Everyone needs good general employability and communication skills to succeed in the workplace. A lot of the communication that takes place is informal in face to face and written format. Obviously more formal communications will use communication channels such as documents, email, presentations, telephone and web based formats. It is one thing to be able to put together information and present it in a formal manner but when this information gets more technical there is an increased challenge. This article looks at how you can communicate technical information for different purposes. We will look at what technical information is, why we need to communicate technical information to specific audiences and how this is done. We will also look at some examples of communicating technical information using real-world examples.

What is technical information?

Technical information is information that explores a manufactured or software based product in more detail. It will contain information that is outside the normal scope of understanding for someone that did not have first hand experience of creating the product. Technical information is required for products or services created across a number of industries such as automotive, information technology, education, retail and digital marketing.

To simply define what technical information is, let’s look at an example from the automotive industry. We all know and understand basic information about a car such as number of doors, colour, make, model, manufacturer and even fuel type. What we wont understand is the the technical element of how the car has been manufactured and how it will perform. This more technical information needs to be communicated to specific target audiences such as customers who purchase the cars and automotive engineers that will be fixing the cars in the future. In this instance the miles per gallon, emissions, top speed, recommended tyre pressure and features of additional technology included in the car will need to be communicated with customers who are interested in buying the car. Schematic diagrams of the engine and chassis and specific part numbers used in the engine will need to be shared with mechanics so they know how the car is built, enabling them to maintain and repair it.

Another example would be Facebook, if Facebook kept all of technical information about their website private then software developers would not be able to develop apps that use some of the functionality included in Facebook. In order to make third party app development possible Facebook share technical information that allow developers to embed aspects of the Facebook site using the api or application programming interface. This means Facebook expands their reach into other apps that use the location based features provided by Facebook as an example.

Why do we need to communicate technical information to a specified audience?

Having looked at the previous examples for automotive and Facebook, it is clear that in order to get the best out of how a product is marketed and sold or used; manufacturers need to share more technical information about it with specified audiences. Here are some examples of why we need to share technical information with the types of audience that this effects:

• Sales and marketing: Companies will need to share technical information with sales and marketing departments so that product information can be communicated effectively within legal requirements of product advertising. It’s important that product information is accurate and marketing and sales staff will need specific technical information to design campaigns. They will take key aspects of technical information and use them to target customers, presenting the information in an easy to understand format that shows the key benefits of the product.
• Educating customers: Customers are becoming more demanding and want to know more about products and services so that they can get the most out things that they buy. Specifically with technology such as smart phones and tablets customers want to know what the technical specifications are such as memory size and processor speed. Gone are the days of saying our new pink phone is great. Customers want to know why it is great by exploring technical features of products prior to committing to purchase. Another part of educating the customer is following up with further information after they have bought a product.
• Maximising user experience: Linking back to the previous point, manufacturers need to share technical information to show how end users can maximise their experience of new products. Simply presenting a phone to someone with no additional information is no good. You need to show people what they can do with that phone and how it’s features can be expanded with additional software and apps. This is true for any product or software application, developers need to provide information that shares all the technical features so people get the best out of things. Imagine if a game manufacturer didn’t share how to do the special move sequences of of it’s latest combat game release. End users would feel let down, but by embedding built in tutorials and having online forums to support people that but the game, end users are satisfied with new features like this.
• Educating technical people in the industry: If you create a new product or service, someone in the industry will want to know how it works so that they can take the idea further or create add ons. Think of Google Chrome as a browser, when this is released many people want to develop it further to increase the user experience. Developers want to create plugins and Google need to release information about how the browser is made to enable this. If they do not communicate this technical information then the browser may not get as many users as it will lack this additional functionality. In this instance you can see how not communicating technical information about a product can have negative effects and limits growth.
• Product Development: Looking at the previous point on educating technical people within the industry this is important for product development. You need to obtain accurate records about how the product has been created and build in user feedback capability as part of the user experience to maximise how the product can be further developed.
• Training and Development: Documenting technical information about the product development stage is essential in terms of training your staff on how to use or sell it and that will be working on the updating the product in the future. Making sure the schematics and technical information are easy to access so that all aspects of how everything in a product works together is really important. Communicating this information in a clear and structured manner makes things easy when upgrading the product or making a new version at a later date. Creating design documentation will enable you to supply everyone within the business concise detail on the technical aspects of any product. This can then be summarised into simpler form to meet the needs of individual groups that require information on the product.
• Expanding the brand: Without communicating information about a product or service to external parties then you are not giving them information on how the product and brand can be further developed. Say for example iPhone kept everything about their phones a secret. If another manufacturer wanted to make a zoom lens for the iPhone, they would find it very difficult without understanding the technical aspects of the camera. By sharing technical information Apple can make their product more appealing as additional add on features will be developed to extend the popularity of the brand. Similarly sharing information with internal teams allows for further development to both hardware and software features and potentially increases the overall value of the brand.
• Safety: Last but certainly not least, it is absolutely essential to share technical information that might link to the safety of end users. This is important also in terms of marketing and branding as products need to come with health and safety warnings. An example of this would be developing a new gaming computer that exceeds a safe weight to lift, if the weight of the product is not clearly shared then someone could injure themselves lifting the product. Another example would be the motherboard within the computer might only have the capability to accept a certain type of RAM and if this is not communicated with the end user they could potentially cause damage to the motherboard when performing an update.

