Corporate communication has drastically evolved—from mail and memos to phone conversations to modern solutions like emails. You didn’t have to make a call or walk to your colleague’s desk to communicate anymore. All you needed to do was type some letters on your keyboard, put together a message and send it. The best thing is that you can communicate with more than one person through a single email.
However, email technology was soon saturated. Employees sent and received at least 200 emails daily, and that meant that they put in at least two and a half hours of their work day managing emails. Calculate that time for each employee in a single firm, and you’ll find that a lot of time is wasted on communication. Emails, therefore, were found to compromise employee productivity significantly.
Experts continued to seek better technology that streamlined communication without compromising productivity. To replace emails, internal communication software that facilitated instant messaging was introduced. They include Microsoft Lync and AOL Instant Messenger. However, this technology lacked some UI features, which were important in making communication cool and the work environment friendly, especially in modern workplaces.
Today, much of corporate communications revolve around these messaging apps. They work just like regular mobile messaging, but they’re purposefully for communicating with your workforce. This article will define what employee communication apps are and how they’re instrumental in boosting productivity. Keep reading to learn more.
Employee Communication Apps
Employee communication apps are mobile communication technology that allows employees to communicate on a timely basis and collaborate within the company. Using these apps, any team member at any level, from management to junior employees, can access the company’s information and news.
Unlike other technologies that have been used for corporate communication before, employer apps are mobile. This, therefore, means that teams can communicate with each other even when someone isn’t in the office. As such, employees become more reliable, and they’re also able to pass information in a faster way. This, therefore, means the wastage of time on email is eliminated, and employees can focus their time and resources on more demanding tasks. As such, their productivity is boosted.
There are many other ways employee apps boost productivity, as discussed below:
1. They Make Communication Faster And Efficient
Employee communication apps use mobile technology. That means that the communication is instant. With instant communication, information is more likely to be passed faster and acted on just as fast. When an employee deals with one issue, they’re able to move to the next, which means they’re more productive.
Also, communication through emails can take a while before the recipient sees the email among the pile of other mails. This can therefore delay the speed at which they respond, stalling some important workplace activities.
Lastly, employee apps come with efficiency. For example, most of these apps show the status availability of your teammates. Therefore, if the status says away or busy, as the sender, you may have to rethink the urgency of sending the message. This is because if the recipient is away, they may be unable to attend to an urgent message fast enough. In that case, you may decide to maybe send the message to someone on a more senior level who can help.
This, therefore, helps reduce downtime spent on waiting for responses. You can only send a message to someone after evaluating how soon they can respond; hence, the communication is efficient.
2. The App Make It Easy To Access Core Enterprise Systems
Core enterprise systems refer to the business’s main sources of profit or success. Traditionally it was harder to access information regarding the core enterprise. You’d have to go through a chain of command and tedious bureaucracy.
Unfortunately, employees, no matter their level, need some of this information to execute their duties. While waiting for the chain of command to approve access worked, it took longer than necessary. This, therefore, meant that some activities were stalled, and in turn, productivity was also compromised.
With the invention of employee apps, workers can access this information easily since access has been streamlined. They, therefore, don’t have to waste time waiting for approvals. Some of the core enterprise information include:
- Data from Customer Relationship Management systems to help with insights about customers
- Procurement, accounting, risk management, project management, and compliance information sourced from the enterprise resource planning system
- Information about the flow of products and services from supply chain management systems
3. By Enhancing Collaborations
Traditionally, teams conduct a one-on-one meeting to collaborate or work on tasks together. This was heavily reliant on physical presence, though, and it compromised workers’ ability to develop urgent solutions together. Secondly, you had to wait for the rest of the team to be in attendance, and lastly, sometimes the discussion could take time due to differing points of view.
Employee communication apps have come to solve that. For starters, the apps allow all employees to be in constant communication. Therefore, if there’s an urgent solution needed, it is easier for it to be decided on faster.
Also, those who aren’t online can catch up through the file sharing feature. It’s also easier to delegate tasks rather than waiting for everyone to be in attendance.
With this kind of efficiency in collaboration, employees’ problem-solving skills are boosted, which shows in their increased productivity.
4. Through The Search Feature
Ideally, a lot of information gets sent in a week. Employees who need to access specific information may have to go through the rest of the chats. That is a lot of work. The effort used to read through the messages can be put to better use to contribute to the success of the company.
Luckily, employee communication apps solve that. The mobile communication technology comes with a search feature. This search feature allows you to search for information in the app like you would do on Google. Therefore, if you’re looking for a specific file, you have to type some keywords that have been used to name the file, and you’ll have the choice to choose from. You can then select the file you need to access. Easy without reading through other unnecessary chats.
