Importance of Business Communications During COVID-19
In the matter of mere days millions of Americans had to shift their entire lives from commuting to work and putting in an 8 or 10 hour day, to working remotely. The shift is enormous. Not only can business be difficult to operate from hundreds of remote locations, but one of the largest employee complaints tends to be lack of good communication within the company and externally to clients. Thankfully, there are many resources that the tech industry has been using for years that have proved effective in allowing team members to stay on the same page and maintain good communication during this stressful time.
Internal Communications
Your company may already have the software and apps that will allow for virtual conference meetings, audio seminars, and streamlined project management all along, and it was not used or, at the very least, underutilized. Your IT department can be a great resource for setting up ways to communicate with each other. Zoom for Business, GoTo Meeting, and Google Hangouts are just a few of the ways that meetings with large groups can occur. Setting up a Slack channel can also be a great way to keep short communications, sharing of files, and updates available to all employees. If you already have a Slack channel set up, you may want to create a specific connection for breaking news for the entire company or for updates that specifically impact each of your departments.
External Communications
Staying connected with your employees is only half of the equation during this time. Connecting with your clients, consumers, and patients is another important piece of the puzzle.Again, just like with communicating with your staff, there are secure sites, and applications that can help you keep in touch with people who rely on your business. For people in the healthcare industry who are bound by HIPAA compliance rules, know that many of those restrictions have been eased in order to allow doctors, nurses , and medical staff to share info, and communicate with patients via telehealth methods. For more specifics on this please read our blog on this topic or call our office for more information.
