Typically, this phrase is used by “management” types. Where did it come from?
Baseball. When you hit the ball and start running the bases, you have to touch each base as you pass it (assuming you get more than a single). IIRC, if the runner doesn’t actually touch the base as he turns the corner, he could be called out if someone on the opposing team tags that base while holding the ball (and the umpire agrees that the runner missed the base).
I’m not sure exactly how that led to the use of the phrase “touching base” meaning to keep in touch or keep someone aware of the status of something, but that’s the explanation I’d always heard.
Business is full of sports metaphors. It’s part of the “old boys network” they use to keep women from getting ahead. 
[Foghorn Leghorn]
That’s a joke, I say, that’s a joke, son!
[/Foghorn Leghorn]