Using Teams as a VoIP alternative – communication the traditional way
Modern business is practically unrecognisable compared to what it was a mere decade ago, with rapid advancements in technology being met by our growing reliance on it. The wave of transition to technology has brought with it a whole new – more productive – way of working. Technology will continue to evolve and its trajectory for the future is only going to improve – this is why it is essential that we use the technology at our disposal to its fullest potential.
It’s a great idea to introduce new technologies into your business. However, it is always advisable to consider the business case to ensure practical application of any new tools, to make sure you avoid the pitfall of change for change’s sake. In any business, the most integral of business operational requirements is communication. Flawless levels of communication are integral – your business won’t survive without it.
Despite the progressive nature with which technology moves forwards, people still need to talk with people. Although situations may change and the means of communication at our disposal may evolve, the bottom line is that you still need to be able to communicate with people in an effective and reliable way.
Communication – The traditional methods
Email has for quite some time been one of the most important methods of workplace communication. Since its conception over 50 years ago, it has successfully connected businesses and people to each other anywhere on the globe. Technology rarely remains relevant for such a long time; its longevity only proves that it fully deserves its standing as one of the best communicative tools on the planet – ever. But times have changed – back in the 70’s it was revolutionary to be able to send documents and important messages to people both next to you and around the world at the same time, but, in the modern age, this is a basic feature of most tools. Is Email still relevant in the modern workplace?
One of the reasons that Email isn’t quite what it once was is due to value. In the modern world Email is saturated by advertising, and value is severely lacking. ‘Spam’ Emails are far too common now – many find that their inbox is full of Spam and that is takes an age to sift through them to find the Emails of any value.
Many have had a realisation that Emails can be very monotonous, because, in a world of instant connectivity, it is not acceptable for a simple conversation to potentially take hours of back and forth Emailing to reach a conclusion. The modern workplace has no time to waste, for any reason.
The phone
The phone is essentially the same now as it was when it was originally developed, although, of course, it is now like carrying a small computer in your pocket, but in terms of business communication it is practically the same. I’m sure almost every business owner in the world will agree that there is nothing quite as powerful as communicating with others by using your voice. You can adapt the way you are speaking according to the conversation you are having and be selective on your style of speech based on the tone and vocabulary of the person you are speaking with. Conversing verbally by phone will always get a more positive response in comparison to Email (which can be also be mis-interpreted).
We all know that the phone is important, but it is time to move forward – a hybrid of traditional communicative methods and modern alternatives is recommended, and a modern makeover for the work phone is long overdue.
Landline technology has had its time in the sun. It simply can’t aid in the productivity your organisation is able to achieve any more, and in modern business anything that doesn’t improve must be removed. Consumers in today’s world are different from those in the past – they want to be able to contact you all the time, with no exceptions. The world we live in is to blame for this as everything is now demanded instantly, and there is always a rival company offering the same product or service claiming to be cheaper and of a better quality to yours. If your client can’t reach you then they will simply take their business elsewhere, or even worse, if they are a potential client, you may never get their business if their initial contact fails or is deemed to be ignored.
The phone is the lifeline that keeps you, your suppliers, and your customers working to the same plan, so it is vital that you are reachable 100% of the time – if you aren’t then that chain breaks and your business could fail as a result.
Meetings
Meetings were traditionally something to dread for most employees. The office manager would force everyone into a cramped room for a few hours, and attempt to keep everyone’s attention – this way of doing things has never been productive but had to be done as we had no other way. This is probably the reason that meetings are usually few and far between – and only happen if there is a problem in most organisations. For a lot of business owners’ meetings simply aren’t feasible – it can be impossible to find a date and time that fits around their workforce’s busy schedules – but, with help from the right modern tech, businesses can remove the time and effort that has traditionally been needed to make meetings possible.
As we have already explored, the basic needs we have as both humans and people within business remain unchanged – there will always be a requirement to converse with other people in a clear and effective way, however much the operational and commercial pressures of the modern workplace force us to adopt dynamic ways of levelling-up our mediums of communication; ensuring all our basic needs are met, in a faster, simpler, and more reliable way.
In the following article we will explore VoIP and Microsoft Teams, which are two of the most productive ways of communicating on the market today. We will investigate how – if implemented and maintained correctly – they can revolutionise your organisation’s communicative capabilities. Modern digital tools can guide you to a more prosperous future with strategically aligned, capable technology as a powerful ally.
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