It’s almost 2020. Does your business have the communication technology, training and personnel in place that will help it flourish in the next decade? How can you tell?
If you are like most business owners, managers or employees, you may not know if your company’s communication system is ready for the next 10 years. Many people are busy doing their job and not putting a lot of thought into whether or not their communication technologies are hindering their company’s performance, or limiting its potential. But when people research whether there is a better way to communicate they often find that there is, and by upgrading to new technologies and systems their ROI improves.
We’ve seen it time and time again. Not just from one type of company or from one industry. There are organizations across the board, from small businesses to large enterprises, that suddenly start asking about what communication technologies are available to them and are amazed at what is possible. Non-profits, insurance companies and more have something to gain (and nothing to lose) by asking “How can we be communicating better?”
What Communication Devices Should Be Banned In The Next Decade
So where should you start to see if your company is ready to succeed in 2020 and beyond? The first thing is to take stock of what your business is still using to communicate. We assume that telegraphs are not in use, but what else would be a red flag when it comes to outdated technology?
If your business or organization still utilizes a premise-based phone system, it’s a good time to look at what better options are available. Premise-based phone systems tend to follow an outdated business model that means they are more expensive and less efficient than the latest technologies. Most of the time a business will have to buy its capacity up front and pay whether or not they use it. Since the technology is often proprietary, businesses are at the mercy of the manufacturer to decide when it’s end-of-life and an upgrade is mandatory.
Does your business still fax? The fax machine has long been an outdated device in many offices. We do still see it prevalent in some industries, including banking, real estate and medical. But that doesn’t mean that it should be or will continue to be. There are better options out there that provide a secure, easy-to-use alternative to faxing for electronic signatures (DocuSign and PandaDoc being two popular ones).
What Communication Technologies Should Your Business Be Looking To Use
You should always be looking to improve things within your organization. This includes how your business communicates, both internally and externally. There’s always the possibility that there is something new or different that can help save costs, increase revenues or both. When it comes time to turn the calendar to 2020, what are a few communication tools that most companies should be looking into?
SMS communications (texting) are omnipresent in almost everyone’s personal life. And it has started to permeate how people interact with businesses. And why not? It’s a technology people (both customers and employees) are familiar with. It’s fast. And it’s easy to use. Incorporating SMS communications into your customer service and solutions may be a great competitive advantage in the next year or two. But beyond that it is going to be something that customers expect from most, if not all, businesses that they communicate with.
And don’t forget about social media platforms. They could be the key to success in the next decade. And it’s not about one platform over another, or making sure you are on all platforms. It’s about finding out where your customers like to be, and providing a channel for them to communicate with your business there. In some countries, the use of WhatsApp has eclipsed texting. In the United States, Instagram, SnapChat and ones that may not have been launched yet should all be researched by your business as possible customer channels to leverage.
Whatever unified communication technologies you want to get the most out of in the next decade, know you don’t have to do it all in-house. Partnering with a communications technology expert (like DiRAD) can save you time, money and headaches. Quality experts will help explain what options are available, and what package of solutions make the most sense to help grow your business.