Efficient and fast business communication is a key aspect of any business’s long-term success. In order to thrive, an organization must facilitate team members’ access to information in a timely manner and ability to effectively collaborate with colleagues. Making colleague to colleague interactions efficient and easy can greatly benefit businesses in a number of ways. While technology can’t solve all issues, the proper use of Business Communication solutions can help businesses facilitate their employees’ effective communication and collaboration.

Keeping employees engaged at the workplace is crucial to overall productivity, and Business Communication is a key aspect of engagement. Employees who feel engaged at work see boosts in productivity, motivation and long-term employment, all key foundations to a thriving business. But with an overabundance of products on the market, it’s often difficult for businesses to navigate which tools are right for them. While it all starts with a clear vision of communication, the foundation of any employee engagement strategy, below you’ll find several recommendations that can help you fulfill this vision and put your business on a path to long-term growth and sustainability.

Collaborative Virtual Workspaces

Given the trend of increasing demand for remote work options among employees, virtual workspaces are becoming an integral part of every business’s communication and collaboration strategy. The ability to replicate a conference room with amenities such as whiteboards or presentation technology can dramatically increase the speed and efficiency of a team’s collaboration. Business Communication is moving out of the boardroom and into the network, but which tools give you the best virtual workspace?

Instant Messaging (IM) networks are great option providing an ever expanding range of features for your virtual workspace. These networks all provide a wide range of traditional chat features (text, video and audio), and some have truly innovative collaboration features, such as digital whiteboards and remote desktop control. To take things a step further you can consider investing in a private IM network, which gives you full administrative controls over the collaboration features your employees can use, keeping them focused and productive (see below).

P2P File Sharing

Sending and receiving information is important for any team to function properly. The ability to do so in a quick manner between colleagues, or peer to peer (P2P), can help make team collaboration more efficient. The speed of access to data that comes with P2P technology can boost your employees’ collaboration and engagement. However, there are legitimate concerns that arise over the security of data transferred P2P.

When using networks that are not secured through encryption you run the risk of exposing your data to cybersecurity threats. It’s hard to forget the latest large scale data hacks around the last US Presidential election, for example. So while P2P file sharing can facilitate efficient communication, be mindful of using only a secured network.

Cloud Based Apps

Cloud computing is on the rise, and rightfully so. It allows for dispersed access to different systems from numerous employees simultaneously, providing easier access to data, storage services, and more. The true potential of cloud technology is still being developed, including as it relates to business communication.

Cloud based communication apps can allow your employees to collaborate on a wide range of devices and from any location, keeping them in touch regardless of their physical location. There are also communication services that you can move to the cloud, providing more flexibility and cost savings. To take one example, businesses can purchase softphone dialer services instead of hardline telecommunications, which are almost always cheaper and more efficient.

Private Team Chat Networks

For a full range of different business communication features and tools, you should turn to a private team network. These networks create a hosted IM network that you can control and administer as you see fit, which can bring huge benefits. You can see increases in employee productivity, since employees can only communicate with specific colleagues, and security if you chose an option that offers full encryption. One of the best features of these networks is that you, or your network administrator, can set specific privilege levels for users, meaning that you can determine which users can communicate with each other and in what way.

Improving business communication is an ongoing task with no real endpoint. There are always new and improved solutions, so staying up to date is crucial for every business. Regardless of how long you have been in business, there are improvements that you can make in your communication, which in turn will have a positive effect on employee engagement. The above solutions can get any new business off on the right track, or help an established business perfect its practice.