Case on Communication Management

A Case on Communication Management

Susanne Robra-Bissantz

IDEA GROUP PUBLISHING

A Case on Communications Management

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IDEA GROUP PUBLISHING 1331 E. Chocolate Avenue, Hershey PA 17033-1117, USA Tel: 717/533-8845; Fax 717/533-8661; URL-http://www.idea-group.com

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A Case on Communication Management Susanne Robra-Bissantz University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY When Bissantz & Company GmbH, a small software-producing company, experienced a rapid growth in 1997, the need for a strategic concept for communication activities with external partners arose. By that time a research project at the university of Erlangen-Nuremberg, that dealt with structures and strategies of external business communication, had reached a point, where strategic concepts for corporate communication had been developed. Bissantz & Company GmbH and the project team of the university decided to co-operate in a case in order to transfer the theoretical results to a practical situation. The whole concept of corporate communication, that includes, e.g., the definition of communication goals and strategies for all communication forms, proposals for the contents of messages and media selection, was applied to the company. As a result Bissantz & Company GmbH gained valuable insights into its communication processes. The strategic orientation of communication with all stakeholders is still visible and now the basis of e.g., the structure and contents of the company‘s Web site. A proposal for the use of innovative media for customer care and customer consultation was accepted and initiated the implementation of a database-supported system for all communication activities, especially those with customers.

BACKGROUND The Company Bissantz & Company GmbH is a software house, founded in 1996 as a technology spin-off from university research projects. The company is specialising in solutions for demanding business data analysis. It develops tools and analysis technology, which are sold under their own labels and as OEM components. Hand in hand with academic institutions, Bissantz & Company GmbH undertakes basic research. The results are integrated in the standard software for data mining, business intelligence and data warehousing. Dr. Nicolas Bissantz and Dipl.-Inf. Michael Westphal, the CEOs and owners of the company, Copyright © Idea Group Publishing. Copying without written permission of Idea Group Publishing is prohibited.

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Figure 1: Departments of Bissantz & Company GmbH Managing Managing directors directors Dr. Dr. N. N. Bissantz, Bissantz, M. M. Westphal Westphal

Business Business Development Development

Software Software Development Development and and Customer Customer Support Support

Sales Sales

Secretary Secretary

Technical Technical Support Support

started as members of the FORWISS’ Information Science Research Group, which is led by Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. mult. Peter Mertens. Back then they developed the basis for data analysis automation and proved the suitability of data mining processes for enterprise control. Bissantz & Company GmbH started with three employees and two managing directors. In 1997 it experienced a rapid growth. New employees had to be hired so that today there are 15 employees and still two managing directors. The main positions in the organisation are depicted in Figure 1.

Communication Management During the last decade the technical possibilities of communication have steadily grown. Yet there is uncertainty about the reasons for successes and failures of new means of communication on the side of suppliers as well as about the requirements for successful media application on the customers’ side. Both groups are aware that there is a demand for active market research and strategic planning in the field of business communication as competition increases. Communication has the power to become a strategic weapon if companies are able to describe their communication needs and to organise all forms of communication consistently and actively in order to achieve their goals. A research project at the chair of business computing of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Prof. Dr. F. Bodendorf) deals with structures, developments and strategies of external business communication. The core of the project is an empirically confirmed explanatory model of media application. Among other applications this model leads to a concept of corporate communication, that takes relevant aspects into account which are important for decisions concerning the process of organising communication contents and media. External Business Communication The term ”external business communication” is used to describe communication processes of an organisation with three main characteristics: • It is business communication, which means that the cause of communication is always a business activity and that communication has to serve business goals. • It is external e.g., with customers, suppliers or other partners of the company. To distinguish between internal and external communication we use the physical limits of the company’s location. • As a third characteristic we only analyse one-to-one communication, which means that our understanding of external business communication does not include mass communication like marketing communication. An Explanatory Model of Media Application The explanatory model of media application for a message in external business communication

