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Originally Posted On: https://www.tikit.ai/5-ways-to-improve-business-communication-online/

 

Did you know that ineffective communication costs U.S. businesses about $1.2 trillion?

It’s not just a financial constraint—ineffective communication makes it tough for employees to meet expectations and complete projects within a specified timeframe. This issue can lower staff morale and increase conflicts, potentially resulting in a high turnover rate.

Communicating with teams online is a cost-effective way to relay information. Check out these five tips to improve business communication online. We’ll also explore how using an IT ticketing solution can streamline the process.

Business Communication Tips

1. Use Clear Language

Failure to use precise language is a crucial issue affecting communication in business.

It’s easy to misunderstand what’s being said or the speaker’s intent, so avoid using jargon or overly technical terms that might not be understood. Instead, choose easy-to-read terms.

Additional tips that establish clear and concise business communications include:

• Avoid long paragraphs
• Use the correct vocabulary and confirm when unsure
• Structure sentences properly
• Use the correct tense
• Punctuate sentences

Acronyms can simplify communication and help you pass information quickly. Still, some acronyms have multiple meanings and can confuse others.

If you want to apply acronyms, use the complete phrase in the first reference and include the acronym in parenthesis. The reader will be able to identify the shortened reference the next time they see it.

Proofreading also improves online business communications. Remind employees to double check their messages before sending them. In addition, provide proofreading tools to help them detect errors and improve communication accuracy.

2. Use a Business Communication Solution

Communicating using several online tools can affect workflows. If employees don’t check each channel regularly, they may miss vital information. And if they read the message too late, they may fail to deliver work within a deadline.

Using a business communication tool can help you avoid such issues. Get a solution like Microsoft Teams or integrate company channels with Azure. These tools simplify collaboration and make it easier to manage tasks. Besides, you can tag specific employees in the chat to capture their attention.

While using such solutions will improve online communication, they can also make IT service desk operations and ticket management more efficient. Adopting an IT service desk app via Microsoft Teams will help end user employees receive assistance without disrupting daily work.

Such a solution helps service desk analysts work where they prefer to work, including the Microsoft Teams app, web app, email and mobile.

3. Provide Detailed Responses

Another tip for improving online communication in business is providing detailed responses. Before answering inquiries or issues raised by colleagues, anticipate follow-up questions they may have. After that, make sure your response addresses the raised issue and related questions.

This measure will speed up communication and boost efficiency.

You may not understand some inquiries due to limited information. If you are uncertain about the type of help an employee needs, seek clarification before responding.

This way, you can avoid wasting time providing unhelpful responses. Further, you will perform your role efficiently and avoid costly business mistakes.

4. Use the Right Tone

Since online communication lacks non-verbal cues, you should use the right tone. In many cases, proper tone may vary based on the nature of the work environment. It may also differ due to the recipient’s rank and role in the company.

A proper business communication tone should show respect. It should also reflect a willingness to help regardless of the audience.

You can make sure you’re using the right tone by also:

• Using a calm and confident demeanor
• Use paralanguage effectively for audio messages
• Conveying authority and respect for others

Consider avoiding protector words like “just,” and “I think” since they may lessen your message’s strength. Further, refrain from using superior words like “obviously.” They may indicate disrespect and make the recipient feel undervalued.

5. Improve Access to Business Information

Lacking access to information could stunt a co-worker’s productivity. For example, if you change system passwords and don’t inform other employees, they may waste time trying to log in. And the service desk team might waste resources looking for non-existent errors.

One way to prevent hiccups is to communicate system updates and changes in advance. Further, provide business communication guides to new employees and train them to use all solutions.

Here’s another idea: centralize and share project files in a communications platform like Microsoft Teams. Team members not only have access to call recordings, they can also create folders and organize assets in each team “files” tab.

Principles of Business Communication You Should Follow

Business communication principles can guide the way you relay messages in a workplace. Applying them may boost engagement and ease problem-solving. It also supports information distribution to the targeted recipient.

Principles of business communication to try include:

• Completeness
• Correctness
• Consideration
• Concreteness

Critical thinking can also help you improve online communication. Before responding to a raised issue, identify the aspects that triggered it and make sure your response provides a definite solution.

Improve Business Communication with Tikit

Business communication is vital since it affects workflow and employee output. At Tikit, we provide a solution to help your IT support and service desk teams perform and solve problems in a conversational manner.

With our tool, you can track support requests, categorize and triage them and create workflows. Check out a demo and see how Microsoft Teams’ communication and collaboration functionality transforms the ticketing process.

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