Tag: Business Fiannce Bangalore University BBA Notes

Virtual communication is how people interact with others without being in the same room. It’s used by remote teams in an office environment and practically every industry.

Because virtual communication has a huge impact on productivity. When your team knows how to communicate well, they can get work done without waiting hours for a response.

For most employees, business communication takes place over many different channels:

• Instant messaging apps: iMessage, Slack, or WhatsApp
• Video conferencing software: Nextiva, Cospace, or Hangouts
• Project management tools: Asana, Basecamp, or Trello
• Email clients: Apple Mail, Outlook, or Gmail
• Social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter
• Phone calls: Desk phones, VoIP apps, mobile phones

Advantages of Virtual Communication

There are many advantages of virtual communication. Here are some of the things to like about this type of communication:

• Reduce Need for More Office Space: Virtual communication eliminates the need to create space for employees who can work from home or wherever they are.
• Convenience: People or employees can interact with each other from wherever they are. They do not have to meet in person. This reduces frustration, especially when they are busy or caught up in traffic.
• Saves Money /Cut Costs: Another advantage of virtual communication is that you are able to reduce transport expenses. Companies cut on operational costs of employees, thus saving more money to be used on other functions.
• Time Saving: There is no need for a physical meeting to communicate. Different virtual communication software allows you to pass across whatever information you have from wherever you are. This eventually saves time.
• Enables Organizations Harness Talent from Anywhere: If people do not have to meet physically, then it means they can work from homes remotely in any continent. This way, an organization is able to amass the best people for the job increasing productivity.
• It Is Fast: Virtual communication takes no time to connect with the other person. It is only a click away and you get to convey what you have in mind.
• Increases Productivity: When time is saved, convenience is present, best talent is harnessed and flexibility is attained, there is definitely an increase in productivity. Employees become more effective and efficient as well.
• Promotes Flexibility: This is essential for busy people who are struggling with work and life balance, for example working mums. Virtual communication helps them work from wherever they are, communicate fast and submit projects on time.
• Easily Contacting Colleagues: Employees are able to consult each other very easily and fast. There is no need to move from your desk to the other. This saves time too. That is one of the advantages of virtual communication which you can enjoy when connecting your colleagues.
• Reduce Boredom: Working from the same place day in day out is It actually contributes to inefficiency among employees. If you can work on a project from anywhere else apart from the office, the change of environment is good for your body and mind. You will not be that bored.
• Easily Keeping a Record: The last advantage of virtual communication is that you only need to click a button and you get to record video calls and audio calls. Your phone keeps a record of instant messages. This is unlike face to face communication where wrongful word of mouth can be spread easily.

Importance

Learning how to improve communication skills is an ongoing process that should grow and develop continuously instead of remaining static throughout our lives.

As the world becomes more dependent on the internet and other global platforms communication is vital. For virtual teams, communication is even more critical and even more difficult. The very first, and most important thing to understand is that there is a big difference between virtual communication and office interactions. In the absence of facial expressions, body language and voice signals, your underlying meaning is not always clear.

As with most tasks in life, the essential part of any client/Virtual Assistant relationship is communication. You cannot get tasks completed, and goals achieved, without constant communication.

Communication is key to any relationship, but communication with your VA is vital to ensuring success. In order to develop a productive partnership with your Virtual Assistant, communication will be the key element for success. Opening up the lines of communication should work from both sides.

Video conferencing solutions are a major part of the corporate world today. The working environment in today’s world is moving towards a model where multiple offices and remote workers are becoming a prominent part of most corporates which creates the requirement of a fast, reliable, and flexible mode of communication like video conferencing.

Video conferencing is the method of visual communication in which face-to-face, live communication takes place without requiring any transportation. Video conferencing erases the limitations of distances and helps in real-time communication with the help of the internet. It is widely used by the companies to interact with their employees and clients within the country and overseas.