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is based on a theoretical background derived from different fields of research. • Communication theories (Austin, 1989; Searle, 1993; Watzlawick, 1996; Schulz von Thun, 1981) provide an insight into the structure of a message. This structure can be described by the factual content, the intention of the message and the relationship between the sender and the recipient. • Marketing theories (Howard, 1969; Böcker, 1992) can explain media usage as a two-stage process of demand for communication services: At first users build a kind of evoked set of media that are generally suitable for the communication need and secondly they choose their medium according to their preferences. • Decision theories (Heinen, 1982; Diller, 1991) describe the decision for a communication medium by its goals, alternatives and the situation in which it takes place. • Theories of critical mass systems (Weiber, 1992; Rogers, 1995) analyse the barriers for the usage of new telecommunication systems. These theories lead to an explanatory model that describes the process of media selection as depicted in Figure 2. The cause of communication determines the communication need that finally leads to media usage. According to the two-stage process of demand there are two influencing areas to distinguish: the suitability of a set of media is determined by the communication need that results from the message (area: object of communication). This selection is independent of the sender. The company’s or the employee’s situation leads to the final media selection (area: subject of communication). Object of Communication. The cause of communication in companies lies in a business process that requires the delivery of information. We differentiate between structured and unstructured communication depending on the degrees of freedom when information is encoded to become a message. If the cause of communication emerges regularly and traditionally and therefore leads directly to a message in a fixed form with fixed contents, such as orders, invoices, or contracts, we talk about structured communication. If the employee himself has to judge the content and intention of the message as well as his relationship to the recipient, the same cause of communication can lead to different messages. This communication is termed unstructured. The following part focuses structured communication. Communication needs in structured communication can be described by the requirements that result from the content, the intention and the relationship between sender and recipient. Empirically found were four clusters of structured communication that take place during the transaction process: • Contact communication (advertising and information) occurs at the beginning of the transaction process. It has to be prestigious (reflect the company’s personality), of great variety and quality. It tries to persuade the recipient and therefore must be able to transport emotions. The partners of communication are often unknown. Suitable for contact communication are letters and Figure 2: Explanatory Model of Media Selection OBJECT

cause cause of of communication communication

media media

SUBJECT

communication communication need need

communication communication situation situation

relevant relevant media media

suitability suitability

decision decision

media media application application

selected selected medium medium

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multimedia communication e.g., via the Internet. Dialogue communication (customer advice, customer care) is needed at the beginning of the negotiation phase. It requires fast and dialogue oriented media that make personal discussions possible, like telephone and email. • For negotiation communication (offer, order, confirmation of order), the speed is still important but it also has to offer confidentiality and the retention of legitimacy. Personal nearness is not as important as in earlier phases, but negotiation communication still needs media that lead to an agreement. A suitable medium today is EDI, especially in close and steady relations. • The main demands of transaction communication (invoice, reminder) are the confidentiality and the retention of legitimacy. Communication has to be prestigious and factual. For most companies the letter is the medium of choice. The suitability of media for communication results from a comparison of media features and communication needs. In addition to the requirements, as mentioned above, the suitability of media in the business process can be analysed. Subject of Communication. The subject of structured communication is the associated field in which it takes place, namely the company with its internal situation, e.g., business goals and strategies, its external situation, e.g., the suppliers, competitors and customers, and the macro situation with the legal situation, emerging technologies, social and political influences, etc. Empirically we found out that for example the following characteristics of the company influence the final media decision: • Companies where innovation is important tend to use innovative media as well. • Companies that have a big share of business customers prefer media that offer personal communication, confidentiality and security. • Regular relations to business partners lead to an acceptance of less secure media. • Companies that have to perform in a market with increasing competition select media that are fast. • Preferences of the communication partners are an important influencing factor in media selection. •

Overview of a Concept of Communication Management Organisations are becoming increasingly aware of the fact that communication is gaining the status of a valuable, if not indispensable management tool (van Riel, 1995). The market-oriented approach introduced below aims at a credible and consistent picture of the company. From this point of view, the growth of different forms of communication has resulted in a tendency for the sum of communication activities to be certainly no greater than its constituent parts. An active planning and implementing of corporate communication programmes can have strategic influence on companies‘ successes. Aside from external business communication, it is possible to distinguish three basic forms of communication in organisations. • Marketing communication covers all communication activities that are meant to increase the profits of the company. It tries to persuade customers in all stages of the buying process. Communication instruments in marketing communication are for example advertising and sales promotions. • Public relations communication has to take all stakeholders of an organisation (different social groups associated to the company) into account. It is not meant to persuade them but to avoid conflicts and promote cooperation with them. • Internal communication consists for example of management communication with the employees, company newspapers or circulars. It becomes very important if you take into account that employees often transmit the image of the organisation to the public. A concept for corporate communication has to integrate and harmonise these communication forms by formulating common goals and communication strategies. For the different communication forms and subsequently the different communication instruments this leads to substrategies accord-

