BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

BUSINESS COMMUNICATION AND THE TECHNOLOGY CONTEXT

The importance of technology in society and business can be seen in how technology expands
the reach and efficiency of many forms of internal and external communication in business.

Field sales representatives and technicians, for instance, no longer have to return to an office to
receive assignments. Instead, they take calls or mobile messages while in the field, alerting
them to the next scheduled appointment. Business representatives traveling for work can stay
connected to the office and colleagues, and email enables mass distribution of messages to
people across geographical boundaries.

Externally, technology enhances opportunities for marketing communication. Social media,

email, mobile phones and chat features allow companies swifter and more interactive
communication platforms as compared to traditional forms of communication.

Managing Information within Organizations

The growth of information technology over the past 30 years has transformed the way business
is transacted throughout the world. Some of the effects of the new technologies include

 A marked increase in the amount and availability of information and greater speed in
sending and receiving it.
 Changes in organizational structure from the decreasing importance of physical location
in running a business.
 Requirements in computer literacy even for entry‐level positions and changes in
individuals' work demand and expectations.

Technological advancements makes it mandatory for the managers to have ample knowledge
on managing information within organizations, using the new and developing technologies with
special emphasis on E‐mail‐its systems, uses, etiquette, costs and benefits, and security. Also
techniques in managing information outside the organization, such as how to deal with the
news media, how to be a good company spokesperson, and how to prevent avid control
corporate crises.

History of Technological Developments

All methods of communication beginning with the development of language itself can be
considered technological developments. However, the inventions toward the end of the
nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth, such as the telegraph and the
telephone, marked the beginning of the rapid growth leading to today's ever‐changing
information technology.

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Telex machines, the direct ancestor of E‐mail, are not used much anymore. Faxes are widely
used, and their use increases daily. Faxes are also precursors of today's E‐mail and networking
systems.

In the 1960s, some companies became attracted to computer technology to handle data
processing. The computers used by these progressive companies were huge mainframes, with
tubes and reels of storage tape; they were so big that they often filled a large room. Terminals‐
video screens with keyboards were hooked up to the mainframe. Programming had to be done
from scratch because there was no packaged software, and computer programmers, often
people with no expertise in business or management, owned the technology.

By the 1970s, more people had computer terminals that had access to central information on
large mainframes. Some packaged software was developed so that certain tasks did not have to
be programmed from scratch. However, computers were expensive, and costs rose as
companies without clear needs for them were persuaded to invest in information technology.

In the 1980s, the telecommunications were transformed with the development of fiber optics,
local area networks, and satellite technology, along with the new more powerful personal
computers that facilitated the growth of information technology in organizations. Organizations
now have laptop computers, desktop publishing capabilities, electronic spreadsheets, and word
processing programs to gather, store, and communicate information.

Turmoil and change are the norm for information technology, and they reflect and influence
the concurrent changes in business organizations on structure, profits, people, and society.

Challenges to the Organization Made by New Technologies

As future business leaders, you will need to understand and manage the transitions facing you
in business operations. According to some researchers, the problem is not so much technical
since the technology itself has become increasingly easier to use, but rather organizational
because new structures must be set up to manage information in a world forever changed by it.
Those of you who can enter the global marketplace with knowledge of information technology
and an ability to manage change will be / are the successful business leaders of the twenty‐first
century. Additionally, there is the question of control over content. During the time of carbon
copies, it was relatively easy to oversee who received what and when. Those days are gone.
With computer hackers invading electronic databases, and even employers eavesdropping,
control over that data is becoming increasing difficult. What we thought was secure is, sadly,
now easier to access. All these issues affect both the form and the content of messages.

Organizations are now spending major part of their budgets to maintain the Security of this
information called (specifically I.T Security). New job lines are created for this purpose, e.g.
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Information Security Officer. New specializations are introduced in the curriculum e.g. CISA
(Certified Information Systems Auditor). New technologies such as, firewalls and encryptions,
are developed to cope with the concept of IT Security.

Internet – THE BIG BLAST

Internet is a large group of computer networks connecting individuals and groups to services
and information throughout the world. One of these networks is the World Wide Web (or just
the Web) which allows Internet publishers to link to other documents on the network. The
Internet allows the transmission of a variety of file types, including non-written multimedia.
There are many kinds of Internet sites that you might find during the course of a search,
created by different people or organizations with different objectives. Every Web page has its
own address called a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) that provides information about the Web
page.

Today, internet is widely used in schools and universities, hospitals, government offices and
private business, etc. The development of the internet has significantly altered the day to day
operations of a business; including how they communicate with each other and their audience.
Businesses are able to communicate and interact with employees, business partners and
customers via email or instant messaging. Internet telephony such as Skype is now a popular
method of communication and is used frequently by businesses in order to conduct virtual
meetings with both customers and other businesses.

Information can be easily being stored and transmitted to any destination in a matter of
seconds using internet. In addition, businesses that have an international presence are able to
use the internet to conduct operations and communicate with people in offices that are based
in different locations around the world. Transactions and payments can now also be made
online which has simplified and sped up the payment process.

