"David Lavenda, VP of marketing at social email company harmon.ie, [offers] up common ways that well intentioned companies muck up the roll out of social tools and suggesting better ways to bring these tools to your team..."

"With none of Wilbur Wright’s humility, here are my predictions for some significant business developments in 2012. #1 Social business will take off in 2012, but companies will struggle to adopt. Management consultants will champion ‘digital transformation’ initiatives ala Y2K in order to help companies change business processes and worker behavior. But the real gains will be made where companies can find ways to adopt social and collaboration tools without making workers change their daily work habits."

"[Atos' no-email] policy depends on accepting the false premise that email is inherently tied to information overload and that by killing it the problem will rectify itself. In reality, it doesn’t matter which communication system you use, there will always be information overload if it isn’t managed properly."

"Atos' problem doesn't stem from using email - it stems from the inefficient use of email as a communications medium. Make the process more efficient and you dramatically improve staff productivity - while they stay firmly within their comfort zone."

"Accessing the tools of social networking is relatively simple, but deciding what will work best for organisational or individual needs is more difficult, partly because of the differing tastes, requirements or habits of individual employees... Services such as harmon.ie have emerged to help businesses meld systems such as Microsoft’s SharePoint collaboration software with the Lotus Notes email and database system."

"Inspired by studies showing low user adoption of enterprise platforms like Microsoft SharePoint, we solicited advice on promoting SharePoint adoption from some of the most experienced and influential experts around. Each of the following road-tested tips and suggestions were supplied by one of the “Top 25 Most Influential SharePoint Thought Leaders in Social Business Today."

"New research just released by Capgemini/MIT reveals that two-thirds of global enterprise companies are failing to evolve into digital enterprises. According to the report, people and culture are the biggest barriers to digital transformation. I totally agree."

"Old habits die hard, so don’t fight them. Instead give your staff tools they will actually use, says David Lavenda of harmon.ie."

"Favorite Ways to Slack: Ironically, the overabundance of electronic devices for collaboration, social networking, and communication tools designed to make it easy to complete work-related tasks is leading to rudeness at the office and at home. “Consider that during face-to-face meetings, 41 percent of workers remain glued to their communication devices, sending instant messages, responding to texts, listening to voicemails, or checking their emails,” says David Lavenda, VP of Product Strategy for harmon.ie... Time is also being wasted on inefficiency...."

"October 26th is 'Least Productive Day' at work. In honor of this, we've done some sleuthing to find out how much time is really being wasted at work and tallied up how much money its costing companies in lost productivity."

"The new infographic from harmon.ie, showing the top 25 online influencers in the Sharepoint community...is an impressive array of non-Microsoft writers who sustain Sharepoint through insight and critique. While some companies try to influence a community of writers, smart ones create or sustain a community of influencers."

"Almost four out of five organizations support Microsoft SharePoint for enterprise collaboration...yet SharePoint adoption rates at many companies remain quite low. So it is not surprising that collaboration strategists seek advice from industry experts...Harmon.ie* has researched the impact of top SharePoint experts and today published the findings of a ‘Top 25 SharePoint Online Influencers’ study."

"...managing [digital overload] is not about blocking access to social media channels, but rather integrating the tools into peoples’ day-to-day work environment, so they have ready access to people and information within their work context."

"Regaining control of your life - and your sanity - requires setting boundaries between work and personal time and managing communications expectations. This can be tough, especially when not everyone at the office or at home is on the same page, but it's not impossible. It helps to begin with an understanding of just how critically important "downtime" is to your mental well-being and the fact that, despite the perceived benefits of multi-tasking, setting clearly defined boundaries can actually save you more time, improve your productivity and even enhance your creativity."

"While an increasing number of enterprises are considering using a 'true' social platform such as Jive, IBM Connections or Yammer for social computing and SharePoint for document collaboration and Intranet, this best-of-breed strategy may actually result in creating a whole new stand-alone social silo that is disconnected from SharePoint and Office."

"Employers who hand out smartphones and laptops to their staff may be unwittingly creating a class of disruptive gadgets addicts in the workplace, a new study suggests."

"A new survey has revealed many workers become so engaged with their new tech toys, work is the last thing on their mind."

"These tips will help you cope when your work can always find you." - Yaacov Cohen, President and CEO of harmon.ie

"More than four in 10 UK workers remain glued to their smart phones during face-to-face meetings, according to new research from social email provider harmon.ie...So rude…"

"And one in five workers will cheerfully defy their superiors and stay connected when they've been told to explicitly disconnect, according to the research by social email provider harmon.ie. Really this is just passive-aggressive behaviour going electric..."

