I'm a bit bemused by all of the voicemail hate on here. I'm 42, so I feel I'm in the area between those that hate phone calls (younger, in general) and those that hate texting (older, in general). I enjoy being reachable by people (family, clients, employees, etc.) and I don't want them to have an obstacle to sending me a message. Certainly voicemail is an annoyance but it's also often the best option. Just last night I was driving to the hospital to visit a friend and called another friend to let him know the status of my sick friend. I left a voicemail and it was the best solution.
I've noticed that the texting only generation seems to have anxiety about making or receiving phone calls and the real-time conversation that requires. I think some of the voicemail hate is just a reaction to that discomfort.
I'm 45. I prefer sms texts or emails to voicemail. I prefer sms texts or email to actuL voice calls too - it's just easier to share information. Of course sometimes phone calls are for just chatting and voicemails fail for that too.
Currently iMessages are causing considerable problems with silent fails and no option to send as SMS (which they used to have - not sure why that changed). All the other messaging solutions have some fairly big flaws too.
Also: i really really fucking hate the way I'll get a notification with a partial message, and then have to open the app to read the message. Opening the app to read the message has a delay of maybe a minute before the message downloads - why? Why can they show me a preview in a notification and then take an age to give me that same text in their app? This is particularly bad with Facebook's messenger app (so bad I'm tempted to delete the app and leave different contact details on FB) but als happens on Whatsapp and others.
The "send as SMS option is now hidden. If message you sent does not say "Delivered" under it, you can press and hold your message. There will be a "Sens as SMS" option in the context menu.
No, this does not work. I get [copy][more]. Selecting more just leads to a select & delete dialog, with no ability to send as SMS. This is to a contact where I had previously sent messages as SMS before.
I also prefer SMS and email, for most conversations. I'm just surprised so many state that they would rather force someone else to send an SMS or email because they hate voicemail so much.
No one is being forced to send a message. If it feels like a big burden to type up 140 chars or a few lines of an email to send a message, maybe that message isn't important enough to bother someone with. (talking internal business here, not personal or external)
The reason I dislike voicemail for internal business - not sales, support, biz dev or personal calls -
is because it often implies that a call wasn't planned, which means that someone wants you to make decisions on the fly or they think that your time can be interrupted whenever they feel like it. Of course there are a thousand exceptions to this - but I prefer other means of communication for internal business interactions.
So, if I'm calling you while driving, you would rather I have to pull off to the side of the road, or risk and accident to leave you a message?
Your dislike of voicemail makes no sense... Are you saying you want to get rid of phones altogether? Because that's what it sounds like.. voicemail is a fallback from a phone call.
text is good for one-way information sending, but I've found that when you need to actually discuss something, a 3 minute phone call can replace a 15 e-mail exchange.
90% of the time when I call, I know there are alternative methods to reach my contact (either a mobile number if I calling a desk or vice-versa, or email, or if I know it's a work mobile, I'll freely SMS my contact)
Leaving a voicemail is a last ditch effort, that often results in some feeling of action being taken on my part, that could very well sit un-listened for weeks or forever. I try very hard to not leave voicemail without essentially transcribing what I left as an email as well.
I am 45 and hate my voicemail at work but normally don't text anyone outside of my IT department.
A solution may be a Google Voice type service for businesses. It would be so much easier to get voicemails in my email that are already dictated so have an idea what they are about and just "click" play if needed. One won't have to pick up the phone, type their password, and listen to each message. It's 2014 (almost 2015)!
I'm near your age. Voice mail is slow and imprecise compared to text. If someone has a callback number I have replay it 2 or 3 times to get it written down assuming I can hear them clearly. Text is clear and unambiguous. If you want to talk in real time, let's use video. This is why I haven't had a phone in my house or at my desk for 2 years.
I've been using Google Voice (formerly Grand Central) for my primary contact number for years. The integration with hangouts is mostly complete now, and not a bad way to interact.
