Best ways to use internet for effective business communication

Internet revolution for effective business communication

1. Using notepads or books for jotting down important points during any presentations or meetings is a thing of the past. Use your smartphone or tablet for taking notes during meetings, presentations, etc. It will ensure that you will have your notes handy whenever they are needed instead of spending time in searching for the book or notepad where the points were listed. Another advantage of taking down notes in your smart device is that you can immediately send across the Minutes of Meeting (MoM) to all attendees of a particular business meeting or presentation. This saves a lot of time and ensures you have enough back-up in of the points discussed.


2. Configure your office email account on your smartphone with appropriate security key. This will help you check important mails and reply to them on the go. It will save lot of time for you as otherwise you would have to switch on your laptop and login to check your emails time and again. With this business email facility on phones, you will be able to use your travel time for sending important mails, reading through less important mails which may impact your business later, etc. Also, this email portability on smartphones will give you some extra time to spend with your family when you are at home. Even your family members will be happy that you don't switch on the laptop for every business phone call that you receive in relation to email communication.


3. For communications not involving any clients, it is better to make use of your smartphone messaging apps as well as business instant messengers like Microsoft Lync (which comes along with a paid business communication tool package). Instant messaging will ensure no time is wasted in sending mails and creating a big email chain for small tasks which can be completed with some instant chat discussion. However, for any communication with client or customer, please prefer using emails as it looks more professional and has reliable history back-up.



4. Schedule all appointments for client meetings, company team meetings, workshops, training sessions, presentations, etc. in your email calendar (for example: Outlook calendar) as well as in your smartphone app. This will ensure that sufficient alerts will be generated before every important meeting or presentation which might have forgotten due to a hectic schedule. This also helps a businessman or office professional to confirm his / her availability for any future meetings. Kindly stop using those hand-written diaries and notebooks for maintaining appointments to save time and avoid missing out on any important meetings.


5. Make use of VOIP calling services and Video conferencing services for making international calls or involving people from different geographical regions in the same discussion or meeting. These services can be bought as part of the annual subscription plan from any business administration service provider. This investment is good for your business in the long run. Avoid making only phone calls to clients who have never seen you as having a face to talk to makes a whole lot of difference when it comes to maintaining good business relationships. Instead always opt for video conferencing where both parties can see each other and communicate effectively and also showcase useful products to each other.


6. Make sure every laptop and PC in your office has basic necessary software installed for day-to-day work. For example, ensure you have a good screen capture software that will help any one to quickly share screenshot of any online issues. Similarly, a webcam should be provided for all computers and laptops in your office. Some other useful software include a good media player for watching videos, Microsoft office suite, anti-virus and anti-spyware, Pdf editor software, an official instant messaging service like Lync, etc.


7. Encourage usage of cloud storage in your office and also among your clients. This will ensure that you can have remote access to regularly used files and documents from anywhere. One can update and store documents directly on Google Drive or Sky Drive instead of saving files, documents, etc. on desktop and then separately sending them as attachments via emails. One can also make use of Dropbox for quick access to regularly used stuff.


8. To attract the social network friendly generation in your office, have a separate company feed and try to publish regular updates and announcements on it. Ask your employees to do the same and post some useful ideas, tips, etc. on this feed.