Importance

Improve Value and Reduce Redundancy

Companies are upgrading their legacy audio or web conferencing providers and finding more value in full video conferencing solutions that include audio conferencing, screen sharing, chat, meeting recording and event live streaming. The total cost of ownership (TCO) of maintenance and licensing for multiple vendors just adds unnecessary costs and complexity for the end users of the solution.

Increase Communication Reliability

Video conferencing provides a fast and secure way to communicate with your teams. As video continues to evolve into a business-critical function, it’s important to prioritize enterprise-class service reliability and support reliability in your solution.

Enable the Digital Workforce

Video conferencing software not only creates a more collaborative meeting culture in your organization, it’s a foundation for enabling today’s digital workforce. Video meetings help teams maintain human connections, irrespective of physical location, which speeds up decision making and improves your ability to collaborate globally.

Rally Communication and Culture

Today’s workforce prioritizes mobility, flexibility and modern forms of communication over private offices and seclusion.  Bringing remote workers face-to-face with in-office employees can boost productivity on both ends and lower travel costs at the same time. Comparing travel costs and costs of video conferencing shows that video conferencing is a true winner.

Simplify Management and Usability

Teams need access to the collaboration solutions that let them meet via audio conferencing, video conferencing, screen sharing and real-time instant messaging. But relying on too many desperate solutions can overcomplicate everything. By deploying a consolidated online meeting solution with a simple UI that is centrally managed, teams can focus on their meetings instead of being burdened with  troubleshooting every meeting.

Advantages

Cost Cutting: Video conferencing helps in reducing the travel costs incurred by a company manifolds. It allows the company to interact with its employees and clients, and share screens, files, HD audios and videos without any hassle.

Happier Employees and Higher Job Retention: Thanks to video conferencing, companies can now let their employees work from home without sacrificing communication. Studies report 56% lower turnover rates among telecommuters. The overall job satisfaction increases when people don’t have to go to office every day. Students can also get sufficient sleep and still be on time for their online lecture or seminar.

Enhances Productivity: Video conferencing prevents back logging of work, as it allows the employees to discuss the problems with the concerned person without any delay.  Easy availability of communication prevents communication gaps; thus, lessening the chances of pitfalls in the work.

No barrier of time: Video conferencing erases the barriers of time and place by allowing a group of people to discuss things with those working in distant locations without moving from their location. This allows a smooth workflow in the company without any breaks and hitches.

Disadvantages

As it the case with any technology, video conferencing also doesn’t come without a few caveats and disadvantages. Even though most people would correctly argue that when it comes to video conferencing solutions, the advantages weigh out the disadvantages but in order to have a well-developed outlook on anything, it is important to see both sides of the argument.

• Even the best systems can suffer from technical problems: No technology is impenetrable to glitches and problems. While most live video conferencing vendors provide 24×7 support for any corporate system they install, glitches can still happen, which wastes a lot of time and resources for the company.
• It still lacks the personal touch of face-to-face communication: While most conferencing solutions by live video conferencing vendors come really close to emulating the experience of personal face-to-face communication online, there’s still a small gap between the effectiveness of video conferencing and a face-to-face meeting. Most corporates understand this and usually also have face-to-face meetings between teams on important issues. However, whereas these meetings used to be the primary method of inter-organization communication, video conferencing service providers have definitely reduced the frequency of these meetings in general.

• Technical issues: The malfunction of any of the hardware or software component can hamper the smooth functioning of the work. To rectify the issue, skilled technical people are required. This may delay the work and add to the maintenance cost of the company.
• Leads to misjudgments: A meeting or an interview via video conferencing can sometimes lead to wrong decisions and selections, as many a time it becomes difficult to access the gestures and personality of a person through this virtual medium.
• Financial strain: Installing a video conferencing system can be a financial burden for a small scale company, as it is a bit expensive technology and requires regular maintenance.
• It has a high initial cost: Setting up an enterprise-grade video conferencing solution is often an expensive task as most solutions require specialized hardware that also needs to be set up, often at multiple locations. Considering the quality of gear and the expertise needed to set up the entire system, it is natural that the process has a high initial cost. However, most corporates are more than willing to pay the costs as it is recovered within a pretty short time of operating.

