Integration of areas: What are you missing? 7 tips to get it

A common situation happening to all companies when they start to grow by incrementing their income, contracts and sales. As a result of this, information increases and the operative, human and technological capacities are required in order to respond in an effective and appropriate way.

At this point is where controlling costs, keep customers happy, keep the quality of the products or services you offer, increase efficiency starts to become a problem... A problem that have to be solved as soon as possible!

It is common that, according to the economic and purchasing capacity of your company, you acquire several different technological solutions that will help you lead your business at the right time with the least effort on the part of your employees. However, this situation leads to acquiring specialized solutions for the different areas of your company according to your budget; the important thing is that all areas fulfill their tasks the best way possible. 

As a result, the company invests in different solutions for each area; some of them are used exclusively by one area, some others are used by several areas but few of them are used by all areas. This leads to the creation of information silos in the company, making communication, operative, economic and performative analysis of the company difficult. 

So... what are the benefits you are missing for not having all your work teams integrated? Technically and technologically speaking, you are missing:

• More effective control of the activities of the company.
• Integration of the different areas that make up the company. 
• Integration of new technologies and cutting-edge tools. 
• Increasing the effectiveness in the operation of the company. 
• Providing competitive advantages and the best information in real time for users. 
• Availability of greater and better information for users in real time. 
• Eliminating the barrier of distance by working with the same system.
• Decreasing errors, time and unnecessary resources. 
• Comparing the results reached with the set goals to assess and control them. 
• Greater capacity. 
• Greater security.
• Better compliance with regulations.
• Improvement of the relationship with customers.
• Increasing participation in the market.
• Reducing costs.

The costs, quality, information integrity, and the associated efforts and time skyrocket, affecting the operation and creating the problems we referred to at the beginning of this article.

In short, the integration of the different areas of a company is important so that it functions efficiently. Remember that thanks to this collaborative system you allow your employees to be able to communicate easily with the members of their team (and with other areas) as well as with their managers and leaders; it is important that you have these pieces of advice in mind:

1. Make information accessible: Every organization has its own internal knowledge. It can take a while to learn how things are done, from the protocol to prepare documents oriented to the customer to other types of practices. You have to teach these processes to your employees quickly by including them as part of the training and creating internal documents to use as reference.
2. Foster the mission and vision of your company: Everybody needs to see and understand the global goals of the company to work effectively. Managers have to explain the values and mission of the company either as part of the corporate training of employees or as a regular reminder. When workers understand and side with the goals of the company, they communicate better with each other.
3. Strengthen the connections: Leaders that dedicate time to getting to know their employees and are willing to listen to them will develop clearer and better communication with them. When workers see that managers listen to them and understand their concerns, it is more likely that they feel connected to them and this will have an effect on the efficiency of their work and on the global working environment of the company.
4. Have more open conversations: It is very important to keep your employees in the loop about the changes happening in the company, its progress, and its future plans and goals. This could be achieved through an internal informative report every two months, general statements via email, or in a corporate WhatsApp group, or even in a meeting. Moreover, it is good to encourage employees to ask questions, make comments and say what they think about topics that may affect others. It is much more likely that your employees communicate better with each other if they feel involved in the present and future of the company. 
5. Use tools for the management of online projects: There are many types of online tools to make corporate communication easier. These tools help you keep a record of the progress of a project so that everybody knows what is left for them to do. Even though face-to-face communication is always important, online tools are very useful because they allow you to save time and document your work. 
6. Be an example for your employees: The ability to communicate in a clear, empathetic and assertive way is a key characteristic of any good leader. Experienced business owners know that being the first ones to share, make comments, provide feedback and answer questions is the best way to encourage their employees and other coworkers to do the same. 
7. End with hierarchies: In many companies, hierarchies create problems in communication so more and more companies are ending with them for a good reason: team structures are more efficient. Lighter decision-making and accessible leadership foster better communication that leads to getting faster results and greater adaptability to change. 

The companies that use the correct communication strategies have a higher return on investment rate, more committed employees and less job rotation. Therefore, communication is totally related to the success of companies.