Benefits of Effective Communications Infrastructure for a Construction Company

Effective communication within an organization is incumbent upon not just policies and practices but also dependent upon the availability and use of appropriate infrastructure deployed for the purposes of communication.

Communication infrastructure in the most terms refers to a network of telephones, email servers and possibly even includes notice boards and handouts. However, in the modern context, like most other things, communication infrastructure has greatly evolved. Communication infrastructure today brings together the different means of communications into a single integrated platform and thereby forming a hybrid grid of communication.

This allows for effective and more structure communication with minimal loss of data. In a modern construction company such communication infrastructure is both vital and essential. In the following paragraphs let us try to articulate the benefits of employing an effective communication system for a construction enterprise.

A good communication infrastructure will foremost promote structured communications. A vast construction enterprise has various operational heads and instructions are likely to come in all directions. Without a good communications infrastructure it is impossible to keep all these conversations structured and therefore, effective.

Communicating with external vendors and sub-contractors should also be done in a manner that ensure streamlined operations. Lack of such clarity and structure leads to chaos and operational delays, ultimately causing customer discomfiture.

The second important benefit of an effective communication system in a construction company is that it plugs possible data loss. This helps translate the customer expectations into reality without any changes to the set criteria. Data loss can also be found in internal communications or inter-departmental communications. Both of these can be hugely detrimental to the overall customer satisfaction.

The third important benefit of an effective communication system is that it helps promote improved customer confidence. Timely and effective communication with the customers keeps him informed of the progress and status of the project, delays can be better explained and feedback better gathered from the customer. Such exchange of information keeps the customer satisfied.

The fourth important benefit of an effective communication system is that it helps keep time delays and cost escalations from taking place. The construction industry is marred by time delays and cost escalations are almost commonplace. However, effective communication between the client and internally can help reduce this delays to a great extent.

Finally, in the construction space regular communication and effective communication helps bridge the gap between expectations and delivery. Given that the projects are time taking ones and that there is a considerable gestation period involved, it is important to have a regular and effective liaison with the customer. All delays should be brought to notice and the respective stakeholders kept informed to tide over them. Customer appreciate being informed in advance rather than being told at a later stage.

Effective communication system is not just limited to hardware but also includes practices and policies within an organization. It is imperative to have strict compliance code to ensure that the infrastructure is used effectively and any leaks in the system are identified and plugged in a timely manner.

Business Phone Solutions for Your Construction Company

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The Changing Face of Real Estate Communications

Communications in the real estate industry play an extremely vital role. What is said, and how a crucial aspect of acquiring a consumer is, gaining his confidence and eventual closure of sale. Over the years communications in the industry has gone through a sea change and the improving communications technology is further changing this facet of the real estate industry.

Some of the important features of communications in the RealEstate industry are enumerated below:

Communication of Trust: Buying or renting a property is one of the more significant decisions in our life. And therefore, it also becomes a crucial one. No one makes a decision on this aspect without being able to trust the other party or the offerings available. Therefore in the real estate space, sellers & agents ought to be able to communicate trust to their consumers. Inability to communicate trust or breach of trust in the middle of a transaction can lead to serious implications for both the buyer and the seller.

Communication of Availability: All consumers would like to have an assurance that the seller is available post-sale for any contingency. Often, in case of real estate agents, they are working on multiple leads and might find it difficult to tend to each one of them at the same time. Going incommunicado only heightens consumer anxiety while the agent might be genuinely tied up. Communicationtechnology now allows for remote handling of calls, or auto call forward options which can keep your consumer at peace.

Communication of Transparency: A real estate agent is often misconstrued to be only interested in his own commission even at the cost of endangering a consumer’s interest. However, often it is overlooked that the agent himself might be in the dark on certain issues. Documents and land records are easily fabricated in the physical realm, with the agent completely being unware. Therefore, the emergence of digital records and ownership records means that all the stakeholders involved can swear by improved transparency.

Communication of Consumer Interest: The consumers today are far more knowledgeable, informed and keen-eyed than those from yesteryears. There is a greater availability of information and improved means to cross-verify everything spelt out by agents and sellers. Thus, it is increasingly important for real estate players to embrace the virtue of consumer interest. If an agent or agency fails to communicate the fact that they remain squarely committed to the interest of the consumer, they are unlikely to build any form of viable consumer connect.

In the real estate space relationships count for much – both the real-world and virtual. The relationship forms the basis for trust consumers place in agents. And the fundamental building block of these relationships is to be able to communicate with the consumers. Communications is not limited to spelling out the property details. It is about impressing upon the consumer that the realestate business is trustworthy, available, and transparent and has consumer interests on top of their mind at all times.