A message is a discrete unit of communication intended by the source for consumption by some recipient or group of recipients. A message may be delivered by various means, including courier, telegraphy, carrier pigeon and electronic bus. A message can be the content of a broadcast. An interactive exchange of messages forms a conversation.

One example of a message is a press release, which may vary from a brief report or statement released by a public agency to commercial publicity material.

Corporate messaging comprises the core message of a company and all of the methods used to get that message into the minds of consumers and stockholders. Companies use corporate messaging hand in hand with public relations to develop and maintain company branding. Without a central corporate message, investors and consumers might wonder what the goals and motivation of the company are. Small businesses use the same corporate messaging techniques to solidify their position in their market and inform the community in which they operate.

Importance

Shows transparency to employees

Employees are savvier these days. They expect more out of their employers and have greater access to learn about a potential employer. Think about online reviews from other employees, chat groups about companies, and friends touting one company over another on social media. So with all these external factors, it’s important that companies create transparency through corporate communications.

Builds strong internal teams

When you work eight or more hours a day with people, you want good co-workers. The importance of corporate communication in day to day operations is paramount. For example, you have a large product rollout and some team members are holding up the process and missing deadlines. The CEO wants to know why your team is behind and now the entire team is held accountable. Or a manager receives new direction on a project and forgets to tell the team what the new goal is. So, the team members miss the mark on achieving the new goal. These, examples of lack of corporate communication led to frustrated employees. And in return, you either start having “checked out” employees who no longer want to perform or worse high employee turnover which leads to bad company reviews. And this can affect getting great talent to join your organization in the future.

Keeps messaging consistent to customers

If you work for a larger company, you may have a corporate communications department for external audiences like customers and stakeholders and maybe an internal communications department for employee communications. Or if you have a smaller company where one person is dealing with all communications, different messaging may be created for external and internal audiences.

The importance of corporate communication is to keep messaging consistent to not only your employees but your external audiences. If you forget to communicate with your customers in the same fashion as your employees, your company brand and mission gets lost. Customers don’t know what you stand for or why they should choose you over one of your competitors.

Objectives

Internal Audience

Maintaining effective communication within your own company is important in avoiding confusion that can affect morale and productivity. Your internal communication objective should be to develop a network that gets important information to staff members accurately and efficiently. The managerial staff needs procedures in place that release information only after it has been confirmed to avoid conflicting internal messages.

Consistency

A business communication plan creates consistency in the message that is important to maintaining the company’s public image. All correspondence that goes out to the media outlets will contain the same message, and the internal audience of employees and managerial staff will also understand the information the company is releasing.

Presentation

Corporate public relations is a precise process. The message that is released by the company is reviewed by managers, executives and the legal team to make sure the company is properly represented. An important objective of business communication is determining who will release the information, how it will be presented and when it should be revealed.

Media Outlets

Your marketing department does a comprehensive analysis of each media outlet and determines which outlets reach particular target markets. Releasing information to all media outlets will get your message out to the public, but you can use the media analysis to create targeted messages that will reach your intended audience and make a greater impact. For example, if you are releasing a new video game, then your marketing department will tell you that certain video game magazines tend to reach your target audience better than other forms of media.

Reason

• It shows respect for the speaker
• It settles the audience down and gets them focused on the stage.
• Alternatively, it can hype the audience up and get them excited about what they are going to experience
• It gives a chance for the Production crew to correct the sound levels, lights and be ready with any audio/visual cues.
• It lets the audience know who this person is before they start, in case there is no printed program.
• It can link the content or the message of the speaker to the theme of the event.
• It can emphasise why this message is important to the group and why they should listen
• It can show why this person is qualified to speak about the topic and share their insights
• It can allow the speaker to get straight into the meat of their presentation.