I can check my voicemail via my computer or an app on my phone. They also transcribe the voicemails, as well as offering blackout times, and buckets for different calling numbers. If it's from a cell phone, I can directly reply via text.
During the day, at work, I pretty much ignore my phone, and send all calls to voicemail... being able to quickly see and reply is useful (though sometimes the transcriptions are particularly bad).
There are/were other similar services to this out there, not sure what's available in the UK, but you may want to look into it.
You missed the part where voicemails are emailed to you transcribed, integrating nicely with Gmail. All of my voicemails are in Gmail, which is perfect for Inbox Zero GTD.
Yes, forgot to mention that option, as I don't use it... I've pretty much gotten used to the Hangouts integration at this point.. except the outbound dialing, it's gotten very decent. Hopefully they clear up a few of the dangling quirks.
I'm 43 and I hate voicemail. It just takes so long to get the information. Dial a number, wait for connection, press more buttons, find a pen and paper to write down any important bits of the message etc.
"Visual voicemail" moved me from strong dislike to being mostly OK with it. At most it usually requires tapping my phone twice - open app, play message. Still need to potentially transcribe, I guess, but there's too many people and places that will never switch to texting anytime soon.
worse yet are voicemail systems such as Lync that try to transcribe it for you - no need to look for pen and paper, because it's just gibberish most of the time. when I see a Lync "voicemail" message, it means that I email the sender and ask what they want.
personally, i find the absence of feedback when talking to the voicemail to be a little unsettling. I have trouble expressing my thoughts when leaving a voicemail, and I usually ends up texting the person instead.
I'm 45, and I definitely notice those feelings despite having grown up with answering machines and voicemail. Composing a text is slightly more work than just blabbing away. But I think it's so much nicer for the recipient that I'd much rather text than leave a voicemail.
Also depends on the voicemail interface; American iOS users get a fancy voicemail interface in most cases, whereas many of us elsewhere have to go through pure voice and dial, which takes forever.
If you have an Android phone, setup google voice... Either install the GV app, or install Hangouts Dialer, then request an inbound number.
It gives you integrated voicemail, with automated (though sometimes bad) transcription. It makes dealing with VM as easy as SMS, and if it came from a cell, you can reply with SMS right there. The hangouts integration has gotten better as well.
I've been using it since it grand central before google bought it... There are other similar services as well.
In the example from last night that I posted about, I left a very important voicemail about someone's health just before I walked into a hospital where I knew my phone wouldn't work very well. I know that the recipient of my voicemail appreciated my effort in communicating the situation. He would not have known the urgency of the situation had we gone into the phone tag dance.
I completely understand that voicemail can be annoying. I often prefer other means as well. I'm just surprised so many would refuse to use it at all.
Many people refuse to call back numbers that are unknown to them. Others (myself) tend not to call back on a missed call without a voicemail or a text. I assume if you just call and leave no message, you'll reach out to me another way or it was just asking what was up.
The problem is that "Telco" hasn't existed (at least in the USA) since divestiture of Bell System. Tariffed services include access to the PSTN as in terms of trunk lines (esp. PRIs), which allow end users to control call appearance including specification of the originating Directory Number (DN) that is passed in the SS7 call setup message (ISUP). It is even easier with SIP trunks.
This is a problem similar to DNS spoofing. Often a large organisation will have an 8xx number (toll-free) which they wish to appear for CLID on all outgoing calls from every line, every office.
How do you validate whether the toll-free (or whatever) CLID number passed is correspondent with the actual number of the OUTWATS trunk (or SIP trunk) used by a given caller? Trunk lines need not necessarily have a DN assigned to them if they are purely for outgoing service.
You would need to setup facilities to "sign" each originating call with a cryptographic certificate assigned to the owner of the number passed and then equipment on each terminating set to validate this.
Telco (FSVO "telco") may well not be able to fix CLID, broken as it may be - they can replace it for all the good it does. But it's always aggravated me that they can provide ANI to 8xx customers. Way different service I'll grant.
