How Technology Reshaped Business Communications
Explore 6 ways technology changed every aspect of business communications
Technology Left The Landscape Forever Changed
The world of business operations remained fairly stagnant for roughly a century. Many will remember the “good ole days” prior to computers in an office setting. It’s a sure bet business life is never going back to that.
The last few decades delivered business professionals technology changes at an exponential rate. Leaving employees, owners and processes to develop, evolve and adapt at the same pace or be swept away by the tidal wave of competition—whether we like it or not.
Depending on your experience, you may not realize just how far we’ve come. But if you had a time machine and could go back to 1990, 2000 and 2010, you’d be shocked at the leaps businesses made. For example, there was once:
A lack of centralized work communications that maximize efficiencies anywhere in the world. Communications were once only done by land line phones and meetings were carefully scheduled to accommodate travel arrangements for team members and customers.
Limitations on marketing options. There was a time when the only advertising options were newspapers, magazines, radio and if you were lucky, TV—and to boot, all artwork was hand-drawn and hand-delivered by agencies for client approvals.
A requirement for employees to be subject matter experts for all their clients. Without helpful resources, including the Internet, writers and other staff were required to absorb as much information as possible, unless they wanted to visit the library and dust off encyclopedias.
Technology changed every aspect of the way businesses operate—from small businesses to large enterprises. Today, we communicate faster, more efficiently and more conveniently.
6 Ways Business Was Impacted By Technology
Here are six ways technology impacted business communication forever— for better or worse.
Communicating and Sharing Information: Without communication and information sharing, a business doesn’t have two legs to stand on. Technology and other tools offer professionals more ways than ever to do just that. Some examples of communication tools in business are Slack, Zoom, Microsoft Teams and social media. Sales tools such as Salesforce provide employees the ability to track and store conversations, proposals and analytics in ways that are transparent across multiple departments. Technology also offers the opportunity to personalize messaging and marketing based on audience segmentations and placement within the sales/marketing funnel. At one time, letters were a necessary evil in the office, today emails and text messages are automated to boost productivity and consistently keep your name in front of customers.
Remote Operating Environments: This is one of the more recent advancements making waves through business—spurred by the COVID-19 pandemic. To remain open when the world was shutting down, businesses needed to embrace all forms of technology to establish home offices with all the functionalities of a traditional workspace for employees. Adding to the ability to remotely operate from anywhere, anytime, is the concept of mobile phones and tablets. These smart devices allow employees to manage every aspect of their position from something that fits in their hands—emails, social media, content marketing, graphic design, shipping, invoicing, production processes, etc.
Use of Artificial Intelligence in Processes: The implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) tools such as ChatGPT in business is one of the most recent evolutions of technology within business that many still don’t know about. AI has already been working behind the scenes on processes such as search engine optimization (SEO), financial management, security and machine learning. It’s also being used within the sales process to track buyers within customer relationship management (CRM) tools and predict website visitor and customer purchase intention. Long term, it’s expected that AI will replace long-standing processes and potentially some employment positions. But at the same time, it opens the door for growth, efficiencies and possibilities within the business landscape. Its future is unknown, but it’s important to learn about it because a time will come when businesses need to embrace it.
Shifts to a “Buyers Market”: Technology has brought together all of the necessary ideas to make business a “buyers’ market.” The use of the Internet, applications and software now puts more information into the hands of buyers. At one time you could stop into a prospective client’s office and pitch a solution with little to no known competition. Today that same buyer can search the Internet to find competitive solutions and compare price and support options. It makes the sales process longer and more challenging, but this is a key reason to make sure your website is discoverable through search engines.
Collaboration Potential Anytime, Anywhere: A McKinsey Report states that over 60% of working hours are spent collaborating or communicating. With so many people working remotely or globally, technology plays an integral part in bringing people and resources together.
Cloud Computing and Operating: Gone are the days when every business depends on their own server and IT department. Tools such as Dropbox, Google Drive and other third-party options make it easier to operate without worrying about server crashes, accessibility and Internet connectivity, making operations more efficient, mobile and cost effective.
Conclusion
The rapid evolution of technology and its impact on the business environment won’t slow down any time soon. Businesses will need to learn to adapt with the changes if they wish to avoid being wiped out by competition.
This doesn’t mean you need to start from the ground up, or overhaul processes to accommodate these modern methods of operating. But learning to realize and prioritize the areas you can improve on will help guide you in the right direction. And, if you feel overwhelmed or uncertain where to start, or want to make sure your processes are on par with your industry standards, contact a professional that can help you.
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