The Impact of Technology on Business Communication
Question:
What is the Impact of technological Changes On Business ?
Technology has transformed our lives to the point where we barely appear to notice it any more. We are surrounded by technology; it is everywhere around us & in all the things that we do, from electricity powering in our houses to the wireless & broadband that we use on our desktops, laptops, mobile phones & tablets. The modern development in technology hassled to our devices becoming faster, smaller & more mobile. It is possible to call anyone sitting in any part of the globe & talk to them through video link on the screen of a tablet or a mobile phone.
However, as considerable as technology has altered the way we personally communicate, it has truly transformed the business communications; this essay will discuss the various ways this has happened & what the implications for business are (Innis, 2010).
Changes in technology have impacted nearly every part of our lives. The credit goes to the advancement in computer science & communication, almost everything that a person imagines is only a few clicks away from him/her. For example, making a video call to the parents living abroad or watching a television series on the mobile devise even when a person is travelling is possible with the help of technology that is there in our lives today.
Beyond these changes in our personal lives, technology has also changed the pace & the dace of how the business is conducted. Business processes have been altered companies are now working with much more efficiencies than they ever used to do in past. At the same time, technology has opened a new way of communication, letting businesses to collaborate & communicate across borders (Schramm, 2014).
It is quite sure that technology has transformed companies in a surprizing way. Mobile devices such as tablets & smart phones merging with power of internet have reformed the way in which work is conducted. All the written memos, faxes & phone calls have been replaced by E-mails. Tablets & smartphones can help an individual in connecting to their business network while they are out of their offices, letting them to reply swiftly. For example storing crucial files on a cloud based computing systems instead of in the PCs has made the information effortlessly accessible at anywhere & at any point of time.
Moreover with the assistance of technology, virtual companies are now a reality. The internet has permitted organizations to build geographically apart teams to work like a unified, single company. All instant messaging tools, cloud computing systems & video conference calling have simplified the processes of business. The outcome is the better productivity & competences in many scenarios (Berlo, 2009).
While discussing about technology & its constituents which assist the organizations to change how they develop, it is essential to focus a few words about cloud computing as well. As most of the people are aware that using cloud based computing system could have several benefits & advantages for the company which assist to have competitive advantage over their competitors. Dropping costs, becoming more approachable to the consumers, growing the flexibility & scalability are the ones which could be easily thought. So with the assistance of the cloud almost anything, even the organization itself can considerably change.
Collaborating and Communicating Across Borders
Possibly one of the most significant technological change has permitted businesses is to connect with their consumers in a new style commonly using social media platforms such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook & LinkedIn. For example, via LinkedIn, companies are able to connect to different business networks & attempt generating new revenue streams. With the help of Twitter & Instagram organizations can stay pertinent in mind of the customer & assist to solve their issues in their business interactions with the company.
Commonly ICT is often used as a comprehensive synonym for Information Technology; however ICT is normally a more broad term which strains the role of integration communications & the incorporation of middleware, computers, telecommunications (wireless signals & phone lines) as well as essential audio visual systems, storage & software which allows users to manipulate, transmit, store, access & create information. In simple words, Information Communication Technology comprises of Information Technology as well as Telecommunication, broad cast media, all categories of audit visual processing & broadcasting & network based monitoring & control functions.
- Electronic Mail Services: When the Interned was first recognized (as ARPHANET) in late 1960s, the scholars that were working in it momentarily understood the requirement for a means to coordinate their determination of using the network. It was out of this requirement in 1972 that one of the scholars working on the project of ARPANET (i.e. Ray Tomlinson) build the first email application. The first email program that was designed was able to selectively read messages from the list, file, respond & forward messages. Communication through internet has made a massive development since then, with the whole lot of things from chat rooms, all the way to video conferencing which in replacing over the earlier technologies over internet.
- Internet: By the end of this century, information, containing internet access, will be the foundation for political, economics & personal advancements. The widely held name for Internet is the information super highway. Whether you are looking for the updated financial news, joining an active political debate, exchanging information with co-workers or browsing through library catalogues, the internet is the toll which will take you beyond isolated computers, faxes & telephones to a growing networked information frontier.
- Voice Mail: It is also called as voice bank or voice message, it’s a computer grounded system which permits subscribers & users to exchange personal voice messages; to process transactions; & to select & deliver voice information involving individuals, services, products & organizations, using a regular telephone. Voice mail is moreover used more generally to signify any system of transmitting a stored telecommunications voice messages, comprising an answering machine. Maximum of the mobile phone service providers offer voice mail as an elementary feature, many organization consists of versatile internal voice messaging servicers & *99 vertical service code subscription is accessible to maximum people & small firms land line subscribers.
- Mobile services: The influence of mobile collaboration technology is important in its potential to change the way individuals work. Live visual communication eliminates traditional limitations of time & distance. Business processes are enhanced by augmented issue resolution, drops in travel & downtimes, progress in customer service & better productivity (Steven, 2013).
Aon Plc is a foremost global provider of reinsurance, insurance & risk management brokerage & human resource solutions & outsourcing services. The company employee more than 78000 employees throughout the world, Aon unites to empower results for its clients in more than 124 countries through effective & innovative people & risk solutions & by industry leading technical & global expertise. The organization has been named continuously as the world’s best: insurance intermediary, broker, captives manager, employee benefits & reinsurance intermediary consulting firm by the numerous industry resources.
