How can I improve internal communications between hybrid staff? It is a question more businesses are having to answer as employees split their working time between offices, homes, customer sites and other locations. Hybrid working can be extremely effective, but communication problems quickly appear if information is primarily shared with whoever happens to be physically present in the office. Improving internal communication therefore requires more than simply giving remote employees access to email.
The first step is to establish a common digital workspace. Employees should know where conversations take place, where documents are stored and where they can find information after a meeting has finished. Microsoft 365 provides businesses with cloud-based productivity and collaboration services that can form the centre of this environment. Instead of creating separate processes for office and remote employees, businesses can design workflows around services accessible from either location.
Telephone communication should follow the same principle. If the main business number only rings a telephone on somebody’s office desk, hybrid working immediately introduces a communications gap. A cloud-based VoIP telephone system can make business calling much less dependent on physical location. Calls can be incorporated into a more flexible communications setup, helping businesses maintain a consistent experience for customers while giving staff more freedom over where they work.
Connectivity is another part of hybrid communication that is easily overlooked. Video meetings, cloud documents and internet-based telephone calls all rely on a stable internet connection. Offices should therefore have appropriate business broadband, while employees who regularly travel or work away from fixed connections may benefit from business mobile and SIM-only services. Giving employees excellent collaboration software is of limited value if they cannot reliably connect to it.
Finally, keep the system simple. Hybrid teams often suffer not from having too few communication tools, but from having too many. Decide what email is used for, where quick internal conversations take place, how meetings are held, where documents live and how telephone calls are handled. 21st Webb provides Microsoft 365, Exchange Online, VoIP, mobile and broadband services that can be combined into a practical communications platform for hybrid businesses. If your current setup has grown into a mixture of disconnected services, get in touch with 21st Webb and we can help you simplify the technology supporting your team.