Best internal communications tools

Choosing the best internal communications tool is essential for keeping employees informed, aligned, and engaged, especially as teams become more distributed and information moves faster than ever. The right platform should make it effortless to share updates, centralise knowledge, collaborate in real time, and build a stronger workplace culture.

In this guide, we break down the top internal comms tools, what they do well, and how to choose the one that aligns with your organisation’s needs, whether you're improving leadership communication, connecting frontline teams, or replacing a legacy intranet.

Why Internal Communications Tools Matter 

Internal communications tools have evolved from simple intranets and bulletin boards to full-featured digital environments — a transformation driven by the changing nature of work. Organisations are increasingly distributed across time zones, offices, remote or hybrid models; frontline workers often lack consistent access to corporate desktops; information flows through many channels; leadership must stay visible; and employees expect recognition, community, clarity, and fast access to relevant content.

In this shifting reality, the communication platform becomes more than a content repository — it is part of the employee experience, culture driver, engagement engine, and often the de facto office for frontline, remote, or hybrid employees. A powerful internal communications tool can improve clarity, reduce noise, support governance and compliance, foster culture, and deliver measurable engagement insights. Conversely, a poorly fitted tool can frustrate employees, fragment information, introduce compliance risk, and diminish trust in internal communication.

Therefore, selecting the right internal communications platform is not a simple decision based on features or cost. It must reflect workforce composition, communication philosophy, governance requirements, cultural ambitions, integration with existing systems, and a clear plan for adoption and content strategy.

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Our Evaluation Approach: Criteria & Methodology

To compare internal communication platforms in a meaningful way, we developed a comprehensive evaluation methodology. Rather than simply cataloguing feature checklists, we assessed each platform against dimensions that reflect real-world organisational challenges:

• Workforce Suitability — How well does the platform support hybrid employees, remote workers, desk-based staff, and frontline employees (including mobile access, offline support, push notifications, role-based relevance)?

• Communication Philosophy Alignment — Does the platform favor structured broadcast messaging, social engagement and community, content governance, or automation and behavioural targeting? How well does it deliver on its stated philosophy?

• Governance and Compliance — For organisations needing controlled workflows, approvals, versioning, audit trails and policy management: how robust and flexible are content governance features?

• Engagement Quality — Beyond simple read receipts, can the tool support deep engagement through recognition, community participation, feedback, discussion, or social elements?

• Analytics and Insight — Does the platform offer data-driven insight into reach, engagement patterns, content effectiveness and audience segmentation, supporting informed communication strategy?

• Integration with Ecosystem — How well does the tool integrate with major digital workplace ecosystems (e.g. Microsoft 365, Google Workspace), authentication systems, file storage, collaboration tools?

• Scalability and Administrative Overhead — Can the platform grow with the organisation? What level of admin resources, governance discipline or onboarding support does it require?

• User Experience and Adoption Potential — Is the user interface intuitive? Easy for non-technical staff and busy frontline workers? Does it encourage adoption, not hinder it?

Using these criteria, we evaluated a set of leading internal communications platforms. The result is not a simple ranking but a nuanced mapping: which platform works best for which kind of organisation, workforce, communication philosophy, and strategic intent.

How We Chose the Best Internal Communications Tools

To ensure this guide reflects real organisational needs — not marketing claims — each platform was evaluated using a consistent, practical framework focused on fit, not hype.

We assessed tools based on:

• Workforce coverage (desk-based, hybrid, remote, frontline, shift-based)

• Communication model (broadcast, social, personalised, automated)

• Governance & compliance capability (approvals, versioning, auditability)

• Engagement depth (recognition, feedback, participation, community)

• Analytics maturity (reach, engagement insight, optimisation support)

• Ecosystem integration (Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, identity systems)

• Scalability & admin overhead

• Adoption likelihood for non-technical and frontline employees

Rather than ranking tools 1–11, we mapped them to use cases and organisational realities, because the “best” tool depends on context.

