25 Aug Using Teams as your modern VoIP solution – The traditional methods of communication
The traditional workplace is gone! Modern business has changed exponentially over the last decade or so, this is due to rapid technological advancements that have coincided with our ever-increasing reliance on tech. This reliance has brought a whole new way of working into the light – a way of working with untold possibilities. It is already a known fact that technology will continue on its current trajectory for the foreseeable future – what we need to be certain of is that we use that technology to its full potential.
You can introduce all the latest technological marvels that are available but there are certain parts of business operations that need to be constant, one of which is communication. Without adequate levels of communication your organisation simply wouldn’t survive – your in-house and general ways of communicating must be unfaltering and capable at all times.
As we said, alongside the technological advancements of the modern time our need for them has also grown, this has led to their being many different methods of communication available on the market. Let’s look at some of the ways we all communicate now and then peek into what the future of business communications holds.
Communication – The traditional methods
Email is one of the most important forms of communication that a workplace can have. Since its conception in the early 1970’s it has successfully connected businesses and people across the globe and the office simultaneously. It is rare for a piece of technology to have such a long shelf life, and this only proves it fully deserves its standing as one of the best forms of communication the world has ever seen. In the 1970’s it was revolutionary to be able to send an important message or document to someone a few metres away across the office whilst simultaneously sending the same message halfway round the world with both recipients receiving it at the same time. However, the question now is – Can Email stand its ground in the modern workplace?
Value – most of the emails that we receive daily simply don’t have any of it. These ‘Spam’ emails are counterproductive to the busy modern workplace – I mean, do you have time to scroll through countless adverts before you find the emails that matter? I know I don’t.
One downside to email that has only been realised recently is just how monotonous it can be, it can take hours of sending messages back and forth before reaching your conclusion. As we said, time wasted in the modern workplace isn’t good, no matter the reason.
The phone
The phone, for all its changes over the years, is essentially the same, it is still just as important now as it always has been in business communications. As I’m sure you already know, there is nothing as powerful when communicating – in the workplace or otherwise – as using your tone of voice, and being selective with the language you use, when talking to a potential or existing client. These methods almost always get a far more positive response in comparison to email. Yes, modern communications such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams offer top quality alternatives, but for a conversation that is either unplanned or crucially important, the telephone is not only the first but by far the best choice.
Having said that, we don’t recommend that you immediately cleanse your business of phones and switch to the alternatives. We all know that the phone is important, so what we suggest is a sort of hybrid of the two – a modern makeover for the work phone is long overdue.
Landline technology is a dinosaur in comparison to modern alternatives – it is no longer capable of aiding in productivity in the workplace so therefore it must be replaced. For a business to be successful you must be always available for contact with no exceptions. Clients nowadays are much fickler than they used to be – this is due to the way the world now runs; everything is instant and there is always someone else offering the same product or service claiming to be cheaper or of better quality. If your clients can’t get in contact with you they will take their business elsewhere, or if they are a new potential client then there is no worse way to begin your relationship with them than not being available when they try to contact you. The phone is the link between you, your suppliers, and your customers, so if you aren’t always reachable – regardless of the reason – that chain breaks and your business may fail.
Meetings
Meetings aren’t the same as they once were, when traditionally the manager would pile everyone into a room and cramp them all round a desk and whiteboard with someone taking the minutes. There have always been problems with conducting meetings in this way, and this is probably the reason meetings predominantly happen only when things aren’t going well or if there is a particular reason for them. For many organisations traditional meetings are simply not feasible these days – finding a date and time that fits around their large workforce can be impossible – but, with the right technology in place, businesses can adopt a new solution that removes the time and effort that is needed to organise meetings.
In the following article we will explore some of the many modern communicative methods on the market and see how – if implemented and maintained correctly – these methods can revolutionise your organisation’s communicative capabilities, guiding you to a much more prosperous future with strategically aligned technology as the lynchpin of your business success.
Your IT Specialists
At Netcom we are well-versed in helping companies in various sectors navigate the often mystifying, jargon-filled, world of IT. With over 15 years’ experience and covering virtually all aspects of business IT, we can help guide your business to a prosperous future with the right IT at your side every step of the way. We can help you deploy cutting edge solutions that will not only help you weather the storm that is modern IT but also keep your business at the top of its game post-pandemic and beyond.
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