Looking back: the key corporate communication digitalisation trends of 2021

The isolation of the coronavirus pandemic gave companies' digitalisation efforts an extra push, although the true frontrunners had started transforming their workflows even before that. 2021 brought further progress in this respect, as companies no longer digitalised only individual sub-tasks but entire processes, above all in the field of corporate communication. The collection below highlights the most important trends of last year that we observed in connection with the use of digital tools. 

Internal communication

For companies employing many manual workers, reaching their people is a significant HR problem. The usual tools cannot be deployed, since these workers have no company laptop — not even an e-mail address. For a driver, an excavator operator, a lettuce picker or a CNC lathe operator, however, a workplace solution running on the employee's own smartphone is a proven fix that creates a new way of making contact. Through the software, which runs on Viber and a company app at the same time, information and encrypted documents addressed to the employee — such as the monthly payslip — can be sent out. Employees can also ask questions back and signal their requests and needs to central HR. The leading milling company GoodMills introduced CHEQ in a traditional industry, for a workforce typically aged 50+. Thanks to the tool, which quickly became popular, employees today manage the company's internal communication autonomously. 

Gossip control

One of the most effective ways to handle and prevent corridor rumours and scaremongering is gossip control, a new tool of corporate communication. Casino Sopron, the company operating the country's oldest casino, recognised during a communication audit the sheer volume of gossip within the organisation, and the damaging effect of the phenomenon on results and loyalty. With a consciously built and consistently executed internal shift in mindset, and by using CHEQ, they minimised the losses caused by corporate gossip. 

A new corporate communication relationship with employees

Manufacturing companies, which typically operate across many sites, also face a major challenge in reaching colleagues. The first steps of corporate communication are cumbersome: hiring people and integrating the new workforce, including their onboarding. CHEQ offers an easy-to-use solution for this. Alongside training materials and e-learning modules, it also offers knowledge tests and questionnaires to employees, even when they are far away from the company's HR department. When posters, notice boards and group meetings can no longer keep up with the demand for fast information flow, it is worth considering a solution that also employs chatbot technology. That is what Duna-Dráva Cement did — a company that has to coordinate the work of three divisions across 60 sites around the country. 

Customer service

For consumer brands handling large volumes of customer interactions, the hundreds of thousands — or in some cases millions — of customer enquiries per year tie up significant resources. On top of that, the isolation of the pandemic further increased call centres' staffing needs due to the surge in phone calls. The bulk of the calls ranged from simpler questions — e.g. about opening hours or locations — to enquiries about stock (e.g. which store carries a product of such-and-such capacity) or intentions to file a complaint. 

Companies at the forefront of digitalisation are now able to substantially relieve the live workforce tied up by this task. A further key advantage is that they remain available around the clock and answer every customer enquiry with the same consistent quality. One example is Erste Bank's chatbot named Mira. In 2021, customers gave it higher satisfaction scores than the bank's customer service staff performing the same role. 

Sales-supporting customer service

Chatbot-based customer service connected to inventory data answers product purchase questions in real time (e.g. quantity, price, location, available discounts, home delivery, etc.), and in this form its sales-boosting role is exceptionally effective. This is especially valuable for retail companies with product ranges running into the thousands, since it simultaneously reduces the staffing and payroll costs of customer service and guides shoppers along the path to their purchase decision. In Praktiker's chatbot, for example, alongside the store finder the bot also offers location-based stock information, while helping the customer initiate an order and home delivery.