MGT502 Business Communication: Amazon's Use of Digital Tools

This report explores the use of digital communication tools within business, focusing on Amazon's strategies. It highlights the shift from traditional methods to digital platforms like email, video conferencing, instant messaging, social media, and internal blogs. The report details the benefits of digital communication, including improved documentation, ease of communication across distances, and instant connectivity. It examines specific tools used by Amazon, such as Amazon Chime, Facebook for Business, internal blogs, WhatsApp, and video conferencing, explaining how each contributes to effective internal and external communication. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of adopting digital communication to enhance business efficiency and bridge communication gaps.

Running Head: Business Communication
Business Communication
Report on Effective Business
Communication

Business Communication P a g e | 1
Table of Content
Introduction to Business Communication............................................................................................................. 2
Digital Communication.................................................................................................................................................. 3
Benefits of using digital communication tools................................................................................................ 3
Notch Higher than Cell phones......................................................................................................................... 3
Evolution of Businesses....................................................................................................................................... 4
Instant Messaging.................................................................................................................................................. 4
Evolution of Technology/Slack as a collaboration tool...........................................................................4
Social media and Blogs......................................................................................................................................... 4
Business communication Tools used at Amazon................................................................................................ 5
Amazon Chime............................................................................................................................................................. 5
Facebook for Business.............................................................................................................................................. 6
Internal Blogs............................................................................................................................................................... 6
Whatsapp....................................................................................................................................................................... 7
Video Conferencing.................................................................................................................................................... 7
Recommendation and Conclusion............................................................................................................................ 8
References.......................................................................................................................................................................... 8

Business Communication P a g e | 2
Introduction to Business Communication
Business relies to a large extent on communication in every aspect of the business
operation and it is almost impossible to conduct even a miniscule operation without
having effective communication amongst the relevant stakeholders(Pearson, 2017). The
communication is important not only outside the business organization while
interacting with the customer or clients, but it is much needed within the organization
to ensure the effectiveness of the operation due to openness in
communication(Goleman, 2017).
The report here will highlight the different digital communication tools used by Amazon
and how digital communication is taking over the traditional channels of
communication. The report will also highlight some of the advantage of using digital
communication and how business organization can ensure effectiveness in the
communication leveraging the tools of digital communication.

Business Communication P a g e | 3
Digital Communication
Before delving into the depth of the topic, it is important to understand what digital
communication is and why is it so important in the present business day. Back in the
days, it was easier to communicate with a person in an office space, pick up the phone
and dial the number (Drucker 2017). However, at present, business communication has
become far more complex and it is at the mercy of plethora of tech based options which
makes the communication easier, effective and documented with high reach (Lapidoth,
2017).
Digital communication in the simplest of words is using the reading, writing and oral
skills using digital communication devices. The examples of digital communication tools
are email, video conferencing, newsgroup, social media, chat rooms, instant messaging,
chatbots, podcasts and many more(Georgakopoulou & Spilioti, 2015). These are also
called as the modern means of communication because over the years it is due to the
rapid proliferation of the technology and the tools which have made it extremely easier
for a person to transfer any piece of information to a person sitting even in the remote
part of the world. Businesses which are spread globally are big time reliant on such
communication tool to convey the same information to all the people at the same time
and also to acknowledge their feedback, if any (Giordano & Levesque, 2015).
Amazon, which is the behemoth in E-commerce had long back understood the fruits of
digital communication tools and thus started investing in the very nascent stage to
boast its communication in and out of the organisation. Development of Alexa and
Newly created Chime are the company’s latest effort in battling with the likes of
Hangouts, GOTOmeetings and WebEx. Thus, Amazon is consistently innovating to
reduce the communication gap in the organization and to create an aura of effectiveness
in communication (Tagg, 2015).

Business Communication P a g e | 4
Benefits of using digital communication tools
Notch Higher than Cell phones
Cell phones are no doubt a great tool to indulge in communication with office
colleagues, however if any talk is related to business it is better advised to document the
conversation for future use. Digital communication provides this utility of storing the
chat and conversation to revisit them in future date and time. This feature makes digital
communication extremely inevitable to be used in business organizations (Fontes &
Eisencraft, 2016).
Evolution of Businesses
Business organization over the last couple of decades has evolved not only in hierarchy
but also how the employees spatially locate them in organization. Therefore people are
mostly on the go in office space or are traveling, thus it becomes extremely difficult to
gather people all at one place and communicate with them. E-Mail solves the purpose, it
has one to much functionality, fast rate of delivery and thanks to evolution of
communication devices a person can sit at any corner and send and receive E-mail.
Thus, digital communication is of great utility in the ease of communication and
significantly reduces the distances between the communicator and the audience
(Flewitt, Messer & Kucirkova, 2015).
Instant Messaging
Instant messaging which is yet another business communication tool in vogue in the
present day. Instant messaging helps the organization and its employees connect
instantly, and it also notifies if the concerned person is available or busy to have a
conversation. This way lot of time of the both the parties are saved and also provides for
high speed of communication (Kabalci, 2016).
Evolution of Technology/Slack as a collaboration tool
Evolution in technology has given wings to innovation, Slack, which is a cloud based
collaboration tool and services platform helps the employees to effectively manage their
business communication and also to effectively communicate with other employees or
team members. Slack is a communication and a collaboration tool which is extremely

