If you take a second to think about it, you can see that effective and efficient communication makes one of the most important pillars for sustainable business growth. Think of it as of glue that keeps the different company departments together, improves productivity, and builds the bonds between the employees.
Well, this interesting dynamic became even more exciting in the wake of the so-called “digital era.” These days instead of communicating verbally or passing the notes, we have a whole slew of digital communication options designed for specific or more general tasks. Let’s see how we can leverage this technology to boost the efficiency of our companies.
Build an effective hierarchy
Before you start assigning tech assets and smart tools to different duties, you first need to have a good understanding of the communication hierarchy within your organization. What do we mean by that? Well, you need to know where everyone belongs on the corporate ladder, who reports to whom, and what types of reports are passed in different situations. This small outline won’t only help you to select the adequate tools for each of these communication knots. You will also drastically optimize the workflow, prevent leaks, and, if you are just starting, reduce the startup costs.
Interview the staff about what they need
This is especially important if you are trying to reopen a business after COVID-19. During these long couple of months of lockdown, your employees have probably found an effective way to communicate with each over long-distance. Forcing some artificial solutions upon them may disrupt these channels and face the staff with an unnecessary learning curve. But, even if you are starting from scratch, the voice of your team needs to be heard. Some platforms may look better at first glance but still miss the critical feature your staff needs to get going.
Upgrade the phone infrastructure to VoIP
The benefits of this move are too numerous to count, but we will cover some of the most important mentions. The VoIP telephone system is far more affordable than traditional phone lines, and it can be accessed anywhere on the planet by any available broadband connection. Furthermore, VoIP platforms are often multifunctional (they allow video conferencing) and can be used from different devices other than the phone. The only thing you need to do is to find the list of the best VoIP services, look at their pros and cons, and figure out what works best for your company.
Use the power of collaborative workspaces
Communication develops in a number of different ways. Collaboration is probably the most intuitive out of them. Why are we inclined to think so? It’s simple – the ability to share and work together on a project in real-time eliminates the need for clunky emails, unnecessarily detailed instructions, and all resulting delays. All these problems are single-handedly eliminated by an effective workspace app with built-in messaging and video conferencing options. This method of communication through cooperation builds trust and improves workplace relations.
The opportunities for branding
The structured top-down communication infrastructure, as well as shared collaborative spaces, offer far more benefits aside from making interactions simpler, faster, and more effective. The opportunities for branding definitely make the top of this list. Turning the employees into brand ambassadors can be considered as branding 101. Highly motivated people loyal to the brand values do not only make an efficient workforce capable of posting independent thoughts and ideas. They also bring those values outside and help the company find new clients.
Start using project management software
As we mentioned in one of the previous sections, firm hierarchy does a lot to make the communication within some organization faster and more efficient. But ultimately, the speed of information flow will be dictated by the pace of the ongoing project. This pace, on the other hand, can be drastically improved with the help of a project management platform equipped with time-tracking features, analytics tools, built-in messaging apps, and smart forecasting. Tools like these both utilize the free flow of information and improve communication speed at the same time.
Cloud making steps towards full integration
Last but not least, we have to mention that modern communication allows seemingly full device integration. In previous years, different types of data required different communication channels. These days, things couldn’t be more different. Namely, Cloud computing effectively flattened the playing field, made different types of files accessible to all types of devices, and allowed workers to make use of excellent infrastructure for easy collaboration, instant file sharing, and streamlined communication. Utilizing this technology and leaving behind legacy file formats can only benefit your organization.
We hope these few mentions gave you some general idea about the ways you can make your company leaner and far more efficient by simply improving internal communication. The contemporary world of business moves at a rapid pace and any kind of delay or bottleneck immediately sets you back behind the competition. Don’t allow yourself beginners’ mistakes like these.
