Enlist and define the various tools which are used to

communicate within the organization

In order to increase efficiency and productivity wherever you are, simplify IT
management, find user-friendly solutions, and stimulate employee motivation,
organizations have turned to internal communications software.

It’s an obvious solution–today’s communication tools are enabling small, medium-

sized, and large companies to achieve all of the above and even more.

Here are 11 business communication tools that you can get started with today.

1. Social intranet software.

Every organization goes through a phase

or transition where it becomes clear its internal
communications are failing.

Too often with your IT department, the

approach is to press forward with technology
without asking why it’s being done. By looking
out for a few symptoms within your
organization, you can gauge what type of
software or tools will improve how members
communicate.

Some of these symptoms include:

 Difficulty staying up-to-date with company news and announcements.

 Disconnected employees and departments.
 Documents go missing or get buried in email.
 No clear or standardized orientation policy for new employees and interns.
 Too much paperwork.

The solution?

A central portal where everybody can access all relevant information,

communications, documents, and contracts in one place no matter where they are.
 Social intranet software makes this possible while saving your business money by
lowering IT maintenance costs. In the age of BYOD and telecommuting, an intranet
solution cultivates a more flexible workforce ... which increases productivity by aligning
all employees toward the same goals.

2. Private, group messaging, and chat tools.

Employees and project teams need

collaboration tools to help them work
together more efficiently. Without a platform
to collaborate, it becomes difficult for
members to share ideas and keep tabs on
group progress. Emails often get lost, unread,
or threads become frustratingly long.
Providing an easy way for your teams to
communicate brings members together and
helps them be more productive.

Look out for these symptoms:

 Inability to find specific conversations because email threads are too long.
 Inboxes are clogged with unnecessary emails.
 Responsibilities and progress among team members are not clear.

The solution?

Private and group messaging applications eliminate the need for emails and are the
perfect business communication tools to keep teams working together. These features are
important when team members need to discuss work.

This is especially important when employees are spread across geographical

locations in different time zones. While public spaces like Facebook Groups may work,
dedicated intranet chat services ensure everyone is just a tap away. They can also be used
to share files (with a drag-and-drop function) and search for contacts or past
conversations.

3. Task management.

Your overall business performance will

not be as successful as it could be if you do
not have an efficient task management tool.
Combining strong communication features with assignment tracking capabilities, a task
management tool will transform the way staff completes the most vital aspect of your
company: their jobs.

Without a strong project management system in place, projects could be a

confusing, timely process for team members who are unsure about what they should be
doing. These issues further escalate when management doesn't have a direct way to
monitor progress, thus detaching them from the situation.

Watch out for these symptoms:

 Management doesn't know the status of ongoing projects.

 Staff is confused while executing tasks.
 Members do not know the importance of tasks, when they're due, and how to
prioritize ongoing projects.
 Management does not have an organized system to monitor all projects.
 Expectations and a person to report to are not clear to team members.

The solution?

A task management feature is one of the most effective business communication

tools because it solves all of the above problems. From execution to completion, task
management software helps employees and directors reach their goals as efficiently and
successfully as possible. Managers can directly assign tasks to team members and track
their progress. They can also set due dates and priority settings, which appears in an
organized list for everyone involved.

4. Cases, issue tracking, and ticketing software.

Today's customer wants the ability

to connect with you across a variety of
channels. The problem is that there are no
tools that offer a 360-degree approach to
customer support and service. Customer
queries are generally lost, call volumes go
up, and the inability to assign the right
employees to handle customer queries
leaves many customers frustrated.

The symptoms:
  Customer retention is declining.
 Customers are waiting a long time to get help and the overall customer feedback is
negative.
 Employees are missing customer queries.
 Management cannot track the progress of cases.
 There isn't an organized system to place solved and ongoing cases.

The solution?

Issue tracking software is one of the best internal communication tools to manage
customer queries. Customers or employees can submit a case or ticket, get it assigned to
the right employee, and have it resolved on time.

Cases, issue tracking, and ticketing software helps centralize customer support
queries, track open issues, monitor team productivity, prioritize the most important
questions, and collect valuable customer feedback that helps improve your products and
services.

5.