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Category: Mobile Intranet

6 leading Office 365 intranet examples with screenshots

Posted on by Dan Hawtrey

At Content Formula we work extensively with clients who have Office 365, delivering intranets that are based on Office 365 technologies, and leverage its many features. These intranets both improve processes but also help employees to take advantage of the extensive Office 365 toolset, increasing adoption and value.  Through our work weve built up a strong library of Office 365 intranet examples that illustrate some the key good practices and approaches to consider when implementing an Office 365-based intranet.

Clients frequently ask us for compelling Office 365 intranet examples and to see screenshots. Here are five of our favourite examples with the relative key takeaway. You can also see some of our best SharePoint intranet examples too in a companion article.

 

1 Entain – a modern digital workplace hub in Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams

Entain Microsoft Office 365 intranet homepage
Entain’s Microsoft Office 365 intranet homepage

 

Looking for a an Office 365 intranet? What are your options?

    • You can build something yourself using the tools and templates available in Office 365. Check out the SharePoint Lookbook which provides ready-built templates.

    • We provide a fixed price packaged service for companies wanting an Office 365  intranet. This means you get a best practice intranet that is more likely to succeed than a DYI approach.
    • Consider Lightspeed Modules. Web parts which integrate seamlessly into SharePoint and Office 365 whilst enhancing the overall experience and plugging functionality gaps.

    Talk with us ›

 

Entain needed a hub for their digital workplace serving 25,000 employees worldwide – including 15,000 retail workers. We designed and built a modern intranet that could be accessed from any device.

With the widespread adoption of Microsoft Teams across the business in the last year, we capitalised on this by delivering the intranet to people within the Teams app – also on mobile as well as the desktop app.

Entain Microsoft Office 365 intranet in Microsoft Teams including mobile
Entain’s Microsoft Office 365 intranet in Microsoft Teams including mobile

Delivering intranet content and features in Microsoft Teams means that the experience is more naturally integrated with the work day of the each employee. This has also provided us with an opportunity to connect with other systems – including Service Now and Oracle HR. The overall digital employee experience is vastly simplified versus the old, rather fragmented, approach.

 

2 Boehringer Ingelheim – an Office 365 intranet that aligns to the wider digital workplace

Boehringer Ingelheim office 365 intranet example

 

Over the last three or four years the digital workplace concept has grown increasingly popular, particularly with the exponential growth of Office 365. The idea of a designed, coherent and consistent user experience across different workplace tools is an attractive one, and can help drive efficiency, employee engagement and the adoption of different tools.

The digital workplace has also had a significant influence on the evolution of intranets; modern intranets are ideally placed to be an attractive entry point (front door or launchpad) into the wider portfolio of applications across the digital workplace. An intranet strategy should therefore address the intranets relationship with the digital workplace.

When we were asked by global pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim (BI) to undertake user and stakeholder research and craft a new intranet strategy, it soon became clear that the intranet had a critical role to play in the companys digital workplace and Office 365 journey. The intranet team loved our suggestion that MyBI be positioned as a virtual assistant to help employees understand and navigate the companys new Office 365-powered digital workplace.

We also advised on design and technical matters, focusing on a new persistent, personalised intranet toolbar that helps employees navigate the digital workplace. This personalised My Tools menu is an essential speed dial to different apps and Office 365 tools, and also features access to personal Teams spaces. The new improved intranet is now ideally placed at the centre of the BI digital workplace, helping employees navigate the new array of tools at their fingertips.

View Boehringer Ingelheim case study >>

 

3 Xcapital – an Office 365 intranet that delivers critical business process

Xcapital Office 365 intranet that delivers critical business process

 

Office 365 brings many opportunities to improve critical business processes using the variety of different tools available, sometimes in combination with each other. An intranet based on SharePoint Online that can integrate with Office 365 tools such as Teams can also play its part. This means that the intranet can help to deliver an important business process;  driving efficiency, increasing the value and adoption of the intranet and leveraging your investment in Office 365 all at once!

XCapital is  a UK-based private equity house that provides funding options for ambitious businesses. A core activity for the company is a research and due diligence process that identifies and assesses new businesses to invest in.  In order to streamline and standardise a process that was primarily carried out by email and was highly inefficient, we were asked to create a digital workplace application that would automate the eight steps of the process and ensure staff follow correct procedures.

We used Microsoft Teams to create a place for templates, information and documents relating to each step, with automation ensuring each stage has been completed. The intranet also plays a key role. A custom SharePoint Online page displays key data about each target acquisition, including the stage at which the opportunity is at, and provides access to the relevant Teams space. This seamlessly integrates the due diligence process into the intranet, with users viewing key information and feeling they are accessing one system.

View Xcapital case study >>

 

4 ?WhatIf! – an Office 365 intranet that enables Knowledge Management

Office 365 intranet that enables Knowledge Management

 

Knowledge Management (KM) has been around for nearly twenty years but many organisations still have not quite nailed down a successful way to find, capture and re-use valuable knowledge that is generated through everyday work, collaboration and projects. Intranets are often a part of the solution, and regarded as a key channel in knowledge-sharing.

?What If! helps organisations to innovate new products, services and ways to operate. The team engaged us to deliver a new modern intranet that would integrate with Office 365, but they also wanted to solve the conundrum of how to manage the knowledge that emerges from projects. With Microsoft Teams being used for project collaboration, we built a compelling new intranet based on Livetiles intranet-in-a-box that also incorporated a simple but highly effective KM solution. In a special folder in Microsoft Teams, project teams can add valuable knowledge documents that can still be accessed once a Teams space has been archived.

On the intranet each project has its own page; these are automatically created with key data and have all the valuable knowledge documents accessible, all tagged with the correct project metadata. A custom search also helps employees find project files based on different criteria, increasing knowledge flow and exploiting the link between a SharePoint Online intranet and Microsoft Teams.

