Emails are the gold standard of business communication. Every office employee receives an average of 121 emails per day. But as companies adopt remote or hybrid options, unnecessary messaging can cause serious delays.
Hidden among this sea of emails is your company’s internal communications. This is a problem when it comes to time sensitive issues. In fact, vital internal communication blends in with every other task and inquiry. It becomes just a part of your employee’s to do list.
Another downside is the lack of interactive engagement. Emails alone cannot cover everything. There is a lot to be desired.
Thankfully there are alternatives that can improve internal communication and response times. Here are three of the best alternatives to email in the workplace.
Messaging Apps
Messaging apps allow for real time communication. There’s little downtime, and it helps simulate a conversation.
The big advantage of these is that they can handle all kinds of internal communication. Messages can be targeted to certain groups through channels. It can also “bcc” individuals via direct messaging. You can even customize notifications so employees can focus on the important announcements.
Read more: Are SMS or Push Notifications Better for Informing Employees?
As a distribution channel, these apps have similar functionality to email. They can also host attachments like images, documents and videos.
The largest disadvantage of these apps is that they are yet another tool. This creates an additional, separate channel to your existing communication channels like intranets or an internal website. While these apps usually also have a web form, they are mostly designed for your smartphone. These apps are an additional tab or app your employees need to sign in to.
Overall, messaging platforms provide a unique value with their instantaneous nature. However, employees must commit to checking one more channel.
Project Management Apps
A project management tool is a multilevel platform for both management and employees. Managers can focus on planning and high level strategy. Employees will see their tasks and day to day priorities. It also bridges both worlds and facilitates communication between everyone.
They offer a more organized alternative to the messy general nature of emails and Excel sheets. These platforms allow employees and management to get a one-stop live overview over projects and collaborators. It also shows a neat timeline and a list of priorities.
The problem with these project management apps is that they don’t allow for much beyond work coordination. Their messaging tools are unfocused and notifications still come through email. This merely creates an even larger influx of work emails.
These apps may be a nice addition for coordination. However, they are supplemental to email. If used to their full potential, project management apps tie the workplace together better than a string of email chains.
Employee Mobile Apps
What if you could combine direct messaging and push notifications that are not only comparable to but also compatible with Slack or Teams? What if you could also create company newsletters, surveys and polls with social media-like engagement and enterprise content management? A comprehensive employee communication app essentially combines all internal communication into a single location.
The best employee apps can integrate with all channels, including email, chats, push notifications or project management software. Your internal communications will become streamlined. By combining so many tools, it gains the best features of each option.
backstitch’s employee app offers a complete software platform to communicate with your employees more effectively. From choosing your ideal communication channel to targeting your audience based on role, location, or interest, backstitch combines these options into your own fully white-labeled company app.
