Internal communications are essential to a company's growth and success. It impacts morale, productivity and revenue.

You might be surprised to learn the numbers behind the way businesses are using technology to boost employee engagement and the bottom line.

Here's where to lean in ...

1. Productivity improves by 20-25% in organizations with connected employees, with potential for increased revenues amounting to $1.3 trillion per year. (McKinsey Global Institute | The social economy: Unlocking value and productivity through social technologies)

    

2. Nearly 80% of senior executives said communication is crucial for growth, yet only a quarter of them felt their companies were good at sharing knowledge across the company. (McKinsey Global Institute | How Social Tools Can Reshape the Organization)

    

3. Companies with highly effective communications practices see 47% higher returns to their shareholders. (Towers Watson study)

    

4. 61% of companies say technology makes internal communication more difficult but three-quarters of companies want to increase their use of it.  (2018 Gatehouse State of the Sector report)

    

5. Internal communications depend more and more on technology as remote work accounts for an increasing percentage of the global workforce. 64% of employees would opt for a lower paying job if they could work away from the office. (Cisco Systems |The Cisco Connected World Report) Information workers prefer newer communication tools, particularly instant messaging, over more traditional ones like e-mail or team workspaces.  (The SocialWorkplace | Social Technology & an Innovative Intranet can Increase Employee Productivity)

    

6. 60% of communicators are not measuring internal communication. (Internal Association of Business Communicators | Click through for the reasons.)

    

7. With 50% of employees able to access corporate channels via their personal mobile phone, 73% of organisations are planning to increase their investment in mobile communications. (2018 Gatehouse State of the Sector report)

    

8. More internal communicators are using mobile channels to communicate in North America than in other nations. And although only 23% of North American companies use mobile apps, almost three times as many (67%) plan to increase their use of apps during the next 12 months. (2018 State of the Sector on Internal Communication)

    

9. Executives report that the business use of social tools is nearly universal. 93% say their companies use at least one social technology.  (McKinsey Global Institute | How Social Tools Can Reshape the Organization)

    

10. 77% of employees are using social media at work (Pew Research Center | Social Media and the Workplace)  and more than two-thirds (68%) of them connect with co-workers that way. (Igloo | The State of Social Media in the Workplace)  Only 16% of workers whose companies regulate social media at work say they use social media while working to get information that’s helpful to their job, compared with 25% of those whose workplaces have no such regulations.  (Smartphone use survey conducted by CareerBuilder.)