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Figure 3: Overview of a Concept of Corporate Communication

goals main goal subgoals for target groups single goals for communication instruments

Situationsanalyse communication strategy substrategies for communication forms single strategies for communication instruments strategies internal (company) external (competition, customers suppliers) macro (influencing areas: e.g. politics)

ing to their basic orientation and partners. A management of external business communication is thereby embedded in the concept of corporate communication as a substrategy. A concept of corporate communication takes into consideration: • the strategic orientation of the company (cost leadership, differentiation or concentration), • the kind and structure of stakeholders of the company and • a description of the company’s communication processes. The market-based approach in communication management leads to the following steps: • definition of the goals of corporate communication as well as of the goals of different forms of communication, • formulation of a communication strategy, the substrategies for communication forms and the single strategies for communication instruments.

SETTING THE STAGE In 1997 Bissantz & Company GmbH faced the development of many start-up companies: tasks, activities and decisions had to be delegated. In a company of the service sector, the main problem of this delegation lies in the handling of external contacts. Customer advice, sales, customer service as well as scientific lectures on conferences and conversation with (potential) partners and offices are tasks that had formerly only been carried out by the responsible managing director. The division of tasks on new employees naturally leads to decentralised communication with customers, partners and the public. The need for a strategic concept for communication with external partners arose, which was supposed to include aspects of the management of the contents that are to be communicated as well as new IT-based communication systems that can support the structured communication of the company.

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CASE DESCRIPTION The whole concept of corporate communication was applied to Bissantz & Company GmbH in cooperation with its management. Dr. Nicolas Bissantz provided the company’s business strategies in numerous discussions. After a first concept for communication management was worked out by the members of the chair of business computing, the results have been discussed, modified and finally accepted in two joint workshops. Each of the following sections is divided up in a description of the theoretical concepts for communication management and the practical realisation in the company.

Communication Goals Theoretical Aspects Communication goals result from a strategic positioning of the company and its competitors (van Riel, 1995) that can be achieved by an analysis similar to the SWOT (strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis. We use a strategic positioning that was invented for ‘‘Marketing Image Management” by Bruhn (1995). Its axes are strenghts / weaknesses and high / low relevance for the target groups. It shows the position of the companies as intended by the management (corporate identity) and as observed by the public (corporate image). Important characteristics of the company can be found in the upper right quadrant. Practical Analyses and Results The strategic objective and subjective positioning of Bissantz & Company GmbH and two important competitors is depicted in Figure 4. The main communication goal of the company can be formulated with the acquired CSPs: ‘‘Strict support of the positioning of the company as the most innovative of the branch of industry with the highest technical competence and a strong interest in social matters. The company distinguishes itself by highest quality, flexibility and personal care for its customers”. Subgoals refine this main goal with regard to the target groups and the intended effect of communication. Single goals can be formulated for the communication instruments: ”Increase of the corporate image with regard to the characteristic technical competence through optimal consultation by 20% in the next year.”

Communication Strategies How communication goals can be achieved by communication instruments is the subject of communication strategies. According to the fields in the basic strategic concepts of management, we propose communication strategies as depicted in Figure 5. Communication strategies are always based on business strategies like the competitive strategy or the partner strategy. A basic decision is then, whether corporate communication can promote the business strategy, or has to support it or at least should not counteract it. At first we make decisions for the message (the message content and its requirements regarding media characteristics) in all strategic fields. In a second step we choose the media that are suitable for the requirements – preferably on the level of communication instruments. This justifies extensive analyses of single communication activities because message strategies can be the long term basis for the selection of media from the constantly changing offer. Personality Strategy Theoretical Aspects.The personality strategy orientates the messages, their requirements and media strictly to the corporate personality and the strategic positioning. It fixes the common starting points (CSPs) for all communication forms. To filter out the CSPs from the strategic positioning we suggest a matrix that depicts an internal and an external axis for communication, namely the potential

A Case on Communications Management

Figure 4: Strategic Positioning of Bissantz & Company GmbH high relevance for target groups characteristics with increasable relevance

characteristics with high relevance quality innovation tech. comp. nearness social responsibility

weaknesses

strengths

flexibility personal care location

characteristics with no relevance

characteristics with increasable relevance low relevance for target groups

objective positioning of the company subjective positioning of the company intended positioning of the company

objective positioning of two competitors subjective positioning of two competitors

