In years gone by, email was the primary method of communication. Today, however, most teams use a whole variety of tools to communicate and collaborate, such as Microsoft Teams, Slack, Zoom, Notion, and ClickUp. Even Google Docs can turn into a communication tool, when we add comments and ask questions. But research shows that this approach is inadvertently hurting productivity and communication.
The sheer volume of collaboration tools that people are using has left 49% of employees concerned that the information they post on communication channels will be lost in a sea of updates. And 56% of people end up asking more than one person for help when they need information from one of these tools.
Does this mean collaboration and communication software is inherently bad? Not quite. Software is still necessary for your team members to work together effectively. But businesses also need to rethink how they're using software, because clearly, using it poorly can have some unintended consequences.
What are the downsides of having multiple communication channels?
Let's explore the downsides in a bit more detail.
1. Too many tools equals too much noise
We all know about Teams and Slack, but lots of SaaS tools, like project management software, knowledge bases, or document editors, allow for communication. You can drop comments, assign tasks, create threads, message people one-on-one, share updates, and more. Then you add on top the 125 Slack messages received every day, on average, and the noise quickly becomes overwhelming.
Teams lose transparency and suffer communication overload, leading to some 49% of employees feeling worried that the updates they post in their company's apps aren't reaching their intended audience.
2. Productivity drops and irritation rises
This noisy virtual environment hinders productivity because people are constantly context-switching. Context-switching is when you switch from one unrelated task to another (often in response to a notification). 45% of knowledge workers say context-switching makes them less productive and typically sees them spending more than half an hour a day simply navigating back and forth between apps.
This not only affects their own productivity, but since they report interrupting at least two people up to five times a day to find what they need, they're disturbing fellow team members, too. These tools are meant to make information sharing quicker and more seamless — but when they don't operate well, they do exactly the opposite.
3. Visibility takes a hit, and communication blind spots emerge
If your employees are working and collaborating across different platforms, they might miss important updates, or they might be unaware of information that lies in a particular channel. Our research with Cornell University revealed that, because of the sheer number of apps organizations use, 54% of workers find it difficult to access the information they're after.
For example, if your marketing team is sharing regular updates on Slack and updating their projects on Asana, while your product team is collaborating on JIRA, members of one team may miss something that's relevant to the other.
This becomes an even bigger problem when you have dependencies between different teams or departments. If one team misses important updates because they're shared across separate, siloed messaging threads, or because they're simply drowned out in a sea of messages, team leads might miss important context and struggle to pass vital information along.
The result? Your cross-functional collaboration breaks down.
Poor decisions get made
This is about more than just productivity. The lack of clarity means that teams make decisions without the full context, which could have dire consequences.
For example:
- What if the marketing team is preparing a product-led campaign, and the product just received some updates that they're unaware of?
- There might be new financial regulations that the compliance team is concerned about, but another team doesn't find out until it's too late, putting the company at risk.
- Or perhaps a car manufacturer has changed the design for one of its parts, but the factories aren't informed, leading to production delays and costly rework.
Ultimately, chaotic communication leads to poor decision-making that will eventually affect the success of your business.
How to fix internal communication?
1. Streamline communication with AI-powered search
Try to reduce the number of tools you are using and get more teams onto a single system. If some specialist tools are still needed, try to integrate them as much as possible to reduce context-switching and notification overload. With AI-powered internal knowledge search capabilities, you can now find information across your tools without having to switch between them.
2. Connect data from multiple tools
Ideally, your system for sharing information will be seamlessly connected to other aspects of your work and company. Using AI, when you share information with someone, they can now quickly find related context and documents across all connected systems without manual searching.
3. Make communication visible and discoverable
Some conversations need to be private, and there will always be emails, phone calls, and the good old-fashioned in-person chat for that. But unless they have to be confidential, prioritize making sure your conversations are as visible to others as possible. AI-powered search ensures that even historical conversations and decisions are easily discoverable by team members who need that context.
How does AI enterprise search improve internal communication?
Qatalog's architecture is designed to eliminate the challenges of disconnected communication and provide a streamlined experience that enhances collaboration. With Qatalog, you get a powerful, unified system that makes finding, sharing, and acting on information easier.
By leveraging advanced AI search, Qatalog helps you overcome the overwhelming complexity of multiple tools and platforms, improving productivity and decision-making. Here's how:
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Instant access to relevant information: Qatalog’s AI understands the context of your queries, so you don’t need to sift through endless messages or documents. It surfaces the most relevant information, making it faster and easier to find what you need—whether it’s in conversations, tasks, or files.
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Streamlined cross-tool collaboration: No more hopping between apps to gather the data you need. Qatalog’s unique architecture connects all your tools, providing seamless access to information across the board. This means you can collaborate effectively without missing important context, no matter which platform you're using.
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Smarter insights: Qatalog doesn’t just show you what you asked for; it proactively suggests relevant content and conversations you might have missed, allowing you to stay ahead of the curve and make informed decisions without additional effort.
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Effortless integration: Qatalog’s unified search experience allows you to access all your integrated tools and platforms through a single interface. This eliminates the need for constant context-switching, giving your team more time to focus on what matters most.
With Qatalog, your internal communication becomes more organized, transparent, and efficient, empowering your team to work smarter, not harder.