22 Internal Communication Tools your Company Should Have

Effective communication is crucial for the success and growth of any organization. As companies navigate an increasingly competitive landscape, the ability to communicate clearly, efficiently, and promptly is more important than ever. Effective communication not only ensures that everyone within the organization is aligned with its goals and objectives but also fosters a collaborative and cohesive work environment.

The rapid advancement of technology in recent years has introduced a plethora of modern communication tools designed specifically to streamline workplace interactions and significantly enhance productivity. These tools have revolutionized the way businesses operate, enabling seamless communication across different departments, locations, and time zones.

From instant messaging apps and video conferencing platforms to collaborative software and project management systems, these tools have become integral to the daily operations of many organizations. This article delves into the best business communication tools currently available, offering an in-depth exploration of their features, benefits, and potential drawbacks.

By understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each tool, businesses can make informed decisions about which solutions best meet their unique needs and goals. Furthermore, this article will provide a comprehensive overview of the various types of communication tools that have the potential to revolutionize your corporate communication strategies.

By exploring the diverse landscape of business communication tools, this article aims to equip you with the knowledge needed to select the right tools that can drive efficiency, enhance collaboration, and ultimately contribute to the overall success of your organization. Whether you are looking to improve internal communication, enhance team collaboration, or streamline project management, understanding the capabilities and limitations of different communication tools will help you create a more connected, productive, and agile business environment.

What are Business Communication Tools?

Business communication tools are applications and platforms specifically designed to facilitate efficient and effective communication within an organization. These tools enable employees to share information seamlessly, collaborate on projects, and stay connected, regardless of their physical location. By leveraging these tools, businesses can significantly improve internal communication, ensuring that everyone is on the same page and that important information is easily accessible.

These tools encompass a wide range of functionalities, from instant messaging and video conferencing to project management and document sharing. By integrating these tools into their daily operations, businesses can streamline workflows, reduce misunderstandings, and enhance overall productivity.

Additionally, the use of business communication tools fosters a more cohesive work environment, promoting teamwork and collaboration among employees who may be working remotely or across different departments. On top of that, these tools often come with features that allow for better organization and tracking of communications, such as searchable chat histories, file versioning, and integrated calendars.

This level of organization helps ensure that critical information is not lost and that projects stay on track. Ultimately, by adopting and effectively utilizing business communication tools, organizations can create a more connected, efficient, and engaged workforce, leading to better overall performance and success.

Benefits of Internal Communications

Internal communications and employee engagement go hand in hand. Often, companies do not understand how important these two ideas are. A good company culture, where employees feel valued and appreciated, is frequently a key element in attracting top-notch talent. It is also an important factor in keeping team members happy and productive in their work.

Types of Internal Communication

Are you wondering about the types of employee communication tools available to modern employees? There are a number of ways that effective internal communication can take place.

→ Read more: 12+ Types of Internal Communication You Should Consider

Develop a Plan for Effective Internal Communication

To be effective, a company must develop a plan to encourage and improve internal communication between workers. There are a number of effective communication tools your company should put in place to make this policy a successful one.

20 Best Internal Communication Tools for your Company

We’ve compiled a list of what we think are the best internal communications tools for employees. When you are considering internal communication platforms for your company, these are the types of features that should be included to make the most of this technology.

1. Intranet

The intranet is one of the most important software for internal communications. It is used for knowledge sharing across large groups of employees. A team or department can use a company intranet to share relevant documents, articles, charts, etc.

One of the most important benefits of an intranet is that it connects all employees from multiple locations. Your intranet easily allows workers in satellite offices and those who work from home to stay up to date on company news and events.

2. Mobile Intranet App

Nowadays remote or work on the road practices are more common than ever. All employees must stay connected, including those working from a home office or in the field. A great way to ensure that your employees have constant access to corporate information is using an intranet mobile application, allowing employees to engage no matter where they are using a mobile phone, tablet, or desktop computer.

This option is especially important for your frontline workers. Your representatives will have access to information at all times, like contact details, locations, purchase history, etc. And at the same time, they will receive real-time updates, which helps them make informed decisions and provide better customer service.

