Search for a business communications syllabus and you are likely to find courses covering written communication, telephone skills, presentations, meetings and workplace collaboration. All of those subjects are useful, but when you are actually building a business there is a practical question behind each one: what systems will your company use to communicate? For start-ups in particular, making those decisions early can prevent personal email accounts, private mobile numbers and disconnected applications from becoming permanent parts of the business.
Module one should be professional identity and email. Establish a business domain and give employees proper company email addresses rather than building important customer relationships around personal accounts. Services such as Exchange Online provide professional email and calendaring, while Microsoft 365 can extend the environment into productivity and collaboration. Setting this foundation early also makes onboarding new employees considerably easier as the business grows.
Module two is internal and external conversation. Decide how employees will communicate quickly with each other and how customers will speak to the business. For voice calls, a VoIP business telephone system can give even a small start-up a dedicated business telephone presence without making every call dependent on a founder’s personal mobile number. Internally, cloud collaboration tools can give employees a consistent place for messages, meetings and shared information.
Module three is connectivity and mobility. Cloud communication only works when your team can get online. That means choosing suitable business broadband for your main location and considering business SIM-only mobile connectivity for staff who need to work while travelling or visiting customers. Start-ups should think about this from the perspective of roles rather than simply buying the same package for everybody: an office-based employee and somebody regularly working in the field may have very different requirements.
The final module in our practical business communications syllabus is scalability. The systems chosen for a two-person business should not become an obstacle when it becomes a ten-person business. Cloud-based services allow additional users, numbers and services to be introduced as requirements change, rather than forcing a complete rethink every time the company grows. 21st Webb works with businesses and start-ups across IT and communications, allowing services such as Microsoft 365, Exchange Online, VoIP, mobile and broadband to be brought together through one provider. If you are launching a business and are not sure what you actually need on day one, contact us and we can help you build a communications setup designed to grow with you.