1. E‐MAIL
Although E‐mail used to be limited to major universities with computing resources, it is
now growing in use in companies throughout the world. With the development of PCs
that can be networked worldwide, software programs that make communicating easy,
and less expensive hardware and software, E‐mail is beginning to dominate day‐to‐day
communications in business organizations.

Components of E-mail system

Several basic components make up E‐mail systems; include users, messages, senders' and
recipients' addresses, protocols, messaging transports, gateways, value‐added networks,
and directory systems.
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 Users are often people, but users can also be other computer application programs.
 A message is the actual information sent by one user to another.
 Part of the E‐mail information included in a message is the addresses of both sender
and receiver, which include their unique identification codes along with another
identifier such as the E‐mail system, the mailbox number, or the organization.
 Each E‐mail system uses a protocol that describes the structure of the message,
generally with a header of TO:, FROM:. and SUBJECT:, followed by the body, which
may include text, images, graphics, video, and audio.
 The software that moves the message from one system to another is called the
transport.
 If the message sent from one system must get to a user on another system, it must
pass through a gateway to be delivered. So, a gateway is an application program that
translates between two protocols of different e-mail systems.
 Value-added networks (VANs) are public telecommunication companies that handle
e-mail services to users for a fee.
 As a user, you can access a directory that contains names, addresses, and sometimes
other information about each user to find the e-mail address you need to send the
message.

Features of E-mail
Email and the technologies it has generated are changing the landscape of business
communication. The distinguished features of email are:

 More readily available

 Interoperable between systems
 Available world‐wide
 Inexpensive
 Much better known – reached a critical mass where one can expect others to have an
email address
 Much easier to use

E‐mail combines some of the characteristics of writing and speaking. As a user, you have
the immediacy of communicating directly to your receiver along with the advantages of
being able to compose and revise a written message. E‐mail can save your time in printing,
copying, and distributing your messages. You can use E‐mail to send and receive faxes and
telexes. You can reach groups as well as individuals and share files of data, spreadsheets,
videos, music, and anything else you can store on a computer. Computer programs
themselves can use E‐mail to monitor such things as inventory levels and communicate to
a person or another computer the information.
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Email Etiquettes
 Watch your tone: Avoid being too casual
 Be concise: Long, rambling messages are ineffective
 Send a message only when there is something very important to say
 Forward the email to appropriate address if you are not the intended audience
 Be polite. Do not provoke, insult or comment too much about something that is
irrelevant and tasteless.

Other Communication Technologies

E‐mail developments and the popularity of E‐mail use have led to additional communication
technologies, including voice mail, groupware, CD‐ROM databases, and teleconferencing.
Faxes, which have been around for several decades, are also still common in business
communication.

2. Voice Mail
Voice mail has become popular in many offices because it eliminates “telephone tag”. It
records a message in a computer disk for later retrieval by the receiver. When an
incoming call is not answered, the system guides the caller how to record the message.
The receiver then either listen to the recorded message upon returning to the office or
access the message via telephone.

3. Groupware
Groupware allows supervisor to manage workflow of a department via computer. It
allows several people to use software at the same time to create documents, keep track
of projects, route messages, and manage deadlines. Groupware enables a supervisor to
manage workflow via individual computers instead of physically moving people from place
to place or having face to face meetings.

4. CD‐ROM Databases
Compact Disk‐Read Only Memory (CD‐ROM) is very popular data storage device. It is a
powerful tool for putting masses of information in a form that is easy to digest. Some
kinds of information typically found on CD‐ROMS are encyclopedia, dictionaries,
telephone directories, and articles and abstracts on various subjects. Multimedia
applications, including video, audio, graphics, and text, are making CD‐ROMs storage of
information essential.

5. Teleconference
Teleconferencing is the emerging technology that allows group of people not only talk
with each other but allows group of people but also see their video images.
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Teleconferencing is a rapidly developing technology that will eventually change the way
companies do business.

6. Faxes
A facsimile machine scans a printed page, converts it to a signal, and transmits the signal
over telephone line to a receiving fax machine. The oldest type of machines had to be
connected to a machine of the same type. Today’s fax machines do not require the same
kind of machine at the receiving end, and they can transmit a page in less than 1 minute.
The newest fax machines use digital transmission, which makes it possible to use
computer program as a receiver. And these new machines are much faster than previous
generation machines.

Internet and E‐mail and the technologies it has generated are changing the landscape of
business communication. Our discussion is only an overview of a complex subject. Several
problems need to be addressed as we continue to explore these new technologies. In addition
to the problems of expense and quality of electronic messages, there are problems; of security
of the transformation of culture the technology requires, and of the very nature of information
itself Certainly the day is over when only information systems specialists know about and can
operate electronic communication systems, Communication technology is something we all
need to be comfortable with.

Managing Information outside Organization

News organizations are responsible for most of our knowledge of what goes on in the world
This discussion focuses on how to manage information outside the organization, how to deal
with news media, how to create tools for managing corporate news, what to do if you're a
company spokesperson, and how to control a public company crisis. Managing corporate news
invokes not only knowing how to deal with crises but more often involves handling the day‐to‐
day information that is disseminated to the public through interviews, press releases,
conferences, and other channels of communication.