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Best Internal Communications Tool

Platform	Primary Strength	Workforce Fit	Engagement Style	Governance & Compliance	Best For
Oak Engage	Unified, personalised intranet + app	Hybrid, frontline, desk	Balanced: structured + social	Strong, flexible	Organisations with mixed or frontline-heavy workforces
Staffbase	Multi-channel broadcast comms	Distributed, frontline	Top-down, broadcast-led	Moderate	Large teams needing consistent leadership messaging
Simpplr	Content governance & search	Desk-based, hybrid	Structured, informational	Strong	Compliance-heavy, knowledge-driven organisations
Interact	Policy & compliance management	Enterprise, regulated	Formal, controlled	Very strong	Regulated industries & large enterprises
Workvivo	Culture & social engagement	Remote, hybrid, frontline	Social-first, community	Light–moderate	Culture-led organisations prioritising engagement
Firstup	Automation & orchestration at scale	Global enterprise	Campaign-driven, adaptive	Strong	Multinationals running large-scale comms campaigns
Happeo	Google-native simplicity	Desk-based, hybrid	Lightweight, collaborative	Light	Google Workspace–centric organisations
LumApps	Personalisation & employee journeys	Global enterprise	Structured + personalised	Strong	Multinational, multilingual organisations
SharePoint + Viva	Customisable Microsoft ecosystem	Desk-based, enterprise	Structured, configurable	Very strong	Microsoft 365–centric enterprises
MangoApps	All-in-one value platform	Mixed workforce	Functional, practical	Moderate	Mid-sized orgs consolidating tools
Jostle	Simplicity & ease of use	Small–mid-sized	Informational, low-friction	Light	Organisations prioritising adoption over depth

Choose Oak Engage if you need:

• One platform for desk, hybrid and frontline staff

• Mobile-first access without fragmenting tools

• Both structured comms and cultural engagement

• Strong targeting without enterprise complexity

Choose Staffbase if you need:

• Reliable, polished top-down communication

• Multi-channel reach (app, email, signage)

• Strong leadership visibility across locations

Choose Simpplr or Interact if you need:

• Governance, compliance and content control

• Confidence that information is current and auditable

• A formal, policy-driven internal environment

Choose Workvivo or Happeo if you need:

• Culture, connection and community

• Informal engagement and employee voice

• Fast adoption and a lighter governance model

Choose Firstup or LumApps if you need:

• Global scale, automation and segmentation

• Campaign-based communication journeys

• Multilingual, multi-region orchestration

Choose MangoApps or Jostle if you need:

• Simplicity, value or tool consolidation

• Low admin overhead

• A practical internal hub without enterprise weight

1. Oak Engage — Benchmark Platform for Hybrid & Frontline-Centric Communication

Needs
Increasingly, organisations rely on hybrid or frontline workforces, employees working remotely, on-shift, in retail, manufacturing, field service, logistics or other non-desk roles. These employees often lack constant access to desktop intranets, corporate email or internal comms systems tailored to office staff. What they need is a unified communication environment that is mobile-first, personalisable, accessible from any device, delivers relevant content, and supports both corporate messaging and community engagement.

Strengths
Oak Engage stands out because it is purposely built for hybrid and frontline workforces. Its personalization engine ensures that every employee sees the content most relevant to their role, shift pattern, location or team. That alone reduces noise and increases engagement. Its unified intranet-and-app architecture means every employee — whether desk-based, frontline or remote — accesses the same communication environment. Its mobile accessibility and offline-friendly features make it reliable even in low-connectivity scenarios. Oak also balances engagement and governance, offering structured communication alongside social features, recognition tools, feedback mechanisms, and team-level spaces (hubs).

Core Features
Oak includes: personalised feeds and role-based content delivery; employee hubs and team spaces for departmental or project communication; recognition and shout-out tools for peer acknowledgement; polls and surveys for feedback and pulse checks; news and announcement modules for broadcast communication; mobile-first design with push notifications; analytics dashboards that track engagement patterns, reach and content effectiveness; content governance tools to manage content lifecycle, roles, and permissions; and offline/mobile optimization for shift-based/frontline staff.

