Communication is the key to everything from a great personal relationship to a profitable business. Encouraging and establishing successful communication is the key to completing projects on time, improving your relationships with customers and partners, and understanding your employees. If you believe your employees aren’t communicating with each other or with clients as effectively as they could be, you may want to consider implementing one or more of these different communication tools. Even if communication isn’t a blatant issue, learning about these novel tools or updating some of your more outdated communication mediums can bring a myriad of benefits to your business.

 

Add a Chatbot to Your Website

While having a website will improve your online communication with customers and potential customers, it’s likely you don’t have an employee around 24/7 to answer questions. One way of improving communication during your off hours is to install a chatbot. This intelligent tool automates the process of responding to online consumer inquiries and even offer solutions for simple tasks. Chatbots are tailored to the information, reasoning, approach of a business’s “customer service” department. They can understand natural speech and reciprocate human communication directly and without robotic undertones.

If a customer has more explicit requests or inquiries, the chatbot informs and adds them to a customer support ticket. When your employees get back to the office, they can handle the issue directly. In many cases, however, the chatbot is programmed to respond to a range of basic and complex situations; allowing customers to handle returns, cancellations, and other issues at any time.

For a construction company, a chatbot can let clients know if you are available for new work, provide some basic information about getting a quote, and let customers know what special services you offer.

 

Implement a Unified Communications Tool

Unified communications platform solutions offer businesses next level sophistication and efficiency. Using a virtual platform, today’s UC tools can incorporate various communication mediums, including video conferencing, instant messaging, VoIP calls, and HD voice to mitigate background noise. Merging these cutting-edge communication methods into a single system eliminates redundancies and makes it easier for employees to find and recover chat records, conference call recordings, and video recordings.

Many UC tools also have cloud connectivity — meaning they can relay communication between customers, employees, and departments. Everything is on one single platform, making it much easier to organize and search. A customer record can link to phone call recordings, messages sent to your chatbot, and emails, so a service representative can see everything associated with that customer’s record.

 

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality

Augmented Reality (AR) is another unique technology that increases the efficiency and quality of project creation and representation in the business realm. AR can be extremely beneficial in the construction industry; a client could scan a part of a blueprint with their smartphone to see extra information about that room or a computer model of what it will look like when it’s completed.

Virtual reality technology is even more useful in communicating what a final product will look like. Using special glasses or devices, users can look at blueprints and see a virtual representation of what the finished building will look like. Clients could even walk through a virtual mockup of the building in full 3D.

While communicating through words or numbers is useful, being able to actually see what something will look like, even if it’s just a computer simulation of the final building, can be much more powerful. For example, it’s one thing to be told the dimensions of a room, but actually seeing that room as a 3D simulation can make it much easier to tell if it’s going to be big enough for its intended purpose.

VR and AR will remove much of the guesswork or client regret from a project. You and the clients will know exactly what the final project will look like. Clients won’t suddenly realize they forgot something or that the dimensions of a space aren’t right because they will be able to virtually walk the entire building or home if they want.

 

Modernize Your Company’s Communications

While faxes and landline phones were once the best means of communication between your business and its customers, utilizing today’s social media platforms and cutting-edge technology can create even more business benefits. Employees can quickly share information and files via instant messenger and online video calls. Customers can email your office for information.

But even these methods are becoming outdated. Just like you don’t want to be the only company using a fax machine today, in a few years you won’t want to be the only business without VR software or a chatbot. Implementing these modern forms of communication is a way of not only improving how you communicate, but it’s also a strategic way to surpass the competition and attract/retain your customers.