When I have other ways to contact someone, I feel like leaving a voicemail is slightly inconsiderate, as it is the mode of asynchronous communication that requires the most effort from the receiver.
It's much easier for them to see that they have a missed call from me, or see a text message to see what the call was about, or to read a quick email rather than listen to a voicemail.
There's nothing inconsiderate about it. I'm not returning calls from the numbers I don't know, unless they leave a VM. Since there's visual VM, it's easy to delete VMs mid-sentence too, so I don't have to sit through the sales message either.
For me, I've never liked how interruptive and demanding phone calls are. I would never barge into somebody's home and immediately insist on attention no matter what they were doing. But ringing phones are like that. So I definitely notice some politeness-related anxiety when I call people.
I also notice a little bit of stage fright with both phone calls and voicemails. Phones rob you of almost all the in-person feedback that lets you judge reaction. And they also don't allow the sort of self-checking and self-editing that text messages and email do. Once you say something dumb or get caught in an awkward pause, it's just out there.
Neither really bothers me, I happily call people and leave voicemails as needed. But I definitely notice the feelings.
Right, re: demanding/interrupting. That's the main thing I hate about cell phones; people expect you to be on-call at all times and express anger when you aren't; the only excuse being that I was driving or didnt hear it. When in reality I just didnt feel like answering the phone and talking.
Sure, one could merely be annoyed by having to speak in real-time with people with whom one wants or needs to communicate somehow. But others are likely to find that annoyance strange, so that such a preference (or the exposure of it) is likely to also be a source of anxiety.
In my office voicemail as just used as proof you tried to get a hold of someone. "They didn't answer my email, and when I called they didn't answer, so I left a voicemail". Once you leave a voicemail you have satisfactorily established to management that you have made every effort to reach someone. I haven't listened to a voicemail in over 3 years.
The first thing I do when I sit down at a new job is disconnect my landline or VoIP phone and put it in a drawer. HipChat, Skype chat, Email, text, or FB message, please. Voice is dead to me.
I'm looking forward to the day when you can buy a SIM card from a cell carrier which offers only data and text, no voice call support.
Also, am I the only one that is mildly disappointed that Coke's headquarters isn't shaped like a huge Coke can?
The beauty of these channels is that they're all asynchronous by default. If you're busy, answer that IM later. If you're getting distracted, it's because you're letting it happen.
T Mobile actually sells service for $30/mo that includes unlimited data and texting with only 100 minutes a month of voice. That service is basically designed for data only.
> I'm looking forward to the day when you can buy a SIM card from a cell carrier which offers only data and text, no voice call support.
Is this hyperbole? If you will suffer my pontifications for a moment, i would argue that :
Voice is a poor substitute for face to face communication, as great detail in body language is lost.
Further, text is a poor substitute for voice since great detail in inflection and tone is lost.
While it is true that a great majority of my conversations at work are by text/email, i would maintain that my most productive/useful ones are still face-to-face.
This principle applies even more strongly to conversations with my friends and family.
I am quite curious as to if you would fully give up voice for remote communication?
> Also, am I the only one that is mildly disappointed that Coke's headquarters isn't shaped like a huge Coke can?
This is absolutely ridiculous. Do you expect Subway's headquarters to be shaped like a cold-cut sandwich?
In all seriousness, The Coca-Cola Company produces and distributes only their syrup concentrate to franchisees, whom bottle it for sale. Yes they have a subsidiary which oversees North American production and distribution of beverages, however that is the only one they own and operate.
And, with that in mind, their headquarters should resemble a large bag of goo instead of their trademark bottles.
Well I have't the faintest desire to work for Oracle but their decision to make their building look like (old-style, enterprise) disk drives does redeem them slightly IMHO.
What's wrong with a bit of whimsy and/or promoting a bit of esprit du corps? And in a F500 consumer company, if you can make something iconic always be used as a stock photo in articles about your business, sector, or region, it probably is a bonus.