Best Use Case
Oak Engage is an excellent solution for organisations that operate across multiple roles (desk, hybrid, frontline), desire a unified communication platform rather than a fragmented mix of tools, and value both structured corporate communication and community/culture-driven engagement. It works especially well in sectors such as retail, hospitality, manufacturing, utilities, logistics, healthcare, or any organisation with a mix of desk and non-desk staff. Organisations looking to unify internal communications, reduce complexity, increase engagement, and build culture across distributed workforces will find Oak Engage a benchmark platform.

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2. Staffbase — Structured, Multi-Channel Communication for Distributed Workforces

Needs
When an organisation needs consistent, reliable communication across a distributed workforce — often spanning different regions, departments and work styles — and especially when leadership needs to deliver clear, polished messages to all employees, a tool that supports multi-channel delivery and predictable broadcasting becomes essential.

Strengths
Staffbase excels at delivering structured, professional-grade internal communication with minimal friction. Its employee app and email integration enable leadership and comms teams to reach large, dispersed employee populations simultaneously. Staffbase’s polished UX and publishing interface ensure that messages reflect corporate branding and tone. It offers segmentation to target specific groups or locations and ensures that broadcast communications reach the right people with clarity and consistency.

Core Features
Staffbase provides an employee mobile app, email communication, digital signage integrations, multi-channel publishing, targeted segmentation by location/role/department, push notifications, content scheduling, and analytics on audience reach and basic engagement metrics (opens, clicks, app usage). It supports top-down communication, news and updates, emergency alerts, leadership messaging, and straightforward dissemination of formal content.

Best Use Case
Staffbase is best suited to organisations where structured, controlled communication is required across a widely distributed workforce for example large retail chains, service organisations, regional offices, or companies operating across multiple geographies. It is ideal when corporate communications must remain professional, consistent, and unified, and when the primary goal is clarity and reach rather than social engagement or community-building.

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3. Simpplr — Governance-Driven Intranet and Communications Platform

Needs
Organisations with heavy compliance requirements, complex documentation, frequent policy updates, and a need for a stable single source of truth require a platform that supports content governance, lifecycle management and reliable search. When outdated information could lead to confusion or risk, clarity and trustworthiness are essential.

Strengths
Simpplr delivers on governance, clarity and controlled information distribution. Its content lifecycle tools help ensure that information remains relevant and up to date. Its search engine is strong, making it easy for employees to find accurate content. The user interface is clean and modern, reducing friction in information access and improving trust in internal resources.

Core Features
Simpplr includes content lifecycle management (review reminders, archiving, version control), structured document libraries, role-based permissions, strong enterprise search, content governance workflows, news and communications capabilities, segmentation and targeting, and a clean UI for easy navigation. It supports article and resource publication, knowledge bases, and ensures that information remains accurate, current and discoverable.

Best Use Case
Simpplr is particularly useful for organisations that treat internal communication as part of their content governance and knowledge management strategy — for example large enterprises, professional services firms, financial institutions, healthcare providers or any organisation where accurate, up-to-date documentation and communication is essential. When reliability, compliance and content integrity matter more than social interaction or engagement, Simpplr offers a strong, stable platform.

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4. Interact — Enterprise-Ready Governance and Compliance Communication Platform

Needs
Organisations operating in regulated sectors (e.g. finance, healthcare, legal, government) or large enterprises with a high volume of policies, procedures and formal documents need a communication system that supports controlled workflows, approvals, audit trails, versioning and high content stability.

Strengths
Interact is mature in its governance and compliance capabilities. It supports multi-stage approvals, audit logs, version control, content ownership and detailed search across large content repositories. Its architecture supports high volumes of structured content and enables compliance teams to maintain control over what gets published and when.

Core Features
Interact offers structured content repositories, policy and procedure modules, approval workflows, versioning, audit trails, role-based permissions, robust search, knowledge base capabilities, scheduled publishing, and tools to manage large-scale, regulated internal content. It also supports communication features for announcements, but its strength lies in content governance.

