It’s a familiar problem for today’s office workers: a seemingly endless stream of emails, many of which need to be read, answered and deleted.

Atos Origin, an information technology services company with international operations, has vowed to ban email as a means of internal communication.

Its three-year effort is worth watching, but may not be practical, outside observers said.

“It’s not tested, at the moment,” said Barbara Lee Strangfeld, director of human resources for Centris Consulting Inc., a workplace efficiency consultant based in Scranton, Pa. “Email is pretty much entrenched right now.”

Email consumes too much of employees’ time, said Thierry Breton, chairman and chief executive officer of Atos, a Paris-based company. Communicating by social networks or similar channels is more efficient and less likely to bury managers with an information overload, he said.

“Atos’ aim is to eradicate all emails between Atos employees by using improved communication applications as well as new collaboration and social media tools,” Atos said. “We believe that email is on the way out as the best way to run a company and do business.”

Replacing email is easier said than done, specialists in business communications said. The alternatives could consume similar amounts of employees’ time, the specialists said. People still have to respond to social network messages, text messages and online chats, and telephone voice mails must be retrieved and listened to, said Michael Gorman, a University of Dayton professor of operations management.

“Each of these vehicles have their own vices,” Gorman said. “The reason email is used is because it’s useful.”

Web-based discussions, intended to promote collaboration, also have their place, but participants still have to take time to go online and read new postings, he noted.

And, customers and suppliers likely will insist on continuing email communications with their contacts at companies, Gorman and Strangfeld said.

Atos and other companies seeking to ban email from internal communications might be better advised to educate employees on “email etiquette,” including limiting the sending of emails companywide rather than to targeted recipients, Gorman said.

“Like any tool, email can be abused,” he said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.