It’s obvious: your employees are busy during the workday. Balancing multiple projects, engaging in dialogue, communicating with coworkers, attending meetings and more fill their work hours on a daily basis. These tasks are time-consuming. Your employees don’t have time to waste trouble-shooting the outdated communication tools and technology they use to get their work done.
If you want your employees to do their best work and have maximum success each day, you know that regularly updating and innovating the tools and technology your company utilizes for communication is absolutely necessary.
You also know that no matter the size of your company, you use many different communication tools to make the workday easier. This means that the idea of updating or changing all of these tools in an effort to improve efficiency can be overwhelming and expensive. As challenging as these digital transformations may be, doing so can help you unlock the full potential of your teams and eradicate any roadblocks on the path to success.
The following are some of the results you may see when you upgrade your employees’ communication experience:
1. Simple, Streamlined Changes
Fortunately, today’s technology is available in an array of offerings, with some being free and cost-cutting options that can help simplify daily operations in your business. Starting out with a free version of a new tool will help you get a sense of what works best for your company and its needs. Freemium options give you time to understand what your employees feel most comfortable using and can help boost the benefits of new technology down the line.
Additionally, when moving to an internet-based tool, updates take place automatically, with only a software update, as opposed to completely swapping out one hard-wired device for its updated version. This means that once you have taken the first step to a digitized workspace, you shouldn’t have to worry about making major physical changes to your tools. From here on out, leave it to software updates to do the hard work.
2. Increased Productivity
Among the wealth of benefits that updated communication tools can produce, productivity is an exciting outcome. With the right tools, ideas and messages are communicated more clearly, expectations are better understood, and time is saved by communicating in real-time. Improper, or non-existent communication is shown to cost companies millions of dollars in productivity, $62.4 million to be exact.
Consider researching tools that have free versions available. A great place to start is by looking into tools like a chat platform that can help connect your company. Having quick access to coworkers for questions and collaboration will help move the workflow along at a quicker pace. No more walking across the office or dialing out to remote employees to get quick answers to simple questions.
When you send messages to their appropriate audiences in real-time, employees are able to more easily accomplish what is expected of them. The more information that can be provided, the better, when it comes to getting things done.
3. Team Building
One of the (arguably) most important results that can follow increased communication and connectivity is team building. Having a platform where communication can take place casually, not only in regard to work-related projects, can offer a way for employees to build personal bonds with one another.
A social intranet is a piece of technology that incorporates the personal aspects of social media to encourage team members to communicate widely and share their insights. This tool is an ideal space for employees to share social information and interact with one another, while still being a professional-use space for the company. Intranets also make for an easier way to arrange events outside of working hours and connect remote employees to social happenings in the office, without having to use personal social media accounts.
4. Aligned Sense of Direction
With greater input from leadership comes a better understanding of where your team is headed. If an efficient business is what you seek, then reinforcing your company’s goals on a regular basis is what you’ll need to focus on.
Employees want to know what they are working toward. They also want to know what their company is up to– what goals have already been accomplished and where the company is falling short. Discovering the use-cases of project management software can do just this. Having a tool that visually organizes the progress your employees have already made and what they have yet to do makes it easier for everyone to understand where they need to focus their efforts. Laying out the direction your team needs to be successful helps give your employees a better sense of confidence and organization.
5. Creation of Freedom and Mobility
When converting to a digital form of communication, as opposed to a hard-wired option, your tools are easily kept all in one place and can be taken on the go, allowing employees the option of remote work.
Remote communication tools make it simple for employees to call into meetings and keep up-to-date on quick changes within a team or the company as a whole. Having a tool like Voice over IP would assist in remote communication, being that voice calls can take place from any convenient device that has access to the internet. Just about everyone has some device that relies on the internet for connectivity, so VoIP is a great option to help your employees feel free and comfortable to work in a way that suits them best. This way, if your employees need to work from home or any location outside of the office for any reason, they will still have a connection to their coworkers and the projects they are working on.
Final Thoughts
You are only as strong as your employees, and your employees are only as strong as the tools you give them, in the form of both information and technology. Take the time to research which tools can have the greatest impact on your company’s needs and invest your resources accordingly. Your employees already work hard, so why not make their jobs a bit easier with updated communication technology.
Have you recently upgraded to a new form of communication technology in your office? Let us know which one and how it’s working out for your business in the comments below!
Featured image credit: Pexels.com
