The ability to effectively communicate is a key component to having productive teams who get their work done. Whether communication is between colleagues, with suppliers and strategic partners or with the customer, how well a company communicates factors significantly into its ability to succeed.
According to the Holmes Report, the cost of poor communication has hit an overwhelming $37 billion. Also, 400 surveyed corporations (with 100,000 plus employees in the U.S. and U.K.) estimated that communication barriers cost the average organization $62.4 million per year in lost productivity.
In today’s increasingly digital work environment, the methods we use to communicate are continually evolving. Phone, face-to-face, email, instant messaging and video conferencing are each settling into their own roles.
What is unified communications?
As the name implies, today’s unified communications solutions are a means of bringing the many forms of communication together into one system.
However, not all unified communications solutions are created equally – nor are they all seamless. Many solutions put more focus on one of the various components (video, voice or text), which in some instances lessens the effectiveness of other components. These solutions were once entirely on-premise. Yet, with the growth of remote workforces, cloud (software as a service) offerings have gained popularity.
The best solutions are easy to use including full integration with the other productivity-based systems team members already use on a daily basis. For example, being able to initiate a video call from within another app. A successful solution should facilitate collaboration between internal and external team member without complicating the communication process.
The key to successfully selecting and deploying a solution that team members will actually use starts with taking the time to get feedback from team members, such as:
- In what ways are they struggling to communicate with key partners?
- Do they desire the ability to share documents while communicating with their engineers?
- Are they conducting video meetings in groups or one-on-one?
Ultimately, a well selected and properly deployed unified communications solution should create a virtual collaborative workspace that goes well beyond being a video conferencing solution. And, having the answers to each of these questions can play a key role in determining which audiovisual technology makes the most sense.
For example, if team members need tools to assist them in connecting with multiple remote workers at one time, it may make sense to high definition led displays that can serve as a central component of a meeting room or huddle space.
Need help selecting and deploying a unified communications solution that meets your individual organizational needs? Electrosonic can help. Click here to learn how you can put our AV integration skills to work for your organization.
