According to a survey conducted by Salesforce, about 60 % of the employees in Britain use chat apps either on their smartphone or tablet in the workplace. Also, it is predicted that in this year the number of employees using such devices cross 1.3 billion (study by IDC). Several other studies revealed that people mostly rely on consumer applications like WhatsApp or Facebook to share confidential data.
The rise of workplace communication apps implies business leaders now should adopt new communication practices to keep up to date.
The security concern it presents are very clear, so it is essential to attempt and group all business procedures and discussions onto one protected channel that can undoubtedly be accessed from various devices.
If employers want to prevent their workforce from using customer apps to share private data then they have to offer a better business alternative that aids people’s need to work transparently and unrestricted as they visit customers, partners either from home or desk.
Discovering such a mobility solution in this modern business age may seem challenging, but it is critical than ever. Rightly or wrongly, we have started communicating in a new way and people would rather send a text message on their mobile or attach a file and send, rather than opening their system and compose a lengthy mail.
Read also: Enterprise Messaging App U&Me Plus Looks to Transform The Way You Communicate With Coworkers
Focal to this transformation, is the rise in the popularity and use of apps. According to Garner research, it is estimated that a remarkable 103bn mobile applications were downloaded in the year 2013 alone, which is estimated as a 59.4% rise on 2012 downloads.
Predictably, the major concern for any business regarding the matter of applications, or any new technology besides, are security, integration and compliance, and applications developed keeping consumers in mind are unable to meet these prerequisites. On account of this, it is important that employers are ‘aware of present circumstances’ in the matter of the most state-of-the-art applications out there so they can direct their workforce towards platforms that offer a more secure method for sharing company data.
Communication with workforce and getting feedback is basic for business pioneers, as what works for one organization may not be suitable for another.
Let’s take chat applications for instance. These applications evolved in the wake of the digital revolution and are used nearly by every person nowadays, who has a smart gadget.
The growth of consumer chat applications has headed to development of ‘Workplace Communication Apps’- a collective, business-centric approach for digital communication that has developed in the current business world and must be central to all company’s working strategies and processes.
These communication channels do not encourage social talk and enable the user to maintain the confidentiality of corporate information- but still have the casual feel of consumer chat applications. This makes it more engaging as the users feel comfortable around the application and it permits them to communicate across devices.
As the trend of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) grabs hold, most applications are presently accessible to download to any smart gadget on multiple platforms (iOS, Windows, Blackberry, or Android), and even web, making them simpler to utilize while at work.
According to a latest study by Gartner about 75% of organizations reported more than twice the number of employees, smart devices are presently connecting with corporate systems when compared to two years before – the issue is that apps similar to WhatsApp are not suitable enough to handle confidential data in a business environment and organisations should find a better way to host new enterprise apps.
Making sure that they meet security as well as compliance requirements and can relate information into company’s existing data storage solutions is vital.
Businesses would prefer not to be seen to be interfering with employee’s daily tasks yet still need to keep up a feeling of control and guarantee that productivity levels don’t drop.
The emergence of digital implies distributing data through various gadgets and channels has turned out to be more confusing and on a few events, time taking.
If business leaders capitalise in their technology infrastructures and simplify communication into a distinct, competent channel which can be accessed using smartphone applications and on a desktop, it will defiantly revolutionize their businesses.