fa358a09

The Communicator’s Guide to Building a Corporate Intranet: Part 5

Wed, 03 Apr 2024 13:42:33 GMT

All the hard work in building your new intranet is almost done. The day is quickly approaching when the cord is going to be cut and the new intranet will go live. But it would not be wise to do so without a plan in place. Change is about to occur . . . and this presents a great opportunity to create awareness, build excitement and rally employees around something that is not only exciting, but all positive.

Part 5 concludes this series on building a corporate intranet and offers tried and true communications strategies to ensure a successful launch. Read it here .

The Communicator’s Guide to Building a Corporate Intranet: Part 4

Wed, 03 Apr 2024 13:29:12 GMT

All of the content is defined and organized in your intranet. Now employees need to be able to find what they are looking for quickly and painlessly. You don't need to be a design professional to architect a great intranet. Rather, you just need to be empathetic to the people who you are communicating with (i.e. your employees).

Part 4 of The Communicators Guide to Building a Corporate Intranet provides tips and tricks for designing and architecting your intranet even without a MFA. Read it here .

The Communicator’s Guide to Building a Corporate Intranet: Part 3

Wed, 16 Aug 2023 13:00:02 GMT

Content is king. We all know that. Without good content that is interesting, fresh and relevant, it is human nature to ignore, right? At the same time, thinking about all of the content that needs to exist in an intranet can be overwhelming to think about. Why take on this responsibility and risk? Part 3 of The Communicator's Guide to Building a Corporate Intranet takes you through several basic steps to simplify the process of ensuring the right content for all employee constituents and to ensure the success of your new intranet.

To read Part 3 in Reworked, click here .

The Communicator’s Guide to Building a Corporate Intranet: Part 2

Fri, 11 Aug 2023 12:20:56 GMT

Getting out of your comfort zone and being the go to source for understanding your organization and the communications needs of ALL employees . . .

After having knee surgery earlier this year, I was lying on my bed slightly in pain but bored out of my mind. So, I started thinking about the work that I have been doing helping some of the great companies in the U.S. reimagine their corporate intranets. I decided to put pen to paper (well, I started typing on my laptop), and within a week, I had written a 7,000 word piece covering all that one (communications professionals that is) needs to do to go about concepting, building and then launching a new intranet. I approached Reworked about what I had written. It was definitely too long for a single article, so we transformed it into a 5 part series.

In Part 2, I talk about the importance of communications professionals really understanding their organization and becoming the go to source when it comes to knowing who their employees are, where they sit (or don't) and what their need for information is. Once this is known and HR and IT confirm the ability of the company's employee database to allow for such granularity with regard to the targeting of content, then opportunities abound for creating an intranet that is personal, relevant and offers an excellent end user experience.

To read Part 2 in Reworked, click here .

The Communicator’s Guide to Building a Corporate Intranet: Part 1

Tue, 08 Aug 2023 12:06:15 GMT

Getting started with a new corporate Intranet does not have to be daunting . . .

In Part I, I make the case for communications professionals (in partnership with IT) to be the ones to champion and spearhead an intranet project given their expertise in dealing with content -- and of course, an intranet is all about content right? I then offer thoughts on how to make the case for moving forward with this project given that so many current intranets are decades old and in need of modernization.

To read Part 1 in Reworked, click here .

More on the latest in workplace technologies: Employee Communications Management Platforms

Mon, 08 Aug 2022 16:39:43 GMT

Who are Employee Communications Management (ECM) Platforms intended to help? First and foremost, communications professionals! Second and foremost, employees! Everyone's a winner. To read more about ECMs, read my latest article in Reworked by clicking here .

A New Category of Employee Communications Technology?

Tue, 12 Apr 2022 21:09:53 GMT

With all of the M&A transactions that have taken place over the past few years in the burgeoning ECA tech market and the hundreds of millions of dollars pouring in from the capital markets, the time has come for tech solution providers to focus on the communications professionals charged with putting these tools to work.

Enter Employee Communications Management platforms. Just like their brothers and sisters in sales (customer relationship management - CRM) and human resources (human capital management - HCM), ECM platforms offer a holistic, rather than siloed, approach to helping communications pros by providng them with a multi-channel way to getting information to, engaging and communicating with their employees in the way or ways employees prefer.

Read more in CMSWire about how the ECA tech market is evolving into the ECM tech market.

M&As in the Employee Communications Applications Market and What They Mean for Communications Pros

Mon, 31 Jan 2022 02:05:41 GMT

2021 was a momentous one for M&A transactions in the Employee Communications Applications (ECA) market. And it is likely to continue in 2022. Why not? There are a lot of employees in the world, interesting times in the labor market and many tech companies (some with purpose and some without) looking to take advantage of a pretty significant opportunity.

