Best New Business Communication Technology and Trends

Best New Business Communication Technology and Trends
Photo : Best New Business Communication Technology and Trends

When we speak of business trends and business communication in the same breath, the pandemic is a hard topic to avoid. This is the point when it became clear the necessity and the importance of effective business communication. Even with communication technology as advanced and as effective as it is, many companies were still completely unhorsed by the onset of the pandemic and the sheer number of employees who had to suddenly work remotely. In essence, it was not that the technology did not work, or even that it was poorly understood. Instead, it was the sheer numbers that had to make use of it and the failures of coordination that arose from that. 

What became clear when the pandemic removed the ability of co-workers to simply speak to one another was that any mass communication system used by a company had to be able to integrate mobile communication and not simply rely on things like e-mails and networks. Everyone has a mobile, and this helped to individualise each person using the system while recreating as effectively as possible the experience of being able to quickly talk to a colleague when working on a project together. 

Learn the Lesson (Because We're Not Going Back) 

So did businesses learn their lesson? What mistakes were made and how were they learned? These questions become even more important because, even as many have now returned to their physical places of work, countless numbers have remained at home and continued to work remotely. And this is not even because of the persistence of the pandemic or the fact that there is still something of a public health risk for certain people in certain public contexts (although that undoubtedly plays a part). Instead, businesses need to learn from mistakes made during the pandemic because, quite simply, things are not going to go back to how they were before, at least not where remote working is concerned. And the reason they are not going back to how they were before is simply that they were always tending in this direction, even before the pandemic began. 

The advance of business communication technology has taken the form of a positive feedback loop. Such technology makes it significantly easier to work remotely, more people do so, and thus the demand for the technology increases. This is not a new phenomenon, and it is certainly not one that only began with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. 

So whether it is advances in visual communication or more responsibilities, the implementation of a mass texting service or the increased use of employee specific social networks, the truth is that things were going this way anyway. And the coronavirus, if anything, only put the pedal to the metal. 

Advantages of Remote Working 

So if things have been headed this way for a while, there must be a good reason for that, right? It cannot any longer be the case that remote working technology has merely made the difficult task of remote working a bit easier, it must have passed a point of effectiveness whereby remote working is now actually preferable to office working in many cases. It cannot solely be that this technology is helping us make the best of a bad situation - the new situation must actually, in some cases at least, be better. 

What are the advantages of remote working then? Well, they include: 

Talent Can Be Drawn from Anywhere

This is one of the major advantages of remote working, perhaps even the biggest. With a traditional company of office-based employees, staff are drawn from a specific geographical area within which it is reasonably simple to reach the office. With remote working, the best candidate for the job can be hired even if they live on the other side of the planet. Well, perhaps not quite; massive geographical distances will of course entail a disruptive time difference. But remote working certainly allows talent to be drawn from across a continent rather than just a city. 

Commuting Takes Time and Money

It is as simple as that, really. An employee's commute to work is a period of time within which they cannot reasonably be expected to work. Commutes also cost money - whether for petrol and public transport - and there is always the possibility of delay or even cancellation of the commute. Remote working eliminates this problem. 

It is More Environmentally Friendly

The commute we just mentioned of course entails a certain amount of carbon released into the environment. But it's not only that, but there's also the issue of keeping a large office running, involving electricity use, heating, waste production, and even emissions. A company's carbon footprint can be significantly reduced with the roll-out of remote working. 

New Trends in Business Communication 

So if any company now wants any kind of competitive edge over their rivals, the trick is not only to embrace remote working but to also embrace the best technology to make it as efficient (if not more efficient) than office working. Here are some of the latest technology trends helping businesses do that: 

Increased Visual Communication 

Of course, video conferencing is not anything new. But it has only really been recently that it has become effective enough to facilitate near life-like business meetings and calls. It is all about advancements in user-friendliness and ease of use. Connecting ten different people visually and facilitating an effective meeting has always been something of a challenge - especially when people are having intimate discussions or even arguing. The fast-approaching 5G is that which is expected to offer video conferencing in the highest definition, eliminating most lags and other things that can slow things down. 

Anywhere/Anytime Technology

We talked above about the challenges of time differences where remote working is concerned. There is probably no getting around the problem that, in such situations, some people will simply always be asleep when others are working. With more 5G supported services that can facilitate the maximum sharing of audio and visual information, as well as the shift of much working software onto mobile phones, it should soon become much easier for employees running on different schedules to work together - at least to some degree. 

Wellness and Engagement 

This trend is all about overcoming the distinct disadvantages of remote working where employee health and wellness is concerned. For one thing, it can be pretty isolating to work alone - and being alone can also hinder productivity. The aim is to open more communication channels and to simply connect employees to a greater degree. The way new technologies are helping us in making this easier and in collecting information on employees regarding their wellness. It should be possible to remotely consult an in-house specialist, just as it is in a physical place of work. 

The main thing about all this new technology and these new corporate trends is that they simply are not going away. And while this raises all sorts of new challenges for companies to face up to, it ultimately opens the door to company productivity on a scale that we have never seen before.

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