There’s that old saying: “a problem shared is a problem halved.” Some would even go as far as saying that a problem shared is a problem solved. While this may be venturing into overly ambitious territory, modern business communications solutions offer the chance to go one step further…
Through fostering good communication practices across the workforce and making use of modern communication technologies, businesses everywhere have the chance to share any problem, in real time, with everyone. Here’s why we believe it’s so important in business.
Nobody enjoys being on hold, waiting for a call or anticipating a service only to find that it won’t be delivered on time. Effective communication in business isn’t just about promising deadlines and prices, it’s about taking responsibility for problems, too.
A business that admits to a mistake will be remembered more fondly than a business that masks an error. Also, when it comes to the individual, a customer service operative who gives at least a courtesy call, if not a full delivery, is more likely to hear from that customer again in the future.
Naturally, you will already have an abundance of business processes carefully designed to do just this. However, when it comes to communicating, many businesses focus entirely on the customer service element of their communications.
While businesses will obviously rely heavily on delivering a service, they would – by focusing equally on both internal and external communications – stand a better chance of sustaining their profits. Astoundingly, it is estimated that poor communication, on just an internal level, costs UK businesses around £2.7 billion every year.
The Chron website defines this process exotically as “Esprit de Corps”. Without resorting to a translator, you’ll probably be able to work out exactly what this means. Good communication in the workplace helps staff to keep productive, understand their jobs better and stay focused on what’s important.
It also influences communication skills within the team and brings managers closer to the people working for them. With a better chance of retaining happy staff for longer periods, the business will also benefit from having a workforce much more knowledgeable about the products or services they provide their customers, passing the positivity on to them, too.
Unified communications (UC) is a method of streamlining all communication platforms – document sharing applications included – into a single, practical platform that the entire workforce has access to. While this sounds like a good excuse for an entire platoon of new PCs and desktop phones, you don’t even have to buy new hardware to make UC your primary method of communication.
As it’s a cloud-based technology, the majority of existing workstations will already be equipped to handle the shift to UC – and more businesses are realising this exciting potential every day.
When managers have immediate access to everything that’s going on with their UC platform, they can especially easily keep track of what’s happening in the business.
Of course, every good manager knows that effective communication is important – but, when it comes to communicating effectively with staff, there can be a distinct gap between levels of authority. Fortunately, UC puts every manager within touching distance of performance, productivity, and file-saving, simultaneously, while giving them a platform to guide staff in their work at all times.
With the opportunities available via a UC platform, including data related to both ingoing and outgoing communications, it is now easier than ever before to keep abreast of how ‘good’ your communications really are.
When you identify problems, positives and trends in how staff are engaging with one another and with customers, good communication won’t just be easy – it will become an integral part of the business as a whole.
