“If you can’t beat them, join them” is what the famous chess player Kasparov declared after losing to a computer for the first time in his supreme discipline back in 1997. Instead of fearing the future, he experimented with combinations of human chess players and computers – and experienced great success! The duo won against the machine every time.
Any fan of the dystopian Netflix series Black Mirror will know how exciting the symbiotic relationship between man and machine can be. One big open question is how artificial intelligence and machine learning will affect the world of work.
Hackney Peace Mural | Shane Worthing
Everything humans use must ‘move with the times’. Not for the sake of fashion, but to stay relevant to changing habits and needs. At NFON, we see this time and again with public sector communications systems and processes evolving to address how people want to work. Such evolution happens constantly, and it’s all around us.
The digital universe is doubling every two years. Between 2010 and 2020, the volume of communication data is expected to have grown by a factor of 50. Put simply, we are exchanging information and communicating with each other more than ever.
Strong communication skills and your own communication style are a key requirement for almost every rewarding job nowadays. This soft skill is a must for very good reasons. Whether in virtual meetings, calls or on social media – your communication with employees, colleagues, friends and family is omnipresent, around the clock, no matter where you are.
We live in a connected world. But this new-found freedom to communicate anytime, anywhere, comes at a price called digital overload. The countless possibilities consume your time and energy, both at work and in your private life. If you’re an average smartphone user, you’ll touch or look at your smartphone 2,617 times per day – the heaviest users even a whopping 5,427 times!
Our way of communicating with each other in person is perhaps the most human thing about us. We are surrounded by language every day and the fascination for it is reflected in disciplines like linguistics and in psychological theories.
Hardly any other form of business communication is as effective as a phone call – it’s direct, personal and immediate. Yet many of us are still unsure how to maximise our business calls. In fact according to a comprehensive study, only 21 percent of business communication is kept simple and jargon free.
We believe the key to a great business call is to be prepared, purposeful and polite. Our 12 golden rules will show you how to do just that and make business calls with confidence. By the way, if you are not completely convinced of the power of a phone call, you should definitely read this blog post.
In the digital age, the phone call often seems like a lacklustre means of communication. Unfortunately, we forget that in many situations voice communication is far more effective than other means. In fact studies have shown that after face-to-face meetings, phone calls are still the most effective way of communicating!