Best Use Case
Interact is ideal for organisations with rigorous compliance or regulatory requirements — such as financial institutions, healthcare organisations, legal firms, government agencies or multinational enterprises — where accuracy, control, auditability and consistent content governance are essential. It works especially well in environments where internal communication intersects with policy management, compliance training, procedural documentation or regulated workflows.

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5. Workvivo — Culture-Centric, Social Engagement Platform

Needs
When an organisation prioritises culture, belonging, peer recognition, informal engagement and community connection especially across remote or distributed workforces — a social-centric communication environment becomes more important than broadcast messaging or strict governance.

Strengths
Workvivo delivers a workplace social network experience, blending communication with social engagement. It enables community building, employee recognition, informal updates, shared achievements, and peer interaction. Its mobile-first design ensures accessibility for deskless, remote or frontline employees. It brings emotional energy, social connection, and cultural engagement into internal communication.

Core Features
Workvivo includes social newsfeeds, activity streams, employee recognition tools, community spaces for teams or interest groups, content sharing, comments and likes, live streams or video/blog updates, mobile-first UX, push notifications, and an environment that feels more like social media than a formal intranet. It supports both top-down announcements and bottom-up employee voice.

Best Use Case
Workvivo is particularly well suited to organisations seeking to strengthen culture, community, connection and engagement, especially when employees are distributed, remote, deskless or dispersed globally. It works well for companies growing fast, merging teams, undergoing cultural transformation, or building a sense of belonging across diverse geographies.

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6. Firstup — High-Scale Communication Orchestration and Automation Engine

Needs
Large enterprises with global, complex organisational structures, distributed teams, and a need to deliver communication campaigns at scale — often across countries, languages, roles and channels — require advanced automation, targeting, and analytics to ensure messages reach the right audience effectively.

Strengths
Firstup excels at orchestrating communication at scale with precision. It automates channel selection (email, mobile, intranet, etc.) based on user behaviour, delivering messages to the medium that works best for each employee. Its analytics are deep, offering insight into engagement patterns, gaps in reach, and helping teams optimize strategy rather than relying on guesswork.

Core Features
Firstup offers multi-channel publishing, behavioural targeting, automated delivery based on user preferences and behaviour, analytics dashboards showing reach and engagement, segmentation by region/role/language/department, scheduling and sequencing of communication flows, and workflow automation for recurring or campaign-based messaging. It supports global communication campaigns, content targeting, multilingual delivery, and adaptive delivery strategies.

Best Use Case
Firstup is ideally suited for large, complex organisations seeking to run structured, data-driven communication campaigns at scale — for example multinational corporations, global non-profits, large service providers or organisations undergoing major change initiatives. When communication needs to be precise, measurable and adaptive across millions of employees, Firstup is a powerful tool.

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7. Happeo — Lightweight, Google-Centric Communication and Collaboration Platform

Needs
For organisations deeply embedded in the Google Workspace ecosystem, which prioritise fast deployment, simplicity, collaboration, knowledge sharing and minimal admin overhead, a lightweight communication platform integrated with existing tools is essential.

Strengths
Happeo integrates naturally with Google Workspace tools, offering a seamless user experience for organisations already reliant on Gmail, Drive, Docs, and other Google services. Its interface is simple, deployments are fast, and employees adapt quickly because it feels familiar. Happeo supports collaboration, knowledge sharing and lightweight communication without heavy governance or complex setup.

Core Features
Happeo provides internal news and announcements, knowledge sharing, team pages, collaboration features, integration with Google authentication and storage, social engagement components, lightweight publishing tools, mobile-responsive design, and minimal setup requirements. It emphasises collaboration and knowledge flow over heavy compliance or governance.

Best Use Case
Happeo is best for small to mid-sized organisations, startups or fast-growing companies that are already using Google Workspace and want a communication tool that is easy to deploy, intuitive to use, and supports collaboration without the overhead of large enterprise platforms.

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8. LumApps — Enterprise-Grade Communication and Employee Experience Platform

Needs
Large global organisations with diverse workforce segments — across geographies, languages, business units — need a communication platform capable of delivering highly personalised experiences, supporting multilingual content, integrating across ecosystems, and orchestrating complex communication journeys (for onboarding, change management, leadership updates, employee lifecycle, etc.).

