How does unified communications help with building trust in teams?

Building trust in teams is one of the biggest challenges of a remote workforce. Without eye contact, real-time facial expressions and tone of voice to read, establishing a trusting connection can be more of a challenge. Thankfully, unified communications provide an array of communication channels that are just as useful for employees as they are for customers.

What is UCaaS?

In today's digital marketplace, cloud-based software as a service is streamlining the way small- and medium-sized business operators do business. Back in the old days, you had to pay upfront for a clunky PBX system and shell out more money for additional communication channels. The costs associated with developing a contact center for customer service were enough to prevent many people from starting a business.

Unified communications as a service, or UCaaS, is a world-changing solution that liberates call centers from old-fashioned, expensive systems. You can communicate with employees and customers from a central hub using voice, video conferencing, SMS, live chat and thin browser clients.

Not only do streamlined communication systems boost productivity, but they also enable collaboration and help with building trust in teams.

Benefits of UCaaS for building trust in remote teams

Effective tools for communication are crucial when it comes to teamwork and productivity. Everyone has different preferences with regards to which channels they prefer, so providing a variety of options under one hub could help you capture the thoughts, opinions and issues from each employee.

The more heard employees feel, the more valued they feel, and when your workforce feels appreciated and empowered, they work harder for your business. Read on to learn more benefits of UCaaS for building trust among your team.

Communicate core values across platforms

Core values are essential for any business because they set the tone for how you do business. The way you communicate to your team is often clearly reflected in the way agents handle customers. By setting your core values in stone across various communication channels, you're priming your workforce to deliver the best service to customers.

Set clear goals

Employees perform best when they have clear goals, which is why KPIs and other performance metrics are so useful. However, in order to perform at their best, your staff needs to fully understand the targets they're working toward. Using UCaaS provides an array of communication channels that managers can use to set and manage KPIs.

Have fun with team building and collaboration

Just because the team isn't in the office doesn't mean team building is a thing of the past. In fact, it's more important than ever to have fun and encourage engagement to foster community spirit. Without a break room to congregate in or the opportunity to head out for a lunch break together, you need to take a more intentional approach to team building.

UCaaS lets you plan virtual social gatherings, send e-cards for achievements and milestones, combine calendars and create joint tasks. Chat provides a space for team members to bounce ideas off each other or have a quick conversation. Plus, you can start every meeting with a friendly icebreaker to help bond the team and help them get to know each other.

Find out more about remote team communication

You can integrate 8x8's contact center solution with Microsoft teams for the ultimate balance between customer experience and workplace productivity.