Business metrics are different ways to measure outcomes in a variety of ways for a variety of things. There are metrics to measure internal communications as well as external communications. According to Manzoor, "there are four simple metrics that internal communications should be measuring. The four metrics she suggests are 1) employee engagement, 2) open and click-through rates, 3) responses and feedback, and 4) turnover rate" (Manzoor, 2018). It is important to measure these employee metrics because employees can be choosy which jobs they take in this economy.

Every area of business has specific performance metrics that should be followed (Klipfolio, Inc., n.d.). One of the main reasons for metrics on internal communications is to make sure employees are engaged and more informed. When employees are more informed and engaged, they tend to be more productive. Another metric that can be used is the number of shares. For example, if the company has a blog, it would be great to know how many of your employees share the post on their social media accounts with their friends and family. The reach could be exponential.

As to external communications, there really isn't much difference in the metrics that you would measure. The company would want to monitor open and click rates and responses and feedback. There are several companies that sell software that sets up "dashboards" to help measure both internal and external metrics.

The business environment does impact internal communications metrics. An example introduced in the article "Measuring Communication Effectiveness Across Diverse Backgrounds and Missions" says that a "climate survey" at IBM shows that there is considerable ambiguity in views of what IBM is and that lower-level employees tend to report that they have more information about IBM than the managers do; whereas, in the Air Force, lower-level employees do not know as much about the Air Force as the "higher-ups".

Measuring internal and external communications through business metrics is just as important, if not more important, as the metrics for the financials such as the quick ratio and the debt to equity ratio. If the employees are not happy, then they will not recommend the products to their friends and family. Because of this, it is important to make sure your employees are engaged and informed. In most cases, the employees are the company.

Required

Identify two quantifiable business metrics that could be used to measure the ROI associated with the key considerations in the above post. How do those metrics measure what is intended? How might they inform decision making or next steps? Support your reasoning with examples, if possible.