Efficient Business Communications in Companies Today Essay

â…  . Introduction Communication is one of the most important factors in any organization or relationship. It is â€Å"the process of people sharing thoughts, ideas, information and feelings with each other in commonly understandable ways† (Hamilton, 2011). When people can communicate properly in a business then it runs smoothly without communicational mistakes and misinterpretation. The main purpose of efficient business communications is to generate a positive, reliable and consistent reputation with customers, employees and other businesses. Efficient business communication promotes confidence in the company so that people are able to trust the company. Businesses are crossing national boundaries to compete on a global scale today. That’s why efficient business communication is important nowadays. To be successful, businesses need to develop efficient ways of communications around the world. In that way, social media and modern technologies is efficient business communications in compa nies today. â… ¡. Body 1. Social media in business communication Pearlson and Saunders (2010) define social networking sites as online services that allow members to create profiles with information about themselves and connect with other individuals that share common interests and expertise. While social networking sites began as methods for people to express their individuality and keep in touch with others, they have developed into communication tools that allow businesses to connect directly with the widespread audiences these sites provide and benefit from the immediacy and intimacy of these contacts. The popularity of social networking sites provides companies with the opportunity to take advantage of instant two-way dialogue with millions of users in a more cost-effective method than previous one-way marketing strategies. Social networking has also changed how working professionals share information and the methods companies use to find new employees. LinkedIn, for example, provides users the ability to create profiles that outline their pr ofessional expertise and accomplishments and Hempel (2010) outlines how both employees and employers benefit from the features of LinkedIn. Over 60 million members have LinkedIn profiles with details on their experience and the ability to reach out to peers to ask for advice or join groups of members with similar affiliations. This provides users the ability to network more effectively than they could through an exchange of business cards or resumes. Employers have also discovered benefits to using LinkedIn to identify and recruit potential employees. LinkedIn provides highly detailed information on members, allowing representatives from companies such as IBM and Accenture to easily identify promising candidates based on member profiles and professional references while saving thousands of dollars in recruiting fees. Twitter provides its users the ability to stay connected by exchanging short messages of 140 characters or less, known as â€Å"tweets†. These brief messages are designed to provide users the ability to quickly share information with a wide audience. Companies are now expected to take an active role in the use of social networking sites to identify candidates for employment, promote their products, and engage customers in the medium and time frame they prefer rather than dictating how and when communication takes place. Given that these sites provide free tools for companies to establish immediate, two-way dialogue with vast numbers of customers, it is imperative that companies develop effective social networking strategies to further establish and strengthen the critical relationship between company and customer. 2. Modern technologies in business communication Technology seems to be in a state of constant evolution. New technologies are being developed all the time, and the impact this has had on the world of business communication is immeasurable. In spite of that speaking to someone in person is the best method of business communication, technology has allowed you to communicate with people around the world through other methods to save company money. Technology plays an important role in the business. It helps to grow business into a customer-focused and sustainable business. Today, modern technology has changed the way these business conduct their communications with each other. Technology has allowed for many forms of communication to take place through the use of cell phones, email, and even holding meetings. Many large organizations have installed a complex network of computer-based telephone, facsimile, printing, voice-mail, e-mail and videoconferencing technologies. These technologies increase the potential for communication in the organization, such as speed, frequency and reach of communication and reduce its cost (Hinds, Keisler, 1995). As technology has progressed, it has increased the speed of business communications. Instead of having to wait a week for a document to be delivered by mail, information can be instantaneously transferred via email or file sharing programs. Technology has greatly increased accessibility in business communication. Because of things like smart phones, email, text messaging and instant messaging, information can be sent very quickly to anyone, anywhere. This has altered accessibility in a multitude of ways. People can work or communicate from anywhere and at any time. Technology has made the world a lot smaller, especially in the context of business. People from different cultures interact on a frequent basis. Global partnerships have become much more feasible as things like video conferencing have facilitated me etings that cost much less to conduct than flying halfway across the world. This has also forced business communication to become more dynamic, as individuals from different cultures learn to accommodate for the cultural and communicative differences in their business relationships. People from opposite ends of the world can work together, 24 hours a day. Moreover, advances in technology make it possible for more and more people to work away from the office – in cars, airports, hotels and homes. (Thill, Bovee, 2005) As it was mentioned before, managers have at their disposal a wide variety of communication technologies from which to choose. And some the most popular technologies can be discovered. They are telephone, voice mail, Internet based communication technologies such as e-mail, instant messages, videoconferences, blogs, file hosting. Mobile Phones Telephones are one of the most common, popular and simple forms of business communication today. The use of the telephone has increased exponentially since its invention because it provides an easy and convenient way to overcome the two principal barriers to communication: time and distance. The telephone is much like one-to-one face-to-face communication, but is done at a distance (Hinds, Keisler, 1995). Using telephones overcome the two principal barriers to communication: time and distance. In fact, some experts estimate that 95 percent of most companies’ daily contacts come via the telephone (Ind, 1999). When people call to an organization, they want to quickly and easy reach somebody who can help them and provide information. Most companies provide cell phones for their employees and they require them to carry them on and off the job. This allows people to be available anytime when they need to be called in. This form of communication is good to get in touch with someone but when you have an important topic to discuss, it is better not to do it over the phone. It also allows companies to save money by having corporate discounts from providers. These benefits of using telephones show that in order to run a business in an effective way, the role of telephones shouldn’t be underestimated. Telephones are one of the most efficient ways of communication. E-mail Of all the Internet activities, e-mail is used more often. Email has changed the way any business is being done. Nowadays people complain about the amount of Email they receive. But, nevertheless, using Email has impacted business in a positive way and has some advantages over other methods of communication. Hamilton (2011) mentioned that â€Å"there are some definite advantages to using e-mail and instant messages in an organization – increased access to and faster retrieval of information, to name just two.† Use of e-mails costs less then sending letters. Thus, e-mail has become one of the most common forms of business communication. Since e-mail communications eliminate the interpretation of body language, tone and gestures, there’s a set of norms and ethics that come with email communication. For example, using capital letters in a sentence can be construed as you screaming at the other person. So, to minimize the potential for problems, many companies now ha ve formal e-mail policies that specify certain rules of creating e-mails and use of company e-mail service. Instant messages Instant messaging allows people to carry on real-time, either one-to-one or small groups text conversations. It is quicker then e-mail and usually used inside the organization to allow employees to share information, exchange documents or hold virtual meetings online. Calls via Internet and Video conference Modern technology allows communicating in person via electronic meetings, such as videoconference or calling and receiving calls via Internet. Programs such as Skype offer Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services that allow individuals and businesses to call and place electronic meetings all over the world for prices much cheaper then regular landline services. Lehman, DuFrene (2005) found that â€Å"despite e-mail, fax machines, cell phones a lot of employees do not communicate as well with one another in virtual environments as they do in traditional office†. Videoconferencing is used by multiple-location companies to communicate with their employees – for training, business updates, to introduce new products or procedural changes (Hamilton, 2011). In videoconferencing people’s participation is more organized and orderly, they come well prepared, which may account for shorter meeting and saving time. It is also effective when an organization is hiring someone who is leaving in other country. If it is expensive to bring that person to the company’s country for an interview, the better way to conduct it is via Skype rather than via telephone. You can see the person, his body language which will give you more information about the person rather than just voice. â… ¢. Conclusion Today, people more connected in globalized world by modern technologies. Lifestyle are changing internet bases that quicker, easier and more cost-effectively. This is nothing different in business communication. Full use of social media and modern technologies are undoubtedly maximizing communications between businesses and their suppliers, partners, customers and their potential customers.