Original article published by Forbes can be seen here.
The information technology (IT) industry is expected to grow a whopping 6.2% this year alone, according to Statista. This will make the technology industry a $3.74 trillion business by 2018, which is part of the driving force behind how your company communicates today.
Using technology to keep your team connected just makes sense. With more remote employees taking over the workforce and the need to engage with staff located all over the world, having instant accessibility not only makes it easy to work together and collaborate, but is also an effective way to operate today.
Below, 10 members of Forbes Business Development Council share how modern technology changed the way their teams work together and communicate. Here’s what they had to say:
Although I get to see a lot of sales technology and platforms, by far my favorite is the simple chat program. I get enough emails on a daily basis, so when a colleague has a quick question it’s much easier to receive an instant message. This has drastically reduced my inbox count, and is one step further towards “business in real time.” Not only can we communicate quicker, but we can serve our customers faster than ever. – Christopher Kingman, TransUnion
2. Comfortable Collaboration
Use technology platforms that your team is comfortable with to encourage collaboration among team members. For example, we use Slack as a way to quickly communicate with multiple departments within the company. But a smaller group of millennials has a Snapchat group to congratulate team members on their personal successes. It’s a way for them to interact using technology they’re comfortable with. – Christian Valiulis, Automatic Payroll System
3. Increasing Team Morale
I worked at APCO Worldwide for almost 12 years, in five cities and on three continents, and have seen firsthand the evolution of internal communications platforms from a simple company intranet to a dynamic Workplace and single portal you can access from anywhere. It enables colleagues from Tokyo to Brussels and Dubai to Seattle to share market observations, work milestones and client successes. – Anna Tunkel, APCO Worldwide
Evolving technology allows for better leadership and collaboration with remote teammembers. While individually cool, video conferencing, files sharing and editing and messaging apps continue to layer on features that make those working from afar feel more organically connected. As a leader, these advancements provide for more personalized minute-to-minute communication, equaling a more cohesive team. – Brandon Ficara, Toco Warranty
To further enhance our service levels and communications with both internal and external clients, we have instituted Slack and Monday.com to better manage our processes. This has helped our teams move from countless emails to more streamlined communications platforms with a lot more functionality than email for project management and communication. – Wayne Elsey, Elsey Enterprises
Social media norms like news feeds, mentions, cross-level participants and informalism are built into corporate communication tools and have transformed how we get work done. Decisions have moved away from meetings, conference calls and long-threaded emails, and now get made informally on these platforms, often with ad-hoc teams. A vast proportion of our decisions now get made lower down in the organization. – Vijay Sundaram, Zoho Corporation
Modern technology allows sales teams to collaborate and learn from each other far more than ever before. Companies are building call libraries using recorded sales conversations to share best practices and train/onboard new reps. Sharing successes and failures using actual calls also facilitates continuous learning through peer-to-peer coaching, which is a step up from simply role-playing. – Howard Brown, RingDNA
8. More Instant Access
Modern technology has changed the way our team — and virtually every other across every other business — works together and communicates. Each person is more accessible, as he or she can be reached by phone, email or applications from Facebook to Google Hangouts to Skype. Hence, even when someone is not in the office, that person can remain connected and productive. –Adam Mendler, The Veloz Group
9. Removing Geographical Barriers
Technology allows for teams to collaborate regardless of location. This means the ability to build stronger, more diverse teams that can execute more effectively and efficiently. Utilizing technology to collaborate also breaks down the old-fashioned silos that exist within organizations and facilitates a more holistic approach to fostering and growing client relationships. – Jen Tadin, Gallagher
10. Harvesting Best Practices
We use our own video coaching and assessment tool to capture the best thinking/practices of our sales reps. We send out regular requests (e.g. “How do you respond to this common objection?”), and reps submit a video of themselves in our system. We then determine the “best of the best,” share examples with the sales team at large and convert them into searchable and measurable learning content. – Jim Ninivaggi, Brainshark