That's true, and I responded to a comment that even included the phrase "trademarked bottles." I simply wanted to point out that Coca Cola owns more than the formula.
That's not to suggest that I would want to work in a building shaped like a bottle, a can, a newspaper, toilet bowl cleaner, or anything other than a building.
I lived in the US and currently in Brazil, so it's great to see two different aspects of the "voice mail culture".
Before cell phones were introduced here, almost every one in middle class had someone bring them an answering machine. When cell phones started showing up, thou, people didn't use voice mails that much.
Today, when you wanna talk to someone and they're not available, you just leave a text or a WhatsApp message. If it's not that important, they'll just see their missed calls and call you back.
This article made me remember that when I started working in the US, my boss got mad many times because I NEVER checked my voice mails so I missed meetings etc. Haha!
I believe part of it is that in Brazil, at least for cell phones, only the caller pays, not the receiver of the call as well (as is the case in the US). It's pretty common to leave a short message of the form "call me back", or just a missed call - a longer message wastes your minutes.
> my boss got mad many times because I NEVER checked my voice mails
I had that problem too. Now, the company phone system emails voice messages left on voice mail. It's very effective, and I never miss a voice message now. I like to think they did that because of me (but probably not).
My voice mail message at work for the last few years has suggested that people contact me through email and that I tend to ignore my voicemail blinking light for weeks at a time. As a bonus (for me), I don't include my email address in the message so the only people who typically leave me messages are vendors cold-calling me.
I think this makes a lot of sense for a business. Sadly, I still get occasional but important personal communication via phone calls and voicemail, where otherwise I would not be able to get it. Specifiaclly, doctor's offices don't use SMS or email. Their alternative is snail mail. Another source is random one offs such as the oil delivery guy confirming my delivery, or a relative trying to get directions to my house in realtime.
I get very few voicemails, but I don't see a point in disabling this feature entirely, in on personal line.
All of our doctors contact us through email. I think they use Epic, and we get all of our test results, appointment reminders, etc. there. With health care regulations forcing electronic records, we'll probably see more of this.
It's tricky with HIPAA, given that emailing almost anything interesting is a violation, since they can't control whether your email provider discloses it or not.
The right way to do it is to email people and inform them that a secure system has Very Important Information for them and that they should sign in using pre-arranged credentials to check it. Even that email can be a HIPAA violation if you do it wrong -- for example, "Hiya Jane Smith, Dr. Foo OBGYN has important information for you" has been held to be a violation since Foo should have reasonably anticipated that some patients would be living with family and sharing email with them and disclosing a non-minor's pregnancy/etc to their parents without their consent is a per se violation.
Ditto putting similar information into voicemails / SMSes / etc. Technical violations of the rules are rampant and enforcement actions are comparatively rare, particularly at smaller medical providers.
Well that's one nuance - another against voicemail for Doctors is that if you truly have an emergency, then it's possible practitioners are liable if you suffer while leaving a voicemail (or as a result of no one listening to that voicemail in time).
Consequently, none of my doctors have a voicemail, so I'm forced to use their app to communicate with them, even if I just want a "you and/or kids are probably ok, come in if things get worse" confirmation.
Very few have an "answering service" that has a real person transcribe and page the doctor (and advise you call 911 if it sounds like an emergency) but I imagine this is too expensive for most.
You cannot use straight email to communicate patient info. You have to send them a link to a site behind a login, which is a barrier to adoption. Even if that's OK, just sending an email to someone from, say, a psych clinic would expose them as a patient, which is not good either. You also cannot really indicate urgency. There is a difference between appointment reminders and "hey, your test came back positive". There are also some things that you prefer to discuss as you may have follow up questions. If your doctor calls you to tell you that you have HIV or cancer, you are going to ask questions. You don't want to get that news via SMS or email.
Basically, routine reminders and test results are fine over a secure site with email notifications, but for lots of other things email is less than appropriate.
