This is the first in a series of posts about the benefits of effective business communications. In today's post we will look at the importance of communications within a business and the effects absent or poor communications can have.
Part 2 will examine external business communications and will be available on Friday 11th October.
For any internal communications within a business, it is paramount that communications are secure. Symantec shows that the average cost of a data breach to UK businesses is over 2 million pounds, which is an increase from the year before. Staff will exchange information between team members daily and a proportion of the information exchanged will be sensitive, and this needs to be kept safe.
Living in today’s world, there are typically multiple systems within organisations that are used in everyday business activities. When systems fail it is important that relevant staff are notified as soon as possible to reduce downtime and negative impact on the business. According to the 2012 Acronis Disaster Recovery Index survey 86% of companies suffered downtime in the last year, and lost an average of 2.2 days annually as a result.
Enterprises that communicate with staff well can also see positive differences in performance and reduced costs. For example, Unum found that the failure to effectively communicate company benefits available to employees costs UK businesses £2.7 billion every year through higher employee turnover and sickness. Furthermore, CEB found failure to inform employees about organisational change in advance increased misconduct by 42 percent!
Businesses must also think about the wider environment and possible factors that may cause disruption to everyday operations. This can be anything from heating system failure, severe weather to a leaky gas pipe in the area affecting staff's ability to commute to and be at work. Chartered Management Institute (CMI) found severe weather is the top cause of business disruption, with average costs to organisations reaching more than £52,000. Disruptions to the business can be minimised by communicating office closures to staff and enabling them to work from home. It is also important that businesses do not have staff travelling in to work under dangerous conditions as they are expected to keep employees safe under Health and Safety regulations.
Business mobility has become a buzzword in the industry and is presenting further communication considerations that businesses must address. Every enterprise has a degree of dependency on mobility as individuals are mobile by nature - they can move around. Within the organisation, mobility can range from a team member popping over to a colleague's desk to attending a meeting. People need to be mobile in order to get the job done but this makes them less accessible.
Using mobile messaging such as SMS and instant messaging for internal communications can make the enterprise more effective and efficient through increased accessibility and responsiveness. 97% of mobile subscribers will read an SMS (text) message within 15 minutes of receiving it meaning issues can be dealt with promptly wherever they are. Instant messaging is also ideal for immediate communications as well as being used for secure messaging via end to end encryption, reducing the likelihood of costly security breaches.
Find out more about how SMS improves business communications strategy or the different mobile communications services available to help your enterprise become more effective and efficient through increased accessibility and responsiveness.
This post is part of a series. Part 2 will be published Friday 11th October.
For any internal communications within a business, it is paramount that communications are secure. Symantec shows that the average cost of a data breach to UK businesses is over 2 million pounds, which is an increase from the year before. Staff will exchange information between team members daily and a proportion of the information exchanged will be sensitive, and this needs to be kept safe.
Living in today’s world, there are typically multiple systems within organisations that are used in everyday business activities. When systems fail it is important that relevant staff are notified as soon as possible to reduce downtime and negative impact on the business. According to the 2012 Acronis Disaster Recovery Index survey 86% of companies suffered downtime in the last year, and lost an average of 2.2 days annually as a result.
Enterprises that communicate with staff well can also see positive differences in performance and reduced costs. For example, Unum found that the failure to effectively communicate company benefits available to employees costs UK businesses £2.7 billion every year through higher employee turnover and sickness. Furthermore, CEB found failure to inform employees about organisational change in advance increased misconduct by 42 percent!
Businesses must also think about the wider environment and possible factors that may cause disruption to everyday operations. This can be anything from heating system failure, severe weather to a leaky gas pipe in the area affecting staff's ability to commute to and be at work. Chartered Management Institute (CMI) found severe weather is the top cause of business disruption, with average costs to organisations reaching more than £52,000. Disruptions to the business can be minimised by communicating office closures to staff and enabling them to work from home. It is also important that businesses do not have staff travelling in to work under dangerous conditions as they are expected to keep employees safe under Health and Safety regulations.
Business mobility has become a buzzword in the industry and is presenting further communication considerations that businesses must address. Every enterprise has a degree of dependency on mobility as individuals are mobile by nature - they can move around. Within the organisation, mobility can range from a team member popping over to a colleague's desk to attending a meeting. People need to be mobile in order to get the job done but this makes them less accessible.
Using mobile messaging such as SMS and instant messaging for internal communications can make the enterprise more effective and efficient through increased accessibility and responsiveness. 97% of mobile subscribers will read an SMS (text) message within 15 minutes of receiving it meaning issues can be dealt with promptly wherever they are. Instant messaging is also ideal for immediate communications as well as being used for secure messaging via end to end encryption, reducing the likelihood of costly security breaches.
Find out more about how SMS improves business communications strategy or the different mobile communications services available to help your enterprise become more effective and efficient through increased accessibility and responsiveness.
This post is part of a series. Part 2 will be published Friday 11th October.
For further information regarding HSL Mobile, visit us at:
follow us on LinkedIn, @hslmobile, Facebook or Google+
or call us on +44 (0)1506 605 260
or email us at sales@hslmobile.com