Check out my most recent thoughts in CMSWire on what’s going on in the ECA market and the questions that Internal Communications professionals should be asking before making important software technology decisions.

Want to discuss/debate? Email me a jcorbin@ecaconsultinggroup.com or IM me on LinkedIn .

Another Merger in the ECA Market

Fri, 18 Jun 2021 17:49:44 GMT

SocialChorus and Dynamic Signal - a good thing for internal communicators?

More big news in the communications tech industry last week with Dynamic Signal and SocialChorus announcing they were merging. Having been part of and following the burgeoning “employee communications applications (ECA)” market since the beginning, I was excited to see more activity in the area. At the same time, I scratched my head trying to figure out what this transaction means for internal communications professionals looking to use technology to be more effective and efficient in their work . . . Click here to read more of my thoughts on this transaction in CMSWire.

Returning to Work? Mind the Gap!

Mon, 24 May 2021 19:34:59 GMT

There are now dozens of employee communications software solutions on the market with many claiming to solve the various challenges that internal communications professionals face in their day-to-day work. How does a non-tech savvy comms pro know what to choose and then to have a product conversation with IT? In my recent article in CMSWire, I provide a three-step diagnostic for ensuring that all employees have access to information and are communicated with and that no gaps exist in a company's employee communications applications (ECA) tech stack.

To read the CMSWire article, click here .

More News in the Employee Communications Applications (ECA) Industry

Fri, 19 Mar 2021 13:29:03 GMT

Less than two weeks ago we learned that two of the original players in the ECA industry -- Staffbase and Bananatag -- were merging. This week there was more news: email solution provider, Poppulo, was merging with digital signage company, Four Winds Interactive.

The Poppulo/Four Winds deal was brought together by private equity firm Vista Equity Partners. From the announcement, it’s unclear who will be running the show or the big picture strategy. However, there can be no question that a lot is going on in this constantly evolving industry of ECA and that the employee experience opportunity is front-of-mind with many, especially the money people. Unfortunately it took a pandemic for this to occur. But now that it has, companies need not look too far to discover numerous solutions to facilitate the sharing and delivery of content and important information.

As I have written previously, the question for internal communicators is which solution is the right one. Don’t let dollar signs confuse you. And keep in mind that everyone is going to hold out their shiniest logos. As the industry consolidates, it will get easier to make buying decisions because there will be a more concentrated number of vendors to choose from. But that wont necessarily help distinguish one from the other.

Workplace technology/software is developed to address business problems. If it doesn’t, then what’s the point? To make sure you are on the right track in selecting the ECA that will hopefully solve your specific employee communication challenges, ask yourself the following three questions, the answers to which should guide you in selecting the appropriate ECA:

Who in my organization am I looking to communicate with or get information to that I am currently challenged in doing so?
What technology/software are we currently using to communicate or distribute out important information?
Does that technology/software allow me to communicate with or get information to the employees that I am currently unable to do so?

What makes for a true Internal Communications partner?

Thu, 04 Mar 2021 19:26:21 GMT

I woke up this morning to some pretty significant news in the internal communications/employee communications applications (ECA) industry -- Staffbase, the pioneer in employee apps in Europe was merging with Bananatag, a leader in email design, distribution and measurement from Canada.

Having been in the ECA space pretty much since its inception, I attended dozens of employee communications events where both companies participated and demonstrated their respective solutions. I always was impressed by both companies for what they were doing to address the challenges of the IC industry and considered them “frenemies” since we were all looking to sell our solutions to the same people. But what impressed me the most was that unlike many of the other technology companies and vendors in the exhibit room, both companies, like mine, were founded and grounded with a mission to help and partner with internal communications professionals. Many of the other vendors present had started out as something else and had pivoted their business models to take advantage of the opportunity that the “employee experience” had to offer.

The merger today of Staffbase and Bananatag is significant news because it’s the first real merger of substance in the ECA industry. More important is that, from what I know of both companies and their founders (I’ve had the opportunity to break bread with several of them), the ethos of the combined entity will be dedicated to and focused on partnering and helping those professionals responsible for getting information to, communicating and engaging with an organization’s most important audience -- their employees.

Here is the press release announcing today’s news.

Employee Communication Applications and Digital Transformation: 5 Reasons to Transform Now!

Wed, 03 Mar 2021 14:55:34 GMT

Digital transformation is one of those loaded buzz phrases that many an IT department are thinking about . . .

