Millennials, a famously phone call-averse generation, has grown into the largest adult demographic in the United States. Millennials are notorious for preferring text, in-person, and even email communication over a phone call. A press release from UK’s O2 shows that making phone calls are only the fifth most used application on smart devices, behind Internet usage, games, social media, and listening to music. Is there hope for the phone call? Is a phone answering service for your business still practical?

Yes — the phone call is far, far from obsolete.

In that same O2 press release, we can see that text messaging and email are still used for less time per day on average than time spent making phone calls. Despite data showing millennials vastly prefer written and indirect forms of communication, phone calls are still widely used. That’s especially true when consumers, of any age, need to interact with a business.

So what do millennial critics get wrong?

While there is a chunk of the millennial population that has an aversion to phone calls, many millennials are simply more focused on efficientlycommunicating. For example, ask a millennial why they may text their friend their address instead of calling them. They will tell you it’s simply more efficient to copy/paste the address. Text and email are fast and allow for response at the recipient’s convenience. Can you understand why in many situations they would default to text?

However, in the appropriate situations, the vast majority of millennials have no problem making use of their phone. That is why commercial answering services are actually a great adaption for the new era of digital communication. While 91% of Americans have their cell phone within reach 24/7, they may not be able to use it 24/7. Yet they have the same needs for doctors’ appointments, law advice, and other commercial and professional businesses as previous generations. They need to make phone calls.

Businesses are finding out that many of their customers call during off-hours when their own work days are done. They also call at lunchtime, at night, on the weekends. To get as many conversions as possible, more businesses are turning to commercial answering services that run 24 hours or specifically after-hours. The result? A more thorough service that can reach all possible millennial clients.

The face of the workforce and modern consumers is changing, and businesses can make small changes to keep up. Tweaking how you communicate with your clients is a good first step.