Communication is all about strategy. Customer-to-business communication, employee-to-employee communication, company-wide communication…all of these interactions can be analyzed and optimized to benefit the company. Now, with cloud based communication networks, companies can store all of their data and scale easier than ever before. Companies need to develop a centralized communication management strategy to go along with it.

Instead of sending customer information to different departments, companies can store it all in one centralized location (the cloud) for ease of access. With a comprehensive view of communications across channels and departments, companies will have a better idea of their overall performance. They can better answer questions regarding call frequency or employee performance against the number of calls answered. They can track the amount of new customers calling in or measure call volume against the amount of new business won each month. Companies can provide better overall analysis if all their data comes from the same source.

Just because you have multiple physical locations or a distributed workforce doesn’t mean that you can’t have a centralized communication platform. Cloud-based communications unite a company across departments and streamline the experience for customers. For example, if a patient calls a medical practice, centralized communication systems can direct them to different departments through automated service, rather than having the patient or employees punch in the extension number themselves. And instead of juggling multiple numbers, patients have one line they can call that will route them to the appropriate person. Companies also don’t have to pay for multiple phone numbers.

Centralized communication systems store customer and channel data in one easily accessible location. If you don’t have a centralized communication system that can track this data, you don’t know what you’re missing:

• Brand consistency. Centralized communication systems allow companies to offer a consistent and on-brand experience. Whether a customer calls the Dallas office or the one in Denver, they will be greeted with an experience that was well thought out and designed by the team at headquarters.
• Data. With a centralized communication system, a company can access site-specific data in the same place they access company-wide data. Companies can then measure the performance of each location against the national average, allowing them to track what is working well and what isn’t. If a customer needs to be transferred to a different location, their data is accessible no matter where they’re transferred to.
• Employee turnover management. By using company-owned numbers, businesses can better manage employee churn rate. In other words, if an employee leaves and a customer calls, a centralized company number ensures customers can still contact your company by automatically routing them to another available employee.
• Rapid deployment. With a centralized communication system, changes can be made to the entire company very easily. A change made at the “mothership” can be propagated to all other locations and employees, saving the time and money it would take to implement it at each individual location.

If you’re interested in learning more about centralized communication systems, professionally designed or do it yourself, visit onereach.com.

Photo by Flickr user Giuseppe Chirico.