breaks in productivity and concentration… All caused by poor sound.

“I’m sorry, please could you repeat that…?”

The real cost of all that time spent saying ‘what?’ is not the easiest thing to quantify, but EPOS’ Understanding Sound Experiences research has measured the impact at almost half an hour of directly lost productivity per worker per week — a time cost which can reflect a loss of over £30,000/$70,000 per year for an employer of 100 people on a median wage. And that’s just the measurable productivity deficit, of repetition and getting connected, well before you consider the business impact of dissatisfied clients, incorrect instructions, or missing out on potential deals.

You can’t put a price on a contract you never got offered, because of the poor impression created by a crackly call. What does it say about your business and the professionalism of the image it projects, if you are unable to provide a calling environment which enables the uninterrupted flow of conversation?

The high price of poor sound

The single biggest culprit in all these losses is bad audio equipment, a simple peripheral problem which creates all kinds of issues. Frictions came from background noise, having to repeat remarks, and asking for the other party to repeat themselves, all impacting on concentration, efficiency, and productivity in incremental ways. For customer service agents who spend long periods on the phone, the effect compounds all day to build personal stress and aggravation as well.

For all of us in the modern distributed workforce, when we communicate freely and easily with our clients and colleagues we feel connected, trust grows, we maintain and deepen relationships, and collaborate effectively. Critical instructions and directions are understood, and acted upon correctly.

And when we experience interference, interruption, or repetition, all of that is lost, in an instant.

We typically enjoy faster internet data speeds and better quality connectivity than ever before, and — in normal times at least — greater flexibility than ever about where to do our work. Right now as more of us are forced into working from home it should make no difference, to our ability to connect and collaborate with colleagues and clients anywhere in the world.

What’s letting us down is poor audio equipment — the ‘last mile’ problem is now all about the last few millimetres, from the incoming call to our eardrums.

The best audio equipment, such as that created for professional use by EPOS, might be an investment — but not as expensive the cost of not being heard.

 

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