"David Lavenda, of harmon.ie, said: ‘It would appear that we have a classic case of double standards in the workplace...70 per cent of those that rudely interrupt meetings themselves would be offended if someone did the same thing to them.'"

"Only a third even admit to disrupting face-to-face meetings to answer their mobile phones even when 40 per cent agree it is rude, One in three workers aged 20-39 will take a mobile phone call while in a meeting, compared to one in five of us older types over 40. Only ten percent of those over 60 would dream of it. Nineteen percent of respondents tell their superiors to sod off and stay connected when they’ve been told to explicitly disconnect.

"If you can take your eye off your mobile phone long enough to read this, you may find it informative. The mobile phones, laptops and BlackBerrys dished out to workers up and down the country cut productivity rather than boost it, research shows."

"Next time someone disrupts a meeting by tapping away on their phone or feels the urge to sends tweets through the CEO's quarterly update remember that according to research they are far from unusual."

"Too much gear for collaboration, social networking and communication tools is making people ruder, according to a new survey from some ginks working for a 'social email provider' harmon.ie."

"David Lavenda, vice president of product strategy at harmon.ie, said the "perceived pressure" to stay connected was leading many to neglect their manners. 'Thirty years ago, only doctors carried pagers. Reaching out to them after hours was only for matters of life or death. Yet, today … tools designed to [make] us more productive are encroaching upon our personal lives.'"

The overabundance of electronic devices for collaboration, social networking and communication tools designed to make it easy to complete work-related tasks is leading to rudeness at the office and at home.

"A third of UK workers in a new survey fear they will lose their competitive edge if they disconnect from their inbox for 30 minutes or less, and 20pc felt in danger of losing the upper hand over their careers when cut off from email for just five minutes."

David Lavenda, of harmon.ie, said: ‘It would appear that we have a classic case of double standards in the workplace, with 82 per cent complaining about other peoples’ tendencies to disrupt proceedings by answering a mobile phone, tweeting, sending an instant message, responding to emails or even just updating their social status.
‘Yet, rather ironically, 70 per cent of those that rudely interrupt meetings themselves would be offended if someone did the same thing to them. Clearly, the perceived pressure to stay connected has led many people to neglect their manners.’

"Constant interruptions - either initiated or suffered - not only rob employees of time on the job, they also have a negative impact on the quality of a worker's thoughts...Deep thinking requires sustained concentration. (And "now where was I?" doesn't qualify as a deep thought.)"

"...digital distractions account for almost 60 percent of workplace interruptions and cost businesses an estimated $10,375 in lost productivity per person per year....As a result, companies in the study said they were looking to implement tactics such as "no email days" and blocking social media sites that contribute to the distractions."

"Leaders of many companies spent the recession asking employees to ramp up productivity—and found that workers, perhaps fearful of downsizing, rose to the challenge. Later, many bosses and employees never put on the brakes...Fortunately, some of the best strategies for improving your team's productivity involve changes you can make in the way that both you and your managers run your company."

"Reducing distractions, and finding times when you can avoid electronic distractions entirely to focus on the task at hand, has become a necessity. These six tips can help you to minimize distractions and work more productively."

"[W]e found that people were staying connected at times that may be disruptive, rude or detrimental to business and personal relationships," said Jenna Dobkin, a spokeswoman for harmon.ie. "People need to learn when it's important to stay connected to the social networks and when it's time to turn off their devices."

"harmon.ie aggregates a lot of applications running around on your screen into one window. So we actually reduce the number of distractions that you have by aggregating the different pieces into a single window..."

"Reducing distractions, and finding times when you can avoid electronic distractions entirely to focus on the task at hand, has become a necessity. These six tips can help you to minimize distractions and work more productively."

"Electronic media serves us well -- our cell phones text messages, email and social media -- but does it cut into our productivity? Jenna Dobkin with social email provider harmon.ie says it does..."

"Working in social media all day, it can be difficult to concentrate on doing the work I do...However, managing this is still my responsibility and I need to take it seriously if I want to stay employed. My employer should not have to come up with software solutions or new policies that block, manage, organize my time so that I can be productive. That is my job."

"A number of the tools you might be using at your business to increase productivity may be doing the exact opposite."

"What I found most profound about the survey feedback was the recurring idea that digital distractions are somehow the modern form of hanging around the water cooler....This totally misses the point. The water cooler is a controlled interruption. You choose to participate or you don't...On the other hand, when you trying to work on a document but you need to toggle through 9 different screens to share it with a colleague, there is no alternative; these 'interruptions' are an inherent part of the work process."

