Is Your Internal Communication Costing You Customers?

Who is this blog for?

This article was inspired by a conversation we had with one of our Account Directors, Yaz Mistry, about understanding some of the biggest issues our customers are facing. It may come as no surprise that a breakdown in internal communication is becoming a major roadblock to productivity – which in turn affects customer experience (CX).

Siloed communication has become a major roadblock to delivering CX that works; how you communicate internally will affect how you communicate externally. So, when there is little to no correspondence between departments due to delayed responses and information gaps, customers are bound to be frustrated. Customers aside, communication – both effective and ineffective – also has an impact on employee morale and productivity. The bottom line is simple: you need to optimise internal communication to enhance CX. 

Reading time: 6 minutes

What this blog will cover: 

• The Roadblock: Siloed Communication and its Impact  
• Beyond Words: Nonverbal Communication 
• Building a Bridge: The Power of Seamless Communication 
• Breaking Down Silos: Strategies to Supercharge Internal Communication
• Copilot for Microsoft 365: Your Game-Changer for Internal Communication 
• Babble: Your Trusted Partner in CX 

SuperOffice surveyed 1,920 business professionals, asking them what the top business priority is for the next 5 years – CX came out on top.  

The Roadblock: Siloed Communication and its Impact  

Put simply, siloed communication occurs when departments solely operate within themselves, causing massive misalignment across the organisation and severely damaging CX. Let’s paint a picture of how this unfolds: 

From this, it becomes clear that establishing effective communication throughout the organisation and prioritising collaboration across departments, drastically improves CX, and boosts customer satisfaction and brand loyalty. 

SuperOffice’s survey also revealed that companies that prioritise CX see profits increase by 60% higher than those that don’t.  

Beyond Words: Nonverbal Communication 

Before we unpack the power of seamless communication, let’s understand communication: most of it lies outside of what is said. Beyond sending emails and scheduling meetings, nonverbal cues are essential when it comes to human connection. With remote work being globally mainstreamed, forming connections with your colleagues may prove to be a challenge. However, virtual events and having a ‘camera on’ policy, as we have here at Babble, are easy solutions to this.  

Active listening is the epicentre of effective communication: it marks the difference between hearing and listening. The latter illustrates that the message and its intention were received correctly; allowing mutual understanding. Remember, great communicators are attentive and curious. They take the time to know the people they’re engaging with, ask questions and most importantly, listen. 

How does this tie into CX? Well, if you aren’t taking the time to show your customers that you care about them and their business – by smiling, having open body language and taking the time to listen to them – they are less likely to trust you. 

The key to customer happiness is building genuine relationships. This means actively listening to and understanding their needs, taking ownership of challenges, and fostering trust through open communication. By becoming a supportive partner, not just a supplier, you make them feel valued throughout their journey.

– Yaz Mistry, Enterprise Account Director at Babble

Building a Bridge: The Power of Seamless Communication 

Establishing trust requires your organisation to adopt a culture of communication. When building bridges that unlock seamless communication, the destruction of all silos is required. This means acknowledging that conversation is a two-way street and encouraging cross-departmental dialogue.  

Effective communication in the workplace is a key component of employee engagement, efficiency, and productivity, and empowers teams in the following ways: 

• Ensures alignment: this is especially useful if you’re part of a growing organisation with ongoing onboarding. 
• Makes employees feel valued: job satisfaction directly correlates with levels of productivity. 
• Establishes psychological safety in the workplace: of the many benefits this yields, creating an inclusive environment for everyone lies at the top of the list. 
• Enhances employee relationships: understanding your colleagues on a deeper level offers insight into their communication styles. 
• Gives employees a voice: from grassroots to C-suite, everyone has a voice worth listening to. 
• Facilitates conflict management: no relationship is without conflict and effective communication is the only way to resolve it. 
• Improves time management: delegating tasks is a big time-saver but this can’t be done unless there is goal alignment and mutual understanding.   

Fostering collaboration across your business puts you on the fast track to improve service delivery and reduce IT support tickets. Breaking down walls of communication will allow you to work together as a team to swiftly resolve issues, by sharing information in real-time to help you get to a solution faster. 

Breaking Down Silos: Strategies to Supercharge Internal Communication 

Improving internal communication and fostering a cross-departmental information-sharing environment does not happen overnight. However, there are well-established strategies that you can implement today that will firmly put you on the path to fostering a more collaborative and productive company culture. 

