Change can be scary. And, the process of transforming, in any aspect of life, can often be a challenge, When you’re a leader of an organization that is responsible for creating change and transforming a large workforce, the fear of change being unpopular amongst employees, and the feat that production may drop during the transition phase, may cause you to contemplate maintaining the status quo.
When it comes to digital transformation, your business can’t afford to maintain the status quo. You can’t isolate yourself from the change happening in the world. If your workforce does not being to think and work digitally, your business will suffer and eventually fail.
Digitally Transforming Communication
There are many aspects of a business that are impacted when a business refuses to transform digitally, or when they fail to properly transform, And, 70% of digital transformations fail!
One area within a business that will eventually fail if you do not successfully transform digitally is communication.
The digital world has changed how we communicate, both interpersonal communication and how companies communicate. We will look at both internal and external communication:
Internal Business Communication
An often overlooked aspect of digital transformation is internal communication. The good news is that this is one area that which most businesses have already either transformed or started to make changes.
A recent study shared by Daniel Newman, the Principal Analyst and Founding Partner at Futurum Research, concluded that communication departments are spending over half of their budget on internal communication,
The era of having multiple large in-person meetings per day is mostly over. Workforces are communicating more frequently, and in quicker and more connecting ways. Furthermore, the rise of remote and hybrid workforces has dictated a shift in internal communication.
The Rise Of Zoom Meetings
Zoom meetings, or more broadly, video conference meetings, have become a part of almost all companies. If you’ve ever taken part in an online meeting, congratulations, you’ve started to digitally transform.
Communication tools like Zoom, Slack, Asana, or even more common communication tools such as Facebook Messenger or text messaging are all being used as forms of internal communications. These are essential tools for many businesses, especially if your workforce is comprised of any work-from-home or hybrid workers.
Communication Needs For Remote Workforces
Global Workplace Analytics estimated that 30% of workforces work from home at least a few days per week. This will only increase. Meta estimated that over 50% of their employees will work entirely remotely by 2023.
Yes, people will still talk over the phone. And, email is still a widely used communication tool. But, the shift towards digital internal communication tools is well underway.
Your business needs to transform how it communicates internally to meet both the current digital world we live and work in, but also the future digital world that is approaching at warp speed.
External Communications
External communication is one of the most obvious areas of digital transformation that companies think of and that most have at least begun to transform in some ways.
If your company has a Facebook page, a blog, or an interactive website, congratulations, you are one of the 80% of companies that have begun a digital transformation.
What Is External Communication
External business communication is the transformation of information from an entity inside your organization to an entity outside of your organization. While we often think of this as just marketing and public relations, it goes beyond that. It includes communication in any way with customers, potential customers, suppliers, investors, shareholders, and the community at large.
Why You Need To Communicate Digitally
You need to be able to reach outside entities where they spend their time. And, you need to be available to outside entities through the method that they prefer to communicate. This means communication digitally.
Your customers and potential customers communicate digitally and consume communication through digital means. The average American spends over 470 minutes per day consuming digital content and communicating digitally. That is nearly 8 hours, more hours than almost anyone reading this spends sleeping in one day. This is a shocking statistic and your business needs to take note of it and take action on it.
Customer Service
The marketplace could not be speaking any clearer. People prefer to both communicate digitally, and to consume their content digitally. This means they prefer to conduct business and customer service through digital means.
Your business still needs a phone number, and ideally someone to answer that phone 24/7 or at least during working hours. However, customers today decide which means they like to communicate through, and they have an expectation of having their means met through that medium.
Many of your customers will only communicate through digital means. Having a digital presence enables your customers to communicate more efficiently with you and makes them more likely to communicate;
Having a Facebook Page, being open to an Instagram Direct Message, or having a live chat function on your website are great ways of digitally communicating. But, you also need to reply through those means. Your customers don’t want to message on Linkedin or Twitter and be told to call a phone number. Transform to be able to meet the needs of your customers through the means in which they prefer to communicate.
You Must Transform Digitally To Effectively Communicate
If you fail to transform your business to communicate digitally, your business won’t last through this decade. Also, if you fail to implement and effectively manage digital external communications, your business will not be able to compete with your competitors.
The best time to digitally transform was yesterday. But, the second-best time to transform is now. Is your business ready?