3. Internal Newsletters

Internal newsletters can now be shared with employees in a digital format, highlighting the latest news and valuable content. Newsletters allow internal comms teams to incorporate a variety of assets and updates, making it one of the most commonly used tools for internal communications. An important thing to remember is that people don’t always have time to read long text blocks. Adding photos, graphs or videos in your company newsletter will make it more engaging and memorable. You can also use the newsletter to recognize employees' accomplishments or the success of team projects. Modern technology makes it easy to share newsletters, via email or company intranet boards on both desktop and mobile devices.

4. Employee Surveys

How do you find out what employees really think about policies or the new training methods at your company? It’s simple, just ask them what they think! But how do you ensure they feel comfortable to freely share their opinion? Try with small steps. Introduce regular anonymous employee internal surveys. Using online tools allows employees to express themselves openly, and you are taking advantage of a very effective feedback management tool. Once the results are in, they can be used to identify gaps, launch change management processes, or luckily confirm that your employees are satisfied with their status quo.

Internal Communications – Measurement to Mastery

Enhance your internal communication strategy and learn the impact of communication done right.

5. Collaboration Tools

Online collaboration tools are growing traction every day. They are enabling employees to connect and exchange while combining professional relations in a more social way. Collaboration tools provide for more effective teamwork and are a powerful tool to link teams from different departments or even time zones and enable them to work together. It is also very handy when small or big groups need to track task progress and depend on good synchronization to reach their common goal.

6. Social Employee Advocacy Tool

By adding a social employee advocacy tool, you are giving your workers the chance to become online ambassadors and brand advocates. It shows your employees that you trust them to convey corporate messages and that they will show a positive face to the public on social media. Keep in mind that participation as an employee advocate for the company is voluntary and that management has no control over what employees post about the company. But using an internal advocacy tool you will be able to provide directions and guidelines for your workers to follow.

7. Instant Messaging Tools

Instant messaging is a handy tool to have in place for your employees at all levels. It can be used to send quick messages between team members to ask questions, confirm meeting dates, and clarify any other points that may be unclear. Don’t overlook this effective internal communication solution, especially when you have team members who are working remotely. It may not always seem practical to pick up the phone for a quick question, but instant messages are a convenient way to quickly exchange information.

Instant messaging apps like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and WhatsApp Business provide real-time communication, making it easy for employees to collaborate quickly and efficiently. These platforms offer various features such as direct messaging, group chats, and channels dedicated to specific projects or teams, facilitating organized and focused discussions. In addition to text messaging, they support multimedia sharing, including images, videos, and documents, enabling comprehensive communication.

Many of these apps also integrate with other business tools, allowing users to perform tasks like scheduling meetings, sharing files, and tracking project progress directly within the chat interface. Customizable notifications and status updates help users manage their availability and stay informed about important updates without being overwhelmed. LumApps intranet seamlessly connects with all these applications, providing a centralized hub for streamlined communication and teamwork.

8. Community Channels

The community channel can also be set up around a practice hub so that team members can collaborate easily. Junior members of the company can benefit from the experience of more senior members with problem-solving, and senior staff appreciates collaborating with younger employees.

Features like activity feeds, polls, and events help keep employees informed and engaged with company initiatives and updates. Knowledge bases and forums enable employees to share expertise and best practices, creating a culture of continuous learning and improvement. Integration with other business applications, such as project management tools and document collaboration platforms, ensures that information flows seamlessly across the organization.

Tools like Trello, Asana, and Monday.com combine task management with communication features, allowing teams to coordinate projects and track progress seamlessly. These platforms provide visual project tracking through boards, lists, and cards, making it easy to see the status of tasks at a glance. Collaboration features such as comments, file attachments, and mentions enable team members to communicate directly within the context of their tasks.

Automation capabilities help streamline repetitive processes, saving time and reducing the risk of errors. Integration with other business tools, such as email, cloud storage, and instant messaging apps, ensures that all project-related information is accessible from one place. Reporting and analytics features provide insights into project performance, helping teams to identify areas for improvement.

