Local Experts Adjust to Cyberspace Trends
by Cameron Woodworth, Freelance Business Writer
Ask top communication experts about emerging trends in their field and many will give you an earful about how new technologies and societal issues are changing the way they do business.
Bill Boyd, ABC, employee communication manager for the western region of AT&T's Cellular Division, reports that one of the biggest trends he is dealing with these days is trying to maintain robust informal contacts in a work force that is increasingly mobile and virtual.
"I would say the problem is quite serious," he says. Face-to-face meetings and chance encounters around the water bottle or the copy machine have always been critical in helping to keep people informed about things that are happening in the company. But as more people telecommute or spend time on the road, these informal contacts are declining. At this point, AT&T officials don't have solutions to the problem, he says. "This is something we're going to have to feel our way through."
For now, Boyd urges AT&T employees to make the most of the face-to-face time they have. AT&T also uses an intranet to keep it's work force informed, though Boyd says it relies heavily on formal communication. In the future, the Intranet may use special agents to tailor information to individuals, much like the individualized news services on the Internet today.
"Another trend we're dealing with is the sheer volume of information that employees are subjected to," he adds. "Take e-mail. The amount of information that passes your screen can be enormous." Boyd recently spent several hours purging more than 1,000 e-mails from his own in-box. "If we're using e-mail as a channel to reach employees, we may be deluding ourselves that these things will be acted upon," he says.
IABC/Seattle president Linda Thieme, manager of marketing communication for SAFECO Life Insurance, praises how her company dealt with e-mail overload during SAFECO's recent acquisitions. To keep employees informed, the company, which uses a somewhat "old-fashioned" mainframe system for its internal e-mail, created a special folder containing all e-mails relating to the acquisitions. That way, only infrequent reminder e-mails needed to be sent to SAFECO employee in-boxes.
Tammy Kincaid, ABC, director of marketing and publications for the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, says the rise of cyberspace has changed the way the Chamber communicates with its clientele.
The chamber is de-emphasizing its member newsletter and has shifted attention to online communication, she says. The organization's newsletter has been halved, from 16 to eight pages, and articles are much shorter. Newsletter readers are urged to visit the Web site (www.seattlechamber.com) which has longer feature articles and more up-to-date news than the newsletter.
Kincaid also notes that the audience the chamber reaches are changing. "We're seeing a change in demographics, a rise in entrepreneurship and smaller companies. There are a lot more consultants out there now; people are wearing many different hats. As a result, their time is at premium and we have to compete harder to reach them."
(Source: Verbatim, the IABC/Seattle newsletter.)
