A new approach to e-mail – improve internal communication and boost productivity

Whether you’re the owner of a fresh-faced start up or the CEO of a fast-growing SMB, you’ll know that good communication in the workplace is critical to your success. It’s how everyone stays in the loop, on-message and in sync. It’s how great collaborations begin, how everyday tasks get completed and big ideas get shared. It is the foundation of companies and organizations that move forward together, keeping individuals, teams, and brands focused on the bigger picture.

Improving your internal communications will boost productivity within your teams and your business will reap huge rewards. It will help you and your staff complete mundane tasks more easily, leaving you to focus on growing your business and reaching for that next milestone to success. Good internal communication will also encourage creativity, leading to boosted productivity as you find new and innovative ways to streamline the way you work together.

But, what’s the secret to achieving effective internal communication? Actually, there is no secret. Organizations are built around people, and people need to communicate, it’s that simple. Today, there are thousands of ways in which businesses attempt to refine internal communication, but the first and easiest place to start is with your daily communication tools.

Over the last decade, internal communication tools have exploded in popularity. Apps such as Slack, Trello, and Basecamp all take a slightly different approach to team communication, delivering a variety of features designed to improve internal business communication. The promise of easier communications that are more responsive than e-mail but more professional than instant messenger is a common thread—and the appeal is clear. Internal communication tools today offer businesses a centralized hub for internal messaging that can be easily archived and referred to at any point.

However, one issue that these tools cannot address is the increasing silos of information that they create. The productivity of your teams depends upon streamlining admin tasks and your daily communications (both internal and external), in order to create space for inspiration, creativity and focus. Most internal communication apps simply add another level of admin for staff, but a new approach to e-mail might just provide the solution your business needs.

If you’re looking for an alternative to the current crop of internal communications tools, it might be surprising to hear that the answer is staring you in the face! While Slack and other tools were initially designed to move away from e-mail in favor of independent methods of internal communication, others are embracing an approach they see as the future of e-mail!  

Real-time e-mail providers such as Spike harness the most popular tool of the last 30 years and redesign its core features to create a more responsive, dynamic and intuitive way for businesses and teams to explore internal communication. It’s e-mail and chat combined, and it can help you improve internal communication in the following ways:         

• Conversational e-mailing can help keep staff relaxed by dropping the formality of traditional e-mail, meaning that requests and questions are dealt with quickly.
   
• Chatting can encourage creativity, real-time conversations bring out the best in people through instant sharing of ideas and schedules.
   
• Instant messaging can help put everyone on the same page, collaboration and sharing are the ultimate productivity tools.

Streamlining your internal communications through real-time e-mail is among the simplest ways to boost productivity. It encompasses multiple tools required for collaboration (such as instant file sharing and shared calendar features) in a format that everyone is familiar with. It also works across different platforms, meaning that while your teams can chat through a single, centralized app, they are still free to communicate with any colleagues, customers, and clients using regular e-mail.

Real-time e-mail brings instant messenger-like awareness, providing read-receipts and reply notifications that keep staff connected. Conventional e-mail formats often don’t encourage quick responses, and more often than not, e-mails are left without a reply. However, e-mail chat keeps communication conversational, pushing collaborative work to the center of your business. Additionally, when teams are free to chat in real-time, challenges can be overcome quicker, with everyone working simultaneously towards the same goal. There’s less waiting for replies and fewer frustrating delays and this leads to more efficient and motivated staff.

Finally, e-mail-based chat software means each member of your team can access the same files in the same place. No more switching between separate e-mail, cloud drive or internal communications apps, saving time and reducing the potential for losing important documents. Keeping collaborative work up-do-date is much easier when everyone is on the same page.

Businesses searching for a simple yet effective way to improve internal communication and boost productivity may be tempted to turn to the latest trends in internal communications tools. However, by leveraging the power of e-mail, real-time e-mail software can more efficiently deliver the features you need, bringing seamless collaboration to your teams without the need to add another app to the long list of productivity tools you already use. In fact, with just a few simple additions to the way it functions, it seems that e-mail isn’t dead after all!