Businesses rarely quantify the time wasted on miscommunications caused by several tedious and obsolete tools such as text messages, cellular calls, physical mails, etc., on a yearly basis and how much it impacts their bottom line and team communication due to hindrance in productivity.
Over 40% of the workweek is spent managing inefficiencies in communication, according to a Siemens study. At an estimate, developing start-ups with 100 employees could be leaking a staggering $524,569 due to such gaps and slacks.
However, mobile industries such as construction, transportation, and logistics, public emergency services, hospitality, etc., have long utilized two-way radios such as citizen bands and legacy walkie-talkies app for instant communication. In part, because Push-to-Talk technology was the only option available for many years, two-way radios gained a great reputation. It's difficult to use walkie-talkies in the digital age because it seems clunky, uneasy, out of date, and cumbersome.
Recent Pew research reveals that 58% of Americans use smartphones for business communication and this number is on the rise every day. With portable computers fitting in our pockets, wearable technologies defining our daily habits, self-driving cars on the rise, isn't it time your Push-to-Talk solution introduced a contemporary look catering to the needs of the 21st century?
We have compiled a list of 5 reasons why your company needs a modern Push-to-talk now more than ever:
Chain of missing incoming PTT messages
Legacy walkie-talkie devices are counted among one of the most instantaneous modes of communication for on-field jobs in comparison to other traditional and tedious methods such as e-mails, text messages, and cellular calls. However, the aforesaid capability of the legacy walkie-talkie device is only beneficial when the recipients are readily available to hear the incoming PTT messages and respond instantly. In the event of a distorted signal or lack of reception, incoming PTT messages can often be misunderstood or misinterpreted by the receiver, leading to wastage of time in repeated communication by the sender.
Businesses can transition to modern Push-to-talk applications to mitigate this concern. Modern Push-to-talk applications mimic the functionality of legacy walkie-talkie devices when integrated into smartphones.
Plus, all the incoming barge messages are broadcasted live on the receiver’s smartphones as and when received. Moreover, the sea of challenges being experienced through walkie-talkie devices such as delayed acknowledgment of barge calls, lack of reception, etc., can further be eliminated as all the incoming barge calls and PTT messages exchanged between the sender and the receiver are recorded and stored on the communication channels (Private or Public as created by the Administrator and solutions offered) for later playback functionality in the Push-to-talk app. This modern solution empowers businesses with greater flexibility as there are very slim chances of miscommunications.
Restrictions on the range of your device
The average range of Legacy walkie-talkie devices and citizen band radios is only a few hundred meters or a couple of miles approximately. This might not pose as a matter of communication concern for businesses if all the employees are working at the same place or on-desk, however, if there are employees dispersed across geographies, it can be a boulder.
Various companies spend thousands of dollars to upgrade their existing walkie-talkies serving a restricted frequency area to reach wider areas. To expand coverage wherever the on-field employees are dispersed, enormous investments to acquire better Land Mobile Radios (LMRs) are required.
Modern Push-to-talk applications integrated into smartphones use cellular data/3G/4G and Wi-Fi to mimic the functionality of legacy walkie-talkie devices. It eliminates the need for companies to expand their capital costs figures each year which is otherwise not possible through walkie-talkie devices, making PTT apps a reliable solution to adopt for modern businesses.
Requirement of Instant communication with groups
Establishing streamlined communication between the group of on-field employees and the on-desk employees can be a challenging task through legacy walkie-talkie devices due to limited frequency range, unavailability of PTT messages listener at times, delayed response to barge call and often miscommunication.
With modern Push-to-talk applications, the aforesaid challenges can be alleviated and instantaneous communication between the group of on-field employees and on-desk employees can be established. Modern Push-to-talk applications empower the administrator of the organization to create Public and Private PTT channels with segmentations such as location, shift, department, workflow management, etc.
On-field employees catering to industries such as warehouse and logistics, transportation, healthcare, etc., can streamline the transmission of immediate messages between mobile devices over a prolonged connection with Push-to-talk applications.
Accountability needs to be enforced
There are several issues with legacy two-way radios, including the loss of relevant PTT information due to miscommunication and interpretation and the uncertainty of holding the participants accountable. There could be instances in logistics industries for example, wherein the last-mile delivery executive is marking the delivery of a parcel as completed and conveying the same to the concerned manager despite being somewhere else.
Several PTT apps available in the market empower the businesses with the ability to check the incoming PTT messages with tags such as date and time stamp, sender’s name, and the precise location of where they come from. In addition, since all the PTT messages transmitted over the PTT application are saved and recorded, in the event of future discrepancies between the delivery executive and the customers, businesses can rely on PTT messages as proof of delivery and clarification.
Legacy walkie-talkie devices cost you an arm and a leg
The cost of two-way radios is exceedingly high for obsolete technology. Obtaining professional-grade legacy walkie-talkie devices can shell the capital costs of the companies with hundreds of dollars per device and requires expensive licenses too. Best Push-to-talk applications can save your business a significant amount of money as well as alleviate the worry of having to repair or replace walkie-talkie devices if they get damaged, lost or broken.
In addition to on-field workers being able to maintain a harmony of instant communication via PTT application, on-desk employees will be empowered to do the same. Moreover, since employees will use their personal smartphones under the policy of Bring-your-own-devices to integrate with the PTT app, the company will save money from purchasing new devices and deploying them to the on-field workforces and recurring operational costs such as device downtime and support.
In closing lines…
The role of walkie-talkies in the business sector continues to expand. Despite the fact that walkie-talkie devices may have been consigned to the past with the advent of smartphones, especially the widespread use of Android devices for business communication, their functionality has been modernized. The modern Push-to-Talk apps have a tremendous impact on several industries including those in hospitality, logistics, warehouses, and public service.
An enterprise-grade solution, such as NuovoTeam Push-to-Talk (PTT), can provide a great channel for instant communication for your entire workforce, regardless of whether the goal is to increase productivity or simply streamline an instant communication channel for your workforce.
Moreover, Integrating a Mobile Device Management solution in the existing mobility ecosystem to lock down the Android phones used for work into single app kiosk mode with NuovoTeam can further safeguard your critical information and data as well as streamline instantaneous communication simultaneously.
Author Bio:
Ayush Maskara is a Content Writer at NuovoTeam- a Push-to-Talk App. A media science graduate, a photographer, a fiction author, a storyteller, a fiction manuscript editor, and an avid self-help reader, Ayush has been penning the creative wisdom for six years and have stepped into the IT domain for further exploration and staying awake with technological trends across the globe.
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