Figure 5: Communication Strategies

media message

personality strategy personality strategy

communication communication partner partner strategy strategy

competitive competitive communication communication strategy strategy substrategies for communication forms

external business external business communication communication

marketing marketing communication communication

public relations public relations work work

internal internal communication communication

type ofof commutype communication nication

e. e. g.g. advertisadvertisment ment

e.e. g.g. investor investor relations relations

e.e. g.g. company company newspaper newspaper

single strategies for communication instruments

7

8 Robra-Bissantz

of the characteristic that can be derived from the strategic positioning and the relevance of communication for the transmission of the characteristic. Once the CSPs are fixed they can find their expression in a strategic theme for communication and in aspects of corporate design (Bruhn, 1995). Practical Analyses and Results. Figure 6 depicts the matrix for Bissantz & Company GmbH. The characteristics in the upper right quadrant, namely innovation, social responsibility, quality and technical competence are the currently most important CSPs. Their potential is high because they are important for customers, a strength of the company, needed for differentiation from competitors and because the objective positioning is for some characteristics worse than intended as part of the corporate identity (see Figure 7). On the other axis the relevance of communication for the characteristic is high because the subjective positioning is worse than the objective or because it is an important image criterion and communication is able to transmit it. The characteristics in the left half of the matrix are no or subordinate CSPs. The characteristics in the lower right quadrant have to be analysed separately. Personal care becomes a CSP as well, because it is a strength of the company and its importance for the customer can be enhanced by communication. The strategic theme of communication for Bissantz & Company can be formulated as: ”We provide highly specialised innovative solutions for problems of data analysis.” The decision for the plain but extraordinary and ”young” typeface ”earth” supports the company’s characteristics innovation and flexibility as well as the technological area of business. Figure 6: Relevance/Potential Matrix for Communication potential of the characteristics subordinated CSP

innovation

CSP

quality flexibility

technical competence social responsibility

personal care nearness location

no CSP

? relevance of communication

Figure 7: Typeface of Bissantz & Company GmbH

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Competitive Communication Strategy Theoretical Aspects. The competitive communication strategy can for example be derived from the competitive strategy of the company according to Porter (1980, 1985). A strategy of cost leadership calls for communication activities at their lowest possible costs, as derived from a value analysis. A big potential for cost reduction can be expected from an analysis of unstructured communication processes. A concentration strategy has strong impact on media selection in marketing communications, as it leads to a preference for media of low range (specialised journals instead of magazines, direct mail instead of television). For external business communication a concentration strategy may lead to the implementation of an EDI system for a small number of regular customers. In a strategy of differentiation, communication can be the differentiation advantage, which enables for example fast transactions or professional advice. Especially if the differentiation advantage is innovation, it can be supported by communication media that have to be innovative as well. Practical Analyses and Results. The company follows a concentration strategy with differentiation advantage (highly specialised, innovative product and consistent customer focus). This leads to a competitive communication strategy that includes for example: • the differentiation advantage of high-quality customer consulting and customer care, • a technology leadership role concerning innovative media, • a strict focus on customer service and innovation for all communication instruments. • media of low range for all communication activities.

Communication Partner Strategy Theoretical Aspects. Just like the competitive communication strategy, the communication partner strategy has to support superordinated partner strategies. Marketing theory introduces the main strategic alternatives of differentiated (by the means of a market segmentation) and undifferentiated treatment of the customers. Communication partner strategies have to consider additional relevant groups of stakeholders (Zerfaß, 1996). If the company pursues a differentiated treatment of customers, the communication partner strategy may support this differentiation or even facilitate it by using different communication channels for different customer groups. Additionally, communication partner strategy has to decide on a differentiated treatment of the other target groups of communication. Grunig and Repper (1992) suggest judging the stakeholder groups by their involvement, problem recognition and restraint recognition in order to build publics of high interest. If a company decides to treat these high interest publics distinctively, it has to modify the CSPs for the target groups. A

Table 1: Stakeholders of Companies economical sphere

organisational sphere

extra economical sphere

customer interested person prospective customer dealer supplier cooperation partner contact personal management employees claimholders (e.g. science, critics, neighbours) general public (journalists, opinion leaders, citizens) politics and administration