It's interesting - but I've noticed that, without any discussion whatsoever, we stopped using Voicemail at my company somewhere in the last three years. I haven't listened to any voicemail whatsoever in about two years.
A lot of my customers in the UAE and Singapore Region have switched to one of calling directly, and expecting you will always answer (Dubai), or alternatively making extensive use of Whatsapp/Whatsapp groups (Singapore).
Having to work with vendors a lot it would be difficult for me to give it up. I know, they could simply email me, but the reason for the voice mail was the immediacy of the situation. Likely if they leave one they will zip out an email, but those take more time to write than leaving a voice message.
Now I can see the reason for ditching voice mail if this is how some people are dodging responsibility. Seen that, where people will ignore calls and pretend to not be present. Instant messengers only work if they are mandatory, where I am you can simply leave it off so again your "not there". Many email programs can block return receipts.
The problem is that voicemail is obnoxious to use and pretty pointless. The last company I worked for, I didn't even have a phone number, let alone voicemail. If someone needed something they could use an asynchronous form of communication, like email or IM (we were required to use Hipchat).
The last job I had where I had voicemail I refused to check it. Not because I was dodging work, but because listening to long, rambling voicemails is time-consuming and irritating. I can skim through a rambling email very, very quickly to get the information I need. I can also search my old emails quickly and easily. Neither of those things is true for voicemail.
> Likely if they leave one they will zip out an email, but those take more time to write than leaving a voice message.
That's exactly the problem. Voice mail has the wrong kind of contract - it takes very little effort from the demanding party, and too much effort from the demanded party.
I have had a soft phone at my last two jobs, and it was never used. We used Skype or Slack for our text communication, and Google Hangouts for more personal communication. And it worked perfectly well for maintaining a good flow of communication.
Voice mail is, like texting, an asynchronous method of communication, but it requires more hardware and mental context switching to receive and respond to voice messages.
I think the biggest hurdle to adopting something like this is going to be the different perception of voice mail (and phone calls in general) between generations.
voice mail is asynchronous for the person sending it, but it's somewhat synchronous when you're on the receiving end: you cannot skip through the boring parts right to the interesting content, you have to linearly listen to the entire message. I think this is the biggest problem with voicemail. If all voicemail could turn speech into text, and it would end up in your e-mail inbox or "voice mail" app on your phone, we'd have the best of both worlds.
This is what I use Google Voice for. It translates the voice mail into text, and will send it in an email. It's not perfect, but it's good enough to figure out why the person called, and it does a good job capturing the phone number the person leaves.
damn, I'm not in the US but that sounds very cool. Is it US only? I'm sure that's why 97% of our generation dropped voice mail. It's just not as convenient as text.
the first part is to get the content (including boring parts) right every time, and alas I think speech-to-text commercial software is still not there yet for speech where the person isn't explicitly talking to be listened to by a computer (check Youtube captions for a good laugh).
Voice mail is too often used by windbags to hear themselves talk instead of getting to the point. In protest of those that seek to waste your time and mine on unnecessary formalities, I purposely don't leave nor listen to any voicemail. Period. It's just too slow and infringes on other people's time, like that step uncle everyone always dreads seeing at the holidays.
Instead, send a very short email with the content in the title and <EOM>. You're done.
(And no, Google Voice transcription isn't good enough.)
So, does this mean that everyone's personal phone will now be inundated with SMS messages from work at all hours? Will all of their internal extensions now have an SMS endpoint to receive text messages?
I know so many people that will only text and not hold an actual voice conversation. It's really irritating to say the least. In general if it's a short "I'm running late, eta 20 min" or "heading to the store, let me know if you need anything" I'll text (the store list is even better that way, it's written down... But anything more than that and a one-two minute conversation is better.
I've been a rabbid google voice (formerly grand central) user for several years now.. I love the voicemail transcription. The only annoyance is I have to "press 1" to answer, and that's harder to do while driving... no idea why it isn't "press one, or say 'answer' to answer". Just the same, getting rid of it altogether is ridiculous. Having GV-like integration with their desktop and phone platforms would have been a better move all around.
