Getting the most from your two-way radio system

Digital two-way radios can be a great tool to build a robust and reliable business communication network around.

Far improved than the analogue radios of years gone by, and more reliable than mobile phones, especially within busy environments or when workers could be working in hazardous, isolated locations, digital two-way radios offer a plethora of communication benefits to businesses across a variety of industries.

Why then, according to a Hytera whitepaper, do 82% of workers still say their organisation uses mobile phones as a primary communication system?

The answer is simple – education.

As improved and more advanced as digital two-way radios have become, there has been a lack of educating users about these benefits and, as a result, many businesses remain under the impression that two-way radios are still a “click to talk” device with limited applications.

That could not be further from the truth and in this blog we lay out how businesses and organisations can get the most out of a digital two-way radio system.

Integrate with your phone network

There is a misconception among some businesses when it comes to radios and mobile phones that they have to choose between one or the other. The reality is, that with a phone connectivity solution, workers with two-way radios can make and receive telephone calls the same as they would with a mobile phone.

This is useful because, for all the benefits of two-way radios, there is going to be some situations when workers also need to have access to a telephone – like those working within a central office or contact centre.

This also has the added benefit of keeping a mobile phone network within your business, but removes the costly monthly tariffs which come with having a phone and also means that employees with a two-way radio can remain in contact with a main office even from within an area with poor mobile reception, or when mobile networks are congested.

Understand why you need two-way radios

This is a fundamental problem when it comes to lack of utilisation within businesses and points to the issue of a lack of education about their uses.

Far from just a means of voice communication, digital two-way radios can be adapted with other solutions and applications to create an almost bespoke business communications solution.

For example, one business may require safety functions like “man-down” which provides alerts and warnings as to when an employee might be in danger or injured.

Another business may not require these safety solutions but could need multi-device or multi-system connectivity to ensure employees have open lines of communications within busy environments.

Without understanding these benefits and how they can fit within your business’ communications network, you will never get the full benefits of a two-way radio system or you may end up bringing in solutions you don’t really need.

Upgrade your batteries to Lithium

There is nothing more disruptive within a communication network than when devices stop working or can’t deal with consistent heavy use.

Upgrading to Lithium-Ion batteries can help to ensure your digital two-way radio network remains operational for longer – without disruption caused by the need to continually charge the devices – and ensure your employees can communicate when they need to.

Establish a management system

Once you’ve brought digital two-way radios into your business the next step is trying to manage the network and ensure it helps rather than hinders your employees’ ability to do their jobs.

Within larger business’ in particular, it can be impractical to try and manage an entirely open network of communications, so to keep things more manageable you should consider operating your radios within “user groups”.

This ensures that employees are only receiving or hearing messages which are relevant to them or their job function – rather than being interrupted by every conversation going on over the network.

Solutions like single-site digital trunking can help your business organise a large set of employees into multiple work groups and help you manage your network more effectively.

There are of course many more benefits you can get from implementing digital two-way radio systems into your business. For more information click here