How can we communicate technical information to a specified audience?

Technical information can be communicated in many different forms depending on the target audience. User guides could be created using word processed documents and converted to PDFs to easily share over email or the web. Companies might use presentation software to present technical information about their products or service to a large group. This presentation could also be cast over the web using video conferencing software so that a wider audience could be reached. Technical documentation can be made available on the web in different formats such as blogs or more formal web pages. Some companies share technical information on web forums so that people who want to gain a technical understanding of the product can ask questions and participate in discussion. Many companies will used a FAQ page to provide information about products that includes technical details.

To go into more depth on a particular product or service, brand owners might set up a custom video channel on Youtube or Vimeo to share updates about the technical aspects of the product. This can be supported by podcasts that answer technical questions about the product for an even more technically savvy audience that don’t need the visual aspect of video. The thing to remember when communicating technical information to a specified audience is to understand that different types of people require a different level of detail. Looking back at why we need to communicate technical information, technical people within the industry will need much more detailed information than first time users who want to understand the basic technical specifications. This all needs to be considered and technical information needs to be communicated in the correct format and with the right level of detail.

Many software products will contain built in help systems that give full technical details about features and services. Recent developments are also making companies much more aware of end user needs to receive real-time technical information. For example, within automotive car manufacturers are making information more readily available on the dashboard with use of built in visual display units to track performance. This is driven my consumer thirst for knowledge about technical aspects of the vehicle and performance.

When buying new products, customers also want to receive follow up emails with more details on the products. There is a recent shift from communicating technical information in paper format towards becoming digital. This cuts down on costs for manufacturers and is also more environmentally friendly. End user needs are also met as consumers now want to operate in a paperless world more and more.

Some examples of how to communicate technical information

Canon cameras now allow people to download their product user manuals that contain technical information about different models. More information on this can be seen here.

Google analytics is a tool built by Google to monitor traffic to a website. Without understanding how to use the product it is of no use to people that want to track traffic. Google have their own dedicated youtube channel for how to use analytics and also a training a support centre that enables users to learn about the technical aspects of using the product. The content is available in multiple formats and really considers how to communicate technical aspects to a wide audience range from beginner to expert.

This page includes pictures that show how Ford communicated high level technical information on their electrics cars in presentation format.

These are only a few examples but its shows that you really need to consider sharing technical information in a wide variety of formats to make sure it is freely available in the correct level of detail for a specific audience.