But its importance has taken on new meaning especially with communications professionals who have been catapulted into the spotlight as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic. In my most recent article in Business2Community, I discuss 5 reasons why organizations need to transform their communications through ECAs or risk falling behind. Click here to read "Employee Communications Applications Set the Stage for Enterprise Digital Transformation: 5 Reasons to Transform Now!"

Podcast: Internal Comms & Tech, a marriage made in Heaven?

Wed, 24 Feb 2021 13:29:27 GMT

Had a lot of fun speaking with Kate Isichei on her podcast Engagement Express. A few key take-aways:

1) Internal comms is now definitively a "business unit" in the enterprise. As a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic, companies realized the importance of employees as their most important audience and depended on IC during this trying time.

2) Given the proliferation of mobile technology and especially employee communications applications, internal comms is now responsible and has the opportunity to make important tech buying decisions.

3) A stronger relationship and partnership between employee communications and IT is a necessity to ensure that organizations can effectively and successfully reach ALL of their employees, especially the 3 billion "deskless" workers who comprise the global workforce.

Click here to listen to the podcast. Enjoy!

Authority Magazine - Digital Transformation and Taking Your Company to the Next Level

Wed, 03 Feb 2021 14:39:08 GMT

Is “Digital Transformation” a newly coined buzzword or does it actually stand for something that businesses need to take seriously in order to remain competitive? In an interview with @AuthorityMgzine I discuss 5 reasons why all companies must act now to digitally transform their organizations. It was also a lot of fun to reminisce about my career, my journey as an entrepreneur and how in my work with @StaffbaseHQ I continue my adventure in helping internal communications professionals be more effective and efficient in their work through the use of technology.

Excited to have been interviewed in Arianna Huffington's Authority Magazine on Digital Transformation. To reach the interview, click here .

The Numbers Don't Lie

Fri, 22 Jan 2021 21:09:57 GMT

When I first switched careers and went from running a communications consulting firm to starting a communications software company, I knew that there was power in the data that could be made available as a result of analytics and the collection of millions of data points in the cloud.

I always told my team that if, rather than having to rely on anecdotes and hunches based on past individual experiences, we could give our customers, the internal communications professionals, an ability to point to numbers that demonstrate the value of their work, we could greatly enhance their credibility and standing within their respective organizations.

This belief became a reality with the publication of the Staffbase 2020 Internal Communications Retrospective. The report looks at the significant impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on employee communications and engagement. It evaluates employee engagement by geography, content, and industry with some interesting findings, including:

An 11% increase in employee engagement globally during the peak of the crisis.
High engagement on pandemic-related information, especially when communicated by senior leadership; but equally high engagement on fun and interactive topics such as contests, gamification, and giveaways.
All industries analyzed experienced year-over-year increases in engagement (except for the Travel & Leisure industry).

My key takeaway from the report is that cloud computing and SaaS-based solutions present a significant opportunity for the internal communications industry. We can now see and know not only whether a person has opened a piece of content, but how long they spent engaged with it. Furthermore, we can understand what types of content—like video, short articles, long articles, or posts with animated gifs—are more engaged with than others.

We now have access to data that allows us to continuously evaluate the effectiveness and success of our work and, when necessary, change our content creation strategies if what we are doing isn’t working. We no longer have to rely on impressions, anecdotes, and gut feelings when reporting to senior leadership on the importance of our work. The numbers say everything and, with the right commentary around them, don’t lie.

Employee Apps and the Growing Communications Tech Market: One Size Does Not Fit All

Sun, 08 Nov 2020 15:41:17 GMT

Employee apps are just one "vertical" segment in the ever-increasing and ever-confusing Employee Communications Applications technology market. They join other verticals including intranets, collaboration, chat, messaging, email and task/project management solutions (among others). This is a problem for the internal communications professional looking to solve particular communications challenges when trying to communicate, get information to and engage with their employees. In this article that I recently published in Business2Community (click here to read it), I start to tackle the ECA market in an effort to clarify the various solutions that are part of it and to help IC professionals and their IT counterparts select the right solution or solutions that will allow them to be more effective and efficient in their work (and ensure that they don't select the wrong vendor).

Business2Community - Employee Communications Applications: the Most Utilized but Unknown Tech Market to Exist

Fri, 25 Sep 2020 17:06:37 GMT

And Now it's Even More Critical to Business Success

In the midst of a global pandemic, there's a new category of technology that is unfolding right before our eyes. Yet most of us aren't aware of it. And considering the impact of COVID-19 on the workplace, it's a really important one that the C-Suite and communications professionals should take note of, not just IT.

