A recent survey showed that about 70 per cent of telephone calls fail to get through - either because numbers are engaged or people aren't at their desks. The consumers' magazine Which reported that two in five first-class letters don't get there the next day; and people doing business with, say, Australia or California can find virtually no time when both they and their business contacts are at their desks. Faced with these frustrations, many people are turning to electronic mail - including 'voice mail' - to get their messages across. Electronic mail systems offer the chance for people to send written documents immediately to their offices over the phone, from home or from anywhere in the world. Increasingly the systems also offer - at a price - access to databases such as World Reporter and the Official Airlines Guide.