Beyond the intranet – here’s the employee communication software you need

It’s no wonder the concept of an intranet caused a buzz when it burst onto the business scene in the 1990s. Giving employees a centralized platform to collaborate and access information was so much more efficient than the paper-based and siloed solutions they relied on previously. 

Intranets offered organizations a tool to more easily communicate internal news,  deliver updates, and share documents. It was fabulous technology for keeping employees informed and aligned with the company’s goals and activities. Or, more specifically, SOME employees. This is where the benefits get murky. 

Traditional intranets have always been highly accessible to employees who sit in front of a computer all day. But untethered employees, like those working in frontline roles, are harder to reach and too often left out of the loop.  Despite tech advances, many organizations still lack the tools to reach all employees with consistent messages, no matter where they work.

A better way to extend your relevancy and reach

While modern intranets offer a more streamlined experience than their predecessors,  the evolution of the intranet became too complex for many. Employees abandoned the tech as they realized it couldn’t live up to the promise of one place to stay informed and get all work done. 

What employees really need is a centralized digital workplace. It’s a place where they log in once to read and interact with relevant communications targeted to their needs. It’s also a place that centralizes the right tools for employees to connect, collaborate, and stay productive – whether they’re in the office, at home, or on the front lines. 

This is what Appspace delivers. We combine the best elements from modern intranets and employee apps to create the ultimate employee communication software.  It’s an integral part of our workplace experience platform,  and employees can access it through our mobile app or on the desktop – it’s always their choice.

Give your internal communications an upgrade

According to our research on workplace experience trends, in-office, remote, and hybrid employees cite collaboration and communication among the top three challenges with getting work done.  Let’s take a closer look at the many benefits a modern employee communication solution offers to employees craving seamless information access and connection.

• Inclusive. Democratize access to corporate information by ensuring that every employee – even frontline workers – can access relevant, timely information no matter where and how they work. Although employees can access Appspace on any device, a mobile-first design means it’s optimized for the smartphones and tablets often used by mobile-centric workforces.

• Personalized. The best comms are both relevant and engaging. By delivering tailored content (including newsfeed and layout) based on roles, departments, or individual preferences, an employee communication solution will drastically cut down on time wasted searching for information – a stark contrast to the static, outdated intranet. 

• Collaborative. Organizations can easily create spaces where people come together around shared products, interests, job roles, and more. It’s a convenient virtual destination to ask questions, get expert insights, share documents, and find relevant information in a snap with intelligent search.

• Engaging. The best employee communication software incorporates social feeds, employee recognition programs, and gamification. Including familiar social media features – like the ability to leave emoji reactions, make @ mentions, and share – creates an intuitive experience similar to consumer social apps.  Build a sense of community and boost morale by giving every employee the power to create, share, and participate, whether posting updates, sharing a shout-out, or RSVPing to an event.

• Proactive. Your employee communication software should support push notifications for instantly delivering urgent updates, announcements, or alerts to all staff. When push notifications go to desktop software and mobile devices it’s easier to keep untethered and frontline teams in the loop. Bonus marks if you can also pin critical messages to the top of the app homepage.

• Efficient. Sharing timely and compelling communications doesn’t have to dominate your workday.  Appspace incorporates AI offering powerful tools to automate workflows, including generative text and images, narration, translation, summarization, and auto-tagging of content.Check out 5 ways AI can improve workplace communication.

• Organized. One of the downsides of traditional intranets is that they’re basically digital filing cabinets that can quickly become unruly, hard-to-navigate information repositories. Modern employee communication solutions are easy to navigate so your people can quickly find the information that’s most meaningful to them. Appspace accomplishes this by organizing content into Pages, Topics, and Stories: 
  • Pages are for evergreen information. Use them to share long-form referenceable materials like company policies and how-to guides. 
  • Topics are the framework for keeping Pages organized. By grouping Pages within a Topic in Appspace, it’s easier for employees to find relevant content that lives outside of their newsfeeds. 
  • Stories share news, updates, and announcements. You can use a combination of text, photos, and videos to present internal comms in a news article format.

  
  Appspace also lets you post Events to spread the word about upcoming all-staff meetings, community service opportunities, and more.

• Integrated. 57% of respondents in our research report agree their company has too many workplace communication and workplace management tools, and it would be easier for them to do their jobs if tools were consolidated within one platform. A centralized digital workplace can make that happen.Appspace publishing tools share information with the systems your team uses every day, like Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Webex. This means employees can engage and communicate inside the tools they already use – there’s no need for separate apps or websites.

• Diverse. It’s possible to extend the value of your solution by going beyond internal comms. For example, Appspace gives employees access to space reservation and other booking tools. This makes it simple for your people to book the resources they need whether in the office, at home, or on the go.

It’s not an app: it’s a highly accessible information hub 

Instead of thinking app vs intranet, you can embrace the best of both worlds in one solution. Appspace is designed to let you deliver timely, consistent, personalized communications to all employees – from desktop devotees and on-the-go operatives to frontline forces and remote regulars.

See for yourself. Take Appspace for a spin by visiting the interactive demo.