Productivity is a term that has been much used (and abused) to position everything from new devices through unified communications to cloud-based collaboration offerings as the key to increasing workforce productivity.

But which technologies are actually being used? And how much is productivity about technology anyway?

When we asked 357 IT and business professionals in a recent study, a broad consensus emerged on what constitutes ‘productivity’. It also became clear that the majority of companies aren’t doing that well when it comes to supporting, never mind maximising, individual and team productivity: the right tools and information are often not available to the people who need them, and considerable amounts of time continue to be wasted as a result.

The study upon which this report is based was independently designed, interpreted and reported by Freeform Dynamics and executed in collaboration with The Register news site. Feedback was gathered via an online survey of 357 IT and business professionals from the UK, USA, and other geographies. The study was sponsored by Microsoft.