Business Communication P a g e | 5
easy to use and makes it easier for the entire organization to be on the same page (GLies
et. al., 2016).
Social media and Blogs
Social Media & Blogs is another reason which makes digital communication so
advantageous. People are always on their mobile, desktop or other devices, and
according to a study a person in a day interacts with his phone more than 200 times,
and 60% of the time a person spends on his phone is on social. This makes social media
platform one of the most effective digital communication tools as the audience is
already available and the 2 way communication tool makes it easier to interact and
engage. Similarly Blogs are used by the organization to develop the horizon of learning
and development in business organization. Blogs are becoming increasing popular
because of it’s highly personification and its ease to use (Newcombe et. al., 2015).
Hence, it can be concluded that Digital communication tools are not only an upgrade
over the traditional forms of communication used by business organization, but are
most definitely a notch ahead in easing the live of the employees in the organization.
Effective communication in the organization is a building block of success and helps in
bridging the gap between the management and the employees, also reduces the time in
delivery of the message. It is most important that organization across the globe
comprehend this fact and start adapting to the changing tech revolution to increase the
efficiency of business communication. Plethora of technology companies is developing
new solutions to further improve the landscape of business communication both within
and outside the office premises.
Business communication Tools used at Amazon
As mentioned earlier, Amazon which is the Behemoth of e-commerce uses digital
communication tool to effectively engage its workforce and increase the efficiency of its
business communication. Some of the digital communication tools which share the
limelight in the success of Amazon’s digital communication are:

Business Communication P a g e | 6
Amazon Chime
Amazon Chime is the latest innovation of Amazon and most certainly an upgrade over
Hangouts, GOTOmeeting, WebEx and Skype. As per Amazon Chime will deliver hassle
free online meetings and reduce the gap between the employees and the management.
Amazon Chime is the modern day communication tool which makes it easier to
communicate via chat, video and audio within and outside the business organization.
Over and above the regular function Chime key features include VOIP calling, video
messaging, instant messaging, virtual meetings and drag and drop file sharing. All the
mentioned features of Amazon Chime are strictly relevant in the present day business
scenario and help to effectively conduct and manage business communication. At the
same time, the tool is a creation of Amazon web services, which is light to use and has
not encountered any problem since its inception. The problem which Amazon Chime
solved is conducting hassle free meeting with no technical glitches whatsoever, this
overlays the emphasis over the communication thus aides the effectiveness in
communication(Lyytinen, Yoo & Boland, 2016).
Facebook for Business
Amazon is the undisputed market leader when it comes to marketing and promotion on
digital media and especially social media, the same holds true even in case of business
communication. Facebook a couple of years back rolled down its new tool, Facebook for
business exclusively for the business organization, which even has functionalities of
connecting with the nearby businesses, all in a highly restricted or controlled space. The
reason for the closed ended solution is to maintain the confidentiality of the
communication within the purview of the business organization. Amazon uses this
communication platform to communicate with its employees and convey an important
message, notification, update or any change on the social network. This tool is of great
importance to Amazon as most of its employees find the tool highly relevant as it gives
them the opportunity of communicating directly with the senior management; hence it
helps in smooth communication flow both upwards and downwards (Goldkind, 2015).