- Yammer: It is social internet software which has been adopted by Aon to engage & create interests amongst the employees. It is just similar to social networking sites like Twitter & Facebook. These numerous features of social internet software develop more effective internal communication in the organization. Everybody is able to contribute & share ideas while feeling like a part of community.
- Instant Messaging services: Aon uses IM services provide by Microsoft, which accommodates a variety of media types comprising video & video conferencing. These services have also been incorporated into existing services helping employees & teams to quickly bring each other to communicate when required. Social intranet software Yammer is also incorporated with chat functions.
- Video Conferencing: The traditional use of video conferencing in the boardroom has been replaced with video enable tablets & mobiles which permit employees & management of Aon to call wherever & whenever required. These web based video conferencing tool has made it easier for the teams at Aon to meet in a virtual rooms which has tremendously improved the collaboration efforts (Baluska & Volkmann, 2016).
Technology continuously remains in the state of advancement, growth & evolution. Technological forward movements in the area of one filed impacts the other fields as well. During the last 20 years technology has progressed intensively & at a very fast pace in numerous areas. These developments have impacted the concerned field as other fields as well. In today’s time organizational communication is dependent completely on technology & similarly by the expansion in other fields. The greatest impacted scopes of business communication are as follows:
- Speed: Development in technology is accelerating not merely the business communications however also the business itself. These days, there is no necessity to wait for money in the form of cheques & other time taking methods. Just some clicks over the PC or mobile phones is able to transfer the money from one to another account at any time of the day, i.e. 24*7. Purchase orders for raw materials, services & products can be places & processed online avoiding time saving for employees for some other work.
- Accessibility: Technology has significantly improved business communication accessibility, because of the things such as instant messaging, text messaging, emails & smart phones; it is possible to send information instantly anywhere & to anyone. Though this is capable of accelerating business communication, it can also lead work to be all incorporating, potentially having an adverse effect on individual lives.
- Global Partnership: Technology has brought the world closer, particularly in the framework of business. Individuals from diverse culture interact on a recurrent basis. These have developed quite more viable as things such as video conferencing has enabled meetings which cost much less to conduct instead of flying halfway around the globe. This has also enforced the business communication to develop livelier, as people from diverse cultures practice to accommodate for a communicative & cultural differences in their organizational relationships (Shannon, 2009) .
Communication is one of the significant components of success of an organization. Communication is deliberated as the nervous system of the body which gives the feelings of life to the company & despite having communication; no organization would be able to function. Or operate. In past few years business communication has transformed & progressed as an outcome of the advancement & development in technology that has transformed the complete communication concept. In contrast to past, today there are numerous means & ways of communicating that there had been 20 years back. Usage of newest communication devices is becoming essential & nearly universal in all kinds of business, which might be large, medium or small one. Today organizations use a diversity of communication modes to share & receive the data & information to keep the processes function smoothly & keep individuals informed. Individuals involved in business recognize the importance of effectiveness, time worthiness, accuracy & clarity while communicating with customers, employees, & other stakeholders & public. Below are few current challenges that organization faces:
- Assortment of social groups & technology: Each person has a unique frame of references which allow them to determine how the world is seen by them, particularly in the technological development era. Diversification in religion, ethnicity, gender, age & other elements build diverse style of perception for a received message via dissimilar technologies. These variations assist employees to get more solutions to the table. However, such variations can lead receiver to understand messages contrarily than the sender proposed or create with dissimilar prospects.
- Remote field employees: Organizational communication channels must stay open to the individuals that are far from their offices, like remote marketing/sales person that working away in the field. The challenge rises amongst the organizations which are involved in global or multi-national corporate. Cross cultural communication enhances diverse time zones, distance, business standards & languages to harden the already difficult equation (Montana, 2008).
- Always changing & advance technology: All the latest means of communication like mobile devises, web interactions, social media & emails assist individuals to communicate with individuals across the world at high speed. However, technology could similarly make special encounters. Information which is not delivered face to face lacks non-verbal communication & signs which an individual receives from body language & facial expressions. Online supplied information could be reflected out of context & the sender might not be capable of clarifying the message swiftly. Technology assists clusters to communicate via teleconferences & web conferences, however, telephone static, time zones & supplementary technical glitches can develop difficulties for effective communication (Paul, 2015).
Conclusion
Hence, we can conclude that technology has transformed the face of business communication by making it more integrates, much efficient & faster than ever before.
References
Baluska, F.; Marcuso, S.; Volkmann, D. (2016). Communication in plants:neuronal aspects of plant life. Taylor & Francis US. p. 19. ISBN 3-540-28475-3.
Berlo, D. K. (2009). The process of communication. New York, New York: Holt, Rinehart, & Winston.
Innis, H. A. (2010). The bias of communication. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Montana, P. J. & Charon, B. H. (2008). Management. 4th ed. New York. Barron’s Eucational Series.
Paul Martin Lester, Visual Communication with Infotrac: Images with Messages, Thomson Wadsworth, 2015, ISBN 0-534-63720-5.
Schramm, W. (2014). How communication works. In W. Schramm (Ed.),The process and effects of communication, Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press.
Shannon, C. E., & Weaver, W. (2009). The mathematical theory of communication. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press
Steven L. (20013). InfoCulture. New York: Houston Miflin Company.
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