Corporate communication is an essential aspect of communication, which needs to be studied and put to use in all the corporate organization

for greater efficiency at work. Corporate communication collectively refers to the communication processes that are meant for corporate or business purposes. Corporate communication refers to the communication within corporate organization (internal communication) as well as the communication between different corporate entities (external communication). Corporate communication can make use of different types of mass media. Internal Corporate Communication Internal corporate communication means the communication within a particular company. Some of the commonly used tools for internal communication can include business meetings, conferences, interviews, presentations or print media like brochures, newsletters, memos, or business letters. Corporate communication is used to make announcements, take decisions and in general share information, views and opinions within organization. Corporate communication is a great way to create a conducive work atmosphere, thus increasing the productivity of the organization. Factors like work hierarchy come into picture during internal corporate communication. Depending on the direction of communication, internal corporate communication can be further classified as horizontal or vertical communication horizontal referring to communication within peers and vertical referring to communication within different hierarchies in the organization. External Corporate Communication External corporate communication process includes communication of the corporate organization with its current/potential investors, customers and other corporate entities. The external corporate communication process includes elements like advertising, marketing and public relations. The external communication is responsible for the way the company portrays itself to the entire corporate world. Thus, external corporate communication is instrumental in creating the brand image or brand identity. The advertisement campaigns and promotional events can be included in external corporate communication as well. Television ads, newspaper ads, radio jingles, promotional events, or even business proposals, affiliation or partnership proposals are included in external corporate communication

Examples Leave page

Executive summary Michaels & Associates educates sales force around the clock using Mediasite. Michaels & Associates needed a fast and accurate way to deliver time sensitive information to its sales force. Located throughout the eastern half of the United States, the sales force already traveled extensively to reach customers. In addition, salespeople were required to travel to the company headquarters for quarterly sales training, taking away from valuable face-to-face time with customers. This process was costly and stressful, and up-to-the-minute information was not efficiently conveyed. Michaels & Associates turned to Mediasite to complement a new camera-equipped corporate headquarters with a cost-effective webcasting solution. Mediasite has allowed the widely-dispersed sales force to access time-sensitive training and new product information at their convenience. At least two presentations are recorded each month, and two-day meetings are held via Mediasite each quarter, eliminating travel expenses. The company has saved approximately $100,000 each year on hotel and travel expenses. Michaels & Associates communicates with manufacturers, distributors and customers through Mediasite, and it has planned future applications of the technology. At a glance Expensive and inconvenient sales training needed 21st-century transformation Mediasite keeps sales people informed of product changes and new rollouts while in the field interacting with customers Company benefits from significant annual cost savings Compelling presentations can be shared with a wide audience at each individual's convenience

Challenge Gary Norman is director of information systems at Michaels & Associates. In this role, he is responsible for corporate network communications for the 135employee company. One of the issues Normans team wished to address was the varying needs of its geographically distributed sales force, located throughout the eastern half of the United States from Michigan to Florida. Sales representatives already had to travel a great deal to visit customers in their region. Quarterly and monthly sales meetings only added to their busy schedules

and cost the company hundreds of thousands of dollars in airfare and hotel expenses. Additionally, the company often needed to be able to transmit information to sales teams quickly when products changed or underwent unanticipated updates. Information is extremely critical in our business, said Norman. If we are not educating our salesforce with accurate and up-to-the-minute information they in turn are unable to provide the customer with critical knowledge to make an effective decision. We desired a solution which would allow for the seamless transfer of information. Two years ago, Michaels & Associates built a new corporate headquarters wired with overhead cameras in the test kitchen and in the multimedia room. Normans team sought to use these rooms to film live sales representative training presentations. In this way, they hoped they could train new sales agents while they were still in the field. The goal was twofold: save the company money and prevent the sales representatives from taking unnecessary time away from customers in their markets. Norman hoped any new technology purchased for this purpose would be a solution for keeping the salesforce up-to-date on new developments within the company. Solution At the request of Norman and the Michaels & Associates CEO, Mike Wolfe, the company had a consulting firm visit their corporate headquarters and make recommendations. They recommended Sonic Foundrys Mediasite rich media recording and publishing technology, which seemed to be just what Michaels & Associates decision-makers were seeking. Once we saw what Mediasite could do, there wasnt a need to explore any additional products. It matched our needs perfectly, said Norman. Norman first used Mediasite to demonstrate the technology to the salesforce. The sales team was immediately impressed with the manner in which the technology allowed them to view and participate in trainings at their convenience, allowing them to focus on interacting with customers during the day. Our sales team was quite pleased to know they could be kept informed of company news and announcements at a time that was convenient for their schedule, explained Norman. Conducting trainings using Mediasite allows our sales team to stay productive during the day when interacting with clients is most important. Result

One of the primary reasons Michaels & Associates selected Mediasite was for its ROI potential. In the two years since purchase, they have achieved a remarkable return on investment. Mediasite has saved us approximately $100,000 per year just on travel and hotel accommodations for our 80-person sales force who would have had to travel to our corporate headquarters for quarterly meetings, said Norman. Mediasite keeps the sales team off the road and in their markets. The sales reps can either sit in the comfort of their living rooms or view trainings at a later time on the network. Today, Michaels & Associates uses Mediasite for at least two presentations per month and once every quarter, the company hosts a two-day meeting where they mediasite up to 20 presentations. Many Michaels & Associates departments now create Mediasite content, including updates on new products and hardware, such as ovens and fryers, which the company markets to distributors who in turn sell to restaurants. Michaels & Associates also controls a web site called foodstage.com where they transmit information from distributors to customers. The companys long-term vision with Mediasite is to provide a communications platform allowing manufacturers to deliver sales training to sales agents throughout the United States. Mediasite has exceeded our expectations, said Norman. With limited resources, we are able to not only create, but share compelling presentations and in the process save money. About Michaels & Associates Established in 1981, Michaels & Associates is proud to be celebrating their twenty-fifth anniversary. The company acts as a broker for large, national food brands, such as Nestle. The company represents approximately 80 brands and sells to distributors, like Sysco Food Service, U.S. Food Service and Gordon Food Service that, in turn, sell the products to institutions, such as schools, prisons and restaurants. The companys combined business operations can successfully provide operators with a wide variety of products and services in all segments of the food service and deli/bakery industry across a 13-state area. Executive summary Berbee achieves rapid ROI and reaches more qualified prospects with Mediasite. To increase its customer reach, Berbee Information Networks needed to include webinars in their marketing mix. Berbee had previously relied on white papers, direct sales and hosted events to convey information about its IT solutions. The wide variety of services