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Table 2: Analysis of Stakeholders at Bissantz & Company GmbH customer prospective customer co-operation partner supplier employee general public science

I 2 3 3 1 3 3 3

T 3 3 3 1 2 3 3

G 2 2 2 2 3 3 1

Q 3 3 3 3 3 2 3

F 3 2 3 3 3 2 1

P 3 3 2 1 3 2 1

CSPs T, Q, F, P I, T, Q, P I, T, Q, F Q, F I, S, Q, F, P I, T, S I, T, Q

valuation: 1 = low priority, 3 = high priority I: innovation, T: technical competence, S: social responsibility, Q: quality, F: flexibility, P: personal care

hierarchic structure, that derives the message contents for the target groups from the CSPs of the company via the CSPs for the publics, takes into account that no person can be excluded from communication that was initially not intended for him. Practical Analyses and Results. In the field of customer-oriented strategies, the company has decided to address different market segments distinctively. The communication partner strategy can facilitate this strategy for example by offering specialised information only to important customers via the Internet. These customers have their accounts and passwords on the Web site (www.bissantz.de) and can retrieve newest product information and advice. The analysis of the most important stakeholders leads to important publics and the prioritisation of two groups (cooperating partners and science) as depicted in Table 2, together with their rating and adaptation of the CSPs. For cooperating partners there is also a secured entrance to specialised pages on the Internet. The group of scientifically interested people can find information on research and development as well as publications in a category named background. Strategies for Communication Forms Theoretical Aspects.The substrategies for communication forms take into account that marketing communication, public relation work and external business communication can transmit different characteristics of a company. Therefore each communication form has to concentrate on a subset of the CSPs. An analysis of the communication forms (Robra-Bissantz, 2000) leads to advantages for each of them in developing certain effects. Whereas the domain of marketing communication is to transmit emotions and to persuade, public relation work rather applies personal communication for mutual agreement. The speciality of external business communication is that it transmits characteristics mainly by ”deeds”, which means that it transmits for example quality without talking about quality (content of a message e.g., in marketing communication) but by using high quality paper and print for information brochures in letters. An overview of the results of an analysis of the communication forms is provided in Table 3. To find out which CSPs should be assigned to which communication form, one has to decide for every single CSP whether it can be transmitted best via agreement, persuasion, information, personal nearness, content or ”deed”. The results of this analysis have to be connected with the one depicted in Table 3. By assigning CSPs to communication forms, the company also influences the CSPs that are transmitted to each target group. Therefore the company has to ensure, that the objectives of the communication partner strategy are fulfilled, in a final combined analysis of CSPs for communication forms and CSPs for target groups. Practical Analyses and Results. For Bissantz & Company GmbH, the CSPs can be assigned firstly to the specialities of the communication forms and then to the communication form itself (see Table 4 and Table 5).

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Table 3: Effects of Communication Forms marketing com. public relations external b. com. internal com.

agreement 1 3 2 3

information persuasion pers. nearness 2 3 1 3 1 2 3 2 3 3 3 3

contents ”deeds” 3 1 3 1 2 3 2 2

valuation: 1 = communication form is not suitable for effect, 3 = communication form is suitable for effect

Marketing communication is therefore suitable to transmit innovation and quality. Public relation work should be additionally used for the communication of social responsibility. The CSPs for external business communication are mainly technical competence, flexibility and personal care. The final analysis whether the objectives of communication partner strategies can be achieved with this assignment of CSPs to the communication forms is depicted in Table 6. The arrows announce whether the target groups can be reached by the communication forms in the special situation of Bissantz & Company GmbH (small company, relatively small number of customers, suppliers and prospective customers – as a result of the competitive strategy). In the fields of Table 6 those CSPs are noted which are intended for the target group and provided by the communication form. An evaluation of all fields in one row of the table leads to a decision whether all CSPs for the target group can be transmitted by the communication forms (agreement between the strategies for communication forms and communication partners). In the case of Bissantz & Company GmbH, the only CSP that is missing for the target groups science and general public, is technical competence. Therefore the company should add this CSP to the CSPs of public relation work, which is perfectly suitable to communicate this characteristic (see Table 5).

