Business communication review Essay

Introduction A group of friends and I have decided to make a small business known as ‘Beyond The Scoop’. I have now been asked to create a detailed report on the different type of communication. ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION Video Conferencing image00.png Video conferencing is widely being used as the rise of technology is improving. Video conferencing is basically a direct video interface in which both people can see and hear each other. It is used in large cooperation as it requires a lot of money to acquire the equipment for video conferencing. HSBC have recently been using Video Conferencing as they have a range of banks all around the world. They use video conferencing in order to talk about propositions and other matters without the need of travelling. Video Conferencing will reduce a great deal of expense as people no longer need travel to far distances to meet. This means people would be more flexible to communicate to other people with the comfort of talking from their own home. On the other hand, video conferencing requires a lot of money for it to run properly. Since you need high internet speed to have a stable video conference and high internet speed require more money. Furthermore, the equipment itself and can add up to the thousands and there is no guarantee for a stable connection as internet providers have peak times in which most people’s connection are low. Additionally, when speaking on video conferencing it is hard to determine on whose turn is it talk and can cause a lot of frustration. Purpose The purpose of video conferencing is to discuss and explain about issues. Emailimage01.png Email has taken a big role nowadays and is now surpassing the need for letters. It is commonly used throughout the world from teenagers to big cooperate businesses. The basic function of email is a message sent electronically. One business which uses email would be ‘Amazon’. Amazon sends email to customers informing customers about their products as well as delivery information. This is a great advantage as people don’t have to wait a long period of time to get information in comparison to the average memo. Since a person simply needs to login to their email and the message will appear. You also have the advantage of knowing whether or not a person has read the message and if they have received it. This great advantage in case an employee states he did not receive information from another colleague a person can easily just login to their email and check. Email also eliminates the need for using paper and this is great advantage as it is environmentally friendly and it could be used for something else. An email is also superior when it comes to receiving a message in comparison to a letter. This is because an email can be sent to a person in a few seconds whereas a letter may a take a few days. In addition, sending an email is usually free where as you have to pay for sending a letter. While email has many advantages it also has a few disadvantages. For example, it requires internet access to work and if the internet is down an email could not be sent. In addition, emails also have the ability to send virus along with the email and could endanger the computer receiving it. Also, people tend to get a lot of spam and phishing which could lead to the user being victim to giving financial information. Purpose The purpose of an email is usually to inform colleagues about task as well as key information. It can also be used to explain task and what are the requirements for each tasks. Website image02.png Website have become so important to the extent where some businesses simply use them rather than having an actual building to sell their products for example ‘Woolworths’. Woolworths have all the products on their website and they also provide free delivery. Having a website means manufactures can sell products without the need of maintaining a store which can be highly expensive. Furthermore, some people are restricted to stay at home and going on a website is easy as you only require a computer and internet access to access a website. A website also has the advantage of easily being updated. For example if a company like ‘Argos’ had a new product it could easily update that on their website. Moreover, a website is also able to present information in various forms for example; sound, images, videos and written information. These features are relatively cheap and be acquired or made easily. However, a website is not perfect for example it has the flaws of requiring internet access. As internet access is not always available to customer, customers cannot always access the website. Furthermore, some users have difficulties navigating through website because they are not great with computers. Some websites may also contain inappropriate images or have inappropriate adverts which might not be suitable for some users. It may have some offensive images which could lead to law suits. Purpose The purpose of a website is usually to persuade people into buying their products. It can also be used to inform readers on prices and contact details. SPOKEN Face to Face Face to face communication has reduced in the past few years as technology such as telephones, social networking websites and video conferencing has came out. One company which use face to face is ‘PC Worlds’. PC World use face to face during meetings to discuss important issues. Face to Face communication still has many advantages. One advantage is that you don’t need to rely on internet or any signals to be able to talk. Moreover, you are more likely to tell if a person is lying when you are talking face to face. Whereas, via email someone can be discrete and can easily lie and it would be hard to identify since you cannot see their facial expression. Via face to face you are also able to use facial expressions and body language to get your point across e.g. to be serious, persuasive or happy.image03.png The disadvantages are that you have to be at a close distance to be able to talk and if you are not then you might have to pay travel cost to be able close enough to be able to talk. Moreover, face to face communication requires time as you would have to talk to several people for confirmation that they are available and you would also need to organise a place and time which would suit and this would take a large portion of time to organise. Purpose The purpose of face o face communication can be to inform, explain, entertain and describe. Radioimage04.png Radio is regularly used to promote businesses as they are listened to by a vast amount of people. For example a company called ‘Capital’ are a radio company which advertise a few companies on their channel. Radio communications have the advantage of being widely listened as a lot of people listen to radio regularly during the morning. It is also a fact that radio communication has increasing more in comparison to other communication. This means there is wider audience to talk to. It is also significantly cheaper to use radio communication in comparison to television communication. Radio communication has now recently been available on most phones and cars and this means an even rider range of audience. The disadvantages are that it is only able to provide vocal communication and not visual communication. This means if a business was to advertise their products it would be hard to make a decent advertisement on radio as you would only hear about the product. Furthermore, radio communication tends not to have strong signals and a person can easily encounter interruptions in comparison to an internet connection. Purpose Radio communication is usually to entertain as most channels tend to provide music to listen to as well as interesting discussions. It can be used to inform as some radio stations provide information about the weather and other information. PRINT Postersimage05.png Posters are information and images on paper which are stuck on buildings. They are used by small business and sometimes big businesses to advertise their business. For example ‘GPU’ use posters as they have quite unique designs and are very effective. Posters have the advantage of being cheap. It is very simple to make a poster however for it to be effective it must have vibrant colours to ensure it makes contact with people when they walk by. You can also make several copies and it would attract a large audience. Due to the fact it is very cheap it does have several disadvantages. One would be that a poster can be placed a top of your poster. Or someone could damage your poster. Furthermore, people usually walk by and don’t often look out for posters unless it is really eye catching. Purpose Posters are often used to entertain readers and intrigue readers with vibrant colours and outstanding images. It also is used to inform reader on key information. Letters Letters are used in most businesses for example ‘HSBC’ give letters informing their clients about their bank information every month. Letters have been used for a long portion of time however they are slowly being replace by email. Letters have the advantage of not needing internet connection as well as the fact you can’t get viruses from them. Furthermore, you can send products to the recipient for example ‘free samples’ where as you are unable to do via email. image06.png The disadvantage of letters is that it is a waste of trees and contributes to global warming. It also takes a significantly longer portion of time to receive in comparison to an email or a fax. In addition, it also requires money in order to send a letter whereas emailing is free as well as instant. Purpose The purpose of a letter is used to inform and explain to people on particular information. It can also be used to convey personal opinions. Memorandumimage07.png Memos were often used before emails. Schools such as Swanlea use memos to inform other teachers on some tasks. The advantages of memos is that it has the ability to remind employees on small matters which they must do. The disadvantages are that a memo can simply be lost and it may not get to the receiver. Moreover, a person can deny that they were asked to do a task on the memo since there won’t be any proof that the sender sent a memo in the first place. Whereas in an email there is sold proof that you have sent an email and recently you can now tell if a person has read your email. Purpose A memo is used to inform people about certain task and are often are used as reminders so people don’t forget. In conclusion, I have realised it would be best to use; posters, leaflets, emails and a website. This is because posters can be done by our own personnel as one person is expertly