9. News Center

Employees should not have to find out what is happening in their company by reading long email threads or various group conversations. Streamline company information within a centralized News Center to keep employees always up-to-date. Include company updates, press releases, and any other news affecting your industry. Add updates on assets, blog posts, social media activity, and all new projects your company is working on.

10. Leadership Center or Blog

The company CEO should not be someone who is perched high above employees in a glass tower. Instead, let employees get to know the CEO as someone human by setting up an internal executive blog. This is a company top-down internal communication tool that allows the CEO to share company news with employees and receive feedback directly from them. If appropriate, share the CEO’s thoughts outside the company by including the posts in an RSS feed as well.

11. Employee Recognition Center

An employee recognition center is an integral part of an overall internal communications strategy. It’s a place where you can virtually highlight your employee recognition and reward programs. This space can also be used for “Get to Know Your Coworker” articles where individuals in the organization are profiled regularly or even a “How Well Do You Know Your Coworkers” games. It can also be used to draw attention to the work that groups within the company are engaged in. Lastly, this can serve as a space to announce promotions, farewells or retirements in the company.

12. Job Board

Once, open positions within a company were posted on a physical bulletin board. Interested candidates would browse the listings and apply for a position that attracts them through the company’s Human Resources department.

Modern internal communication software allows current employees to browse virtually through global job listings quickly and easily. They can also share job openings with qualified people in their network and over social media so that available positions get filled more quickly.

13. Onboarding Center

No matter how confident a new employee feels about their abilities, starting a new job can be stressful. An onboarding center has a distinct series of steps for new hires to follow. This is a great example of an essential internal communication tool for employees that helps new workers get well-informed and engaged with the company’s process from the very first day. It creates a logical series of steps for them to follow so they can quickly start contributing to their team.

14. Video Center

Video content is a powerful communication tool for any business. Create a virtual library in your collaboration space or company intranet to ensure long-lasting effective knowledge sharing. Stream product demonstrations, general meetings, training, or other internal initiatives and keep a recording that can be accessed freely by all employees.

This medium can also be used to help build a stronger corporate culture. C-level management and other company executives can shoot short video announcements to introduce policies and objectives to the rest of the company. You can create a dedicated place in your intranet platform to share those streams and allow for direct interaction between management and employees, allowing for more transparent collaboration and communication.

Recording capabilities allow participants to revisit meetings and presentations at their convenience, ensuring that no crucial information is missed. Additionally, many video conferencing tools offer integration with calendar apps and email clients, streamlining the process of scheduling and joining meetings.

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15. Employees Experience Tool

The best communication tools are the ones that can be customized to suit the needs of the company and its employees. For example, you may want your employees to sign into their company computer to see their daily schedule, work e-mail, and the last several documents or apps they worked on prominently displayed. The employee should be able to see their business apps on display. There should also be a global search function that looks across e-mail, blog posts, articles, and other media for search terms.

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16. Multilingual Tool

If you are operating in a global enterprise, it stands to reason that your employees speak different languages and you may not have an official global language. A multilingual tool allows you to adapt and translate all your content in various languages so that your employees feel more included in day-to-day corporate activities.

Enhance team collaboration by providing employee communication tools that allow localized experience and enables employees to read and interact with documents in the language they feel most comfortable using. They will appreciate the effort, and on top of all the cultural benefits, this will lead to higher retention rates in all your branch offices.

17. Branded Tool

How important is it to you that your internal communication software is personalized to suit your company’s brand? Don’t overlook the importance of having a customized look to the platform your employees log in daily. Designing a unique and personalized platform improves employees engaged and stimulates their interactions within the platform.

18. Content Approval Workflow

One of the great things about the internet is that it gives a voice to everyone in the organization. Though, if your employees are going to share information on behalf of the company, it’s natural that you want to install a verification or content approval process before the communication is shared with the rest of the company. You can define different contributor groups and grant the access they need. A good practice is to assign a global content administrator that has access to all publications and can ensure the validity of the shared information.