The introducer’s job is to:

• Remind the audience why the topic is important to them
• Establish the speaker’s qualifications to speak on the topic
• Get the presentation off on a high note by establishing an up-beat tone
• Make the speaker feel especially welcome

Technical Speech

A technical speech is a speech given by an expert to an audience of experts. It’s not expected that members of the general public will attend or understand the speech. The speaker can assume a general understanding of basic ideas in the audience, and does not need to explain basic concepts.

A technical speech is one which provides information or presents an idea to a specialized group. For example, describing the design and/or function of a “data warehouse” to other Information Technology folks.

Technical presentations serve engineering, scientific and high-tech purposes, describing advances in technology, problem resolution, product design and project status. In general, technical presentations serve one of two purposes:

(1) To inform (e.g., knowledge transfer, classroom instruction)

(2) To persuade (e.g., convincing others to adopt a design approach or accept the results of an evaluation process).

Technical presentation is meaning less most of the time when non-technical presentation is not there because when we are informing to the people about anything but sometimes, they don’t understand because of Symantec barrier but if there is one video or slides which shows about the topic weather it is in the form of written or in animation video it will clearly understand to the other person.

Characteristics

• The use of statistics: this may not be compulsory, depending on the subject matter. Nevertheless, if the report is based on some research findings, there will always be need to present the data in tables and graphs. This will help the audience to easily grasp what is being discussed. Here, it should be noted that statistics should not be used for the sake of impressing the audience; rather, it should be used for the sake of simplifying the information being presented. The use of statistics in technical speech will be discussed in details subsequently.
• There is opportunity for questions or contributions: this is one of the few types of speeches that allow the audience to ask questions from the presenter after the presentation. Because it involves sharing professional knowledge, there is also an opportunity for fellow professionals or senior colleagues to make contributions. During the Annual General Meetings (AGM) of corporations, the President of the organisation makes a presentation on the activities of the company for the past one year. The accountant also presents the financial details of the report. Copies of the reports are given to the stakeholders because these presentations are technical in nature. After listening to the speeches and carefully studying the documents, the listeners are encouraged to seek for clarification in any area that such is desired.
• The use of technical aids: though it may seem obvious, it is still important to mention that the “technical” in the name of the speech does not only refer to the complexity of the idea being discussed; it also refers to the technical assistance needed for conveying the message. Because of the nature of the speech, there is usually the need to substantiate the abstract idea being discussed. Hence, technical aids such as handouts and multi-media presentations are needed for easy dissemination of the information. The handouts are usually distributed to the audience so that they can follow the presentation and also make meaningful contribution.
• Research based: one of the major characteristics of a technical speech is that it is research based. This is not just about the background information you gather so as to enrich your speech; the speech itself is a scientific (so to speak) report. You must have conducted an inquiry in your field and you wish to share the findings with your peers. You may be given the task of assessing the performance of your company’s products in the market. Or, you may be asked to create a new brand for the Nigerian market.

Non-Technical Presentation

Vote of Thanks

A vote of thanks speech is a well-authorized speech where the speaker offers a vote of thanks to the organizer, host, and other participants. No event can be successful without people who dedicate their resources and time to make sure everything is faultless. Like any other crucial meetings organized in schools and colleges, a vote of thanks speech is also vital for association meeting in college. It’s helpful to publicly let everyone know the roles and responsibilities and express your gratitude.

A good vote of thanks speech for association meeting should include:

• Thanks to all the people who helped me either directly or indirectly, to make the meeting successful.
• Thanks to all the participants for attending the meeting, and more.

