SIX out of 10 small business bosses in the North East are relying too much on technology and too little on the personal touch when it comes to keeping in touch with their customers and contacts, according to a survey.

Smaller businesses are turning away from meetings, telephone calls and video conferencing in favour of emails and Twitter, according to a survey commissioned by telecoms firm Talk Talk Business.

The study was conducted to explore how the changing face of business communications could be impacting on SME performance and productivity. Paul Lawton, chief executive of TalkTalk Business, said: “Although more impersonal modes of communication such as email, direct mail and instant messenger still have an important role within business, it’s vital that SMEs maintain a balanced approach and explore the wide range of communication channels available to them.”

When approaching a new business prospect, around four out of 10 North East SMEs rely on using email to develop leads, despite a national average of almost a third of key business decisionmakers admitting to responding to less than 10 emails per day.

Staff productivity has also suffered due to the over-reliance on email correspondence with the majority of SME employees spending over eight hours a week simply composing emails to send to customers, suppliers and stakeholders, said the report.

Employee time spent emailing costs a large SMEs with more than 250 staff around £1,250,000 in labour costs a year on average.

Lawton added: “The time employees spend emailing over the course of a year is costing SMEs big ... money that could arguably be put to much better use, particularly in the current economic climate.”

The human, personal touch is also missing within internal communications as less than a fifth of SME business owners are in regular face-to-face contact with their employees. Nearly seven out of 10 are also dependent on email and less personal modes of communication when addressing staff, whilst only six per cent pick up the phone to speak to a colleague.

Angela Holland, an occupational psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire, said: “Maintaining high levels of human interaction within business correspondence is critical. Whether it’s an SME or major blue-chip organisation, the power of personality in any business is priceless. “