View ?WhatIf! case study >>

Find out about our Livetiles SharePoint intranet-in-a-box offering

 

5 Haines Watts – an Office 365 intranet with onboarding workflows and bots

Office 365 intranet with onboarding workflows and bots

 

Office 365 provides organisations with a flexible and ever-expanding get of tools and services that help build up digital workplaces over time, for example increasing collaboration or using workflow to digitise simple processes. A SharePoint Online intranet that sits alongside Office 365 can also take a similar approach, using the easy ability to integrate with Office 365 tools and other elements of the Microsoft stack to keep on extending the power of the intranet.

At UK accountancy firm Haines Watts we had already deployed an Office 365-based intranet that was full of useful features, but we continued to add new functionality. One of these was the introduction of a simple workflow tool that leverages Office 365 and can be used by non-technical staff to create workflows to help improve processes. For example, employee onboarding is made easier by using forms, documents and data capture across seven steps to manage and automate the onboarding process for a new starter and notify all the various parties that need to complete actions. This framework can be repeated for other types of processes such as ordering a company credit card, with the client able to create the workflow themselves.

Further extending intranet capability, we also deployed a chatbot to help employees ask questions. Named after Haines Watts founder, Cyril is accessible from every page through a chat facility and uses Microsofts natural language framework LUIS to help employees find what they need. We designed and helped train the bot. Cyril has become more sophisticated over time through machine learning and added capabilities, again turning the intranet into a versatile platform to drive information flow and process efficiency.

View Haines Watts case study >>

 

6 Moving Made Easy – an Office 365 intranet that powers core operational processes

Office 365 intranet that powers core operational processes - example

 

Sometimes your Office 365 intranet can actually be your digital workplace, with the ability to carry out all your core processes and activities without entering another system. This can be the case where you have unique needs to meet and where a customised intranet and digital workplace completely configured around the way you work makes sense. Although this approach will not be applicable to all companies, it can deliver significant efficiencies and support digital transformation.

Moving Made Easy help house builders sell their homes by assisting customers with the sale of their existing homes. We helped them replace their ageing property management system with a new highly efficient intranet and digital workplace based on Office 365 where employees can carry out all the major activities associated with selling a house. Taking an end-to-end approach for the process for each individual sale,  integration with external systems and automation has helped to increase productivity.  Dashboards and reporting through Power BI has also given management a powerful overview of data, and even created different views for customers to check the status of their sale. We’ve also continued to work with the client to expand and improve the digital workplace, providing a system which has had a major impact on the daily work.

View Moving Made Easy case study >>

 

Need other Office 365 intranet examples with screenshots?

Case studies and screenshots can provide a good reference point for what is possible with a modern intranet on Office 365, as well as revealing good practices and impactful approaches. If you need other examples of great intranets why not check out our full list of case studies.  Alternatively you can also get in touch.

 

lightspeed modules
Find out more about Lightspeed modules

Looking for a fast and easy way to set up a Office 365 intranet? 

At Content Formula, we have recently introduced our own intranet product Lightspeed Modules. Lightspeed Modules adds custom web parts to your intranet, effectively extending the value of SharePoint, and filling many of the gaps in branding, design and functionality.  

Because Lightspeed Modules provides a complete set of web parts to support a SharePoint Online intranet, it can prove to be highly cost effective, because it reduces the need to purchase a more expensive “in-a-box”  intranet solution.

If you would like to find out more about Lightspeed Modules or any of our other services, get in touch. We’d love to hear from you. 

Find out more about our Office 365 intranet services...

Request a call back with one of our Office 365 experts, for a free consultation about your business.

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7 secrets for a successful mobile intranet

Posted on by Joe Perry

A mobile intranet is a critical part of the digital communications ecosystem of any organisation. It is especially important for any company that has a significant deskless frontline workforce. For employees with no easy access to a computer during the working day, and sometimes no corporate digital identity, a mobile intranet app available on a personal device can become their major channel for digital communication, as well as the most efficient. The mobile intranet connects employees who work in factories, shops and out in the field, or who are on the go with their employers and each other.

Successfully delivering a mobile intranet is not always straightforward, and some organisations end up with low adoption and low value. Many of the necessary prerequisites for the success of a standard browser-based intranet, such as governance and the right operating model, also need to be in place for the mobile equivalent. However, there are specific approaches to consider for a mobile intranet too.

In this post, we’re going to explore seven secrets for a successful mobile intranet implementation and launch.

1 Focus on the right features for a frontline or mobile workforce

Intranets have multiple purposes and support a wide variety of organisational processes. Mature platforms and integrations mean there has been a blurring between intranets, digital workplaces, collaboration platforms and employee experience platforms. Generally, a mobile intranet may feature slimmed down versions of the capabilities of a desktop intranet, although it might include similar access to all the content included.

When you select what to include on your mobile intranet, always ensure tools and content are suited to the needs of your frontline workforce, and capabilities that are useful for work on-the-go are featured. Previously, we looked at eight must-have features of a mobile intranet, all of which are relevant to frontline staff, including:

  • Ability to remove barriers to access for all, including your frontline employees
  • Strong news delivery
  • Social collaboration and community tools
  • Content and reference pages
  • Employee directory
  • Event calendar and registration
  • Integrations that make sense for on-the-go employees or solve frontline use cases
  • Easy administration and robust analytics.

2 Go for a mobile app over responsive design

SharePoint Online and in-a-box intranet software such as LiveTiles are now responsive, ensuring they are optimised for viewing through a mobile device. While this is good news for mobile intranets, it is rarely a good standalone approach. To drive adoption and value, you need to have a mobile intranet app that will:

  • Deliver a controlled user experience for your intranet
  • Make it easier to take advantage of the native features of a mobile device
  • Allow for better governance, and meet security and compliance needs that won’t compromise your user experience.

Most intranet software will have its own dedicated mobile application, such as the SharePoint app. Intranets are increasingly being viewed through Microsoft Teams, and your Teams app could actually become your mobile intranet app too. A mobile intranet that is only delivered through responsive design is unlikely to get good adoption.

3 Make your mobile intranet available on personal devices to reach frontline staff

A major use case for a mobile intranet is to reach your frontline employees. In many companies, frontline employees do not have access to a desk, a corporate owned-device or even a digital identity. To make a mobile intranet work for this population, it must be available on personal devices, both Android and iOS. This is the only way to realistically achieve good adoption with this demographic; kiosks, shared terminals or home access will not work so well.

