Communication Is The Lifeblood Of Your Business—Don’t Mess It Up

LeadershipLeadership StrategiesCommunication Is The Lifeblood Of Your Business—Don’t Mess It UpByShep Hyken,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Shep Hyken is a customer service/CX expert, author & keynote speaker.Follow AuthorJun 07, 2026, 08:30am EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.Customers expect a response whether they call, text, email, use chat or reach out on a social media channel.gettyCustomer experience is often judged by how easy or difficult it is to communicate with a company. Customers don’t care what communication platform a company uses. They simply expect employees to know who they are, understand their history and respond quickly, regardless of whether they call, text, email, use chat or reach out on a social media channel.It’s becoming harder for companies to create that great experience when they use outdated and disconnected communication tools that make employees jump between programs, force customers to repeat themselves, and worse, make it difficult or impossible to find important information. The result is frustration for both customers and employees.I had the chance to interview Damon Covey for an episode of Amazing Business Radio. Covey is the general manager of unified communications at GoTo, a cloud communications company that offers an all-in-one solution to simplify customer communications. His advice is simple and centers around one idea: unify the experience for both customers and employees, and the result will be less churn (again, for customers and employees) and increased revenue.What Is Unified Communications?This sounds like a technical term, and one that I don’t hear mentioned much in smaller and medium-sized businesses, but it needs to be considered for any and every type of business. The easiest way to describe unified communications is that even if you have different ways for customers to co...