I am pleased to have contributed this article to Business2Community. Please click here to read more.

A New Kind of Employee Communications Consulting Firm

Tue, 08 Sep 2020 12:28:58 GMT

What does a person who has been in the communications industry for 25 years, ran a Communications/PR firm and founded a mobile app technology company do after selling that company to a private equity firm? Consult, of course :-)

I am excited to introduce you to my next venture, ECA Consulting Group.

Through ECA Consulting, I am putting to use what I have experienced and learned over the years to help employee communications and IT professionals better navigate the increasingly complex Employee Communications Applications (ECA) technology market that includes many familiar software tools including Slack, Microsoft Teams, Yammer, and of course, theEMPLOYEEapp (the tech company I started). Over the past several years and since tech analyst group Gartner defined ECA as an actual “market,” it has grown considerably and as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has taken on a critical role in the workplace. It has also become very confused as more and more tech companies try to take advantage of the “employee experience” opportunity.

Having witnessed this firsthand, ECA Consulting will help organizations better understand and more effectively take advantage of the employee communications applications market, ensure that the appropriate tools are selected to communicate with all employees and then successfully execute on their employee communications programs.

HR and Communications: Why Should They Be Mutually Exclusive Post-COVID 19?

Wed, 26 Aug 2020 16:40:18 GMT

Who’s ultimately responsible for the employee in a post-COVID 19 World? More and more articles are being written about the future of the workplace as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. So, the other day, I did a search to see what was being said with an eye towards the role of the communications professional.

One of the first articles to appear was a new report issued by Gartner entitled “Future of Work Trends Post-COVID-19.” Interestingly, the sub-title of the report was "Long-Term Impact & Actions for HR."

I couldn’t help but ask myself why Gartner, the leading analyst organization that focuses on all facets of technology, was only writing on the actions HR should take? What about the role of the communications professional who is equally responsible for contributing to the experience and information well-being of an employee. I couldn’t help but ask myself why Gartner was only speaking to HR when a little more than a year ago they issued reports on the importance of employee communications and classified employee communications applications (ECA) as a growing and important new technology market.

This is an issue that has always confronted the Communications business unit within organizations, and especially those charged with internal communications. The question I have always asked is, since their target audience is the same, why aren’t the business units of Communications and HR more closely connected. Having worked with hundreds of organizations in deciding upon and implementing an ECA, I have seen some companies where the two very closely collaborate making for an excellent partnership with the employee as the ultimate beneficiary. However, this is more of an exception than the rule and in most instances, HR and Communications sit on different floors or even locations. I have seen firsthand, situations where these professionals sometimes view themselves as having competing interests when in fact they are the same. This is unfortunate and doesn’t have to be the case.

In a post COVID-19 World, an opportunity exists for HR and Communications to come together to really make for a cohesive and excellent employee experience. Certainly HR professionals will have to address issues like health insurance, benefits, payroll and other things that are the reason why employees come to work. Similarly, communications professionals will have to address matters critical to an organization like crises (when they occur) as well as leadership, company developments and other important changes.

But the two are not and need not be mutually exclusive. Getting information to, communicating with and engaging an organization’s most important audience, its employees, is the responsibility of both HR and Communications. Whether recognized or not, HR professionals are communications professionals too. Hopefully post-COVID, organizations will recognize this and will encourage both business units to be more closely aligned in their work. This will not only ensure greater internal consistency and continuity, but a much improved and overall employee experience.

Employee Communications: A Syllogism

Tue, 11 Aug 2020 16:40:16 GMT

Why aren’t employee communications applications getting the attention they deserve?

Gartner, the leading technology industry analyst group, classified ECA as a technology “market” back in the middle of 2019. But how come no one seems to be paying attention to it during these precarious times when employees are scattered about working at home and, for the most part, not working in centralized locations?

Let’s paint the picture of what ECA is all about:

A syllogism (remember that term from elementary school?):

    Sales (CRM) is a critical component of a company’s success.
    Employee Communications (ECA) is a critical component of a company’s success.
    Therefore Employee Communications is as important as Sales to a company’s success.

Maybe this isn’t exactly a syllogism, but it was fun writing it and I hope that it makes the point that Communications as a business unit (and employee/internal communications as a subset of it) should be receiving the same attention and respect as business units like Sales. Unfortunately, this is not the case in most companies.

However, the technology industry is starting to recognize this (thanks to @Gartner @mikegotta @adampreset). And why? There’s a lot of money to be made in addressing matters pertaining to the employee experience especially in a post-COVID 19 World. Similar to the way in which companies like Salesforce.com realized decades ago the opportunity to develop customer relationship management (CRM) solutions, Workday and Intuit saw an opportunity to take HR and financial/bookkeeping services to the cloud, a new breed of tech company is now looking to take advantage of the employee communications opportunity that has always existed, but is now being elevated in importance.