Some organisations get nervous about doing this due to security concerns, but also because they don’t want to intrude on employees time outside of work. In countries like the US where some sections of the workforce are on the clock employees, and Germany where workers councils are deeply involved in decision-making, there may need to be more careful consideration. However, there are many examples where a mobile intranet available on personal devices has proved valuable and popular with frontline employees, and has been highly successful in delivering organisational benefits.

4 Take advantage of native device features

Mobile devices have a range of native features that we are all accustomed to using when interacting with apps in our non-working lives. A mobile intranet app can take advantage of these features to boost effectivity, including push notifications, the ability to upload photos, voice detection and even GPS detection. In particular, push notifications can prove essential for important alerts, although they should be used sparingly. The ability to submit photos can also be useful for creating specific intranet apps focused either on engagement or transactional processes, such as reporting on-site issues that are best illustrated by a photo. Intranet chatbots also work well on a mobile device.

5 Focus on an easy onboarding and authentication experience

If you are launching a mobile intranet app, you must make it easy for users to load it onto their device and authenticate into it. If this process has numerous difficult steps to go through, it can be a barrier to adoption and a major headache for the intranet team.

For users of corporate mobile devices, this is usually in your control, and there will be a standard way to distribute apps. For employees adding an app to their personal device, it gets more complicated. Most intranet software providers will have convenient ways to do this – often through the Google Play or iOS app store – with a relatively straightforward way to authorise and authenticate the device and person. When launching your mobile app, make sure this process is as smooth and simple as possible.

6 Always get compliance and security teams involved early

Compliance and security constraints can scupper the success of a mobile intranet, negatively impacting the user experience. For example, if a mobile intranet requires VPN access, or a user has to type in a long password each time they enter the intranet, it is going to be difficult to drive adoption. Mobile intranets and apps can make compliance teams and senior executives nervous, particularly when they are accessible on a personal device.

Security, regulatory and compliance needs must be met, and can impact what is on your intranet. By engaging early with compliance and security teams, you can usually achieve the best possible experience for your mobile intranet.

There is actually a lot of middle ground that can allow you to deliver an excellent mobile intranet experience that meets all your regulatory and security requirements with very little compromise on the UX. This is often achieved by removing a small amount of content or a particular feature from your mobile intranet that is difficult from a compliance point of view, leaving the other 95% of your intranet still delivering value. Ensuring MDM approaches and app governance is in place and adding the right Terms & Conditions when employees sign-up can also make a big difference here, ticking the boxes for legal and compliance functions.

7 Consider content and links in the mobile experience

Even if you have a beautiful, responsive mobile app or an adaptive design, the success of your mobile intranet is dependent on having the right content. Most intranet content is not designed to be read on a mobile, resulting in long text and endless scrolling, or the use of imagery which is hard to view or read on a mobile. (There are lots of issues with posting images featuring text on your intranet don’t do it!)

It’s not always easy to achieve, but make sure to consider content from the mobile point of view. Generally, taking a mobile-first approach to content for example, with more concise text broken up into shorter areas with indicative subject headings is actually good for the desktop view too. If you have a policy, for example, a clear, short summary with the salient points will be welcomed both by your mobile intranet users and those with desktop access.

Most intranets now act as a convenient gateway to the wider digital workplace. Providing links to other systems is very useful, but you may need to provide a different view on the mobile intranet as you might need to link to different apps or not link to systems that are unavailable or not optimised for mobile devices.

Making your intranet mobile

Making your intranet mobile is essential, particularly if you have a frontline workforce. Use these tips for a successful implementation. If you want to discuss your mobile intranet, why not get in touch!

Staffbase alternative & competitor

Posted on by Dan Hawtrey

Choosing an employee app product: LiveTiles Reach or Staffbase?

Over the past three years, the internal communications app market has expanded significantly – there is now considerable choice for internal communication teams hoping to deploy mobile apps that can help support digital communications, engagement and efficiency. This is especially encouraging in that it has helped reduce the digital divide that previously existed between knowledge workers who sit at desks and the frontline staff who dont. At last, frontline staff can be brought completely into the digital workplace and digital communications landscape, a situation that has been particularly important during the pandemic when all staff need to be fully connected.

The depth of choice around employee apps leaves digital communications and IT teams with decisions to make – how do you decide which product is best for your workforce? In this article, were going to explore some of the questions to consider when thinking about this and, as an example, illustrate the differences between LiveTiles Reach and Staffbase.

A maturing market

Internal communication and employee engagement apps are a topic that we have explored on this blog before, for example, weve looked at the must-have features of an internal communications app or mobile intranet such as strong news delivery, access to an employee directory and appropriate digital workplace integrations. More recently, we explored different ways an app can transform your business, from enabling digital transformation for all staff, to supporting business continuity, to driving innovation.

We believe the competition in the app market is breeding better products with a wider depth of features, as well as a growing number of viable options. Clearbox Consulting publishes arguably the definitive guide to employee apps with reviews of the key players, and will be adding many more workforce apps to the next edition of their report.

The maturity in the market, alongside the range of different offerings, means there is an emerging differentiation in the type of benefits different apps deliver, as well as the organisations and relative scenarios they are a good fit for.

Which employee app is right for my organisation?

There are a number of factors that will influence which employee app an organisation will deploy, including:

  • Range of features
  • Costs both implementation project budget and ongoing costs
  • Existing digital workplace and digital communication channels
  • Required speed of implementation
  • Branding considerations
  • Workforce demographics
  • Devices in use
  • And more.

Depending on companies needs and priorities, different products are going to tick the boxes for some organisations and not for others.

What questions should I think about?

