Hybrid working models, where time spent working is split between the office and home, are likely to remain popular for the foreseeable future. As a result, companies are having to adapt working practices, including those governing communications. Through a single multichannel communication system, companies gain the capability to manage and send customer, supplier and other communications from wherever staff are.
The evolving workplace
A recent BBC survey revealed that 70 per cent of respondents predict workers won’t return to offices at the same rate after the pandemic. A majority of workers said they would prefer to work from home all or some of the time.
Clearly, the workplace is evolving and that presents a challenge to businesses used to working practices centred around the office. They cannot risk activities being delayed because staff no longer spend every working day in the office.
Business communications are a case in point. All businesses send out mail on a regular basis. Some of that is likely to be in physical print form, some digital. It may fall to one person or a team of people to put together and send these communications, or the load may be spread across the business. Either way, there is likely to be discussion and co-ordination of activities and on-site printing, collation and postage application.
What this means for communications
Take away the central hub of the office and co-ordinating this activity in the same way becomes more of a challenge. If communications management relies solely on the equipment and facilities of the office, it stands to be severely disrupted when workers aren’t on-site.
It’s important to bear in mind that recipients of mail are just as likely to be going through a hybrid work transformation themselves. This could see an increase in demand for digital invoices, quotes, orders and more from customers and suppliers.
Many businesses are rethinking their technology, policies and processes as a result. Rigid, office-based ways of working don’t necessarily fit with new agile working practices. In their place flexible, cloud-based solutions enable companies to maintain operations from multiple locations.
A virtual communications hub
A communications management solution supports hybrid working by bringing together customer data and communications to issue through digital or print channels. It can house templates for consistent document format and brand representation.
All authorised users can be granted access thereby centralising communications for greater efficiency.
The platform enables information, such as addressee details, to be collated from various sources across the business for accuracy and consistency. It also manages the sending of each communication through the right channel, be that print or electronic. This is ideal for companies that recognise the benefits of a multichannel communications strategy and want an effective way of delivering it.
It also takes the guesswork out of what has been sent, to whom and when. It improves efficiency because employees no longer need to find out the status of communications from colleagues over email or in person. The status is clear for everyone to see in the platform, along with final versions of each communication and their recipients.
That elevates records management of communications too because the audit trail of each is visible, clear and accessible.
Supporting flexible, multichannel communications strategies
A software solution not only centralises the management of digital and print communications, it also enables flexibility in how communications are sent. Some customers prefer to receive everything in print, others solely digital. Most will likely want some electronic communications, such as invoices and sales orders, and some print, such as brochures. Through software, these stored preferences can be applied to each communication so customers are never dissatisfied.
Bringing together channels of communication in this way makes the process run more smoothly. Often, a business will go through stages of communication management, adding additional ways of staying in touch and refining process workflows over time. Usually they’ll start with print, add email and then introduce social media, maybe text and online portals too, later on. This natural progression can lead to separate processes operating within the business.
Centralising outgoing mail management removes these siloes for consistent, convenient and efficient governance and control.
It automates parts of the process to save time for employees responsible for communications. This also makes it easier when new customers, suppliers or other recipients come onstream. Manual ways of working don’t easily scale, but technology helps overcome the problems that can be associated with growth so that communications aren’t negatively impacted.
Where to find out more
Streamlining outgoing mail management through a digital tool designed for the job makes processes more efficient, supports hybrid working practices and helps make each customer interaction count. To find out more about multichannel document delivery, take a look at how Quadient can help.
