How can good communications give tech SMEs a competitive edge?

Have you ever sat on a Zoom or Teams meeting and wondered why the meeting had been called or why it was going on for so long? Or maybe you remember the time when you wished you had seen that embarrassing email to a customer before the team member hit the send button? Or was it when you cringed as you overheard an enthusiastic but poorly prepared person on a sales call?

It's not an uncommon experience. Many UK tech companies are delivering innovation with small, agile teams but success can often be held back by poor communication. As leaders of the business, you may have a strong message, and clarity and purpose in every communication, but does the entire team – especially the newcomers to your rapidly growing firm?

In the world of technology, it’s easy to assume that the size and resources of larger corporations give them an insurmountable edge. However, SMEs have one key advantage that is often underutilised: the ability to be nimble and clear communicators.

Unlike larger firms that may have layers of bureaucracy, SMEs can make decisions faster, communicate more directly with clients, and respond more swiftly to feedback. But this agility can only be fully harnessed when internal and external communications are strong. By making superior communication your organisation’s superpower - whether it’s tailoring pitches to the client’s specific pain points, offering more personalised customer service, or ensuring seamless internal collaboration – you can position yourself as a trusted, responsive partner.

However, to gain the benefit, good communication skills need to be baked in across the whole business, not just with senior level and customer facing staff but from graduate and new entrants upwards. Turning your team into Conscious Business Communicators as early as possible is the first step.

Improving communication starts with assessing where your team currently stands. This is where the Communication Scorecard comes into play. It’s a tool designed to help organisations quickly evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their team’s communication abilities.

The AmberGo Communication Scorecard, for example, offers a framework for team leaders to assess their employees various communication skills - whether it’s clarity in communication, effectiveness in meetings, or the ability to actively listen and understand a prospective customer’s requirements. By taking the scorecard, businesses can pinpoint areas where they excel and identify where there’s room for improvement.

The scorecard gives leaders a snapshot of their team’s current capabilities and provides actionable insights on how to make communication more effective.

In today’s competitive technology landscape, with teams distributed and working hybrid or remotely, these communication skills are now more important than ever. British technology SMEs, with their agility and innovation, have a unique opportunity to leverage effective communication as a competitive advantage.

E-Learning to Build Communication Skills

Recognising the need for improved communication skills in the UK’s tech industry, specialist communications training and coaching company, The Amber Group, has recently joined techUK. Its AmberGo e-learning digital training platform and its first training module: Communicating for Business Impact, is aimed specifically at providing teams with the foundational conscious communication skills they need to become more effective.

This training program provides practical, actionable learning on how to become a Conscious Communicator, defining goals for every business interaction, using different questioning styles to achieve your objectives, mastering active listening, improving vocal impact and closing conversations effectively.

Author: Paul Smith, Director of Communications and Leadership Training Specialist, The Amber Group

techUK's Skills, Talent and Diversity Programme activities

techUK work with our members to signpost the opportunity of digital jobs and ensure these opportunities are open to people of diverse backgrounds. We strive to help our members attract, recruit, and retain a diverse workforce, whilst showcasing their work on workplace innovation. Visit the programme page here