When considering if an app is right for you, here are some of the initial questions which are worth thinking about:

  • What am I trying to achieve with my employee app, and how does it fit into my digital communication strategy and digital workplace roadmap?
  • How are different groups of employees going to use the app on a day-to-day basis?
  • What is the relationship between the employee app and other digital channels and apps in use, like our SharePoint intranet or Microsoft Teams?
  • Will we have to duplicate content across our SharePoint intranet and the app or are the two well integrated?
  • What are the essential features and the nice-to-have features on the app?
  • Are employees going to access the app on personal devices as well as corporate ones?
  • Does the app satisfy technical, security and legal standards and commitments?
  • What are the costs of the apps roll-out and the subsequent ongoing costs to effectively manage it?
  • Can disconnected employees without digital identities and / or Microsoft 365 licenses access the app?
  • When do we need to deploy the app and how easy is it to roll out?
  • Are there any other dependencies that need to be in place to launch the app?
  • Does the vendor tick the right boxes and what does their support look like both at the beginning and on a long-term basis?
  • Are all our internal stakeholders going to be on board with this app?
  • What about other considerations like branding, the quality of user experience and how employees actually download it?

Comparing products: Staffbase vs LiveTiles Reach

Both the kind of things you need to consider and the market differentiation of products is well illustrated by comparing the relative strengths of two internal communication mobile apps – Staffbase and LiveTiles Reach.

Staffbase is perhaps the best known product of the two thanks to its strong marketing but both Reach and Staffbase are mature products in the space with many large global clients (as well as lesser-known ones). Reach is now part of the LiveTiles suite of digital workplace products and so can be extended if required. Staffbase is a one-product company.

In our view, both are strong products that serve slightly different market needs, with Staffbase being a significant investment (in time and money) to become the base for your digital communications, and LiveTiles Reach being a more turnkey alternative that fits in with your existing digital workplace while still delivering world-class digital communications and engagement.

Lets look at some of the similarities and differences based on areas weve already mentioned.

 

FactorLiveTiles Reach
LiveTiles Reach		Staffbase
Staffbase
Market positionStrong app offered by established digital workplace tech providerMarket-leading employee app with a strong reputation
FeaturesFeature-rich with emphasis on internal communications and engagement and social interactionFeature-rich with emphasis on internal communications, engagement and social interaction
CostsGenerally lower costs, both initial and ongoingGenerally higher costs, both initial and ongoing
Ease of implementationQuick and straightforward can be implemented in days. Because of this its easy to set up a proof-of-concept too.Needs more planning and involvement
Existing digital channelsLiveTiles Reach is designed to complement and integrate with your existing digital channels, not replace them. It can also work as a standalone channel.Although there is flexibility to be just an app, Staffbase is designed and priced to be your primary digital communication channel and employee experience provider, with both intranet and app capabilities
Microsoft 365 integrationExcellent integration with Microsoft 365 and Azure ADIntegrations across a library of connectors
Workplace demographicGreat for frontline employees, including those without M365 licenses or digital identities. Very strong on organisations that are merging and looking for a tool to bridge two businessesGreat for frontline employees, including those without M365 licenses or digital identities
User interfaceGood UI that end-users and authors will pick up quicklyGood UI that end-users and authors will pick up quickly
BrandingSimple branding optionsAdvanced custom branding options
SupplierWell-established provider with strong reputation and global reachWell-established provider with strong reputation and global reach

Dont know what app is right for you? Visit our Reach page and get in touch!

An employee app is a powerful communication vehicle which is absolutely essential for frontline communications, but its important to invest in the right product to meet your needs.

For example, both LiveTiles Reach and Staffbase have their strengths, yet differ in their appeal. If you want an app that is highly effective, but also reasonably priced and extends the power of your Microsoft 365 digital workplace, without the need for your frontline staff needing an Office 365 license, then LiveTiles Reach is a great choice. If you have a bigger budget and are looking for something to replace your intranet and become the centre of your digital workplace, then Staffbase might work for you.

If youd like to discuss which app is right for you, visit our LiveTiles Reach page and request a demo. If you like what you see we can also arrange a trial or proof-of-concept.

7 ways an internal communications app can benefit your company

Posted on by Dan Hawtrey

The COVID-19 crisis has made it clear how important it is to connect remote employees and make sure they are well-informed through reliable and trusted digital communications channels. Business continuity, employee engagement and wellbeing are just some of the benefits that we have seen digital channels provide; of course, these elements have always been important, and will continue to be so when the pandemic is under control.

Weve written frequently about the contribution an employee mobile app with a focus on internal communications can make in connecting staff, particularly those on the frontline. Weve explored the reasons for deploying an app, such as its convenience and focus, as well as the essential features of a good mobile intranet app. This time around, were going to explore the deeper business benefits that can be achieved by deploying an internal comms app like LiveTiles Reach which is available to all employees.

Here are seven ways an internal communications app can contribute to the transformation of your business.

1 Enabling digital transformation by connecting all employees

In the past, there have been many challenges when creating a digital workplace and related digital communications channels that all employees can access. Having all employees accessing your digital workplace is usually a prerequisite for true digital transformation, ensuring:

  • You are a truly connected company
  • There is a level playing field in terms of access to information
  • Everyone has a voice
  • All employees can experience productivity gains and contribute to innovation.

Traditionally, it has been difficult to connect frontline employees to corporate intranets and channels which are predominantly aimed at knowledge workers. This is not only due to poor mobile experiences or a lack of access to corporate devices, but also because frontline employees sometimes do not have the Microsoft licenses or digital identities to access the intranet. There are also examples of other groups of employees who are disconnected, including outsourced workers or new acquisitions of companies where it takes time to arrange access for newly onboarded employees.

An internal comms and digital workplace mobile app that is available on both employee-owned and corporate devices is simply the quickest and most cost-efficient way to connect all your employees, bypassing many of the logistical barriers around identities, devices and access to the digital workplace during the working day. This means an app can be the springboard for digital transformation, unlocking new ways of working and providing opportunities for collaboration, innovation and more.

2 Improving every individuals digital employee experience

Employee experience is now a common area of focus for HR teams and senior leaders, helping drive a more joined-up and strategic approach to how employees experience their work with multiple benefits that flow. The digital element of this is important.

An internal communications app that also has some integrated elements of the digital workplace can support a better digital employee experience for each individual, particularly if personalisation makes sure the experience is relevant for that person. For example, an app might help a person stay up-to-date with changes, drive efficiencies through easier task completion and just make their working day a little easier. Achieving this across your entire workforce can be transformational, with significant collective benefits around engagement and productivity.

