Ineffective business communication costs U.S. businesses more than $1.2 trillion every year, or approximately $12,506 per employee, according to a State of Business Communication study conducted by the Harris Poll on behalf of Grammarly. The study, which surveyed 251 business leaders and 1,001 knowledge workers in the U.S., also revealed that workers reported increased stress (+7% YoY) due to poor communication and 84% of business leaders reported experiencing the downsides of poor communication in the form of lower productivity, missed deadlines, and increased costs.
Today, effective business communication is more important than ever as distributed teams collaborate across departments, geographies, and time zones to achieve shared business goals and objectives. With 12.7% of full-time employees working remotely and 28.2% of employees working hybrid, a strong culture of communication designed to support these working models is vital to boosting operational efficiencies and improving business outcomes.
To enhance employee communication and avoid the steep operational cost of ineffective communication, organizations need the right mobile messaging and collaboration technology. The right technology makes it easy for teams to stay connected, facilitating the seamless communication essential to operational efficiency and business success in today’s digital enterprise.
With the right mobile messaging technology, enterprises can accrue a range of business-critical benefits that increase operational efficiencies. These benefits include:
Improved communication
Mobile messaging and collaboration tools improve communication, allowing teams to easily communicate with each other across departments, geographies, and time zones. These tools break down information silos, minimizing friction and keeping teams on the same page. Using these tools employees can share ideas, documents, and files in real-time which leads to faster problem solving and better decision making. As communication improves, misunderstandings and mistakes decrease while innovation and business performance increase. Enterprises that employ advanced internal communication practices are 3.5 times more successful than many other firms.
Increased productivity
The power of mobile messaging and collaboration technology to keep teams connected and aligned significantly increases productivity. This technology allows teams to collaborate in real-time, breaking down barriers to communication, leading to faster and better decision making. According to Forrester Research, collaboration platforms can drive 10% in productivity improvements. The firm notes that employees using these platforms can save 5–10% of their time, equating to 2–4 hours per 40-hour week. For every 100 employees (50% frontline and 50% knowledge workers), that equates to an annual benefit of nearly $250,000 after applying a 50% productivity conversion factor which assumes that only half of the time freed up goes back to productive use.
Enhanced employee engagement
Effective workplace communication is linked to higher levels of employee engagement. Employees who can easily communicate with team members are more productive and experience greater job satisfaction. While remote and hybrid working can surface feelings of disconnection, mobile messaging platforms help strengthen connections, encouraging idea sharing and active participation that effectively bridges the gap between teams. Robust interactive features built into these tools help foster a sense of belonging among employees, increasing engagement, and reducing turnover. Ensuring employee engagement remains at a high level is critical considering low employee engagement costs the global economy $8.8 trillion, or 9% of global GDP, according to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace: 2023 Report.
Not only does effective workplace communication enhance employee engagement, using the correct tools and technology can also improve the staff’s overall sentiment of workplace communication. When a staff is utilizing a secure, protected and encrypted platform, the staff’s trust in the organization can increase and their levels of anxiety over insecurity can decrease.
Streamlined workflows
Communication and collaboration technology reduces bottlenecks and streamlines workflows. The technology removes inefficiencies in communication, idea sharing and problem solving, leading to increased organizational agility. All-in-one collaboration platforms support real-time communication over instant messaging, voice calls and video conferencing, allowing teams to seamlessly work together and manage projects. Streamlining workflows with mobile messaging technology helps enterprises increase efficiency, saving time and resources which ultimately improves productivity and profitability.
Enhancing workplace communication and operational efficiency with NetSfere
Good communication is the lifeblood of successful enterprises today. Advanced mobile messaging technology like NetSfere makes it easy for enterprises to achieve effective communication that improves operational efficiency, drives innovation, and delivers positive business outcomes.
Poor communication and the operational inefficiencies that go along with it cost too much for businesses to ignore. NetSfere is a secure, compliant mobile messaging and collaboration platform designed to help organizations elevate operational efficiency through improved communication, increased productivity, enhanced employee engagement, and streamlined workflows.