Strengths
LumApps offers powerful personalisation and targeting capabilities. It enables organisations to deliver context-specific content based on role, location, language and business unit. Its multilingual support and employee journey automation make it ideal for global enterprises. Furthermore, its integrations across Microsoft and Google environments offer significant flexibility.

Core Features
LumApps includes personalised content feeds, role-based and geography-based targeting, multilingual content management, journey orchestration (onboarding workflows, onboarding communication sequences), content scheduling, analytics on engagement and reach, integration with Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, mobile and desktop access, and modules for news, resources, employee portals and knowledge management.

Best Use Case
LumApps is particularly appropriate for multinational corporations, global enterprises, organisations undergoing frequent structural changes (mergers, expansions, reorganisations), and companies that require segmented, personalised communication across a wide and diverse workforce.

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9. SharePoint and Viva — Highly Customisable, Microsoft-Native Intranet and Communications Ecosystem

Needs
Organisations with deep investment in Microsoft 365, requiring robust document management, custom intranet architecture, enterprise governance, structured content control, integration with Office apps, and the flexibility to build tailored workflows and communication environments.

Strengths
SharePoint plus Viva offers deep customisation, governance, integration with Microsoft 365 tools (Teams, Outlook, OneDrive, Office), powerful document and record management, role-based permissions, and the ability to build a tailored intranet ecosystem that aligns with organisational structure. Its capacity for structured content, compliance, and flexible design makes it a strong foundation for enterprise-class internal communication.

Core Features
The combined ecosystem offers document libraries, permissions and records management, intranet site creation, communication pages, news and announcement modules, Viva’s employee experience features (portals, resources, learning, engagement), integration with Office apps, collaboration tools, search across content and documents, custom workflows, role-based access, and flexibility to build a communication environment customized to organisational needs.

Best Use Case
SharePoint and Viva are ideal for large enterprises already committed to Microsoft 365, seeking a highly customisable intranet and internal communication environment, where content structure, governance, compliance and document management are as important as communication. For organisations needing control over content distribution, lifecycle, permissions and integration with other enterprise tools, SharePoint and Viva offer robust infrastructure.

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10. MangoApps — All-in-One, Cost-Effective Communication and Collaboration Platform

Needs
Mid-sized organisations, organisations with mixed workforce types (desk-based, remote, frontline), or companies looking to simplify their tool stack by consolidating communication, collaboration, knowledge management, and task coordination into a single platform.

Strengths
MangoApps’ appeal lies in its versatility and value. It brings together many functions — communication, collaboration, knowledge management, task and project support — reducing the need for multiple tools. Its cost-effectiveness and flexibility make it accessible to organisations that may not have the resources for heavy enterprise platforms.

Core Features
MangoApps offers internal communication (news, announcements, posts), collaboration tools (chat, team spaces), knowledge management (document storage, resource libraries), task and project management support, mobile and desktop access, frontline worker support, push notifications, and a unified user environment. It aims to cover many operational needs in a single platform.

Best Use Case
MangoApps works well for organisations seeking a practical, consolidated solution for communication and collaboration — especially those with mixed workforce models or limited budgets. It suits companies wanting to streamline tools and avoid complexity, while still supporting essential internal communication, coordination and knowledge management.

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11. Jostle — Simple, Clean, Low-Overhead Intranet and Communication Tool

Needs
Smaller or mid-sized organisations, or those prioritising clarity and simplicity, need an internal communication environment that is easy to navigate, does not overwhelm employees, and requires minimal administration.

Strengths
Jostle offers a clean, intuitive interface, simple navigation, and a strong people directory. Its low administrative burden makes it easy for organisations without large comms teams to manage content and communication. The simplicity encourages adoption and reduces friction, especially for employees who may not be tech savvy or who only occasionally engage with internal comms.

Core Features
Jostle provides straightforward intranet pages, news and announcement modules, people directory and organisational chart, basic content publishing, simple search, team and department spaces, mobile and desktop accessibility, and minimal setup. It emphasises clarity, ease of use and clean presentation over advanced features.

