IT + Business Communication Best Practices
Bcomm Types, Design, Content, Persuasion
- Different types of business communications
- Effective business writing (clarity, language)
- Clean Design (Physical formatting, fonts, headings)
- Rhetoric in business communication
IT is a business function that is extremely technical and the furthest removed from the business. With this, comes a large communication divide that results in operational inefficiencies. With the communication practices outlined in this guide, any IT professional can implement the below to better their approach to discourse.
Different Types of Business Communication
There are a plethora of business communication vehicles, each of which serve a unique purpose. Business communication is can also be further classified as internal or external. In IT, we mostly communicate internally via emails, memos, reports, dashboarding, and presentations, so keep that in mind when reading the below.
Internal Communication
Can be in-depth; can discuss confidential information
External Communication
Adjust technical language to be digestible for public; do not discuss confidential information
Communication Vehicles
Email: For general purpose messaging; audience is to whoever email is being sent to
Memo: For announcements, policy updates; audience is generally wide and targeted (eg, department memo)
Reports: For announcements on regular intervals (eg, weekly); audience is dependent on report content (eg, sales report won’t be read by IT)
Presentations (slide decks): Presentation for updates about a specific project; audience is whoever project is pertinent to
Dashboarding: For monitoring of business KPI’s; audience is dependent per dashboard (eg, dashboard on customer conversions for marketing department)
Advertising & Other Marketing Materials: External only communication via advertising modes (blogs, social media); audience is potential customers
Effective Business Writing → clarity + language
IT and business communication is like a roundabout. It is imperative you enter, maneuver, and exit the conversation in the correct spots to ensure the correct outcome.
Scenario
Business Person: I want a an AI to predict customer churn
Technical Person: Sure!
Result: a model that is over-engineered. The solution is likely computationally intensive and slow and the solution is likely better served by taking a step down into machine learning. Furthermore, the meaning of “AI” is that the business person wants predictions; not a neural network.
What does clarity and language translate into? Generally, inter-business messaging should be cut-to-the-chase and easy to understand. As IT professionals, we must keep in mind that we serve as the bridge between business and technology; we build these bridges with clarity and language.
Clarity and language tips:
- Avoid technical jargon; ensure a non-technical audience can understand what's being done and why
- Avoid over-writing; include details only if they are relevant to the audience
- Audience empathy → avoid technical conversation roundabout syndrome; dig down to what's needed, not what's spoken
Clean Design → formatting, fonts, headings
On the macro side of communication, comes clean design: formatting, fonts, and headings. The design of the document generally dictates: what to read, what's important, and your credibility. Just as much as code is organized via OOP (classes, functions), our writing can be just as organized.
Scenario
Poorly designed email is sent → business person comes away with little understanding
Result: what needs to be communicated, isn’t communicated. The value-add of the communication is diminished. The content could contain important details, but the reader missed it.
Formatting tips:
- Utilize whitespace; spacing in margins, header, footer, and between paragraphs and headings
Font tips:
- Font size 11–12
- Color: black
- Fonts to use: times new roman, calibri, arial, cambria
- In general → ensure readability/digestibility/professionalism
Heading tips:
- Level one headings dictate a new section
- Level two headings a sub section
- Level three headings contain information about the sub section
- In general → utilize the heading hierarchy to framework information; establish hierarchy via font
Rhetoric in Business Communication
Rhetoric is extremely important in business communication. Thus far, we’ve covered the micro (clarity+ language) and the macro (formatting). At a higher level, comes rhetoric. Rhetoric helps to influence the audience and emphasize what’s important. There could be an amazingly formatted memo, with clear and concise messaging. With poor rhetoric, the impact of such an important message is blunted. Rhetoric, is persuasion; a call to action.
Scenario A
Technical person: I maybe think that the S3 bucket might have security problems. Maybe we can talk about it if you have time sometime this week.
Business person: *ignores email*
Scenario B
Technical person: As the AWS cloud consultant, I saw that our data storage has security problems. It contains PII and could result in massive fines if breached. Let’s meet Friday about it.
Business person: Sounds good. Lets meet.
It’s extremely evident that there is a difference between the two scenarios; scenario b is much more persuasive on many different fronts. The security issue is able to be amended whereas in scenario a, the issue will likely be ignored by the business stakeholder.
Rhetoric tips:
- Appeal to purpose → what is the purpose of the message?
- Appeal to credibility → why listen to the author or speaker?
- Appeal to emotion → appeal to audiences perspective
- Appeal to logic → be logical when making a point; clear point a to point b
- Appeal to timeliness → when is it a good time to send the messaging?
- In general → be persuasive, be confident, be smart
References
Maria Vint, Week 4 Module 1 Wrap Up Slides
Maria Vint, Spring 2021 Module 1 Week 2 Slides
Maria Vint, Week 3: Best Practices 3–5 & Rhetoric
