The digital workplace is evolving quickly, so it is important to boost business connectivity with an intranet. Teams are always connected, but it’s no longer critical that they are together. In today's interconnected world, organisations are increasingly growing across multiple countries and time zones. This brings up a myriad of communication and connectivity challenges when attempting to work seamlessly as a global structure. However, a modern, global company intranet software brings companies closer together by increasing business connectivity and enabling workforces to work better as one.
According to the Information Age, true collaboration enabled through unified communication and collaboration optimises productivity by eliminating up to 75% of the time wasted by the average employee looking for the right information. In turn it can reduce project times by 40% and minimise lost business opportunities by keeping employees connected across multiple devices.
Having employees that are connected to your organisation will skyrocket both employee productivity and collaboration levels. But, you may find the most difficult part is making sure your employees feel connected to your company and aligned to its goals. How do you make sure your employees are connected to your organisation's vision, culture, work and people? This is where an employee intranet plays a crucial part in boosting your business connectivity.
The role of business connectivity in the workplace
Successful business collaboration is built on the premise of connectivity and being able to connect employees. Business connectivity not only dictates how we work, but how quickly we are able to get things done and how well we are able to collaborate with one another.
Without effective internal communications, efficient processes and engaged staff, companies are quickly reduced to a chaotic free-for-all, rife with miscommunication, misalignment and mix-ups. At its most obvious business connectivity can be understood as how employees interact with other colleagues: verbally, digitally or otherwise. To connect staff isn't as one dimensional as we're led to believe. Connectivity can also be understood as how we interact with our company as a whole, interpret its values and engage with our work.
For employers, it’s incredibly important to understand what connectivity means for today’s digital workplace. This helps employers to maintain healthier relationships with their employees and create a more positive working environment as a whole.
What is connectivity in the workplace?
1. Communication
Communication - verbal or otherwise - is probably the most obvious reflection of business connectivity in the workplace and how we might connect employees. Staying connected within teams and across departments is the best way to make sure that objectives are aligned, staff are engaged and that collaboration stays effective. Many modern-day digital workplaces facilitate this sort of connectivity, allowing for instant messaging, social interaction and much more.
2. Value
To connect staff, it's important that they see the value in their day to day jobs. Do staff believe in the objectives of their company? The goals, the values? Do they believe in leadership? Connectivity can be an emotional connection as much as it is a physical one. Understanding how employees connect to the business in this respect can be crucial when it comes to inspiring motivation and overall productivity.
3. Information
Exchanging information is integral to business connectivity. Without information, connectivity is redundant. A consistent flow of information between employees and their employers can make the biggest difference when it comes to deciphering how to connect employees to the business as a whole. It imparts value and gives employees a feeling of inclusivity and importance.
4. Job satisfaction
Employees that feel connected with their work and are engaged on a day-to-day basis are far more likely to produce better results than those that don’t. Providing employees with the right tools to do their job as well as with the recognition they need to feel inspired are effective ways of helping them reach their full potential and more connected to their work.
5. Interaction
Our working relationships and how we connect with one another at work on an emotional level can be incredibly important in the workplace dynamic. Business connectivity is exceptionally three dimensional. To connect staff, having teams work in harmony and complement each other is paramount to achieving maximum productivity and job satisfaction.
When considering how to connect employees, making sure that teams interact is critical to building bridges between both individuals and other departments. Encouraging frequent social interaction and team building exercises are but a few ways of cementing lasting, meaningful relationships.
A common challenge of the global workforce: Disconnected teams
With companies and employees working differently in the post-pandemic era, it’s becoming more of a challenge to improve business connectivity. Whether employees are working in different offices across the globe, or they’re on the road all day without access to a computer, one thing is clear; connection is the fuel to better engagement and productivity.
To keep employees connected, having a central company intranet is the most successful solution. At Oak, our intranet software gives you all the tools you need to connect your workforce, wherever they are.
So, let’s tackle this common workplace challenge and get straight into the top 10 tips for improving your business connectivity with an intranet.
Connect the disconnected:
10 top tips for improving business connectivity with an intranet
1. Communicate core company values
For your employees to feel connected to your company, they must resonate with the company’s core values. Ensure your employees know, understand and remember the core values by making them easily accessible. A great place to start is by sharing them on your company intranet homepage.
