Using Business Messaging Platforms for your organization which still uses emails and other methods for team communication, the change will be enormous and as usual with every tech intervention, there will be certain responsibilities attached to it. Once the organisation is fully onboard, the easy-to-use interface, multiple features, and secure encryption of apps will give a boost to increase team efficiency and productivity, in addition to making huge savings on time and money. And the benefits keep growing. The Institute of Internal Communication, UK, in its study showed that 97per cent of businesses using collaboration software have reported being able to service more clients, more efficiently, and firms using social collaboration software have seen productivity enhancements of an average of 12-15 per cent according to Forbes. And when an enterprise messaging tool can be successfully utilized across different teams in an organization, it just gets better. The filters and awareness required to be able to use the Business Messaging Platforms to maximum potential are the following.
Remember it is Instant: Less intrusive than a phone call and faster than email, instant messaging offers ideal support for team collaboration. Plus, it sits perfectly with Gen Y employees’ desire for the immediacy required. However, the immediate nature of messaging can mean you send something before you really know what you want to say, so one needs to make sure and double check the messages before firing them off without thinking.
To Remember it is Business Messaging Platforms: It is difficult to remember that messages are for work and the language needs to remain as official as in mails. While emojis and a few exclamations can be allowed, the workforce will need to get trained in the ethics of business messaging.
Company Rules on Instant Messaging: The business messaging platforms offers faster and immediate access to both the backend and with the clients. As front handling will need to be streamlined with the same language and same approach, the company need to have rules and guidelines on how to handle clients through instant messaging and train the workforce accordingly.
Keep to the Subject Line and Decide on the Topic: Business Messaging may have a tendency to move off the track once the core issue gets addressed. It is important to close a matter on messaging definitely and stick to the topic of discussion. If the topic is too serious, the company policies should have exact guidelines on how to address such serious concerns that cannot be addressed through messaging. There need to be avenues to talk face to face, have voice calls and escalate any client problem as required.
Know where to Stop interaction on Business Messaging: The aim of business messaging is to speed up communication. So, if any communication becomes long drawn and one finds oneself in a long chain of messages, constantly answering questions and trying to clarify what you’re saying, it may be quicker and easier to pick up the phone or talk to the persondirectly. We need to remember, business is the main aim, messaging is not!
Business Messaging in many ways intervenes with the work-life balance prompting the employees to respond immediately during non-office hours, which leads to mistakes. As the platform beats age-old practice of paper files and emails, by offering immediate and clearer resolution to business concerns figuring out how to properly, and professionally, communicate via IM is important. These systems can create communication silos, where teams who are highly integrated in one platform are unable to collaborate with departments rooted in another. Ease of communication also breeds distraction and informality, where instant messaging becomes a natural conduit to share non-work-related information, including details, sometimes inappropriate, of workers’ personal lives. And thus, untrained use of messaging platforms can lead to legal angles for organizations and untoward potential litigation if used in unresponsible manner.
By Rajat Singhania founder of Hylyt by SocioRAC
