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Chris Bell | 'A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.' |
| - Henry Ford |
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Chris Bell | 'A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.' |
| - Henry Ford |
SNHU - IT-520 Technical Communication
Written by: Chris Bell - September, 2015
The characteristics of online communication are different for each department involved. The programmers, designers, marketers, communicators, and stakeholders each have an opinion about how we display our website and its content. Each team needs to work together to develop a process that involves everyone without making it a one-month process to post a page of content.
In order to make a change to the website or add new content there needs to be a completed form with information from each department. The form will state the reason for the update and it will have a portion that needs to be filled out from each department before it's designed and written. Each point of view will be on the same form and the new page will be created with all of the criteria in mind.
Our IT team is constantly working on accessibility issues so that we can all communicate together quickly and effectively. We rely on these services to answer customers in a timely fashion and to keep information online for customers to review without having to calls us or email us with questions. We cannot avoid communications through Wikis and social media because we think there might be a problem. We need to trust that the IT team will keep all of our systems up and running effectively for us to communicate in any way that we please.
Our company is out there on display 24 hours per day without a break even on holidays. Every word, every color and every page of our website, blog and social media sites define who we are as a company and how credible we are as well. A strong online presence shows that we have good leadership and communication throughout out company which builds trust for customers that expect those characteristics in a supplier. We support the ideas of each of our employees, but there is a course of action to make changes that effect multiple departments, so we ask that you follow procedures until a better one replaces it. If you find a breakdown in the process it's an opportunity for improvement but it needs to go through the proper channels in order to be sure the change will be beneficial to the credibility of the company.
You privacy and security are of top concern, along with the privacy and security of our customer's personal information. We want each employee to feel comfortable communicating online because we want to utilize the latest technology to supply our customer's with the best support. When you're asked to follow procedure it may involve your participation online through Wikis and social media, however it will not involve making your personal information public. There will be internal networks of communication that will not be public for many reasons. You may be involved in communication that is public but will not have to divulge your personal information.
We expect our staff to "think before they speak" in the work environment, and that philosophy doesn't change when communicating online. Each employee is expected to be professional, ethical and moral when it comes to posting information that can be seen by customers and potential customers. We aren't asking everyone to post whenever they feel like it, we're asking each staff member to follow processes that might also involve a post to a Wiki for others to view. We feel that the post is important to the rest of the process so we expect the post to be professional, ethical and concise with the information that's needed.
We understand that there are different types of devices used throughout the company, and we have taken that into consideration by making sure you can post and read from each of the different devices available. There will be times during a process that you will have to read something instead of posting something, so there shouldn't be any problems connecting to review the documentation that's needed for your step of the process.
If you're having trouble following certain steps of a process you can view the process online. Similar to how we have our company information online for customers to view, we have our procedures online for employees to view. More times than not, you will be able to answer your question with a few simple clicks of the mouse. We have an internal help area along with a customer help area because many questions are similar and can be answered without picking up the phone.
The world is communicating online and here at International Gadgets you'll be expected to as well. Whether it is part of your daily routine to read certain parts of a Wiki, or it is part of your routine to post blogs, you'll be connected nonetheless. Anyone that isn't connected could run the risk of missing important information which is why we're sending this memo and communicating throughout the company how important it is to stay connected. We want to appear as one unit that works together in harmony instead of a group of departments that may or may not come together in the end.
As we start to communicate better throughout the company our customers will be more satisfied. When communication breaks down it can be difficult to order materials, design a product, manufacture the product and deliver it to the customer in a timely fashion. Better communication directly supports better customer satisfaction and we appreciate the dedication and support of the employees.