The right tools can give communicators a major boost.

Without the right mindset and strategy in place, it can be tough to figure out what tech tools will work best for you and how to put them to work effectively.

At Ragan’s Employee Experience Conference earlier this year, Carly Chase, vice president of careers at US News and World Report, hosted a panel on how comms pros can figure out how tech tools can best help them do their jobs. Joining Chase on the panel were Giana Rodriguez, director of workplace and employee experience at GoFundMe, Frances Shields Dedeian, director of HR benefits and DEI at Mitsubishi Corporation Americas, and Jennifer Mitchell, vice president and account manager at ROI Communication.

Shields Dedeian told the audience that the best path forward doesn’t always mandate a complete overhaul of one’s tech stack, but instead requires the ability to build a narrative about what tools work and why. In addition, leadership buy-in can be the budgetary difference between a tool you need and one that doesn’t quite get the job done.

“It’s not always about adding the next shiny tool,” she said. “It’s about showing senior management how the systems we already have tie directly to productivity and performance.”