I have a friend who currently can’t find enough hours in the day to address the volume of interest he has from people asking him to help make cell phones work more reliably in their place of business. High rise, urban buildings, and dense manufacturing plants/warehouses are some examples of those hungry to address the challenge. It was initially paradoxical to me as he expressed that these organizations contacting him already operate with their own business class phone systems and Internet-linked computers. Why does it matter that access to cellular networks from those environments is limited? It turns out that for many in the workforce today the cell phone is the defacto instrument where communication is conducted; not just for personal but for business as well. So much so that companies are willing to pay money to address the need for reliable cell coverage even when sitting next to a desk phone.

In a very similar way, businesses are responding to trends related to social media. It wasn’t too long ago that social media would be considered a personal indulgence or something that just the marketing team would need to interface with. In practice, social media is becoming a critical place where clients and vendors want to communicate, where research is conducted, connections are made and information is shared. If your business hasn’t explicitly set the terms of what is appropriate and what isn’t or what is safe versus unsafe then you are leaving it up to the individuals in your employ to dictate this themselves. Want some ideas on how to change that? Take a look at a recent addition to our HR library “Social Media & Business: 5 Reasons why every company needs a policy.”

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