19. Follow and Notifications

If you are working for a large company and want to keep up to date with a particular colleague or a different department, you can select to follow their profiles or work communities or even set push notifications for their activity. By doing this you are creating your own personalized platform that will deliver only the most relevant information. Create your own internal network and be in control of the information flow.

Following colleagues helps improve peer-to-peer recognition as it allows you to keep track of your coworkers’ accomplishments. Don’t forget to interact and post messages of encouragement to those you are following, it means a lot when their hard work is appreciated from both peers and management.

20. Analytics

Often return on investment for internal communication is hard to track. You need to be able to measure results to determine which of your internal strategies are giving you the best results. Cloud-based communication platforms often provide integrated analytics that provides you regular upgrades on the performance and adoption of your software. Use your data to drive growth and improve employee interaction with the internal communication tool you installed for them.

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21. CRM Systems

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems like Salesforce and HubSpot include communication features that help manage customer interactions and streamline sales processes. These platforms provide a centralized database for storing customer information, making it easy to track interactions and maintain detailed records. Communication tools, such as email templates and automated workflows, enhance the efficiency of customer outreach and follow-up activities.

Analytics and reporting features provide insights into customer behavior and sales performance, helping businesses to identify trends and opportunities for growth. Integration with other business applications, such as marketing automation tools and social media platforms, ensures a cohesive approach to managing customer relationships and driving sales.

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22. Document Collaboration Platforms

Google Workspace and Microsoft Office 365 enable real-time document collaboration, making it easy for multiple users to work on the same document simultaneously. These platforms offer powerful editing tools for creating and formatting documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Version control features ensure that users can track changes and revert to previous versions if necessary, maintaining the integrity of the documents.

Built-in commenting and suggestion tools facilitate feedback and collaborative editing, making the review process more efficient. Integration with cloud storage ensures that documents are accessible from any device, and robust security measures protect sensitive information from unauthorized access.

The LumApps intranet integrates all these applications, creating a unified platform for enhanced collaboration and productivity.

Modern Communication Tools: Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages

• Improved Collaboration: Modern communication tools facilitate real-time collaboration, allowing teams to work together more effectively.
• Increased Productivity: By streamlining communication processes, these tools help reduce time spent on managing emails and coordinating tasks.
• Enhanced Flexibility: Remote and hybrid work models benefit from these tools, enabling seamless communication regardless of location.
• Better Organization: Tools like project management software and CRM systems help keep tasks and customer interactions organized.

Disadvantages

• Overload: The plethora of communication tools can lead to information overload, making it difficult for employees to manage notifications.
• Security Risks: Ensuring data security and privacy is crucial, as many of these tools involve sharing sensitive information.
• Learning Curve: Implementing new tools can require training and adjustment periods, potentially impacting productivity initially.

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Most Popular Business Communication Tools

• Slack: Slack is renowned for its user-friendly interface and powerful integrations with other tools. It supports real-time messaging, file sharing, and video calls, making it one of the most popular business communication tools.

• Microsoft Teams: Microsoft Teams integrates seamlessly with Office 365, offering chat, video conferencing, and collaborative document editing, making it a comprehensive workplace communication tool.

• Zoom: Zoom has become synonymous with video conferencing, offering high-quality video and audio, screen sharing, and webinar capabilities, making it indispensable for virtual meetings.

• Trello: Trello's intuitive board and card system makes it an excellent project management tool, facilitating task assignments and progress tracking with ease.

• Google Workspace: Google Workspace provides a suite of tools including Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Drive, enabling real-time collaboration and efficient communication

All these applications can be implemented within the LumApps intranet.

Conclusion

Selecting the best communication tools for your business is critical for enhancing internal communication, collaboration, and productivity. By understanding the various types of business communication tools and their advantages and disadvantages, you can make informed decisions that align with your organization's needs and goals.

Whether it's email clients, instant messaging apps, video conferencing tools, or project management software, leveraging the right technology communication tools will help create a more connected and efficient workplace. Stay ahead by continuously exploring the latest business communication tools and incorporating them into your corporate communication strategy for optimal results.

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