With the rise of remote and hybrid work models, communication tools are now more important than ever, since face-to-face communication is not always possible anymore.
Apart from traditional communication tools, such as phone calls and emails, more and more teams opt for business messaging apps like Pumble as their go-to communication channel.
Why is that so?
They’re convenient, easy to set up, and provide both real-time and asynchronous communication. But, that’s not all — they can also positively affect productivity.
In this article, we’ll explore why instant messaging is so beneficial and how it improves your team’s productivity.
Instant messaging guarantees faster and more frequent communication
Communication on instant messaging apps is fast, easy, and consequently, more frequent.
You can ask a question and get an answer in a matter of minutes.
Furthermore, instant messaging forces you to be brief and straight to the point — so no one has to waste time listening to rambles or reading huge chunks of text just to get to the point.
How does faster and more frequent communication improve productivity?
Frequent communication boosts productivity in various ways, such as:
- It encourages brainstorming.
- It facilitates regular feedback.
- It creates a healthy company culture.
- It makes roles and expectations clearer.
- It makes misunderstandings less likely to happen.
- It increases accountability.
- It helps resolve confusion and doubts more quickly.
- It makes collaboration and cooperation much easier.
If all of this wasn’t enough to convince you, studies show that frequent communication also increases employee engagement.
Instant messaging facilitates document search
As we’ve discussed in the heading above, instant messaging allows a faster, more free flow of information.
Does that make it harder to navigate all the messages you get and find the exact piece of information you’re looking for?
At first glance, it may seem like it — but, it’s actually quite the opposite.
Instant messaging apps have many options that allow you to access information with a snap of a finger.
On most apps, there is a search option you can use to look up people, messages, and documents.
When you apply filters — such as choosing specific channels or time frames for your search — it’s easy to find exactly what you’re looking for.
Additionally, some business messaging apps let you save important messages, so you’ll have no trouble accessing them later.
Search options on Pumble, a business messaging app
How do easy-to-use document search options improve productivity?
With all those features up your sleeve, finding the document you need realistically takes a minute or two — letting you get back to work immediately, without breaking your focus.
The same goes for the saving messages feature.
You can access saved messages in a matter of seconds, so you won’t waste either your or your coworker’s time — if someone else is waiting for a response from you.
Instant messaging organizes your communication
Have you ever struggled to find all the conversations about a specific topic across all the communication tools you use?
Instant messaging tools often solve that problem.
Namely, they typically organize communication in channels — a single place for a team of users to communicate with each other about a specific topic and share topic-related files.
How does organizing your communication improve productivity?
Channels are helpful for a couple of reasons:
- You have everything in one place — all messages, files, and people relevant to the topic.
- You spread information effectively to relevant people — fast by their nature, instant messages posted on channels are great for one more reason — all people who should see them will see them at the same time. That means that you don’t have to inform everyone separately — thus saving a lot of time.
- Everything is transparent — you don’t have to message people privately to find a piece of information you need.
- There is less clutter — you don’t have to read about things you don’t care about or projects you’re not working on.
Taking everything we’ve mentioned into account, it takes no genius to see how much time communication app channels can save.
Instant messaging helps team bonding and building trust
Team members are more likely to bond via instant messages than via email, as they’re more personal and informal.
Instant messaging apps make it easy to casually chat with your coworkers and get to know them.
Additionally, such apps allow you to share photos, GIFs, and memes — all great tools for people to share a laugh and grow closer.
How do team bonding and increased trust improve productivity?
Now, you might ask: how does team bonding improve productivity?
Simply, it builds trust.
And, according to research published in Harvard Business Review, people at high-trust companies report:
- 74% less stress,
- 106% more energy at work,
- 50% higher productivity,
- 13% fewer sick days,
- 76% more engagement, and
- 40% less burnout.
This is also supported by a McKinsey report that reveals that well-connected teams see a productivity increase of 20–25%.
Team members who trust each other collaborate better, as they feel more comfortable sharing their ideas and being innovative.
Instant messaging is a perfect on-the-go solution
When you’re working remotely, it’s paramount that you have a communication tool that functions well in different environments.
Since you can access them on multiple devices, instant messaging apps are perfect when you’re on the go.
They include all the features you might need, so you can work wherever you are.
Also, as we’ve already discussed, instant messages are short and straightforward — meaning that you can just quickly scan them and get important information.
How does having the perfect on-the-go solution improve productivity?
You can do everything from your phone — plus, you’re free from the hassle of having to format messages as you must do with emails.
Moreover, team messaging apps can often replace several traditional communication tools.
For example, if you need to hop on a quick audio or video call, you have that option on most apps.
Also, if you want to share an attachment, you can just send the file to a chat.
Even if you want to send an emoji reaction as you would on social media — messaging apps got you covered.
Since they have such a diverse set of features, instant messaging apps are practical both inside and outside the office.
Instant messaging is less disruptive
At first, it may seem as if the opposite is more logical.
While messages don’t demand immediate action like phone calls, no one can stay focused with the constant Ping! Ping! Ping! in the background.
Instant messages certainly can be disruptive if you’re not using them correctly.
But, if you are mindful of how you manage instant messages, they can become productivity’s biggest ally.
Firstly, you can set your availability (e.g. Online, Offline, Do Not Disturb, etc.) and/or status (Busy, In a meeting, Lunch break, etc.).
This way, your coworkers will know when they can contact you or when to expect your answer.
Then, you can manage your notifications.
You can customize them completely to your liking. For instance, you can:
- Pause notifications for a chosen period of time (e.g. 5 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, etc).
- Choose whether you’ll receive all notifications, only mentions, or nothing.
- Pick hours when you’ll receive notifications.
- Choose whether the notifications will be sent to your mobile device in case of inactivity.
- Set a default time for reminder notifications.
Notification settings on Pumble, a business messaging app
How do fewer disruptions improve productivity?
As you can see, you can receive notifications only when you want to — and for the rest of the day, you can immerse yourself in deep work.
This especially comes in handy on the days when you’re swamped with work — pausing notifications will help you create a distract-free environment.
Conclusion: Instant messaging is convenient, fast, and straightforward
Instant messaging’s biggest advantage is that it wastes the least amount of time out of all communication solutions.
Messages are easily scannable, communication is organized, and you can find whatever you need in a matter of minutes.
But, these are not the only tricks business messaging apps have up their sleeve:
- They encourage brainstorming, regular feedback, and collaboration.
- They prevent a lot of misunderstandings.
- They help with building trust.
- They are a great on-the-go communication option.
- If you use them right, they won’t interrupt your focus.
Considering all of this, instant messaging is definitely worth a try.
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