A digital communications platform offers opportunities for digitization and automation within the enterprise, creating new opportunities for operational processes as well. It can change internal communication away from the single-track top-down communication that was common in the past to interpersonal exchange communication and process-accompanying operational communication. In the process, information must also flow from the bottom up, across departments, and diagonally into different teams.
At the top of the communication pyramid is top-down communication, the official communication via company magazines, internal newsletters or intranet from days long gone. At this level, the company communicates its strategies and goals. On the intermediate level is management communication, which connects locations and teams. This is where campaign coordination and local crisis management take place, among other things, and where important updates are communicated. The actual work is coordinated at this level, such as shift scheduling. At the bottom of the pyramid, 1:1 chats and group chats, including shift swaps, mission briefings and work handoffs, take place. This is where teams address operational challenges. Interpersonal exchange communication thus takes place in the lower two levels of the communication pyramid and, when it works well, has a direct impact on employee efficiency. For this to succeed, it is crucial that as many employees as possible abandon previous channels such as Whatsapp with colleagues and superiors and use the central solution for all company-related communication. After all, if all internal communication runs via one platform, this is much more effective and secure than if many different tools are in use. Acceptance increases if the company provides internal communications support for the introduction of the digital communications platform from the outset - ideally as early as the planning phase - involves employees in the process and makes it clear to them what added value the new tool will bring them, for example in the area of operational processes.
Dialog-based communication with employees outside the office as well
Employers also pursue the goal with digitized processes of enabling dialog-based communication with their employees outside the office. Otherwise, employees would have little opportunity to use digitization to make their day-to-day work more efficient, for example, to optimize processes. The bulletin board as the epitome of operational internal communication illustrates the change: For many decades, companies pinned shift schedules or other important information in paper form to permanently installed bulletin boards. The employer had to rely on all employees regularly passing by the bulletin board and taking note of the posted information. Precious working time was thus lost and reactions were largely absent. Bulletin boards were also often used to access operational procedures such as forms, checklists, surveys, or shift and duty schedules. A company that now relies on a digital solution for internal communication and collaboration enables all employees to communicate with each other in real time, regardless of their location. If there is a change in the shift schedule, for example, it can be accessed within a very short time using an app on the smartphone. For the bulletin board, the change would first have to be printed and posted - and might no longer be up-to-date after just a few hours.
In the end, employees and employers benefit equally from a switch to a centralized digital platform
Good internal corporate communications involves all employees without exception, informs them equally, creates opportunities for interaction and collaboration, and prevents breaks in communication between office and non-office employees. Positive effects result on the one hand from the fact that mobile employees can also participate equally in all processes in the area of communication and collaboration. In addition, such a digital communication solution also brings benefits for office employees: Fewer e-mails and faster communication save time and nerves. And finally, everyone without exception benefits from a location-independent exchange of information - including colleagues in the increasingly popular home office, to whom the communication problems of mobile employees can largely be transferred.