Benefits of NBN for the Real Estate Industry

The National Broadband Network in Australia will come as a shot in the arm for the real estate industry. Currently, the real estate sector is yet to fully realize the potential of digital transformation. There are pockets and factions of real estate community yet to be fully covered under the digital umbrella. In the post-NBN era there would be very few, if any, parts of the Australian landmass outside the connectivity paradigm and therefore usher in complete digital transformation.

Some of the key benefits to accrue for the real estate sector, in the post-NBN era can be enumerated as given below:

Improvement in Consumer Connect: NBN will allow for consumers to remain connected with their real estate agents irrespective of where they are. Agencies can ensure that agents out in the field are still connected to the clients and vice versa. This creates a seamless consumer connect and improves consumer rapport. 

Improvement in Information Dissemination: NBN will allow for high speed transmission of data (voice, audio & video) thereby allowing for better virtual tours and visual depiction of properties. Visual information has a much better impact on consumers and aids increased conversion rates.

Improvement in Transaction Closures: RealEstate transactions are now increasing being closed online. The NBN-era will give further fuel to this trend as consumers no longer need to physically visit properties before giving their nod. As more and more transactions move online, there is an improving trend in transaction closures.

Improvement in Customer Confidence: The NBN-era will usher in a phase where all land records, property documents and ownership information is available and exchanged online. This eliminates the risk of fraudulent transactions and thereby helps improve consumer confidence.

Improvement in Industry Outlook: Overall, the NBN era will help the real estate industry as a whole by improving bottom-lines, increasing sales and decreasing the cost of sale. With digital impetus agencies can deploy online advertising that is more cost effective, achieves better returns on investments, and has a lower entry-barrier even for smaller real estate firms to enter and compete with the more established firms.

Looking much further ahead, the NBN will bring about a new phase of virtual reality and wearable technologies. While the immediate impact of these might not be huge in the real estate space, developers are already looking at some exciting possibilities in the not so distant future.

In the words of Jon Brouchoud, founder of Arch Virtual, specialists in creating 3D environments for virtual and augmented reality, “It is absolutely mind boggling to visit these spaces virtually. It gives you a sense of presence, and a deep understanding of what that space is really like in a way that photos or a website simply cannot convey. I think we’ll start to see a rapidly increasing number of agencies adopting this technology in the next 2 to 3 years, we’re already seeing a lot of early innovation today and in 5 years, it will be commonplace.”

For More information:

http://www.rentaphonesystem.com.au/connected/july-2015/

http://www.rentaphonesystem.com.au/small-business-phone-system/avaya-ip-office-phone-system

Digital Transformation in Real Estate

The real estate sector has remained unorganized for a long time with deals being often sealed over personal relationships, networking and knowledge. Given the fact that buying or renting a place was one of the major decisions one made in life, it suited everyone to have the transactions based on personal knowledge and relationship with the broker and/or the owner himself. In the last five years, however, the paradigm of real estate transactions has gone through a major change with digital transformation of our societies being at the heart of this change.

Every aspect of our lives has changed drastically in the last two decades and much of the change has been fuelled, catalysed and necessitated by the increasing digital awareness and ubiquity. The RealEstate industry, although, much slower to adapt to this change has since picked up pace and is now at the forefront of some of the cutting edge innovations.

As our lives are more connected, and there is greater financial freedom with easier movement possible, a greater value has now been found in attempting and executing real estate transactions online. There is less apprehension and greater confidence being shown by buyers, sellers, brokers, lessors in deploying digital mediums to conduct their real estate business.

The National BroadbandNetwork in Australia is set to take this transformation into a much higher terrain as improving connectivity and access will bring about better transmission of data, improved transparency and a much larger populace into the online real estate fold. Consumers will be able to view and evaluate properties from far and wide, while developers will be in a position to pitch them to a more varied audience. The brokers will find themselves being able to create unified platform for the interaction of both buyers and sellers.

Digital transformation in the real estate sector also means that there is an improved coordination and liaison amongst the various parties involved. Virtual meetings, conference calls and video conferencing means that physical presence is no longer the clinching requirement to close a deal. Digitization also moves the land records and ownership documents to the online sphere, this reduces fraudulent transactions and improves confidence amongst buyers. 

Thus, we see that the actual transformation brought in by increasing digital presence in the real estate industry is to increase transparency and improve confidence amongst buyers. This has in turn allowed for a greater organization of the sector. Real estate brokers are now no longer regional players but can scale their operations with considerably decreased costs. For the buyers, there is a greater sense of security in real estate transaction. They have greater access to information which in turn provides them a clearer picture of the property in question and the sellers on hand. For the sellers, the new digital age has opened up new market avenues hereto non-existent. Wider scope, better targeting and improved conversions have helped bottom lines.

In conclusion, digital transformation has been a holistic and all-encompassing phenomenon that has helped each one of the stakeholders in the real estate chain.