Keep the following points in mind while giving a vote of thanks speech:

• Your first sentence should let the participants know you are thanking them.
• In 1 to 2 sentences, tell the audience why you have been asked to give a vote of thanks speech.
• Start your speech by showing gratitude to your honorable guest, host, and audience.
• Try to keep each thank-you brief, but honest and warm.
• By sure to remark any work that benefitted your college and then add in it your thank speech.
• You can add your belief that the concerned group of people and your college hold good ties in the future.
• Show the speakers that you were actively listening to their words. Add some reference what they said, and that stuck with you.
• At the end of the vote of thanks speech, talk about what makes your college special.
• Thank the head for the opportunity of giving thanks speech on behalf of their college.

Occasional Speech

A speech of introduction introduces the main speaker at an event and inspires the audience to listen to that speaker. Any speech of introduction needs to be brief. After all, the person making the introduction should not be the focus of attention. The introductory speech usually has three components:

(a) Provide a brief backdrop or background of the main speaker

(b) Introduce the speaker’s topic.

(c) An invitation from the audience to warmly welcome the speaker.

Commemorative speeches and tributes are speeches that pay special accolades to an occasion, extraordinary person, event, idea, or monument. The purpose or scope of this speech is to reflect the emotions felt by the audience as well as underscore the reasons for the speaking event. Delivering a tribute and commemorative speech involves careful attention to language. These speeches are intended to inspire the audience, and the use of the richness of language should serve to evoke the appropriate emotions within the audience as well as the honored persons.

Tributes and commemorative speeches have certain characteristics. First, they are short and eloquent (Letteri, 1997). In most cases, this speech should be one to five minutes long, which means the words should be chosen carefully and efficiently for impact. Second, these speeches are written to anticipate the emotional needs of the audience. There is a difference between the need to be festive and the need to grieve, and the speech should contain language that conveys the appropriate feelings. Rather than focus on a great deal of information about the person, event, or thing being honored, the speech should make reference to the emotions of the audience and respect those emotions; whether directly or indirectly. When the speaking occasion is honoring a person, the speech’s content should contain a balance between the professional and personal accomplishments of the honoree. While the speech should emphasize the person’s professional work, his or her personal activities.

Theme Speech

An e-meeting is a meeting between at least two people who can see each other but are not in the same place. An e-meeting is a web-based meeting or conference format that allows people to see and hear each other. They can hear each other through VoIP. VoIP stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol. Participants talk in real time and may even make presentations with visual aids such as charts and graphs.

The term e-meeting stands for ‘electronic meeting.’ We also call it an online meeting or virtual meeting. A virtual meeting, however, may also refer to a meeting with an artificial intelligence or fictitious character.

An electronic meeting system (EMS) is a type of computer software that facilitates creative problem solving and decision-making of groups within or across organizations. The term was coined by Alan R. Dennis et al. in 1988. The term is synonymous with group support systems (GSS) and essentially synonymous with group decision support systems (GDSS). Electronic meeting systems form a class of applications for computer supported cooperative work.

Mainly through (optional) anonymization and parallelization of input, electronic meeting systems overcome many deleterious and inhibitive features of group work.

Similar to a web conference, a host invites the participants to an electronic meeting via email. After logging into the session, meeting attendees participate primarily through their keyboards, typing responses to questions and prompts from the meeting host.

Electronic meeting systems have been designed to enhance group effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction. Face-to-face groups can suffer from a number of process losses including:

• Domination of the conversation by one or more members
• Individuals withholding comments for fear of criticism or negative evaluation
• Members failing to participate because they perceive that their input is not required
• Pressure to conform with senior members of the group

Consequently, the advantages of EMS supported meetings vs traditional face-to-face meetings and workshops are:

• Increased openness and less personal prejudice through anonymity
• Any-place (online) capability which avoids travel time and cost
• Increased participant availability (any place, any time).
• Increased interactivity and participation by parallelization
• More sophisticated analysis by voting and analysis in real time
• Less effort in preparation by using meeting templates
• Repeatable meeting and workshop process through meeting templates
• Automatic, comprehensive, neutral documentation

Importance

Recorded meetings. There’s something inherently repetitive about the old boardroom meeting. It’s like, “Didn’t we just discuss that last week? Why are we talking about it again?” Fortunately, online meetings right that wrong by providing the easy option to record each conference, thereby ensuring that any potential overlap from week to week can be mitigated via a simple review of the last recorded meeting.

