SharePoint is one of the tools within Office 365, and it’s place is at the centre. If the Digital Workplace is like a traditional office, then SharePoint is the lobby from which you can direct people to the meeting rooms (Teams), the filing cabinets (OneDrive), and where everybody is working (Planner). SharePoint is your lobby, your shop window, and through best-practice page design, we can make it look great and work hard for you.
The benefits of an Office 365 intranet is that Microsoft have made connected working part of its DNA. Through its SharePoint platform, businesses are able to deliver content to colleagues wherever they are based on their location, their role, and their own individual preferences – all within a single ecosystem.
There are lots of alternatives to Office 365 in the market, such as Google Sites, Blink Intranets, and Workplace by Facebook. They all work differently, and so at 44, we’re technology agnostic. What matters most is understanding which platform fits best with your company’s culture and objectives. If that doesn’t exist, we can help build it.
Our approach to Digital Workplace Strategy is to focus on two key ingredients: what the business needs to achieve, and what colleagues need. Businesses need to hit financial, operational, and communications goals. Employees need the tools they need to do their job, and to be able to communicate wherever they are. The Digital Workplace should connect these goals together.
Every business has different business goals and audiences. The phrase ‘culture eats strategy for breakfast’ means; it’s better to lean into what your employees are doing, than trying to recreate the wheel. However, we find that intranets (a Digital Workplace), and digital publications (newsletter, emailers) work well as a robust and universal starting point.
Any successful platform launch needs an onboarding strategy to make sure it gets the most visibility, and give every colleague the best opportunity to engage with it. The most effective way we’ve found to do this, is to play back what you’ve uncovered in your discovery phase, back to colleagues. This shows them they’ve been listened, to and that their needs are now being met.
Digital magazines have come a long way in the past ten years. Businesses have made mobile and tablets a staple of colleague onboarding, and magazine technology has developed to fit that need. Digital magazines can now target colleagues by their role, location, and preferences to share content, enable engagement, and facilitate two-way feedback.
Hard to reach employees continue to be a challenge for businesses who want complete digital communications reach. HR and news-led employee apps are a great way to cut through the noise and engage with them digitally through up-to-date content and push notifications.
The reach of digital communications has been expanding into the world of HR in the past decade. Through custom HR and learning platforms, we’ve been able to facilitate the ongoing development and wellbeing of colleagues for our clients, and measure their success along the way.
Our mission is to deliver stunning digital projects that consistently prove measurable results; and be recognised in the digital industry for unique creativity and innovation. Our expertise spans the worlds of business, the humanities and technology.
What makes us different is because we believe that how we deliver digital projects is just as important as what we deliver. That’s why we pick up the phone when you call, and let you know how things are going before you have to ask. These things matter.
Our unique virtual model allows us to build a team around you from our network of industry-leading creatives and developers. This cost effective flexibility makes sure the right people are working on the right projects. No square pegs. No round holes.
Despite a strong history, One Magazine – a crucial tool for Tarmac employee communication – had lost its way and was no longer doing the vital job of reflecting and celebrating the work of Tarmac’s 7,000-strong team. It was up to us to breathe a new lease of life into the channel, and transform it into a must-read resource.
The new magazine and website have become important resources for the Tarmac employee communication team and for colleagues around the business. In its first two weeks, 953 unique users enjoyed One Online, on average looking at five pages per session for almost five minutes. One Magazine and One Online have also been nominated for Best Imagery, Best Feature Writing awards, and won Best Digital Channel at the Institute of Internal Communication Central and North Awards 2018.
If you would like support on a journey like this, or if you’re already on your way and would like some guidance, feel free to get in touch.