3 Supporting your employment value proposition

Having a strong value proposition as an employer and a reputation for being a great place to work is essential in attracting the best talent and reducing employee turnover – both common strategic aims for HR functions. An internal communications app can play a role in supporting your employment value proposition by:

  • Helping to encourage transparency
  • Giving everyone a voice to support engagement
  • Supporting Diversity and Inclusion, with all representatives of your workforce contributing to the digital workplace
  • Helping employees feel better informed about and connected to your organisations purpose and values, amplifying whats best about your organisational culture (this is explored further below)
  • Boosting confidence in senior leaders through internal communications
  • Providing access to learning assets, encouraging personal and career development
  • Supplying access to health and wellbeing initiatives
  • Supporting better connection between colleagues
  • Providing a better digital employee experience, as already stated
  • Specifically supporting employee advocacy initiatives, encouraging employees to share stories on their own social media channels and spreading awareness of a strong employee value proposition.

4 Driving process improvement

Digital transformation is often about improving and changing multiple processes across the enterprise; for example, many organisations have already gone through a process of digitisation by moving paper processes online, and are now looking at further aspects of automation, advanced workflow and self-service to improve productivity. Other process improvements could mean replacing email communication with more efficient methods of exchanging information, particularly if it means eliminating unnecessary steps and approvals. This is particularly true regarding processes where people are on-the-go or out in the field, and mobile access for viewing or submitting information makes a difference.

An internal communications app can play its part here, not only by ensuring all staff can access the information they need for improved processes, but also by driving better dialogue across the business and information flow. When multiple processes start to change, especially those involving frontline or mobile staff, an app can make a significant contribution to overall organisational efficiency.

5 Supporting business continuity

In a volatile and unpredictable world, business continuity has never been more important. Clear and trusted communications delivered in real-time are a critical part of executing business continuity, while ongoing two-way communication supports ongoing operations.

The digital workplace and its constituent communications and collaboration tools and channels have proved to be utterly essential during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, an employee app that all employees have access to can really support business continuity, helping deliver messages and ongoing dialogue which allows organisations, teams and individual employees to adapt rapidly to new situations and realities. If you remember the days when business continuity relied solely on cascading messages through managers phoning their team members at home, then youll know the difference a mobile internal comms app makes.

6 Driving agility and innovation

In a highly competitive world, the ability to be agile and respond quickly to the market is essential. Innovation is also important – being able to deliver news products and services, especially in difficult economic conditions.

Here, an internal communications app can make a surprising difference, for example, through:

  • The ability to get rapid feedback and input on new initiatives from all employees , helping with speed to market
  • Receiving messages in real-time in order to launch new offerings quickly and smoothly
  • Receiving real-time feedback from customer-facing staff on how customers are feeling or behaving, delivering insights which can improve products and services
  • Gathering ideas from all staff, including those who deal directly with customers, to feed innovation
  • Driving a culture of agility and innovation, as employees see the positive results from giving input and feedback.

7 Supporting a unified and positive culture

Senior leaders often want to drive a more unified culture for their organisation, particularly after mergers and acquisitions. They also want a positive and perhaps less hierarchical culture that reflects company values, celebrates successes, emphasises areas such as good customer service and makes people feel more connected to organisational purpose.

An internal comms app can really help shift and nurture company culture through access to leadership communications, messaging campaigns, peer-to-peer shout-outs and feel-good success stories, leading to the establishment of a strong sense of community.

Deploying an internal communications app? Get in touch!

We think an internal communications app or something similar can make a huge positive contribution to every business. If you want to discuss your options around launching an app, or the business benefits of doing so, then get in touch!

Should I take a Teams-first approach to my mobile intranet?

Posted on by John Scott

As the Microsoft Teams app continues to gain adoption and deliver a broad range of capabilities and features, some clients are asking us whether they can deliver a mobile intranet or employee communications app via the Microsoft Teams app. In this article, we explore the question in detail.

Can Teams deliver you intranet?

Build Teams Intranet

For some organisations and their employees, Microsoft Teams has become the focal point for their working day. With the possible exception of Outlook, it is the place where they spend the most time, consuming and accessing most of the information they need through shared documents, updates from other applications and even news.

The ability to integrate other applications into Teams, as well as its high adoption rate, had led some organisations to consider whether Microsoft Teams can deliver their intranet or equivalent capabilities too. Its a question that clients keep asking us, and one weve explored in detail. The answer is not a simple yes or no, as it depends on various factors, but the ability to view an intranet like LiveTiles through Teams certainly increases your options in this area.

Can the Microsoft Teams app deliver my mobile intranet?

Clients are asking whether the Microsoft Teams app can deliver their mobile intranet, employee communications app experience or equivalent capabilities. Again, the answer here is yes and no, depending on the functionality you want in scope and the kind of experience you wish to deliver to employees.

If you are implementing a mobile intranet app, the Microsoft Teams app is definitely an option you should consider. Here at Content Formula, we are currently working with a major client for whom the Microsoft Teams app will be their primary mobile app, delivering employee communications to a diverse workforce that includes global locations and frontline workers. It will be enabled on both corporate and employee-owned devices. With the app, employees will be accessing Teams functionality, but because they can view their new LiveTiles intranet through Teams, they can also view content through the Teams app.

Can Teams deliver the functionality that I need?

Mobile Intranet App

We recently looked at the eight essential ingredients of a mobile intranet app. These included capabilities around strong news delivery, social collaboration and community, access to the employee directory, access to an event calendar, reference content pages, integrations from other applications and more. The question of whether the Microsoft Teams app can tick all these boxes for your organisation or not relies on both the native functionality of Teams and the integrations that you choose to deliver through it.

Social collaboration and community elements of a mobile intranet might be met by the Teams app and other elements such as profiles, events, reference content and internal communications which are all potentially viewable through Teams, but may be dependent on integrations. Integrations with other applications can also be delivered through chatbots that deliver mobile-friendly experiences. a question to consider here is whether the Teams app will deliver the kind of engagement-led or custom experience that you may want to deliver to employees.

Should I take a Teams-first approach to mobile?