"With us now is Jenna Dobkin with the company harmon.ie, with some fascinating results from a new national survey of our social network use and how often we're interrupted and distracted at work as a result"

"Though they're meant to help us on the job, digital tools like Facebook, email and instant messenger are distracting employees and costing companies money, according to harmon.ie."

"New technology is supposed to streamline life and work, allowing people to operate more efficiently and productively. But sometimes, the opposite happens. "

"...in this social media-obsessed age, typical water cooler banter and pointless meetings are no longer the greatest time-wasters at work."

"There's a new study out suggesting that social media reduces worker productivity. My guest right now is David Lavenda, Vice President of Marketing and Product Strategy for harmon.ie..."

"Many say that the Internet and computers these days help improve productivity. Because of digital technology, office meetings can be promptly held via Skype or GotoMeeting, a manager can issue announcements to his staff through a Facebook group page, or a secretary can send documents to his boss…. However, according to a recent survey, 53% of people waste at least an hour at work every day, and most of their distractions are digital."

"How much time do you spend each day being distracted by technology?"

“Report: Social Tools Cost Millions In Workplace Disruptions”

"So what does it all mean? Well, it means...wait a minute, four of my Twitter friends just tweeted something. I'll be back after I check it out..."

"People are just being pushed to the limit..." Lavenda said. "There is a feeling that we are always being inundated with information."

"Nearly 60 percent of work interruptions now involve either using tools like email, social networks, text messaging and IM, or switching windows among disparate standalone tools and applications."

"For all of us, it’s time to take back the Internet and find ways to control our digital addiction," said Yaacov Cohen, co-founder and CEO of harmon.ie.

"If you find yourself surrounded by rude and unproductive colleagues, there is a good chance technology is to blame."

"An interview with Jenna Dobkin with harmon.ie, who conducted a survey on technical distractions at the workplace and how it affects us employees tells us a lot more now..."

"A survey suggests that digital interruptions - social media, email, searching for stray documents etc - distract employees for 'at least' an hour a day. Who knew?"

"Talking with a handful of downtown Minneapolis employees, they say they’re distracted by a variety of different things including social networking, email, web surfing and conversations with co-workers."

"The familiar picture of managers checking e-mails in meetings is only part of a picture where workers report they leave their devices on during church, movies or even [in bed]..."

"The survey of more than 500 employees showed that respondents spent at least 30 minutes daily to search for documents including emails. The cost of that searching comes to $3,900 per employee per year…"

"Distractions caused by social media, e-mail and badly designed office technology may cost a 1,000-worker company more than $10 million a year, a survey says."

"The majority (57%) of work interruptions now involve either using collaboration and social tools like email, social networks, text messaging and IM, or switching windows among disparate standalone tools and applications."

"While people become addicted to Facebook in the home, a new survey by harmon.ie found that more than half of U.S. workers waste an hour or more a day on 'interruptions'."

"Among the harmon.ie study's findings: More than 50 percent of workers waste an hour or more a day on interruptions, with the largest percentage coming from electronic devices and emails. Forty-five percent of workers said they can't go more than 15 minutes on average without an interruption."

"The very tools we rely on to do our jobs are also interfering with that mission. Were clearly seeing what psychologists call `online compulsive disorder' spill over from our personal lives to the work environment", he said.

"Does social networking harm productivity? It’s a question still on the minds of IT departments and HR chiefs, many of whom feel valuable work hours are being lost to the likes of Twitter and LinkedIn."

“The needs of mobile workers are unique. In this article, David Lavenda, VP Marketing and Product Strategy at harmon.ie offers a fresh look at what it means to collaborate on the road, and opportunities that can't be missed.”

"Distractions could be costing larger companies millions of dollars each year, according to a survey of 515 white-collar workers done by the polling group, uSamp, and the software company harmon.ie."

“Common sense is the best tool to stay focused,” Lavenda said. But, he acknowledged, “Changing people’s behavior is the most difficult part.”

"Are documents still relevant in the world of Enterprise 2.0? Web 2.0 pundits have argued that wikis, activity streams and real time status updates will soon replace the “archaic” document concept. But they’re wrong, and here is why…"

The Vancouver Sun: "Average worker now glances at email 30 to 40 times an hour and changes activity every three minutes"

"According to Cohen, the Sabbath is "a very good digital detox strategy....And it's from 5,000 years ago"

"For mobile and social media trends, 2010 was explosive, Yaacov Cohen, CEO, harmon.ie, told CNBC. “We are now carrying social networks in our pockets,” he said. 2011 will be the year of context, and taking back control of the internet."