Here’s how to break down the barriers and build bridges across departments: 

From Isolation to Integration: 

• Break down the walls of communication: Encourage cross-departmental engagement and collaboration by involving everyone from the beginning of the project. This fosters a sense of shared purpose and dismantles the silos. 
• Emphasise the shared benefits: Illustrate the value of open and effective communication to the department managers. Freely sharing information across your organisation boosts productivity and efficiency by preventing the repetition of certain tasks. 
• Bring teams closer together: Sometimes, a change of scenery can work wonders. If you work in an office, consider redesigning your office space to bring teams physically closer. Effectively removing teams from their ‘designated corners’ can spark impromptu watercooler conversations and make collaboration more natural. 
• Facilitate a cross-pollination of ideas: Encouraging team members from different departments to attend each other’s meetings doesn’t just boost collaboration but could lead to even better solutions. This ‘cross-pollination of ideas’ can spark innovation and help everyone see the bigger picture. 

Promote a Culture of Communication: 

• Provide training on effective communication: While we all know how to communicate, most of us don’t realise that this is a skill that needs to be strengthened throughout our lives – especially in the workplace. Invest in training programs focused on active listening, conflict resolution, and interpersonal skills.  
• Transparency is key: Foster a culture of openness and honesty by encouraging everyone to take accountability for their actions. This entails creating a space where employees feel comfortable sharing information, which in turn builds trust and enhances collaboration. 
• Get involved in the knowledge economy: Ensure that the processes and platforms used to share information are seamless. For example, create a central repository for documents, resources, and best practices that is accessible to everyone.   

Make Meetings Matter: 

• Ditch the pointless meetings: Meetings should be purposeful and productive, not a waste of time. Always set clear agendas beforehand and stick to them – along with the allotted time. 
• Remember to follow up: Make sure you get the most out of your meeting by summarising the key takeaways and action items. This keeps everyone on the same page and ensures decisions are executed. 
• Embrace the gift of feedback: Gather feedback on meeting effectiveness. Are they too long or too frequent? Are they unfocused or could they be a quick email thread? Feedback helps you continuously improve communication and remain productive. 

Leverage Technology: 

• Use collaboration technology solutions: Embrace tools like Slack, Microsoft Teams, or project management software. These platforms keep everyone connected and information flowing freely. 
• Take advantage of the intranet: Create an internal platform for sharing company news, updates, and resources. Think of it as your company’s social network. 
• Create a feedback loop: Everyone has a voice worth listening to. Implement anonymous suggestion boxes or regular feedback surveys to identify areas for improvement and monitor employee satisfaction. 

Bonus Tip: Check out Viva Engage, it’s free with Microsoft 365. This internal social networking platform is a game-changer for fostering connections and keeping everyone in the loop. 

Copilot for Microsoft 365: Your Game-Changer for Internal Communication 

There is always room for improvement, especially when it comes to CX. Copilot for Microsoft 365 is here to take your comms game to the next level. This NextGen AI tool seamlessly breaks down silos by creating a central hub for team correspondence, calendar synchronisation, and shared documents. Sharing information in real time will close information gaps, eliminate confusion, and empower collaboration. While the reality of working in isolation, will become a thing of the past. 

Babble: Your Trusted Partner in CX 

Looking for the perfect partner to boost your communication strategy? Look no further: At Babble, we are here to help you do just that. With a host of communication and connectivity products tailor-made for your SMB, our solutions will help you streamline workflows and collaboration, unify your workforce and empower your team to deliver exceptional CX.

Moreover, our Contact Centre and CX products are designed to ensure that your internal communication strategy is not just improved but enhanced to perfection. Improved CX is not your only goal, explore our product pillars which house globally sourced best-in-class products that will form the foundation of your organisation’s successful products.

Living in a hyper-competitive world, businesses cannot afford to let CX fall to the wayside. It has become a prominent defining attribute that has the power to take your organisation to new heights. But this can only be achieved once the fine art of effective communication has been mastered across your organisation.  

Further Reading 

• Benefits of Unified Communications Technology – Evolve IP
• The inside-out relationship – Gamma (gammagroup.co)
• 9 Ways to Improve Customer Experience (superoffice.com) 
• 10 Steps To Effective Listening (forbes.com) 
• Contact Center Statistics – Contact Center Metrics – Contact Center Stats | Five9 
• How To Build A Culture Of Effective Internal Communication | OFFER 
• Internal communication channels | What internal communication can learn from Customer Experience | Gallagher (ajg.com) 
• Harnessing the Power of Internal Communications: Elevating CX Strategy Beyond Marketing – UniFolio – Webflow HTML website template (wonderandwander.com)
• Employee Communication Platform | Microsoft Viva Engage