Best Use Case
Jostle is well suited to small or mid-sized organisations seeking to maintain clarity, provide basic internal communication, and ensure adoption without burdening teams with complex workflows or heavy governance. It works especially well when simplicity, ease-of-use, and minimal overhead are priorities.

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Selecting the Right Tool for Your Organisation — Decision Guidelines

Match Platform to Workforce Composition

If your organisation includes frontline employees, shift workers, remote staff or hybrid teams, a platform like Oak Engage offers strong value because of its personalised mobile-first design and unified communication environment. For desk-based teams with stable access, other platforms may also work, depending on other needs.

Align with Communication Philosophy and Culture

If you prioritise structured, polished, top-down communication with consistent corporate messaging, Staffbase or SharePoint/Viva may be ideal. If you prioritise community, engagement, culture-building and social interaction, Workvivo or Happeo may fit better.

Consider Governance and Compliance Needs

In regulated industries or large enterprises with complex compliance requirements, tools like Interact, Simpplr or SharePoint/Viva offer robust governance, content control, approvals and compliance support.

Weigh Automation and Scale Requirements

Large, global organisations requiring multi-channel campaigns, targeted delivery and communication orchestration will benefit from Firstup or LumApps. MangoApps and Jostle offer value for organisations wanting simplicity or an all-in-one solution without heavy overhead.

Evaluate Integration and Ecosystem Fit

If your organisation uses Microsoft 365 heavily, SharePoint/Viva or LumApps often integrate most cleanly. If you rely mostly on Google Workspace, Happeo or LumApps may offer better workflow synergy.

Balance Features, Administration, and Adoption

A powerful platform is only effective if employees use it and administrators can support it. Consider the available resources for content governance, admin overhead, training and maintenance before committing. For smaller organisations or lean communications teams, simpler platforms like Jostle or MangoApps may provide the best balance of functionality and manageability.

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Conclusion

Internal communication today is about far more than sending announcements. It is about culture, connection, clarity, compliance, engagement and adaptation. The tools that support internal communication must evolve accordingly, blending personalisation, governance, social engagement, analytics and accessibility.

Oak Engage provides a modern benchmark for many organisations — especially those with hybrid, frontline or mixed workforces by offering a unified, personalised, mobile-friendly environment that supports both structured communication and community engagement.

However, the “best” platform is relative. For organisations requiring polished broadcast communication across a distributed workforce, Staffbase is a strong candidate. For regulated industries needing tight governance, Interact or Simpplr may be more appropriate. For culture-driven organisations seeking social engagement at scale, Workvivo or Happeo may deliver greater value. For large global enterprises with complex segmentation and content journeys, Firstup or LumApps may excel. For smaller or mid-size organisations seeking simplicity and low overhead, MangoApps or Jostle can meet core needs effectively.

Choosing the right internal communications platform requires aligning tool capabilities with workforce composition, communication philosophy, governance needs, ecosystem alignment and resource availability. The framework and analyses provided here are intended to guide that decision with clarity, insight and strategic focus.

Frequently Asked Questions 

What is the best internal communications tool?

The best internal communications tool depends on your organisation’s workforce structure and communication goals. Platforms like Oak Engage are well suited to hybrid and frontline organisations, while other tools may be better for broadcast-led communication, governance-heavy environments or global enterprises.

Which internal communications tool is best for frontline workers?

Internal communications tools designed for frontline workers should be mobile-first, support offline access and deliver personalised content. Oak Engage is commonly used by organisations with frontline or shift-based employees because it provides a unified intranet and mobile app experience.

How are internal communications tools different from intranet software?

Traditional intranet software focuses on document storage and static resources. Internal communications tools prioritise messaging, engagement and targeted communication. Many modern platforms now combine both approaches into a single employee communication and knowledge environment.

What should organisations look for when choosing an internal communications platform?

Organisations should evaluate workforce composition, communication philosophy, governance and compliance needs, integration with existing systems, analytics and reporting capabilities, and the likelihood of employee adoption when choosing an internal communications platform.