Despite advances in technology, organisations find that a proliferation of communications tools is thwarting collaboration and slowing down their decision-making process, according to a survey sponsored by mobile network operator Orange.

Orange surveyed more than 600 CIOs from multinational corporations across a number of industries in Europe. Nearly half - 45 per cent - of respondents said multiple communication channels cause severe delays in the response time from colleagues which can negatively impact business processes and productivity.

Another 35 per cent agree that uncoordinated or ineffective contact with colleagues hampers their organisation’s ability to meet deadlines on time. This has led directly to lost sales and revenue or increased customer dissatisfaction, the CIOs said.

Consequently, 41 per cent of respondents said their organisations are currently exploring unified communication strategies, while another 15 per cent are trialling or evaluating a unified communications system. Respondents identified customer services and sales as the major beneficiaries of unified communications.