In recent months, a growing number of organizations have adopted bring-your-own-device policies and other programs to support mobile working options. Allowing employees to work remotely has benefited enterprises immensely, enabling greater staff retention and the ability to recruit the best applicants no matter where they are located. However, the increased dispersion of the workforce has also led to more frequent instances of miscommunication and decreased productivity.

In order to avoid such occurrences, organizations need to employ a variety of different business communication tools to ensure employees have the most appropriate method to convey different types of messages. According to Forbes contributor George Bradt, research has shown that the words of a message are only 10 percent of communication. Between 55 and 60 percent of how things are conveyed relies on body language, and another 30 to 35 percent is dependent on tone. Because of this, important signals and cues can be missed when dispersed co-workers rely solely on email for remote communication. When employees use the wrong type of medium to convey a message, it can result in a lot of wasted time and decreased productivity.

UC sends the right message
By employing a unified communications suite, enterprises have access to voice, text and video collaboration tools that allow workers to get the right message across the first time. According to Bradt, there is a hierarchy in place for the different forms of communications.

• Messages conveyed with text, like an email, should be used to share information and make the reader aware of something such as scheduling a meeting.
• Information requiring tonality must be relayed through phone calls in order to make the listener understand fully, such as discussing a problem.
• Content requiring belief, like a sales presentation, calls for a combination of words, tone and body language and therefore is best delivered through video or Web conferencing solutions that combine all three forms of communication.

The biggest advantage for enterprises deploying a UC suite is that all of these forms of communication are integrated into a single platform. If an employee wants to call a co-worker to clarify something, he or she can call one number and it will reach the person no matter where they are - office and mobile phones are connected so one can forward to the other. If a conversation is started on the phone and the topic requires more detailed information, a screen share can be initiated.