Business Communication P a g e | 7
Internal Blogs
Internal blogs are becoming incessantly popular as these are private and within the
reach of its competitors. Blogs are not only restricted to facilitate the channels of
learning, development and growth but also find more uses which implies effectiveness
of business communication. Some of the reasons why Amazon relies heavily on Blogs
for communication are:
 Broadcasting and highlighting the knowledge of the employee on a certain
topic or area of discussion.
 It also serves as archive for published material which can be easily
accessed by the employees within the organization.
 This tool also helps in promoting open discussion and collaboration
amongst the workforce, as there are many instances where the employees
are more comfortable in a virtual environment, in comparison to face to
face interaction, thus giving them the opportunity to contribute to
discussion on important topics in the organization (Waber, Magnofi &
Lindsay, 2014).
 It helps in connecting employees across different departments.
 It helps keeping the employees up to date regarding the important
business announcement.
Whatsapp
Whatsapp is one of the most informal communication tool used at Amazon or most of
the business organization, but it is one of the widely used tool which is of great utility.
The ease of navigation and communication makes the tool extremely popular. At
Amazon manager and the management promote the culture of using whatsapp to
communicate, share information amongst the employees and the team. The reason
behind using such an informal tool is the speed at which the communication travels,
also, every person is able to view the information at the same time, reducing the lacunae
of information leakage from the system. The tool works seamlessly when the manager
wants to share something at the instant with the team and wants them to acknowledge

Business Communication P a g e | 8
then and there. Thus, it not only reduces the leakage of communication, it provides for
added transparency in the system (Hintz, 2016).
Video Conferencing
Although this tool has been in existence since a decade, but most of the business
organization have realized its true potential now and leveraging the technology for
efficiency of the business communication. Amazon which has spread its business over
168 countries and has offices in over 16 countries, with such vastness of its business
operation, the company need to manage its business communication. Thus, it uses Video
conferencing along with audio polycom to effectively communicate with the
stakeholders sitting in other parts of the world(Haustein, Sugimoto & Lariviere, 2015).
Recommendation and Conclusion
Amazon is sitting at the helm of e-commerce and the biggest reason for its success is the
strong grip on the business ecosystem and its ability to effectively manage its internal
and external communication both to the employees and other stakeholders. In order to
do so, Amazon has to further leverage Amazon web services to create more
collaborative solution on the likes of Amazon Chime which can further ease the flow of
communication in and out of the business organization.
Majority of the population working at Amazon consist of millennial which are social
savvy and have a better technical know-how to the modern day business
communication tools. Amazon has to put efforts to establish the culture of using the
tools of business communication in the organization so that across the entire company
people get to know the benefits of using digital communication channels in a bid to
increase the effectiveness of the communication at Amazon.

Business Communication P a g e | 9
References
Drucker, P. F. (2017). What Makes an Effective Executive (Harvard Business Review
Classics). Harvard Business Review Press.
Flewitt, R., Messer, D., & Kucirkova, N. (2015). New directions for early literacy in a
digital age: The iPad. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 15(3), 289-310.
Fontes, R. T., & Eisencraft, M. (2016). A digital bandlimited chaos-based communication
system. Communications in Nonlinear Science and Numerical Simulation, 37, 374-
385.
Georgakopoulou, A., & Spilioti, T. (Eds.). (2015). The Routledge handbook of language
and digital communication. Routledge.
Giles, D., Stommel, W., Paulus, T., Lester, J., & Reed, D. (2015). Microanalysis of online
data: The methodological development of “digital CA”. Discourse, Context &
Media, 7, 45-51.
Giordano, A. A., & Levesque, A. H. (2015). Modeling of Digital Communication Systems
Using SIMULINK. John Wiley & Sons.

Business Communication P a g e | 10
Goldkind, L. (2015). Social media and social service: Are nonprofits plugged in to the
digital age?. Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership &
Governance, 39(4), 380-396.
Goleman, D. (2017). Leadership That Gets Results (Harvard Business Review Classics).
Harvard Business Press.
Haustein, S., Sugimoto, C., & Larivière, V. (2015). Guest editorial: social media in
scholarly communication. Aslib Journal of Information Management, 67(3).
Hintz, A. (2016). Restricting digital sites of dissent: commercial social media and free
expression. Critical Discourse Studies, 13(3), 325-340.
Kabalci, Y. (2016). A survey on smart metering and smart grid
communication. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 57, 302-318.
Lapidoth, A. (2017). A foundation in digital communication. Cambridge University Press.
Lyytinen, K., Yoo, Y., & Boland Jr, R. J. (2016). Digital product innovation within four
classes of innovation networks. Information Systems Journal, 26(1), 47-75.
Newcombe, C., Rath, T., Zhang, F., Munteanu, B., Brooker, M., & Deardeuff, M. (2015).
How Amazon web services uses formal methods. Communications of the
ACM, 58(4), 66-73.
Pearson, R. (2017). Business ethics as communication ethics: Public relations practice
and the idea of dialogue. In Public relations theory (pp. 111-131). Routledge.
Tagg, C. (2015). Exploring digital communication: Language in action. Routledge.
Waber, B., Magnolfi, J., & Lindsay, G. (2014). Workspaces that move people. Harvard
Business Review, 92(10), 68-77.