Introduction, Today’s Communication Technology

Exchange of information through the use of speech, signs or symbols is called communication. When early humans started speaking, some 5,00,000 years ago, that was the first mode of communication. Before we dive into modern technologies that drive communication in contemporary world, we need to know how humans developed better communication techniques to share knowledge with each other.

History of Communication

Communicating with people over a distance is known as telecommunication. The first forms of telecommunication were smoke signals, drums or fire torches. The major disadvantage with these communication systems was that only a set of pre-determined messages could be transmitted. This was overcome in the 18th and 19th century through development of telegraphy and Morse code.

Invention of telephone and establishment of commercial telephony in 1878 marked a turnaround in communication systems and real telecommunication was born. International Telecommunication Union (ITU) defines telecommunication as transmission, emission and reception of any signs, signals or messages by electromagnetic systems. Now we had the communication technology to connect with people physically located thousands of kilometers away.

Telephones slowly gave way to television, videophone, satellite and finally computer networks. Computer networks have revolutionized modern day communication and communication technologies.

1960-1990

That was the era when a personal meeting was very important before finalizing the businesses. PTT – post, telegrams, and telephone used to be important sources of communication but very costly. By the 70s and 80s, computers entered into the working environment but were on a nascent stage. Television was also in black and white color and it was not in everyone’s home.

The 1980s saw the arrival of a fax machine. This allowed the documents to transmit from one placement to another at a relatively low cost. It still exists but not of much use except in government offices. Fax machine operation was just the beginning of changes in human life.

1990-2015

The 1990s marked the decade that mobile phones entered into our life. The black screen, finger typed numbers, pagers and high rates call to be made were putting the people in elite groups who had a mobile at that time.  Generally, top class executives used to have mobile as they need to make important calls or available on phones all the time as and when a company requires.

But, it was the introduction of email in the late 1990s that revolutionized how we communicate at work. Email has made people life easy and faster without any time zone and extra cost.

By the early 2000’s companies were beginning to use intranets. While originally used for housing internal documents, the intranet eventually evolved to an internal communications platform. We also saw companies begin incorporating video technology into their business. By 2010, new technology entered and the beginning of smartphones occurred. Fax machines, scan machines, PTT replaced with many apps which were launched and the process of communication got changed. Everything was available on one click. These tools have brought companies closer at the global level. The enterprise video technology developed to give human touch technology so that people connect should be there.

Enterprise video technology has been one of the most successful communication technologies in the workplace. Internally, it has changed how companies communicate and interact. For example, large corporate meetings can now be held online. Enterprise video has also improved employee training and onboarding. Best of all, it has reduced a lot of business costs such as travel and meeting room expenses.

2015-and Beyond

Today, we can’t live without technology. Development of technological advancement and an entrance of Artificial Intelligence, IoT, and Machine learning is making human life advanced and complex too. Today, it is everywhere in the business. No doubt, the technology has an impregnable importance in corporate communication and success of a business cannot be imagined without a technical advancement. Skilling and re-skilling of people to prepare better to face the world with technology will enhance their avenues and better prospects in future.

Today’s Communication Technology

Following are the tools used by businesses with technology:

• E-mail: Electronic mail is replacing handwritten correspondence. Businesses use email to communicate with customers and staff. In this, they get a quick response and connect with the concerned person. It saves postage costs and having an internet connection, it is cheaper as well. Many companies like Yahoo, Google, etc. provide free email accounts.
• Social networking sites: Today, all companies are available on various social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Myspace, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. the objective behind their availability on all these sites helps them to connect with an audience and check their likes and preferences on regular basis. Companies also educate, aware and interact with them through this platform and get the real-time feedback of their businesses. The company also use this platform for hiring the best talent for their businesses. Belong.co is an organization who with the use of artificial intelligence helps companies to get the right talent for their organization. When company comes up with their job advertisement, they start using the most active user based on company requirements and suggest an organization to hire them. This is very cost effective and time saving for employees and employers. The effective use of social media in today’s world is a panacea for business to communicate about their existence effectively.
• Online Chat: video chatting is also a good way to connect with masses and give them real-time organization public communication tool. Many companies hold a weekly chat with their internal and external employees and customers to share company’s vision, mission, objective and goals.
• Blogs: Blogs are the short content which is written on the website. It is crispy, short and to the point. The senior executive of an organization uses or write blogs so that consumers get the right information in a specific period of time. It is in a conversational manner and it is basically a system to manage media, employee, etc.
• Cellphones: cellphones are the strongest form of communication. It gives access to public relations practitioners/corporate communicator to know about the current happening in the world and also convey the audience their messages instantly.

Networking

Networking allows users to communicate through traditional voice and video in a secure system. Networking also allows collaboration on reports, programming and other document production, taking communications beyond conversational interaction and into virtual partnerships. Networking is the backbone of modern technology, and forms the core of how most business communication is performed today. The concept of nodes linked together is essential, whether it means connecting to a Web page, cell tower or using cloud-based applications.

The Internet

The Internet allows communication in two ways: static communication through Web pages, and dynamic communication through information being exchanged. Data posted to a Web page, such as product specifications, allow instant access to the same data from anywhere in the world, a static form of communication that frees up company resources which would otherwise be engaged in constantly repeating the same information. Online product orders are a type of dynamic communication, and can be as complex as keeping a real-time inventory, alerting employees of changes in costs or real-time chat between a customer service agent and a customer or field representative.