My two issues come down to.. A) Keeping work time and personal time separated.. and B) From the outside how are you supposed to reach anyone?
I think the main problem with voicemail is that, for the most part, it is disconnected from the Internet.
We run Asterisk, when I get a voicemail it is as an mp3 in my email. I know the caller ID, when it was left and how long it is before I choose to listen to it.
It is totally useful.
It has always boggled me that I can't choose "send audio message" from my smart phone's contacts without a third party app - a feature that I use on watsapp regularly.
Since my company has a PBX I recently change the settings that all voice mails left on the phones are emailed to them, directly, that saves space in the phone server. I rarely listen to the VM I get, I prefer calling first, if no answer then I listen to them.
I rarely listen to the VM I get, I prefer calling first...
My goodness, that's annoying. b^) You're certainly not the only one. At least once a week I leave someone a several-minute voicemail with specific detailed information, questions, or instructions. Then ten minutes later they call back, "what did you want?" MFW...
Keep in mind, these are people whom I would gladly send an email, if they would read their email more than occasionally.
Voicemail is dead, and it's because of the significant minority that leave giant messages, as well as anybody you never met who "just wanted to touch base with you". It's a shame too, because there are times and topics for which texting/emailing is an incorrect alternative.
Unfortunately people don't realize the 3rd rule of Dr. Luther Waxling: "Just because it happened to you doesn't make it interesting" (at 1:24 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGfc2zZ2PQI)
The worst part of voicemail was not even the monologues, but the fact that the important bit of information may be hidden deep within the various boring screed.
The issue is that most people have no idea how to communicate and voicemail is a very painful method to be forced to endure from someone who cant get to the point.
Email generally takes more effort to produce (since its not as much of a train of "thought") and its way easier to summarize as the consumer, so you can just hunt out the golden info in the pile of crap.
I agree: when I leave a message it is always: my name, phone number, 5-word why I'm calling. Then occasionally: long message to save a call back, preceded by "you can just call me back and ignore the rest, or here's the summary blah blah." I'd skip leaving my phone number but I figure anyone who listens to voice mail might not have the number available :-)
At my internship this summer I actually had a sticky note on top of my phone to tell me what buttons to press in order to listen to my voicemail. It was like 3 different menus you had to go through, and then you had to listen to all the voicemail metadata (including the second that the voicemail was sent) just to listen to the 10 second voicemail of your boss telling you to call her back. If coke was anything like this place, they made a good decision.
Just because the interface is bad, doesn't mean the concept is bad... I've used Google Voice since it was Grand Central, love it... I never call in or press buttons... it's an app on my phone, and a website ui I can use... easy peasy.
Corporate voice mail is a nightmare with the press 7 and 9 systems. If it was like a modern smartphone (e.g. Visual Voicemail) then it would be ok. At this point, I am trying to figure out what to replace the college's current Nortel[1] system. I think the mp3 e-mail voice mail would probably make people a bit happier.
1) why yes, the words "current" and "Nortel" should never be associated, but that's where we are
Any medium will create pseudo-communication. How many times did I get POed by endless email exchanges (particularly the "Thank you" kind). So the problem is pseudo-communication not the medium.
I suspect that CC thing has more to do with time management than technology. The 100K/year mentioned probably refers to hardware and maintenance. Now if you factor in the wasted minutes you might get a different number.
I actually find email exchanges far worse than voicemails.... I use google voice, it's in one interface, and voicemails are few enough... 5-6 a day.
Emails, I see many... Some I bucket off and group delete daily.. others I have to spend half an hour a day to sift through... it's a pain. Especially reply chains... Though I'd just as soon use IRC, getting people to use slack hasn't been so bad (there are hipchat and others)... I'm not a huge fan of IM either though.