Managing the News Media

What we refer to as “the media” are simply channel of information, everything from
newspapers, radio, television, magazines, journals, and newsletters.

News is generally characterized into two types: Hard News vs. Soft News.

Hard News is out of ordinary, is timely, and is most often public needs to know. Plane
crashes and fires are hard news. Within business organizations, hard news includes such
things as annual meetings results, quarterly earnings or announcements of a new product.
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Soft News stories are timeless; that is they can be used within a wider framework of time,
and most often they have a positive rather than a negative slant. Soft news includes
material that can inform or educate readers or viewers about company, its vision in the
world, and its community, and its community activities.

Often a company manager in charge of media relations will ignore the soft news of the
organization, believing that the dedication of a new park sponsored by the company or a piece
on its child care facility is not newsworthy. However, soft news can present a company's
message effectively and build a foundation of goodwill for its customers.

Managing Corporate News

Several useful tools for communicating to the media are available to you as a company media
manager. The most commonly used tools are press releases, interviews, conferences, op‐ed
pieces, letters to the editor, and talk shows

1. Press Release
A press release is an information memo from your organization to the news media to get
your message to the public.

People related to business or related fields appear in talk shows for interviews. Selected
spokesperson must be briefed and prepared for a multitude of possible questions. The
pitfalls of interviewing can be avoided by careful preparation and knowledge.

2. Conferences
A press conference is an important tool of public relations. The primary role of public
relations is to manage a company’s reputation or goodwill and help build public consent.
Press conferences are often the result of a crisis; however, you handle them the same way
you handle other forms of communication: with careful preparation. Press conferences
offer good opportunities for you and your company to communicate your message.
Format for press conferences are generally

 a few minutes for an opening statement

 distribution of the spokesperson’s opening statement, and
 questions from persons present

3. Op-ed pieces
An op-ed is an opinion piece on a newsworthy topic. Op-eds (so-called because they
typically appear opposite the editorial page of newspapers) provide an opportunity for
experts to inform and stimulate public debate – and sometimes help shape policy.
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4. Letter to the editor

Letter to the editor must be short, clearly written, and signed. Many letters are written to:

 Clarify an issue
 Refute a charge
 Correct a mistake
 Point out needed change
 Offer an opinion or,
 React to the situation

5. Call-in talk shows

Call‐in talk shows, whether on radio or television can offer your organization channel for
communicating your message to the public. Talk shows are, however, less predictable
than any other kind of media.

Managing Information through Company Spokespersons

Companies often select one person to be the main spokesperson. This strategy allows for a
consistent answer, a single contact, and a decrease in response variance. The spokesperson
should be a:

 Knowledgeable about the company’s overall objectives and strategies.

 Well‐prepared to speak on issues under consideration.
 Comfortable speaking in public and to groups and fielding questions deftly.
 Assured of full confidence of the company’s management

Managing Crisis Communication

When emergency situations occur in business, the worst thing you can do is take a closed, "no
comment" attitude toward the media. Bad news will not go away, and in fact, the worse it is,
the more sensational the coverage in the media. Environmental issues, nuclear energy, falling
profits, employee layoffs, and disasters and other catastrophes can cause problems for your
company. How your company manages the crisis can have a long‐term effect on profits. A crisis
can occur on several levels.

Our definition of a crisis is “an event that affects the lives of many people and large parts of
society”.

A crisis can be triggered by floods, power cuts, gas leaks, breakdowns or radioactive fallout. It
can also be caused by planned attacks like terrorism, sabotage, boycotts or hacking. A crisis is
typically fast-paced, involves many actors and requires decisions made under high stress and
uncertainty. Media play a significant role, because they shape and convey the picture of a crisis.
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Our definition of crisis communications is “the information that is exchanged by and between
public authorities, organizations, the media, affected individuals and groups before, during and
after a crisis. A crisis has three dimensions, and all of them affect crisis communications:

 the actual crisis event

 how public authorities and organizations respond to the crisis
 the picture of the crisis

All actors involved in a crisis are also decision-makers. Your organization should find out what
decision-makers can think, feel and do about different events and situations.

SUMMARY
Managing information inside and outside organizations has become one of the major concerns
of business. Technological developments are, to a large extent, responsible for the
transformation of today's world into a global village with all its accompanying problems.
Effective communication has never been more important on a national, organizational, and
personal level. Each person who joins a company in the next few years will find himself or
herself in a world of groupware communication, teleconferencing, and information gathering
and sharing via computer. The person who is comfortable with these new technologies will
have an advantage. Organizations will always have to deal with the public, and when the news
is bad, it will always be underlined by the news media.

But this channel of information goes both ways: You can deliver your message while responding
to public concerns. Careful preparation is imperative when your company is facing a crisis.
Choosing your company spokesperson and preparing that person to communicate your
message can help your company deal with crises. All companies must take into consideration
the current access of information and realize that nothing will go unnoticed. Because of the
growth in information and in the media interest in organizations, companies must be concerned
not only with how things are but also how they will appear. Effective communication is your key
to dealing with these issues.