But SMEs are increasingly playing a greater role in the global economy, making up 99% of the number of importing enterprises and 98% of exporting enterprises in the EU in every year from 2014 to 2020. SMEs are increasingly looking to expand their reach into international markets, however, there are key challenges they face when it comes to exports due to limited resources and restrictions on digital communications, such as a lack of in-person contact.

In the digital first world, where businesses may only occasionally or never meet business partners face-to-face, the human connection in cross-border business relations can easily get lost in the ether. Reaching and securing business in new, international markets requires the right skills and communication tools to hook in and keep business partners informed and engaged, especially in online meetings.

Crossing the cultural barrier with multimodal communication

A recent survey by CultureWizard found that 62% of corporate employees work in virtual teams with three or more cultures and another study by SHRM revealed that 43% of virtual teams use at least two languages to do business, while 22% use at least five languages.

Online communication can already be somewhat restrictive due to the lack of in-person gestures and typical body language used to aid communication, so when it comes to cross-cultural meetings with multiple language bases, it is even more important to ensure online communication is clear and engaging.

Here, businesses should utilise multimodal communication methods, such as images, sounds, video, and real-time text in combination with spoken word, to help deliver their message more effectively during online meetings. For instance, images that accompany text can add extra meaning that transcends language barriers and helps to make meetings more engaging and accessible for all participants. Smart meeting devices that enable users to use additional modes of communication freely during meetings will be crucial in facilitating more effective online communication with the ease of an in-person interaction.

Prevent digital disconnect with interactive collaboration

Engagement in business meetings is vital but a report by Markletic revealed that keeping participants engaged is one of the biggest challenges faced by 71.1% of hybrid meeting organisers. When there is a mix of in-person and virtual attendees, businesses need to ensure they strike a balance in engagement to ensure all participants have the same experience. For online attendees, there can be the sense of a lack of inclusion due to physical distance and not being ‘at the party’. Likewise, in-person attendees may feel a loss of control when meetings are being driven by remote participants. There’s a similar ‘separation’ dynamic going on at each end.

Here, the capability to deliver high quality material through technology that offers interactive features allowing participants to contribute and engage freely regardless of location are essential. Advanced monitors with bright displays and interactive touch screen capabilities can maintain the contribution experience of in-person meetings by allowing remote participants to visually interject and give live, quickly personalised, and easy to follow feedback in the moment. And by annotating directly onto presented content, that feedback becomes both more real, and more enduring than mere voiced comments.

Ensure productive outcomes with direct feedback capture

Online meetings are convenient and often necessary when working with international teams, partners, and clients. However, with so many meetings taking place every day it is important that each minute counts and that all parties gain from the meeting. According to research from Microsoft, inefficient meetings are the number one disruptor of productivity in the workplace. With the top Teams users spending up to 7.5 hours a week in online meetings, it is important to ensure each meeting that is called has every chance to be as productive as possible.

Feedback capture can help boost productive outcomes from meetings by ensuring the information discussed in the meeting is retained and properly actioned afterwards. However, there can often be different interpretations of actions taken during a meeting. Tools that enable feedback to be collected in real-time streamline the process, while also creating a lasting and visible reference copy of it, as opposed to the evaporation that all to easily occurs to vocally expressed ideas once the topic moves on, or especially once participants are exposed to the many, often intense distractions that inhabit the world outside the meeting.

Let technology take the guess work out of cross-cultural communication

Communication is the foundation of good business, and when expanding into international markets and working across multi-lingual and multi-cultural teams, businesses must ensure their communication practices are up to the task. But effective cross-cultural communication doesn’t have to be such a daunting task, with intuitive meeting devices that offer enhanced collaboration capabilities and multimodal communication, businesses can ensure meetings are engaging, inclusive and productive regardless of location.