2. Celebrate and recognise employees
Employees need to feel appreciated. Employee recognition in the workplace has to be a vital part of a company's culture and in today’s work environment, the companies with the most satisfied and productive employees are the ones that have the best training programmes and well-skilled staff. Employee appreciation, from celebrating an employee’s work anniversary to recognising an employee for a job well-done, being recognised will make them feel more connected to your company, improving the connectivity of your business as a whole.
3. Provide opportunities for feedback
Allowing employees to provide regular feedback helps your team contribute and stay connected. Give your employees a voice by offering various ways for them to submit their feedback. You can do this through online forms, employee satisfaction surveys or quick polls to name a few.
4. Make company resources easily accessible
Business connectivity is not all about messaging or calls. In today’s modern workplace, not every employee will have a stationary workspace, many are deskless and are on the go traveling for work. For these employees, it’s important to be able to access company resources and communication channels with ease to stay connected to their organisation. Having remote intranet access provides employees with the tools they need to get their job done effectively, as well as staying connected to their colleagues.
5. Create a sense of community
Many workforces are spread across different locations and shift patterns. This means it is critical to create a comfortable work environment and sense of belonging. Help your employees feel connected by creating a close-knit culture. How can your intranet help? Recognise and celebrate employee milestones or set up digital community hubs and spaces where likeminded colleagues can interact.
6. Drive collaboration
Collaboration is essential in every modern digital workplace, especially one that includes remote, hybrid and fronline workers. Your company intranet should have the best tools and methods to optimise team collaboration and business connectivity, wherever they are. While your intranet is your main collaboration portal, social intranet tools also provide the ability for employees to feel more connected to their company and peers by giving them a little bit more of personalisation.
7. Secure mobile capability
Having access to your company intranet through a mobile device is essential when it comes to business connectivity. By allowing employees to access information on the go, organisations can enhance engagement, productivity and collaboration. It is critical that employees, especially dispersed frontline colleagues, can access the information they need, wherever they are.
8. Market to each other
In large companies, various departments have little idea about what’s going on with other departments. This is especially true for remote workers who are generally only engaging with the handful of people they need to do their job. To improve your business connectivity, your intranet is the perfect place to feature articles and videos describing exciting events happening in each department.
9. Encourage a social intranet
A powerful feature of an intranet is that it gives everyone in the company a voice. Social aspects from posting blogs, commenting, posting on the company homepage timeline, instant messaging and more. It’s also useful to discuss what's going on in the company with other employees, whether that be on group chats, or directly messaging another colleague from a different department.
10. Create a personalised experience
If users are seeing what they want and need to see on an intranet platform, they are more likely to enjoy using their company intranet, ultimately improving enterprise connectivity. This could be as simple as showing company news, specific to a particular department or team suggesting relevant internal content based on an employee's interests and skills. Our smart delivery of tailored news can help to achieve this.
11. Market to each other
In large companies, various departments have little idea about what’s going on with other departments. This is especially true for frontline and deskless workers who are generally only engaging with the handful of people they need to do their job. To improve your business connectivity, your intranet is the perfect place to feature articles and videos describing exciting events happening in each department.
12. Encourage a social intranet
A powerful feature of the intranet is that it gives everyone in the company a voice, from blogs, commenting, posting on the company homepage timeline, instant messaging and more. This is especially important for connecting disconnected employees. It’s also useful to discuss what's going on in the company with other employees, whether that be on group chats, or directly messaging another colleague from a different department.
13. Create a personalised experience
If users are seeing what they want and need to see on an intranet platform, they are more likely to enjoy using their company intranet, ultimately improving business connectivity. This could be as simple as showing company news, specific to a particular department or team suggesting relevant internal content based on an employees interests and skills.
The future of work
Your company intranet is the key to developing flexible working and remote workforce while maintaining high levels of employee engagement. Furthermore, those who take the time to effectively leverage their intranet will ensure your workforce is strong, collaborative and productive. At Oak, we provide digital workplace solutions that boost business connectivity. Designed to power productivity, collaboration and connectivity, we help some of the world’s largest and most successful brands bring their businesses together and work better as one. Being the future of work, our goal is to tailor our intranet in line with your core company values, giving you a next-generation digital solution with your people in mind.
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