Time saved. When a company decides to conduct a physical meeting, time needs to be spent booking a conference room, planning for the event itself, and then waiting on the inevitable late-comers who will delay the start of the meeting. But online meetings eliminate these time-wasting moments by offering easy-to-use Web conferencing that workers can access from the comfort of their desk. This remote access also allows people who aren’t physically in the office to participate in meetings, as business.com points out.

Forward thinking. With the broad availability of cloud solutions, organizations are increasingly occupying the virtual realm. For this reason, the adoption of online meetings is only in keeping with a wider business move toward a virtual infrastructure.

Overall productivity boosts. For businesses that have work-from-home policies, the availability of online meetings promises significant productivity increases, as web-meetings points out. That’s because workers who are doing their job from home won’t have to drive into the office on meeting days, which means that the time they save driving is time that can go toward boosting enterprise productivity.

Opening

Small Talk

Whether you are holding the meeting or attending the meeting it is polite to make small talk while you wait for the meeting to start. You should discuss things unrelated to the meeting, such as weather, family, or weekend plans.

Objectives

Some people who hold meetings prefer to pass around copies of the agenda, and others will post a large copy on a wall, or use an overhead projector. No matter which format is used, attendees should be able to follow the agenda as the meeting progresses. Before beginning the first main item on the agenda, the speaker should provide a brief verbal outline the objectives.

Draft opening remarks for a business meeting. Decide on a meeting format before you begin to plan any opening statements. Business and board meetings should have more formal opening remarks to acknowledge the attending members. Keep opening words short for more casual meetings, especially when the attendees have an allotted time to introduce themselves.

State the purpose of the meeting clearly. Make sure that all of the meeting’s attendees understand what you will be discussing. It will be much harder for people to focus if you don’t establish a clear goal or purpose. Let them know what to expect after you ‘ve greeted them.

• In a business setting, you can state say something like: “The purpose of this meeting is to figure out a way to trim this quarter’s budget.”
• For more casual settings, you might stay, “Let’s share our thoughts and experiences on this issue.”

Follow an agenda to avoid any confusion. Review what the meeting will cover before jumping into any new conversations. Different topics can lead to different discussions, which can quickly spiral off topic if you aren’t following a planned agenda. Having an agenda helps to keep the meeting on track and on topic, and gives attendees a way to monitor how long the meeting goes.

Clearly state if a certain part of the agenda only applies to one person. To avoid any confusion in the meeting, establish who is in charge of which task. For example, say, “John will be handling all of the budget paperwork. Talk to him if you have any questions.”

Closing

To ensure you close your meeting effectively, apply these four tips:

1. Add the meeting’s closure to the agenda

If you are presiding the meeting, make sure the closure appears on the agenda and highlight it as important. Allot the final 5 minutes of the meeting this process, taking note that it needs to be done within the meeting timeframe.

2. Quickly run through the outcomes

As the speaker, try to acknowledge whether the desired outcomes have been achieved. Make sure that you get commitment from the tasks and that each task is assigned to a participant with a target date of accomplishment.

3. Encourage everyone to communicate

Initiate interaction by asking open-ended questions like “Is there anything you want to add before we conclude the meeting?”

The questions can take a general or specific approach. The essence of this tip is to make every participant feel connected. It implies that you value their opinion and that will surely boost their confidence.

4. Take note of the key takeaways

Insightful ideas come up when the speaker encourages everyone to participate. Make sure that these key takeaways are captured and noted. Also, do not forget to share them in the meeting notes for future meetings and recommendations.

Without an effective closure process, participants may end up confused and frustrated because they are not able to say what is on their minds. This may cause negative effects to the participants and ultimately, to the outcome of the agenda.