5. By Organising Projects In Channels
It’s normal for a single project to be discussed and implemented on ten different platforms. For example, initial communication about the project details may be done by email. However, any other additional information about the project may be done on Microsoft Teams or Slack. Trello may manage the project, hosted by Dropbox, and the data needed for the project may be housed in Google Analytics.
Already those are five platforms of communication. Toggling between these platforms when executing the project may be hectic. It doesn’t have to be. With the right employee communication app, you can organize the documents, information, and people needed in one communication channel. This, therefore, allows the involved team members to access information easier and faster, and hence the project implementation moves faster.
6. By Removing Team Communication Blockers
The world has become a global village. In some industries, it’s easier to work remotely for a multinational company than to find a job locally. Therefore, employee communication apps have been built in such a way that they allow seamless communication between team members. It doesn’t matter if the team members are working different shifts or in different time zones. The team members can collaborate by leaving behind messages when needed and scheduling virtual meetings.
Other blockers for communication are, for example, the app may not be accessible on the laptop. This problem has been solved since the best employee communication apps can be used on mobile, desktop computers, laptops, and even tablets.
With such blockers out of the way, employees can communicate properly, and hence they can execute their tasks.
7. By Facilitating Video Content
As mentioned at the start of the article, the software developed to replace email lacked key features that were important in the modern work environment. For example, the technology couldn’t support video content. What’s the point of having video content anyway?
Well, to start, research has shown that visual content is consumed much faster than text content. Therefore, it would be best to use video content during training programs aimed at equipping employees with new skills to boost their productivity. The employee will not only consume the content faster, but the content will also leave a longer impression since it’s a video.
This, therefore, saves the company time on training and resources. The time and resources were put into many other demanding activities to enhance the firm’s productivity.
8. By Speeding Up Employee Onboarding
Before employee communication apps were invented, employees had to undergo orientation to familiarize themselves with the company. This orientation was done physically, and one of the older employees had to sacrifice their time to guide the new employee on how to navigate the workplace. After all these, it still took the employee quite some time to familiarize themselves with the workplace.
Today, the orientation doesn’t have to be onsite., especially not in this digital economy. Instead, the resources to be used for orientation meetings can now be put to other uses to help grow the business, and the older employees can focus on other important tasks, increasing their productivity.
To orient new employees, you can organize the onboarding materials into one channel and guide the employee to read the material. With this, they can familiarize themselves with the company as they start their roles. They’ll also always have a point of reference should they need one.
Also, when the new employees are added to the chats of the apps, it helps speed up the onboarding process since they get exposed to the company culture and get to catch up on terms and other language used by the older employees.
9. By Enhancing Employee Engagements
Since employee communication apps are used for instant messaging, they facilitate real-time communication. This real-time relay of information helps the employee remain engaged. For example, if there’s an IT problem, an employee can immediately communicate with the IT department through one of the apps on the phone. The problem will be fixed promptly, and the employee can work and remain engaged.
An engaged employee is a highly productive employee.
10. By Modernizing The Company
The current working population, composed of millennials and Gen Zs, has made it very clear that modernization is key in the workplace. As such, generation Z job seekers are more likely to want to work for a firm that uses modern technology like employee communication apps.
Therefore, if you’re looking to appeal to this demographic, you must keep up with modern technology. Implementing technology like employee communication apps helps your firm look forward-thinking.
Also, having this app opens downward and upward communication, which helps you create good working conditions. When employees are working in a healthy work environment, they’re likely to be more productive.
11. By Facilitating Communication For Remote Workers and Deskless Workers
Remote workers are employees who don’t work from the physical office of the business. There are many reasons why you would be a remote worker:
- You work in a different time zone
- Your work can be done online or in another area
- Company policy
Deskless workers, on the other hand, are employees who don’t sit behind a traditional desk throughout a working day. Remote and deskless workers don’t have access to things like a desktop or internet connection during field service. However, these employees may need some important information, and they don’t have the tools to communicate.
Therefore, to enable them to continue working without distraction, you want to make sure they can still access necessary information from the company.
Wrapping Up!
Employee communication apps have revolutionized the way offices and companies are run. They enable companies to connect in ways that weren’t possible before. Communication apps offer instant messaging which contribute significantly to boosting employee productivity. There are ten more ways employee communication apps promote productivity, as discussed in this article. Read them to help inform your decision on adopting employee communication apps for your firm. All the best!
About the Author
Wills Joseph is a communication strategist with over 20 years of experience in digital marketing, business development, and public relations. Wills specializes in helping companies and organizations integrate efficient communication channels within the business. In his free time, Wills likes to write informational articles and journals touching on digital communications and social media.
