How To Choose Effective Company Communication Apps For Your Small Business

Company communication apps have become a go-to solution for communication between employees in every business. They display ease of use, functions that address organizational needs, and quick implementations. Therefore, businesses across the spectrum see them as prudent operational decisions. As an operations manager, you may be looking for to streamline remote team communication with onsite employees. There are many communication apps that can perform this function, and they vary greatly. Read on to discover how to choose an effective company communication app for your small business.

Your Business’s Specific Needs

Thinking about the needs specific to your business represents the first part of choosing a company communications app. For example, your business may need a group chat app, or a task tracking platform. Alternatively, you may need a shared calendar or a project management platform. Only you truly know what is best for your business, and understanding these needs is imperative in choosing the best communications app. Some are built for various chat capabilities, while others are based around tracking various projects and milestones. Certainly, thinking about your business’s specific needs displays the first step in choosing the right company communications app.

Your Employees’ Specific Needs

Considering the specific needs of your employees presents a second factor in choosing a company communications app. It can be bursting with robust features, but that won’t mean anything if your employees don’t like your chosen app. However, the best app for your employee’s needs usually isn’t the one with the most robust features. Think about how well your chosen app fits into the processes and procedures your employees are used to. It may also be prudent to ask your employees if they are willing to do some app testing. This way, you will be finding out if there is anything that affects their ability to use such a tool. Definitely, considering your employees’ specific needs represents a second aspect of choosing a company communications app.

Costs And ROI

Leveraging costs and their return on investment displays a third aspect of choosing a company communications app. Most small businesses can use free versions of various messaging apps without much of an issue. However, many free versions have various restrictions, such as storage caps on uploaded files and limiting the number of channels available. There are a few communication apps that base their fees upon the number of users, making them a better choice for smaller teams. Additionally, using a team communication app that comes bundled with a larger service your business already uses shows another way to mitigate costs. Absolutely, considering costs represents a factor in choosing the best company communications apps for your small business.

Enabling Management Communication

Enabling more robust management communication shows an additional factor in choosing the best company communications app. As an operational leader, you often have information that influences and guides day-to-day business operations. Employing a communications app will streamline the process of delivering such job-critical information. Research has determined that customer satisfaction increases at least 10% when managers use apps to provide guidance to frontline workers. In addition, a German company, Reinert Logistics, employed a communications app in 2017. Operational managers were able to share safety videos and provide access to tools that streamlined daily tasks, resulting in a 15% reduction in damages to company assets. Surely, enabling robust cloud-based communication between management and employees displays a factor in choosing the best company chat app that will also save money.

Content Organization

Providing organization to various company content represents a final aspect of choosing the best company communications app for your small business. Messages can come in all varieties; some need to be seen by the entire company. Others may need to happen at team level, while other conversations only require a few participants. Organizing conversations in this way shows one function of your company communication app. This will allow employees to choose what they do and don’t see, as well as opt in or out of channels depending on their relevance. Most ideal apps will allow further organization, using threads or similar features to prevent confusion. Additionally, the ability to tag people and pull them into conversations they’d otherwise miss represents a must-have feature of communications apps. Of course, conversation organization displays a final aspect of choosing the best company communication apps for your small business.

There are a myriad of company communication apps out there, each with varying tools and costs. In order to choose the best for your small business, considering its specific needs in an app represents a crucial aspect. Just as crucial, think about the specific needs of your employees as well. In addition, consider the cost of implementing such an app as well as the investment returns it will provide. Enabling better communication between management and employees displays another aspect that will also save money by reducing damages. Finally, enabling more robust organization of various conversations and channels will streamline workloads for the entire company. When deciding how to choose the best company communications apps for your small business, consider the points above.