Method
Brief Description
Example of situation
Electronic

Emails
A quick and easy way to communicate internally and externally through the business.
This method would be used when an employee wants to efficiently and cheaply contact someone else in or out of the business with regards to giving or receiving information. A disadvantage of this is that instant feedback is not available and information can take time to be received and responded to.
Telephone calls
A quick and easy verbal method of communication in which employees share information over the telephone.
This method would be used if a business member needed to quickly contact another in order to gain or give information. A disadvantage is that this is a non-physical type of communication and therefore body language is not present, meaning that information has the potential to be misinterpreted
Presentations
A visual source of information presented, usually electronically with verbal accompaniment.
When members of the business want to display a business proposition to a large group of people and wish to use verbal and visual presentation of information to appeal more effectively to the audience. A disadvantage of using a different method to present data e.g. an email does not give physical and visual presentation, and instant feedback is not available.
Reports
A report is a formal way of transferring and communicating information
Reports can be used to show upper management the figures and data information within an individual month or annually of individual departments, e.g. finance figures regarding gross profit. This is a good method because it allows efficiency within the company and is easily processed and presented in an efficient manner.
Web pages
An electronic source of information that provides online service to businesses by presenting details to other business members and stakeholders.
When a business wants to advertise themselves online to present visual information internally and externally a web page will be used. A disadvantage is that instant feedback is not available.
Databases
A method of storing large amounts of data or information, this can be personal.
This method can be used to store all the personal company and employee information efficiently. It allows a business to keep track of employees and efficiently look after company data electronically. A disadvantage of using a non-electronic method is that it is harder to access and harder to store, however if electronic systems are not working then this makes it impossible to access electronically
Video Conferencing A multimedia method of communication given between 2 or more people, sometimes in the form of meetings done via the computer in which visual presentation is given.

E.g. when a business executive wishes to give a presentation to his employees or board members but is not able to do it personally i.e. from another geographical location then a Video conference will take place. This is an effective method as it has all the qualities of a face to face conversation such as instant feedback and physical presentation including body language. However a disadvantage is that this form of communication relies on a good internet connection and so can be unreliable.
Spread sheets
A spread sheet is an interactive computer application program for organization and analysis of data in tabular form. Spreadsheets developed as computerized simulations of paper accounting worksheets. The user of the spreadsheet can make changes in any stored value and observe the effects on calculated values.
E.g. when management in a business want to see and evaluate how well the business is functioning a spreadsheet will be used by entering information and working out calculations. For example how much profit a certain department is making e.g. clothing. This can then be used to make an assessment of profit focus points within the company. Using this method is good because it