Meetings, Online? How Technology Promotes Effective Business Communication

By Robert Hall, Support Analyst, Marval

Mark B. is responsible for training technicians throughout the country. He has become as familiar with faceless motorway service stations and fast food menus, as he is with his company’s products. Mark spends up to 40% of his time traveling. By using online meetings, though, he can effectively train the same number of people (if not more). Now he starts every training session with a relaxing cup of coffee in his office and greets his trainees without leaving his desk. And the best part; he delivers the sessions in half the time it used to take.

Melissa L. travels thousands of miles by air every year. She is becoming familiar, and a little tired, of endless hotel rooms, delayed flights, middle seats and jet lag. Just recently she earned a promotion and found herself with a lot more work. She needed to be more efficient with her time, and started to use online meetings. She now regularly holds press conferences on three continents in one day. The board is pleased that she has lowered her department’s travel costs by 30% at the same time.

Nowadays the business world is used to communicating efficiently and successfully at many different levels, be that via email, the telephone, telepresence technology or online meetings. Online meetings in particular have become very popular, since they provide the opportunity to communicate in a sensible and profitable way. There is no need to meet face-to-face, no need to send workers many miles away to headquarters or a customer’s premises. Workers today are able to share presentations with business associates, partners and customers around the world, and get their projects seen and moving forward, easier and faster than ever before.

This flexible format of business communication has also helped increase team collaboration. Teams can be dispersed, with their members based in several different areas (and at different timezones). Online tools help these teams to enjoy frequent and inclusive meetings that boost productivity, collaboration, job satisfaction and the sense of belonging amongst co-workers – through regular, effective communication. Because that’s what online meetings are really about: communication.

Communication is a primary and fundamental need for human beings. It’s the reason why we have formed groups, developed societies and mastered speech. Communication is the basis of every single interaction between any living organizations; as well as an evolving process, which can be anything, from poor and unsuccessful, to rich and engaging. And technology has dramatically changed (transformed, actually), facilitated and advanced our daily communications (whether personal or business). Technology today provides the setup to build fast, cost-effective, reliable communications that improve and enrich people’s collaboration.

For Service Desks, effective communication is crucial. Either when talking with a customer, or when working with other team members (and some of them may be based in remote locations or even abroad), Support Analysts need to ensure that the communication is effective. Where “effective” means a) helping accelerate the resolution of the request, b) ensuring the customer is properly informed, and c) ensuring that the customer enjoys a great service.

At our Global Service Desk, we use our smart ITSM platform, Marval MSM, which can be accessed at any time via a web page. Our Service Desk Manager can keep track and control of the various activities where ever he is, trusting the Service Desk Team to carry out the investigation and resolution of reported issues. Marval MSM integrates advanced features that support effective communication - within our team as well as with our customers.

Within our team, MSM’s rich communication features have helped us increase collaboration, share knowledge and accelerate time-to-resolve. As part of our Continual Service Improvement, our newly introduced, innovative SSI process encourages us to raise our concerns and be heard, knowing that our opinion is valued.

At the same time, automated communication streams ensure that the customer will be informed promptly as soon as there is an update to their request; while pre-designed templates ensure that no crucial piece of information is forgotten – it’s all there in the form.

Of course, service delivery in different organizations can have very different standards. That’s why Marval MSM provides feedback forms, so that the customers are able to share their experience, whether rich or poor, with the business. It’s another tool that helps businesses maintain an open dialogue with their customers, listening to their feedback and addressing potential issues as soon as they appear.

From online meetings to service management, technology promotes effective business communication, helping organizations achieve critical KPIs that relate to sales growth and customer loyalty and satisfaction. In our experience, user-friendly and easy-to-deploy and use tools, like Marval MSM, are the ones that deliver better results; as they make the whole process as simple and natural, as face-to-face communication.