Are You Communicating the Way You Need To?

This entry is part of a recurring series on unified communications – a series of processes and tools that work together to enable seamless, real-time collaboration for your organization’s employees, customers and external business partners.

As unified communications is a fast-evolving area of expertise, we’ll continue to revisit it in future additions to the Bell Business Blog. This time out, we’ll tackle the topic from the start – is your business communicating the way it needs to be?

Communication is the lifeblood of any business. Do it right and your people are free to wow your customers and drive growth. Do it wrong and watch helplessly as business drifts toward companies that got the communications memo.

But how do you know if you’re doing it properly? Would you recognize the signs of ineffective communication in time to do something about it?

Keep the following questions in mind as you consider whether or not your organization is communicating the way it needs to:

Is my team as accessible as it needs to be?
Accessibility is both an external and an internal challenge. Your team can’t help customers if no one can reach them. They can’t collaborate if they can’t connect with each other. Are customers shying away from voicemail and asking for more real-time forms of engagement? Are your employees able to keep up with their inboxes? Make sure your people are equipped with the proper tools and communications framework to make the most of opportunities to engage customers.

How do my customers want to communicate?
Every business communicates differently, and since the customer is your primary focus, it’s the customer who decides which communication methods, tools and platforms you should be using. And thanks to rapid advancements in the tools your customers use to keep in touch, expectations have never been higher. Take action to ensure you’re using the channels that your customers want to use – including online chats and videoconferencing – so you can be there to impress them at the right time and in the right place.

Are my communications cost efficient?
No one wants to pay too much for a critical business service, and that’s especially true with communications infrastructure. Forward-thinking businesses are always looking at their communications implementations and asking themselves if they’re getting maximum value. Opportunities to drive greater ROI on your communications infrastructure may exist for your business through the use of one or more unified communications solutions.

Can my network handle my requirements?
Traditional networks are under increasing strain as businesses deploy more sophisticated communication services over them. As you lean more heavily on your network to provide rich, collaborative communication capabilities, your planning needs to keep pace to ensure everything works the way it needs to.

Conducting a network assessment is a critical step, as it ensures you’re ready for whatever comes next – and you avoid any nasty surprises along the way.

Are my communications secure?
Your employees are increasingly using mobile devices like smartphones and tablets to conduct business wherever they are. Working on a confidential document from the local coffee shop may be convenient and customer-friendly, but is it secure? Not always. Take time to assess your situation and develop a plan to ensure your people, machines, applications and processes are fully secure no matter where the work is happening.

The bottom line
Every business has unique communication needs, and every business will come up with its own roadmap to improve the speed and accuracy of its internal and external messaging.

No matter how large or small your business is, or what sector you’re in, start the process by asking key questions like these, and use the resulting answers to figure out where to get started and how to proceed from there. It’ll ensure you’re more than ready to meet tomorrow’s unified communications opportunities head-on.