Things like this is what leads to billion dollar valuations for companies like Slack. Corporate communication is finally evolving from email and voicemail.
Here's what I want to know: We have Cisco phones, and when I get a VM, the phone's message light comes on. I also get an email with the MP3. If I delete that email without opening it, the message light goes off on the phone within a few seconds. We use gmail for our company email.
In 2012 when I purchased my own phone I declined to set up a voice mail account. If you call and it rings out, the caller is informed, "This customer has not created a voice mail account."
I highly suggest you do the same. The only person who've noticed so far is my mother.
I'm old enough that I've lived through these stages:
1) There were no answering machines and no cordless phones, much less mobile. If you called someone at home, and they didn't answer, you just tried later. If you called someone at a business, everyone had a secretary who could pick up if they didn't answer. She (and it was always "she") would write your message on a message slip (they were generally pink) and put it on the person's desk. Or, for smaller businesses, you called the main number, and the operator would connect you, and take a message if no answer.
2) Home answering machines happened. They used cassette tapes, and you could rewind and replay your messages. The outgoing greeting was on a second tape. When you got home, or if you were screening your calls, you'd see a blinking light indicating "new message", then hit buttons to rewind and play your messages. When the tape got full you could put in a new tape or write over the old messages. For businesses, phone systems became smarter and could take voicemail, but this was expensive, many businesses still used the old people-intensive way for messages, and many businesses preferred this because customers liked talking to a real person to leave a message.
3) Mobile phones with SMS became available to consumers. (We are into the 90s now). I don't recall this being especially popular at first, most people still left voicemails, even on mobile phones. But SMS became more and more used over the next decade plus (before smartphones when they exploded in popularity).
4) Fast forward to today. People born after 1980 or so, I find, really don't do voicemail at all, text messaging is the thing. If you leave them a voicemail, it doesn't get listened to. The best you can expect is a callback or a text message because they saw you called, but the usual response is nothing. For businesses, some form of instant messaging (IM) is prevalent inside the company. The IM might say "Hey do you have a minute to talk OTP?" but no one just calls someone else cold, much less leaves a voicemail and expects a response.
IMO stage (1) actually worked fine, and now that we are at stage (4) that works fine too (as long as you don't pretend voicemail is a thing and use other means of communication). The intermediate stages were awkward at best.
I think Coca-Cola's action makes a ton of sense for any company. Maybe it was fear of legal discovery that prompted it, maybe it was what they said (streamlining operations), but it is a good thing, IMO.
> Voicemail doesn't seem as "on the record" as email.
Funny, I had the opposite response. Since it was Coca Cola HQ that ditched VM, I was guessing they didn't want those records around. (Sarbanes-Oxley requires maintaining the VMs IIRC).
As many point out, there's more verbosity to a VM than email/text, and that can work against you in bad situations, like an investigation.
When you to try and make someone look bad it does matter. "I didn't see bob on instant messenger, and I called him several times and I left him a voice mail. I'm not able to get my task done because I still have not heard back from Bob."
I recommend using Google Voice as your voicemail service, in that it converts voicemails to text messages. They're often garbled text messages, but it's enough context to decide how to respond.
It also makes dealing with voicemail a great deal better. I despise voicemail at my work because I have to call a number, listen to the message and clear it to make my phone stop blinking. On my cell phone it just pops up as a text message, I can read most of it to get the gist and clear the notification easily.
I used to work at a company that had an office phone system with desk phones and all. To this day I consider that kind of system a most confusing piece of technology I tried to use.
I suspect they're increasingly rare. Even for those who want voicemail, it's increasingly bundled as part of voice plans rather than requiring a dedicated voicemail device at the receiving end.
There are telephones available which have voicemail integrated in with the rest of it, and if you go VOIP than voicemail tends to be accessible online.
I've noticed that the texting only generation seems to have anxiety about making or receiving phone calls and the real-time conversation that requires. I think some of the voicemail hate is just a reaction to that discomfort.