offered by Berbee also made it hard for new salespeople to master introductory training. As a result, Berbee went in search of an effective, collaborative tool and found Mediasite. Mediasite allowed Berbee to efficiently train its sales staff and customers who directly impacted its bottom line. Each trainer saves an average of 40 hours of work, and new hires value the on-demand, easy-to-review training. Additionally, solution specialists have eliminated travel time by using pre-recorded presentations and conference calls to troubleshoot client needs. Berbee used Mediasite to broadcast a seminar throughout the Midwest, gaining 80 new prospective clients. The company developed a learning curriculum for new employees, including quizzes and performance measures. At a glance Company sought webcasting tool to alleviate new-hire learning curve and align with customer preferences Mediasite allows for easy last-minute editing, review and distribution of presentations Simplified training results in established employee curriculum, enabling company growth

Challenge Brad Parkel is Berbees senior web/multimedia designer, overseeing the companys website and multimedia production. Three years ago, as part of a marketing initiative, Berbee interviewed a random sample of clients to determine clients preferred methods for learning more about Berbee solutions. Prior to the interviews, Berbee relied primarily on direct sales contact, white papers and hosted events to inform clients about its services. The survey results indicated overwhelmingly that clients preferred to learn about Berbee via webinars, and the company determined that on-demand webinars also would increase their reach. An eight month search began to select the most effective tool for this purpose. The selection team evaluated several web communication tools, compared options and conducted cost/benefit analyses. We looked at other collaboration and publishing solutions, but the reason we were interested in Sonic Foundrys Mediasite was because it has a video channel and could stream the audio over the Internet. The video allows executives to directly communicate with the audience. Mediasite also allows for live or ondemand viewing, Parkel said. I have a strong background in video production and, for me, this is like having a mobile satellite truck at your disposal to go live anywhere in the world. Its an incredible tool to achieve an easily viewable web presentation.

Solution Berbee purchased Mediasite in 2004. Parkel said, It was easy to deploy without taxing our already busy internal support staff. The system was up and running in one afternoon. Both the audio and the visual presentation come through the computer speakers rather than a phone bridge, Parkel said. The ability to package these presentations on a CD or a thumb drive allows us to do a variety of things with presentations after they have been recorded. Reuse of content allows us to maximize the moment. New hires, especially in the sales area, have a significant learning curve during their first six months on board. Since Berbee provides a wide array of technical services and products, it is not a simple task to learn everything in the services portfolio. The ability to view recorded content as it was originally presented provides not only a first exposure to the material, but also a refresher on-demand whenever the situation arises. Additionally, the recorded training sessions eliminated the need for trainers to present the material each time sales staff were hired. On average, each trainer gained 40 hours of work time by not having to deliver the material live. Lastly, Mediasite content has also been a timesaver for solution specilists who travel to client sites to consult on specific solutions. In many instances, this work can be performed just as effectively remotely with a pre-recorded Mediasite presentation and a conference call. Travel is reduced and customers always receive a consistent, high quality presentation. Result Mediasite continues to be a valuable tool for us. The people who sit down and create presentations right up to the last minute can bring their laptops, plug them in and give a presentation immediately on the fly, Parkel said. As a producer and designer, the flexibility of the tool has been great. If were doing an event, I can set it up as if I am doing a video production. Its very portable. I can place it wherever I want in a room. Recently, Berbee hosted a traditional in-person seminar event in its Chicago branch office on server virtualization and twenty prospective clients registered via the website to attend. With 11 Berbee offices in six states, taking this seminar onthe-road to all Berbee locations was costly, inefficient and impractical. Instead, Berbee used Mediasite to broadcast the Chicago event live to offices in Madison, Milwaukee, Grand Rapids, Cleveland and Cincinnati. Each location projected the presentation to an audience of 10 to 25 prospective clients in their conference rooms. Local Berbee representatives were on hand to answer questions and a moderator was available to submit questions to the presenter in Chicago. 6

By using Mediasite, Berbee reached more than 80 additional prospective clients that self identified as very interested in learning more about the subject. Attendees in the remote locations all gave extremely high marks to the quality of the presentation and the experience of attending a Berbee event via Mediasite. One of the selling points of the web seminar program was that Berbee employees could burn presentations to CD and hand them out at tradeshows. About half of the presentations Parkel records are for executives and staff who need to communicate with clients via webinars. The other half are training sessions delivered to company employees through a learning management system. With the addition of a quiz or performance-based activity, Berbee now has provided a substantial curriculum of internal courses. The comments I hear at presentations are that Mediasite is easy to watch, Parkel said. Viewers do not need to download anything to see the content. They simply open up on their browser and watch it. Our company has grown phenomenally within the last two years. Mediasite allows us to train engineering and sales staff in a way that is scalable and impacts our bottom line.