The Role of Technology in Removing Digital Communication Barriers
Technology plays a critical role in our current society. It mediates how we communicate, work and play. Nowadays, companies and nonprofit making organizations have gone global. Such institutions harness the power of technology to help their employees worldwide to communicate among themselves and with clients. This trend could be attributed to the globalization of businesses hence the growing demand for multilingual individuals.
Communication Is Essential
Working together requires effective communication. For example, coworkers need to communicate with each other to solve issues and come up with strategies. Communication is also key when leaders want to pass instructions and inspire their employees. Business executives also need effective communication skills to be able to negotiate and coordinate with business partners worldwide.
There are many barriers to effective communication. Some of the challenges are simple technological issues, while others are more substantial that require a strategy to resolve.
The World Has Become More Interconnected
The world is currently more interconnected than ever before, thanks to technological innovations. As a result, more companies have expanded their operations by opening branches in various locations worldwide. This new trend has created a need for more coordination and communication.
Barriers to Communication
Going global has also brought a myriad of challenges companies have to resolve. One of the biggest challenges is language barriers. Employees living in different countries probably speak different languages. Linguistic misunderstanding usually has costly consequences for companies.
Studies on this matter have revealed that business executives acknowledge that uncertainties with language and “messages lost in translation” had hindered international deals hence negatively impacted their businesses. These are the trends that could explain why the global demand for languages keeps growing. Studies on how COVID-19 changed language learning have revealed that more people globally are learning a new language. This trend could be attributed to the globalization of businesses hence the growing demand for multilingual individuals.
Other hurdles that have also emerged as major challenges include cultural barriers, outdated technology tools that hinder effective communication and issues of accessibility.
The Role of Technology
As the world keeps shrinking into a global village, more companies are working towards achieving frictionless and effective communication. For instance, the language barrier has been an issue for a while; but what has made it more critical now?
The language barrier has become a critical topic because the business world is changing. The current business world is characterized by continuous technological innovations, social media tools and availability of information. In this regard, the communication tools of old cannot be effective in this new world.
Technological innovation has provided machine learning tools trained by increasing amounts of data. These tools make automatic language translation a reality. In addition, companies can take advantage of voice call software that offers real-time translation of languages.
Such technologies can help companies break international barriers. For example, having such technologies would allow a company to reach markets it couldn’t reach before because of language barrier.
Digital Communication Encourages More Communication
Digital technology has helped organizations create a workplace culture that encourages employees to cooperate, making information transfer more seamless. For example, many people consider email communication to be unidirectional communication. When you send someone an email, you simply send it and wait for that person to reply.
However, other more collaborative software makes communication more immersive, hence encouraging coworkers to collaborate in real-time. In addition, social media platforms have become trendier because they encourage people to collaborate more socially. Similarly, employees in workplaces love creating communities.
Digital Technology Is Helping Persons Living With Disabilities
Reports from studies into this matter have suggested that digital technology plays a bigger role than just helping deal with language barriers in business. The research findings claim that digital technology has played an essential role in the inclusion of persons living with disabilities.
Technology has made it possible for persons living with disabilities to work remotely. Because of technology, it does not matter whether the employee doing a particular task has a disability or not. As a result, persons living with disabilities don’t have to travel to the office to work; they can do it from home.
Initially, blind and deaf employees could not take part fully in the workplace. Technologies like Artificial Intelligence have made it possible for such employees to interact with devices allowing them to see a new lens on the world. For example, deaf employees can use auto-transcribers to show them in real-time what is being said in a meeting.
Technology Has Transformed the Workplace
Technology has helped transform the workplace from a place to a series of activities and interactions that can be carried out from anywhere. This new trend has opened up opportunities for many people globally. Thanks to technology, you can perform your duties whether you are a mum holding your baby or a person living with a disability.
Final Thought
New technological advances will continue to transform how companies share information. These innovations will help organizations extend their operations beyond geographical boundaries. More business executives are also appreciating the benefits of learning a language for business as it helps them reach out to new markets. There are still many communication barriers, but more technological innovations will allow companies to break them in due time.