Strategies for External Business Communication In a next step, we put the emphasis on external business communication. We suggest that external business communication should be subordinated to the main communication forms marketing communication and public relation work. Therefore the following section on theoretical aspects at first Table 4: CSPs and Effects agreement information persuasion pers. nearness contents ”deeds”

innovation 1 2 3 2 3 1

tech. comp. 3 3 1 3 2 3

soc. resp. quality 3 1 3 2 1 3 1 2 3 3 1 1

flexibility 1 1 1 3 1 3

pers. care 3 2 1 3 2 3

valuation: 1 = CSP can be transmitted badly by effect, 3 = CSP can be transmitted efficiently by effect

Table 5: CSPs and Communication Forms marketing com. public relations external b. com. internal com.

innovation 1 2 2 1

tech. comp. 7 3 1 1

soc. resp. quality 3 1 0 2 2 2 1 1

flexibility 4 3 0 1

pers. care 6 3 1 1

valuation: outcomes of linkage of Table 3 and Table 4: 0 = CSP can be transmitted efficiently by communication form, 7 = CSP can be transmitted badly by communication form

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Table 6: CSPs for Target Groups and Communication Forms CSPs

inno. qual.

soc. res., inno., qual.

flex., pers. care, tech. comp.

all CSPs

marketing !

public relation work !

external bus. communic. "

internal communic. #

qual.

qual.

flex., pers. care, tech. comp.

yes

prospective customers

$

$

%

#

inno., qual.

inno., qual.

tech. comp., pers. care

yes

co-operation partners

!

!

"

#

inno., qual.

inno., qual.

flex., tech. comp.

yes

suppliers

!

!

"

#

qual.

qual.

flex.

yes

inno., qual., employees flex., pers. care, soc. res. inno., tech. general public comp., soc. res.,

!

!

#

"

inno., qual.

inno., qual., soc. res.

yes

%

"

!

inno.

soc. res., inno.

tech. comp.

inno., tech. comp., qual.

!

"

$

inno., qual.

inno., qual.

tech. comp.

comm. forms CSPs tech. comp., qual., flex., pers. care inno., tech. comp., qual., pers. care inno., tech. comp., qual., flex. qual., flex.

target groups customers

science

agreement

flex., pers. care, inno. etc.

# #

lack of tech. competence lack of tech. competence

covers the influences of marketing communication and public relation work on the communication instruments (communication types) of external business communication. Secondly it deals with basic strategies for communication types of external business communication. The section that deals with the practical application of the concepts, takes into account, that external business communications can transmit CSPs: • through the content of the messages, concerning the factual content, the intention and the relationship between sender and recipient, • through the requirements on the medium that result from the contents • through the medium itself. It shows the strategies for messages and media decision at Bissantz & Company GmbH. Theoretical Aspects Influences of Public Relations Work and Marketing Communication. Marketing communication tries to persuade customers by emotion, information or actuality in order to influence e.g., their attitude and behaviour. It often uses an image of experiences that can be associated with the company or a product. For external business communication it is very important that the contents and media of communication types, which also intend to persuade the customer (communication type contact communication), reflect the same experiences as marketing communication. Public relation work aims at a mutual understanding of the company and its publics. A two-way symmetrical model of communication, where the company discusses potential conflicts with small groups, should be favoured. For external business communication this leads to the insight that communication types that require dialogue-oriented communication with personal nearness (communication type dialogue communication and negotiation communication) should be influenced by the public relation work of the company. Basic Strategies for Communication Types. Communication types of external business communications can be characterised by their requirements. To find basic strategies, we analyse whether the fulfilment of special requirements of the communication types can support the CSPs of external business communication. Contact communication can be used to transmit all CSPs that are connected with the image of the company, especially its personality, the high quality of products, the creativity and design or

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emotional experiences. Dialogue communication is suitable to communicate CSPs that promote the company’s speed, its personal nearness or ability to discuss and find agreements. Negotiation communication has to show the same CSPs as dialogue communication and additionally CSPs like security or confidentiality. The latter CSPs can be supported by transaction communication as well. Basic strategies for the communication types with special requirements are depicted in Figure 8. Practical Analyses and Results As far as the content of messages of external business communication is concerned, all communication types at Bissantz & Company GmbH should emphasise the companies’ technical competence and personal care. For the communication types an analysis of the requirements leads to the following strategies: • Contact communication of Bissantz & Company GmbH has to emphasise the personality (with the CSPs technical competence, personal care and flexibility). Furthermore it has to support marketing communication with the CSP’s quality and innovation. This leads to qualitatively and technically high-standing multimedia communication with logos and slogans. • With dialogue communication the company can transmit the CSP’s personal care and technical competence by fulfilling this communication type’s special requirements of dialogue, agreement and personal nearness. Therefore the company should use for example telephone or videophone for dialogue communication. • Because there are no CSPs concerning security aspects at Bissantz & Company GmbH, negotiation communication can transmit the same CSPs as dialogue communication. Because negotiation communication has additional requirements like the retention of legitimacy and confidentiality, suitable media are video-phone and email. Like in negotiation communication there are no special requirements resulting from the CSPs for transaction communication. Figure 8: Basic Strategies For Communication Types

