ISBM – A telecommunications service provider.

Business Communication

CASE STUDY (20 Marks)

A telecommunications service provider. Since its beginnings in 1994, this company has become one of New Zealand\’s most loved telecommunications providers with around 200 employees. They provide internet, home phone and calling services. In May 2006, the New Zealand Government unbundled the local loop meaning that a range of business opportunities opened up to the telecommunications service provider. A period of dramatic business growth followed. Increased staff numbers and product offerings meant that it was important to find tools and techniques to ensure staff continued to be well-informed and passionate about working for the company. • This company has a particularly young workforce and a high percentage of call center staff and shift workers. It has nearly doubled in size in the last year. All of these factors presented several internal communications challenges. • They wanted to find a communications solution that would appeal to its young workforce who were used to dynamic, entertaining, and attention-grabbing technologies. The SnapComms solution offered the right combination of ‘fizz’ combined with pure and simple business value. They have a particularly young workforce and a high percentage of call center staff. The company has nearly doubled in size in the last year. All of these factors presented several internal communications challenges: Communicating with shift workers. A high percentage of shift workers meant that it was difficult to gather staff into one place for business updates and news. High turnover of call center staff. As is common for call centers, staff turnover rates were higher than in other parts of the organization. It was important to find ways to bring new employees up to speed quickly and to build engagement to reduce staff turnover rates. Young demographic. The average age of employees is 20 years old. Communication is needed to appeal to a demographic used to engaging, entertaining, and compelling communication formats. A cultural survey highlighted a need to make people feel more valued. Their cultural survey, although generally good, highlighted a need to help its people recognize the benefits of working for the company and feel a valued part of the business. Learn more about communicating with millennials. Email overload. People were being bombarded with emails. Between 50 and 100 per day were commonplace for call center staff. ‘Static’ intranet. The intranet was seen as ‘static’ and not updated often; hence usage rates and effectiveness were low. They had the following additional Internal Communications objectives: Increase staff involvement. The company was looking for ways to help its staff feel more involved and to allow them to participate more in the business. Find new ways to make working for the company fun. They have a young, fun brand and it was important to reflect this in the culture of the company. Measuring communications effectiveness. It was difficult and time-consuming to measure communication effectiveness. The service provider was looking for a quick, user-friendly tool to allow them to measure communications effectiveness regularly.

Answer the following question.

Q1. Give an overview of the case.

Q2. Discuss the benefits of keeping staff engaged.