Taking a Teams-first approach to mobile and delivering digital communications and services through the Teams app has some advantages and disadvantages. Lets explore the upsides first.

Teams adoption is high

At the moment, the adoption of Teams is very high across many organisations due to the pandemic increasing the need to work remotely; many employees are now comfortable working with Teams due to this new requirement. IT functions will relish the opportunity to extend Teams capabilities, building on the work they have already done to increase adoption.

One app for everything

Information and application overload are common employee pain points and lead to inefficiency, confusion, frustration and a poor digital employee experience. Employees simply dont want to have to deal with too many applications when viewing all the information they need or trying to get things done. A mobile Teams app provides a single, convenient place to meet many everyday information and communication needs, and reduces the number of apps employees need to have on their device.

Employee choice

One of the advantages of the Microsoft Teams app is that it doesnt stop employees using other dedicated apps for the various applications and capabilities that are integrated into Microsoft Teams. For example, even if employees are accessing Yammer conversations through the Microsoft Teams mobile app, there is nothing stopping them using the Yammer app too if you allow its use. It is possible that these dedicated apps offer deeper capabilities and richer experiences that employees prefer but only need from time to time, or are a must-have for particular groups. The good news is that the Teams app can leave employees with a choice.

Leveraging Microsoft investment in the Teams app

Microsoft Teams has been a huge success and adoption is still growing, thus Microsoft will continue to invest in Teams and the dedicated mobile app. The advantage of this is that Microsoft will almost certainly ensure that it keeps on improving and working across all devices and operating systems; it is also distributed through the iOS app store and Google Play. This means you can be very confident that the app will continue to work effectively across all devices now and in the future; this is not always the case with some enterprise mobile apps.

Taking advantage of bot capabilities

One of the real advantages of the Teams app is that it can leverage bot capabilities with a mature conversational UI that works very well on a mobile device and takes advantage of native device capabilities, such as sending urgent messages to your lock screen or leveraging a devices voice activation to interact with the bot. This means the Teams app can work effectively to deliver urgent communications, updates and reminders from multiple integrated applications, and even perform simple transactions – an approach particularly useful for frontline employees. This positions Teams as a simple digital assistant that can really make a difference to the employee experience.

Aggregating apps going forward

Microsoft will keep on investing in the mobile Teams app, and new capabilities that are added to Microsoft 365 will likely also be available within Teams. Moreover, many other tech providers will build versions of their applications that are designed to be consumed in Teams as well as the corresponding app. In this way, the Teams app can be a useful resource through which digital workplace teams can integrate applications into Teams and make information available to employees on mobile devices quickly; they dont necessarily have to manage and launch a new dedicated app. The Teams app acts as an aggregator of information and communication that can evolve with future needs.

Teams Intranet

Disadvantages

There are, however, some potential disadvantages to taking a Teams-first approach to your mobile intranet experience.

Licensing and cost

The most critical issue is whether your Microsoft licensing agreement gives access to all employees who would need to use the app. For example, not all frontline employees may have the necessary access or even Microsoft IDs and Active Directory profiles, and costs may be prohibitive. In these cases, you might need to look to an alternative mobile intranet app such as LiveTiles Reach.

Customised experiences

Sometimes organisations are looking to deliver more customised and branded experiences, particularly when the main aim of an app is to engage employees. The Teams app experience may not necessarily tick all your boxes.

Deeper app capabilities

You can do a lot in Teams and the related app, but employees might not be able to do everything they need. Sometimes, a dedicated mobile app for a different application may need to be delivered with richer and broader features available.

You need to be on top of Teams

Teams has a rich set of capabilities, not all of which can be turned off. If you are considering rolling out the Microsoft Teams app across all your employees, you will need to consider how it is going to be used and the related governance and support measures you may have to put in place.

Other dependencies

For some of the intranet capabilities you want Microsoft Teams to deliver, there may be other dependencies you need such as good Active Directory data and an additional audience targeting engine to deliver intranet personalisation. Before you go ahead and take a Teams-first approach to mobile, you need to ensure everything you need is in place.

Taking a Team-first approach to mobile

Launching the Teams app to deliver intranet-style functionality has enormous potential value, but there are advantages and disadvantages. It is undoubtably an approach to consider. If youd like to discuss the Microsoft Teams app or your mobile intranet strategy, then get in touch!

8 must have features of a mobile intranet app

Posted on by Dan Hawtrey

Strong mobile access for any intranet is now a given. Employees want to be able to consume information and access digital services in the way they do outside work, so an intranet app which presents a mobile-optimised user experience is important. It is especially critical in sectors such as retail, manufacturing, leisure, travel and healthcare; here a large proportion of employees are deskless and may not have digital identities. A mobile intranet app is therefore essential for firstline employees, particularly in these challenging times when all employees need access to trusted and up-to-date information.

A mobile intranet app does not always have the full functionality of a desktop intranet and may focus on the critical features and content that employees need to access on their mobile device. Choosing the right product is important for example, through our partnership with LiveTiles we help clients implement LiveTiles Reach mobile intranet app, a strong mobile intranet app which is focused on strong communication with all employees.

Lets look at eight essential ingredients of a mobile intranet app, all of which are available in LiveTiles Reach.

1 Remove barriers to access for all

A mobile intranet is an excellent way to reach all your employees, and a good intranet app removes the barriers to access that can exist in desktop intranets. Traditionally, not all the workforce has had  access to intranets because:

  • there is no easy access to a work computer during the day
  • employees do not have a corporate digital identity or email to be able to authenticate into the intranet
  • employees are not covered by Microsoft 365 or intranet software licensing
  • outsourced workers, consultants, contractors or regular freelancers need access to information but are not employees.

Here a mobile intranet app which allows potential access to employees or trusted external third parties on any device employee or corporate owned, iOS or Android, with a corporate ID or not removes all those barriers. To make this happen, strong security and onboarding features are important, ensuring that only the right people have access to the app and also install it easily.

2 Strong news delivery

A mobile intranet is a key channel in the digital communications landscape and plays an important role in delivering updates so every employee can stay up to date. This has never been more important during the COVID-19 pandemic where the situation remains fluid. A mobile intranet app should be able to deliver news and updates in an engaging and informative way, that also allows employees to comment, like and share.