“ security and automation“ strategy 5,00 Weiterbearbeitbarkeit processability

Schnelligkeit speed

4,00 3,00

Bequemlichkeit comfort

2,00

“ agreement“ strategy public relations orientation Rückkopplungsfähigkeit interaction

Verständigung agreement

1,00 Rechtliche Anerkennung retention of

persönliche personalNähe nearness

-

legitimacy quality Qualität

Vertraulichkeit confidentiality

Persönlichkeit personality

Übermittlungsvielfalt

variety

Emotion emotion „image“ strategy marketing orientation

contact Kontakt

Dialog

Vereinbarung dialogueAbwicklung

negotiation transaction

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Figure 9: Relevance/Potential Matrix for External Business Communication potential of communication

?

innovation information advertising

customer advice customer care

offer reminder

confirmation of order

invoice

tradition

? relevance of external business communication

Concerning media application, the CSP innovation leads to a preferential use of new media. But before a company invests in new media, it should analyse whether communication and particularly external business communication is not only able to transmit CSPs but is also relevant for the transmission of characteristics of the company. A portfolio (see Figure 9) shows that at Bissantz & Company GmbH, it is dialogue communication (with customer care and customer advice) that should be supported by innovative media. Searching for innovative media for customer advice and customer care, we suggested a brainstorming with the management of the company. The traditional medium for customer advice and customer care is the telephone. A discussion about possible innovative media starts from this medium and takes into account the special requirements that result from the CSPs of external business communication. Possible new media for customer care and customer advice are: • video-phone; • an automatic call distribution system that distributes incoming calls on different consultants with the possibility to give preference to important customers; • computer integrated telephony, that provides all data about the customer automatically with the incoming call; • voice response systems, that allow a dialogue between the person who calls the company and the computer through for example speech recognition; • call centres, where incoming calls are operated in specialised areas of the company. All new media have different advantages as depicted in Figure 10. Bissantz & Company GmbH prefers systems that support personal and specialised consultation to systems that offer any time availability. A call centre is rather suitable for larger companies. This leads to the recommendation that computer-integrated telephony or video-phone should be used for communication during customer advice and customer care.

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Figure 10: Brainstorming of Innovative Media videovideophone phone

automatic automatic call call distribution distribution

call call center center

computer computer integrated integrated telephony telephony

voice voice response response

telephone telephone

5

3 2 1

R üc

kk

S

ch ne p l llig un ke V e r g s it fä p e sspeed r s tä n ... ön d i lic g u interaction he ng Ü be N äh agreement rm e Q itt u lu personal nearness n g a lit s v ät ie quality lf a Pe Em lt ot rs variety io ö R V e n lic n e c emotion r tr hk ht a ei lic u li t he c h personality k W B e A n e it ei qu er confidentiality te . r b em .. z e e a lic h legality rb itl . E e i ke it r r tba ei r. f lä comfort c c h h b .. en ar processability d e ke i ck t time availability en d

ubiquity

0

op

technical technical competence competence

4

personal personal care care

content

customer care and customer advice

requirements

CURRENT CHALLENGES/PROBLEMS FACING THE ORGANIZATION One important experience from the case is that the proposed concept of communication management leads to satisfying results if carried out in a company. At Bissantz & Company GmbH, several outcomes of the study were perceived: First of all the management of Bissantz & Company GmbH generally accepted the proposal of a computer-integrated telephony. The recommendation of a video-phone had to be rejected as there are not enough partners of the company that use this equipment. Up to the present there is no complete integration but a comprehensive database system that every employee can use. The advantage of this solution is that either phone number or name or company of the calling person can be used as an identifier. Bissantz & Company GmbH is now planning the introduction of an integrated system for their sales department. Secondly Bissantz & Company GmbH became aware of the importance of a harmonised and differentiated corporate communication and its impacts on single strategies for contents and media. The strategic orientation of communication with all stakeholders, remains visible and is now the basis of e.g., the structure and contents of the company’s Web site. All communication processes, especially those with the customers, have been thoroughly analysed and structured. The database, that was meant to facilitate competent and personal consultation, now integrates all information about every single contact (via telephone, letter, email or personal contact) with every single communication partner. It contains information about conditions, offers, invoices and reminders (together with a reference to the physical file where the paper based copies can be found), customer

