As a business grows, it will become apparent that communication, not sales, is one of the largest obstacles. A lack of communication breaks down the system and brings the business machine to a screeching halt. Project deadlines aren’t met, in-fighting becomes common, and stress reaches an all-time high. Yet these are mere obstacles that can be eliminated through business technology.
An earlier post here on MoneyForLunch titled “Ensuring Business Technology Does Not Hamper Efficiency” sets the stage on how technology can transform communication in business. The adoption of smartphones, tablets, email, text messaging, social networks, cloud-sharing, and team management software has essentially solved these communication barriers.
Let’s, now, go one step further into this topic and look at exactly how these technological advancements, in business, have kept many business moving forward:
Obstacle #1: A lack of devices
The cost of technology has dropped in the consumer market but still comes as a heft cost to small businesses arming their many employees. Between the hardware and software, the budget for computers and other essential gadgets can cause financial distress very rapidly.
A solution to this obstacle is through the adoption of a “bring your own device” (BYOD) policy which empowers employees by allowing them to use their devices and gadgets in the workforce. Not only does this cut down the budget needed to equip employees but it eases the learning curve because they already understand how to use the device they own.
The policy should set standards as to how employees use their devices, who has access to what documents, software, and assets of the business, and make sure that all devices are able to communicate effectively with one another (and the main server) to ensure all is running smoothly (and safely).
Obstacle #2: A lack of synchronization
Any business owner can relate to the experience of losing important documents due to an overlap in protocol when employees are saving, updating, and revising their work. Likewise, teams become very difficult to manage when files aren’t synchronized and prolongs the task because of the constant back-and-forth caused by file sharing that has reached a choke-hold due in part to technology.
Remedying this obstacle can be as easy as integrating reliable file transfer software. File transfer software is safe, secure, and allows for synchronization so the team can access these important files over a myriad of different devices, anywhere, while keeping things up-to-date.
Through this technology your business will no longer come to a halt because the team doesn’t have access to the right content. Additionally, this type of software can prevent disasters such as accidentally overwriting files or deletion thanks to backups and user permissions.
Obstacle #3: A lack of ownership
Fingers begin to be pointed when a project goes off the rails because of communication. In due time the project comes to a halt because the team doesn’t understand their current progression nor do they know who “owns” the tasks that allows them to move to the next.
The lack of ownership can be handled through team management software and by creating a competitive climate for the employees.
- The team management software is there to assign and track the progression of each task assigned to individual members of the team, which makes it impossible to go off track
- The change in climate to one that’s competitive will pit team members against one-another so they try to do one better than their coworkers thus creating a fast-paced, goal-oriented environment which rewards those that complete the challenges
Obstacle #4: A lack of compassion
Bottoming on this list of obstacles is in no way least important as the others because its focus is about creating compassion within your teams. The easiest way to do this using technology is to encourage employees (and leaders) to befriend & follow one-another on social networks (even if it’s a completely new account just for business).
Having the ability to peer into the lives of your coworkers aids in building compassion and it’s this compassion that helps teams develop better communication skills because they aren’t readily pushing each other’s buttons. The team gets to know each other outside of the workplace; they are less likely to be confrontational which will keep the team happy and growing.