While some news will be important for everybody to read, an app also needs to be able to target updates to different groups to ensure that the intrant remains relevant to each individual. Here, automatic translation capabilities (a feature on the LiveTiles Reach app) can also help overcome any language barriers for multinational workforces.

 

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3 Social collaboration and community

Some of the most powerful features of any mobile intranet app  are social and collaboration tools  such as the ability to comment on news, participate in discussions, post social updates, celebrate success and create community spaces. This not only allows for focused collaboration, but also give everybody a voice, supporting both engagement and efficiency.

Social and collaborative capabilities are powerful in supporting everyday work, but also in gathering feedback on initiatives, supporting professional and even non-work communities, and also nurturing and amplifying a more positive organisational culture. When we are all working remotely, collaboration and culture can be impacted; a strong mobile intranet app makes a tangible difference.

4 Content and reference pages

At the core of any successful intranet is useful content that helps employees get things done and stay informed. While some of this will be news and updates, there are also likely to be many static or evergreen pages that contain essential reference information on different topics such as how to complete tasks, details of products and services, organisational strategy, operational information and key company policies. For customer-facing staff, access to this kind of content can be very important for supporting customer service.

Many employee communication or social collaboration apps are quite weak on this aspect, relying on PDFs to present structured information. A true mobile intranet app provides robust access to content pages as well as documents, allowing employees to access structured content and organisational knowledge, including policies and forms.

5 Employee directory

A must-have feature of any intranet, both desktop or mobile, is the employee directory, ensuring employees can find information about their colleagues, contact them, search for experts and more. Arguably, the humble employee directory does more than any other one feature on an intranet to break down siloes and barriers across an organisation.

A strong mobile intranet app should have a comprehensive employee directory, allowing employees to find contact information, view profiles of their peers with salient information, and search using a variety of different criteria, such as job role and expertise area.

6 Event calendar and registration

Events such as town halls, webinars, conferences, training and celebrations are an important part of organisational life. In the past, many firstline employees have not participated in events because they simply couldnt access information about them. A good mobile intranet app will include an event calendar with relevant information and even the ability to register, giving the opportunity for all employees to take part in events such as town halls, perhaps for the first time.

7 Integrations

Most intranet apps are focused on employee communication, but the ability to carry out integrations with other systems and applications can be important. Integrations help with two different capabilities:

  • allowing employees to view other essential information and content such as Microsoft 365 documents)
  • allowing employees to carry out simple transactions such as booking leave or viewing roster information, for example.

A good mobile intranet app should allow for the possibility of integrations, either through connectors out of the box, or through customisation options.

8 Easy administration and robust analytics

On a mobile intranet app, its not only the user experience which is critical. The administrator experience must also be intuitive so that the app and its content can be easily managed on a day-to-day basis, and that the initial roll-out is also simple and straightforward; ideally a Comms or intranet team should not have to involve their IT function.

A good intranet app should also provide access to strong analytics that help you to track success, make improvements and drive insights about engagement with content.

 

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Any questions? Then get in touch!

Its essential to have a mobile intranet app, but it needs to have the right capabilities. If youd like to discuss setting up a mobile intranet app or want information about LiveTiles Reach, then why not get in touch or even organise a free demo?

5 leading SharePoint intranet examples 2020

Posted on by Dan Hawtrey

Here at Content Formula weve delivered numerous SharePoint intranets, both custom-built and based on LiveTiles intranet in-a-box product. This means weve built up a great library of SharePoint intranet examples, some of which you can find on our website. In delivering these, weve also learnt some of the key approaches that can make all the difference in making an intranet a real success.

We often get asked by clients what are some of our best SharePoint intranet examples? Here is a selection of five that also illustrate some essential approaches to delivering an intranet. You can also see some of our best Office 365 intranet examples too in a companion article.

1. Legal and General: A hub for getting things done

Employees are always busy and there never seems to be enough hours in the day to complete everything they need to do. A key role of an intranet is to help employees to complete tasks and get things done quickly and efficiently. It does this in several different ways including:

  • ensuring users effortlessly find what they need;
  • establishing clear and up-to-date procedural information that employees trust;
  • provide links through to essential apps and systems;
  • and even presenting data from other applications through integrations. An intranet that delivers efficiencies for employees is a successful intranet.

Legal & General is multinational financial services company offering insurance, asset management and other services. The company has a complex structure, a diverse portfolio of services, and a very busy workforce with a wide range of information needs, who use an array of IT applications. We partnered with the Legal & General team to create a new SharePoint and LiveTiles intranet built on detailed user research that helps employees in their day-to-day work and gives them back some time.

Evergreen content acts as an essential reference guide for employees on the things they need to know. An extensive How Do I library is a powerful, central repository of easy-to-find procedural and task information which can be searched from the intranet homepage. Central catalogues of enterprise apps and workspaces are just one click away with the intuitive information architecture and provide a quick window into the wider digital workplace. The popular and highly innovative LiveTiles Everywhere toolbar also includes a dashboard of essential links and information delivered through integrations, following employees wherever they are. The intranet really has become Legal & Generals hub for getting things done.

View case study

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2. TTEC: a critical intranet that navigates risk and mobility challenges

No two SharePoint intranets are the same. Every intranet needs to have a laser-sharp focus on the needs of an organisation and its employees, sometimes navigating complex challenges without ever compromising on the user experience. Security and data privacy challenges can have a significant impact on how a SharePoint intranet is set-up and consumed, while a workforce of predominantly frontline employees can mean mobile access is critical. The trick is to design your intranet based on a deep understanding of organisational priorities and user needs delivered through research, and then continue to work closely with stakeholders and employees to refine and improve the platform.

TTEC is a global provider of customer experience services, providing solutions focused on strategy, technology, training and outsourced customer support to a large client base. Headquartered in the US, most of the companys 50,000 employees either work on client premises or at home and are regularly exposed to sensitive customer data. This means that on TTECs SharePoint intranet there are particular measures that must be put in place to safeguard client information. An intranet also has to be available on mobile devices to be able to reach a highly mobile and remote workforce. We undertook extensive user research and worked in close partnership with TTECs digital workplace team to ensure the SharePoint intranet considered both these factors.