This is a great thing for us as communications professionals. Just like they did for sales, HR and finance, tech companies are now developing solutions to help us be more effective and efficient in our work. But this will only help if we are knowledgeable on what the ECA market represents, understand the landscape of it and are willing to talk about it so senior leadership and IT are aware of its importance and understand why these solutions are important to invest in.

Hope I can help in furthering this important cause

Employee Communications Applications: All Those Crazy Names

Tue, 28 Jul 2020 16:42:58 GMT

In formulating my next move in the communications industry, I decided to check out how the landscape of the Employee Communications Application market (as defined by Gartner in May of 2019) has changed since I sold APPrise Mobile. I searched “employee communications applications” in Google and wasn’t totally surprised by the number of vendors that now exist since employee communications as a tech opportunity is so massive. What surprised me were some of the crazy names that many of the vendors had chosen to call themselves.

When we named theEMPLOYEEapp in 2014, we figured it was pretty descriptive of what we were doing and, as a result, we wouldn’t have to spend much time explaining it to prospective customers. As one of the first to go to market with an employee communications mobile application, we were also fortunate that the name was still available. However, the results of my search revealed that other companies looking to address the challenge of getting information to, communicating and engaging the billions of workers around the World didn’t have the same concern that I had in selling something new to the enterprise and, to a certain extent, changing the behavior of people in the way in which they consume content at work.

The following “ECA” vendors caught my attention: mobile app companies called Happeo, Fliplet, Smarp and Bonfyre; intranet solutions Jostle, eXo and Unily; collaboration and messaging tools with the names Chanty, RedBooth and Brosix.

Huh??? Oh wait, I get it. Naming a company with a word that doesn’t exist in the dictionary immediately justifies a unicorn billion dollar valuation, right?

My point isn’t to bash creativity. Rather it is to highlight a few things:

First, the market for employee communications applications has exploded. There are now dozens of companies looking to take advantage of the huge opportunity of communicating with employees, an organization’s most important audience. For the next reason and as a communications professional myself, this is a great thing for our industry.

Second, “Communications”, as a business unit in the enterprise, is rising in importance and technology companies are finally working to address the challenges that we face in our work just like they have for decades for business units like HR, Sales and Finance. This is particularly true with regard to “deskless” workers who don’t have the benefit of easy access to computers, intranets and in many cases don’t have corporate emails. However, considering the COVID-19 pandemic and the new reality of an increasingly remote workplace, how is a business supposed to operate without someone responsible for communicating and engaging with employees? Communications professionals should have a seat at the table given the critical importance of the work they do (especially now) and this is something we have been arguing about for decades. Maybe we are close to succeeding.

And third, the ECA market is becoming more confused than ever and the crazy names don’t help. Between mobile apps, collaboration, chat and messaging solutions, intranets, email solutions and task/project management tools (all of which fall under the umbrella of ECA), if you examine the website of each vendor out there when searching “employee communications applications” (something that I have done), it is real tough to decide which one is most appropriate to solve a particular employee communications challenge. They all claim to do the same thing and to address it all. But I know from experience, this isn’t the case and is something organizations that are now looking for a new ECA or to evaluate their current ECA tech stack should consider before making any decisions.

I have many more views on this that I plan to share. In the meantime, it would be great to know what you think. Please share your comments and thoughts.

Return to Communications Consulting

Thu, 16 Jul 2020 16:43:46 GMT

It’s been years since I left the public relations consulting business to start a mobile app technology company focused on internal/employee communications. After recently selling the company to a private equity firm, I have now decided to make my return to an industry that I have a tremendous passion for and that has given me so much in return, both professionally and personally.

I have some big ideas on how I plan to do this and it’s definitely not going to be in a traditional way. A lot has changed in the communications industry over the years, especially given the role and evolution of technology and this is something I am now intimately familiar with.

Here’s my high level observation having met and worked with so many communications professionals since founding APPrise Mobile and theEMPLOYEEapp: a significant opportunity exists for those who are willing to go out on a limb to try new things; to butt heads with the C-Suite to get additional budget; and to challenge IT when we disagree with the approach they are taking or the tools being selected to reach all employees in an organization. Bottom line - technology exists to help us be more effective and efficient in our work, there’s a lot to choose from and one size does not necessarily fit all.

Much to talk about here and I am psyched to once again start sharing my views. Really looking forward to rejoining the conversation!