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consultations, hot and cold leads, the personality of customers and partners as well as the kind of relation with them (e.g., difficult or demanding customer). Because most employees basically started their work with the new system, hardly any acceptance problems could be observed. It also turned out to be a good decision that no standard computer integrated telephony system was introduced, but developers of Bissantz & Company GmbH created their own system. Like this, many proposals for improvements emerged from their own ranks, which additionally increased acceptance. All employees use this computer supported telephony in daily work. The management of Bissantz & Company GmbH reports significant time savings (compared to the time when the system was not introduced completely) for all employees, which means efficient usage of expensive resources. Queries with the managing director during customer advice have almost never been necessary. There is hardly any case known where problems have arisen caused by differing statements to one customer. If there occurs a case where a customer complains about e.g., promised conditions (which happens about once or twice a year), every employee is ready to trace every single contact with him by content, date and time. In case of absence of single employees or even the management, the database contains all information necessary to carry on the processes with customers or partners. The management and the employees consider the system together with all further developments, that were initialised by the basic analysis, a valuable and important tool for daily and strategic work. Further challenges in communication management are to improve the customer interface in an holistic approach and to include employees’ communication. New technological developments enable and call for a simultaneous use of different media that are assembled on a Web site or envisaged in multi-channel e-business strategies. As a result, integration needs on different levels arise for communication with customers. Firstly systems using the contact database, as described above, should be able to collect and evaluate information from all customer contacts like email, chat contributions or traces on the Web site. For email communication, a solution that manages incoming and outgoing emails using the database is currently investigated. Finding methods for a stepwise automatic analysis of individual contact information to support a kind of learning relationship is still a demanding task. Secondly there are more and more tasks at the customer interface that can be carried out by means of telecommunication. Therefore external business communication will comprise more tasks in the future, e.g., transaction settlement and services. Defining e.g., new digital services for the customer, is a task of strategic management of the customer interface, where the digital offers, the structures and technologies that are presented to the customer are investigated. In terms of communication management, new digital services lead to additional communication processes that have to be planned according to the CSPs of corporate communication. At Bissantz & Company GmbH the next step in designing the structures of the customer interface is to build a platform that facilitates the exchange of information between customers. Prospective additional digital services are remote consulting and remote system configuration in e.g., shared screen applications. In times where employees often have to carry out tasks on site in the customer companies, internal communication should not be restricted to one way managerial directives. Therefore in a next step of communication management, the communication processes of employees should be thoroughly analysed to work out communication types similar to those of external business communication. Obviously new mobile technologies build the basis for appropriate media for internal business communication. Still the CSPs of communication with employees and the effects of communication processes between them have to be investigated prior to investments in new technologies. More decentralised structures may consequently lead to new emerging problems because it gets more demanding to include all contact information in the contact database. Besides, single employees may not be accustomed to the corporate style of communicating with customers. In these cases incentive strategies have to be employed to reward adding new information to the database, and

A Case on Communications Management

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employees have to be trained in personal contacts with customers. In any case, especially when Bissantz & Company GmbH experiences a further growth, the integration of employees as active partners in communication management will become a demanding task.

FURTHER READING Robra-Bissantz, S. (2000). Strukturen, Entwicklungen und Strategien der externen Unternehmenskommunikation. Berlin: dissertation.de or http://www.dissertation.de/html/robrabissantz_susanne.htm.

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BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH Susanne Robra-Bissantz was born in 1965. She studied management science at the university of Erlangen-Nuremberg with the major subjects of information systems, marketing and statistics. After this she worked as an assistant professor at the chair of information systems (Prof. Dr. Freimut Bodendorf). Besides the tasks of research and teachings she gained practical experience in projects with several companies. She finished her doctoral thesis on structures, trends and strategies of external business communication in 1999. Now she habilitates in the field of Electronic Business Management with a special focus on the customer interface.