Wading through spam email is costing small businesses an average of £2000 a year, research from ClearMyMail has shown.
The research revealed that the average employee at small and medium sized businesses wastes two working days per year sifting through unwanted emails, with it taking on average six seconds to download, check and delete each email.
Moreover, the loss of productivity to the UK economy overall comes with a price tag of £4.5bn a year.
The UK-based anti-spam software company found that 2.5 million small businesses in the UK are now using email as their principal mode of communication. As a result, a small business managing 10 email accounts is wasting around 160 working hours a year filtering through reams of unsolicited email.
The research comes after a pledge by the Tories last month to create a new ‘cybercrime’ police unit. The British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) welcomed the idea saying that “cybercrime is a major concern for more and more businesses.”
Gareth Elliott, policy adviser at the BCC went on to say that as the use of email has risen exponentially, so too has the associated risks. “Increasing numbers of our members are highlighting problems they face with complex electronic crimes such as ‘phishing’, ‘spam’ and ‘spyware viruses’.”
“Much more needs to be done at the governmental level to help businesses protect themselves from cybercrime,” urged Elliott.
© Crimson Business Ltd. 2008