For More information:

http://www.rentaphonesystem.com.au/connected/july-2015/

http://www.rentaphonesystem.com.au/small-business-phone-system/avaya-ip-office-phone-system

Use of Business Phone Systems in Education

Improving technological connectivity has now enabled bring together schools and parents with the help of digitalphone systems such that parents can be kept informed of the ward’s progress, attendance and also any emergencies. A digital phone solution offers various advantages over the analogue ones and can be deployed at a much lower cost and ease. The new phone systems are capable of placing and or taking hundreds of calls within a short span of time and broadcast information to all parents.

Some of the advantages of using business phone solutions in schools can be enumerated as below:

Uniform broadcast of information: All parents can receive automated calls informing them of vital updates at the same time. This reduces the manpower costs that the school has to employ in reaching all parents.

Establishing direct connectivity with parents: A phone is a personal device now that can be reached almost anytime. Thus instead of relying on letters which take time and email which may be missed, a phone system helps the school establish a direct connectivity with the parents and ensure that they remain well informed of the ward’s progress, attendance and others news from the school.

Reliable source of information: A phone call received from the school is a reliable source of information for the parents. This helps them act in accordance with the instructions.

Quick emergency response: In emergencies time is of essence and parents are worried about the safety of their children. A businessphone system employed by an educational institution can help curb the spread of rumors, answer important questions that the parents may have and help them ensure the safety of their children as a priority.

Business phone systems for schools can have various other advantages as well. Parents can now be connected over virtual meetings and conference calls thereby reducing the hassles of organizing and ensuring parents attend Parent Teacher meeting. A conference call ensures that all parents irrespective of physical availability can attend the call and take stock of the child’s progress.

Connectivity is a great tool for most aspect of our lives. And improving connectivity is now help educational institutions improve their connect with the parents which helps the overall improvement of the child’s progress and learning ability. Connectivity is also helping bring more children into the educational fold and improving their ability to learn better and more quickly when compared to previous generations.

Business phone systems are not just limited in scope to a business entity but effectively employed solutions can be a great tool in the working of a school. The Australian government has invested a great deal of impetus into the National Broadband Network. This is an ambitious and hugely beneficial initiative wherein all school can now hope for improved connectivity and better phone solutions, thereby much improved parent-school connect, wider educational coverage and overall improvement in education.

Role of Digital Connectivity in Education

Politicians, policy makers, educationists and parents – everyone is finally waking up to the importance of technology and connectivity in the educational sphere. There is an increasing awareness, acceptance and efforts being made to ensure that ‘connectivity’ is a primary right for every student. Internet is being increasingly employed in the improvement of learning. 

An Australian government policy statement articulates this changing paradigm in the best possible manner, “Australia will have technology enriched learning environments that enable students to achieve high quality learning outcomes and productively contribute to our society and economy.

“The Fibre Connections to Schools (FCS) initiative is an integral part of the Australian Government’s DigitalEducation Revolution (DER) suite of initiatives. These initiatives recognise that Australian students need greater access to, and more sophisticated use of information and communications technologies (ICT). They need the best hardware, high speed broadband connections, quality digital content and well trained teachers to integrate technology into teaching and learning.”

Towards this end, various efforts being mooted across the globe include:

• Offering dedicated, uninterrupted and cost-effective connectivity options to students to help them access and exploit the global reservoirs of information and information tools for better learning, understanding and experience. 
• Enabling virtual collaboration facilities amongst students and faculty to improve information exchange; promote collaborative learning and exchange of ideas.
• Encouraging and enabling teachers to devise digitally stimulating and compatible teaching methods. And use technology for improving children’s learning capabilities.

• Facilitating online interaction of parents with teachers for improved liaison.

The realization of the above objectives is possible with the collaborative efforts of the four most important factors:

Leadership: There is a need for strong, decisive and long term leadership in the space of digital education. If our governments and educational institutions can come together put in place such strong leadership, it will go a long way in improving education using digital connectivity.

Infrastructure: While several improvements have come about in the connectivity space. The last-mile connectivity is still a challenge in far flung areas. Without the right infrastructure it would not be possible to employ connectivity any better.

Teacher’s Involvement: Teachers & faculty must take the most important step in integrating connectivity & digital tools to improve learning amongst children. Teachers are the vital cog in the wheel to use increased connectivity in education.

Learning Resource: As connectivity improves, there is now an acute need for learning resources to be available in the digital formats. This will encourage students to use the connectivity channels more authoritatively.

Educational institutions ought to become more enterprising in the use of technology for their parent-teacher liaisons. A dial-in system to access the ward’s attendance or progress reports can be a great tool. Parents can be connected over conference calls or via two-way voice messaging platforms, a business phone system can be deployed for this purpose. A mobile app could be an interface worth exploring.

Expanding the reach of education and improving the connectivity to students from far and wide are the two main objectives of digital connectivity. And with dedicated efforts these can bring far-reaching results.