Communication is perceived as relying of messages between two or more parties. Communication has grown to more than just relaying a message. Communication is a mutual transmission of ideas, opinions and questions leading to a common understanding or in some cases misunderstandings. Communication has proved to be a make or break aspect of every business and many businesses are scrambling to keep up with the fast growing world of business communication.
Growth of business communication infrastructure.
Over the last half decade, businesses have greatly invested in modern communication systems that facilitates quick and efficient exchange of both oral and written communication. According to Cisco Systems, largest provider of business communication solutions, equipment sales have been on the rise and more notably teleconferencing equipment and internet gadgetry. In the heart of modern communication we have the internet.
High speed internet has been in high demand owing to the increasing literacy levels all over the world. In the last three years, over ten fibre optic lines have been laid down in the Indian ocean with African countries being on the forefront to connect their citizens to high speed internet. South Africa, Kenya and Ghana are the highest internet consumers in Africa. In fact, Kenya is referred by many as the Silicon Valley of Africa.
Emerging trends in business communication.
Social media. Businesses are literary taking work to where the play is. There are over 1 billion Facebook user and nearly half a billion twitter and there is no way you can ignore such numbers. Many successful businesses have established customer care teams that interact and answer customer questions using social media platforms. You can barely go thirty minutes on Facebook without coming across a business advert. Social media is both fun and cheap to use making it a preferred marketing tool.
Outsourcing. This is a cost cutting move that businesses are employing to enhance customer service and feedback collection. With advancement in technology, customer desks can be located thousands of miles away from your business establishment. A business can have a 24hrs customer’s desk without paying a single cent as allowance.
Teleconferencing. Although it has been there for a while, teleconferencing has advanced with many businesses holding their AGMs remotely using telecommunication facilities.
A look into the future.
With many businesses on the final stages of recovery from the great recession, the future looks promising especially for small businesses. In a study conducted by Lloyds TSB Commercial, 42% of firms expect an increase in orders spreading over first six months of 2013. 44% are confident that sales will increase in the same time period while others are anticipating an increase in profits. Almost half of the firms involved in the study plan on allocating more to communication infrastructure and media advertising.
Leading communication firms, Huawei and ZTE expect an increase in production and sales in order to satisfy the technology hungry population. We expect business communication to receive a boost with the anticipated release of BlackBerry by RIM. BlackBerry has been the preferred business communication mobile phone owing to its advance security feature and email feature. We can’t ignore the role played by tablet phones in business communication, especially presentations. Microsoft will be releasing dozens of tablets running on their new Windows8 OS that easily synchronize with your laptop or desktop. This will be a boost to office portability.