Personalization means that the TTEC intranet delivers highly targeted news and updates to different client teams. ensuring relevance. Guardrails have been put in place to protect data; these include a sensitive content scanner to identify if client data has been added to the intranet, additional IP-based restrictions and local shared terminals placed within each contact centre. Meanwhile a mobile app allows all employees to access the intranet from corporate and employee-owned devices, both iOS and Android. Best of all, the user experience has not been compromised, meaning staff can access a vibrant, modern intranet that supports efficiency and engagement.

View case study

3. Intranets can help facilitate learning and development

Continue reading “5 leading SharePoint intranet examples 2020”

Get a free employee app to help with comms during the Covid crisis

Posted on by Dan Hawtrey

 

Many countries are in some form of lock down and social distancing to contain the coronavirus and slow down its spread. Organisations that can have introduced work-from-home at large scale to keep their operations going. Some are finding communications with their employees a challenge because they do not have a reliable channel or because some employees do not have a company email or intranet account. If you are in this situation, we can help you with the LiveTiles mobile employee app.

Employee app for remote workers Employee communication app for mobile

Get the LiveTiles app free for your company

What does our offer include?

Thanks to LiveTiles, we can offer you free use of their mobile employee app (a.k.a pocket intranet), including free same-day setup and guidance to get you up and running as well as chat support 24/7.

Where and for how long can I use the platform?

Until 1 July 2020, a fully functional extended trial version of the LiveTiles employee app is offered to all organisations in the United States, Europe and Australia for a duration of 6 months free of charge (starting at the day of activation). This offer might be extended to other geographic areas upon request or as the situation requires and within the limits of available resources.

Get the LiveTiles app free for your company

What does the LiveTiles app do?

The LiveTiles app is our cloud service helping employees to stay connected and informed by enabling organizations to reach and align all staff via a mobile app (on all iOS and Android devices) or a browser, communicate important updates, send out alerts, gather feedback, find and stay in touch with colleagues and share work instructions, knowledge and information. The LiveTiles app does not require any base technology to be in place and works well with both Office 365, Microsoft Teams and Google, or even without any such platform.

Why use the LiveTiles employee app and not Email or WhatsApp?

Problem The LiveTiles Solution
Not all employees have a corporate email account The LiveTiles employee app does not require corporate user accounts but accepts any email account (incl. Gmail, Outlook, others).
WhatsApp does not provide good user and group management features
Maintaining mailing lists or WhatsApp groups is cumbersome and error-prone.		 The LiveTiles employee app provides powerful user and group management and comes with integrated Azure AD and an Azure AD B2C user directory.
Neither email nor WhatsApp are suited to distribute information in structured way (e.g. policies, work instructions, emergency plans that always need to be up to date and found and accessed quickly over a longer time) The LiveTiles employee app supports various content types such as structured pages, documents, news, alerts, social posts and events and allows to push update notifications to users if required.
Content in mailboxes and WhatsApp groups is often lost in information overload or spam The LiveTiles employee app is a dedicated mobile communication channel in a separate app controlled by the organisation

What’s in it for us?

We hope that you’ll like the app so much that you’ll continue using it long after the Covid-19 crisis is over and will therefore pay an annual subscription. As the UK partners of LiveTiles we earn a commission on any subscription fees.

Get the LiveTiles app free for your company

SharePoint Modern vs Classic infographic

Posted on by John Scott

Recently, more and more of our customers are facing the SharePoint Modern dilemma: Should they adopt SharePoint Online’s new modern user interface and sacrifice control over the branding? Is Modern a mature enough product to roll out to thousands of employees across the globe? To help you understand the advantages and disadvantages of each approach, we created this infographic.

SharePoint Modern vs Classic infographic
SharePoint Modern vs Classic infographic

If you would like more info, read the eight things we love about SharePoint Modern pages.

 

Custom business apps on Office 365 – the art of the possible

Posted on by Dan Hawtrey

Office 365 not only offers an incredible array of tools and services such as SharePoint Online, MS Teams, and Outlook but also acts as a flexible, effective platform to develop and deploy bespoke business apps. These can help employees with specific processes and goals that are unique to your organisation.

What is a bespoke business app?

Many of the Office 365 tools can be used straight out of the box. But some features such as Power BI, PowerApps, Flow and even Azure (not Office 365, strictly speaking) are there to help you build custom capabilities and applications and digitise processes. The app may be based on a configuration, customisation, combination or integration of standard Office 365 applications and services.

Why deploy bespoke business apps?

There are multiple reasons to create bespoke business apps. You can:

  • Create apps to your exact specification
  • Improve a huge variety of processes through automation
  • Digitise processes reliant on email or paper
  • Reduce costs, for example discontinuing subscriptions for SaaS apps and point solutions
  • Help employees get things done in ways that are centred on how they actually work
  • Build apps for mobile so that processes can be done on the move
  • Build completely new capabilities and services, and drive innovation
  • Create apps within the Office 365 environment, all easily accessible via Single Sign-On, and advance your digital workplace
  • Help drive adoption of Office 365 tools and fully leverage your investment in Office 365
  • Help to improve the employee experience for all your workforce, for example by building tools specifically for frontline workers
  • And many more!

What kind of business apps can you build with Office 365?

There are many types of different business app you can build and deploy. At Content Formula weve built and launched multiple types of apps.  For example:

Automation and efficiency

Office 365 provides many opportunities to use automation and workflow, helping to improve processes, drive efficiencies, increase accuracy, minimise risk and more. If you have processes which are currently too reliant on email and file shares, or still even use paper, then there are almost certainly opportunities for automation.  For example, at Praetura, a private equity company, we automated a key process for tracking and assessing opportunities for investment, using workflow and automation to take staff through an eight-stage process.  Meanwhile at Haines Watts we helped to streamline employee onboarding with an onboarding workflow.

Reporting and dashboarding

Power BI is an exciting tool which can produce attractive dashboards and reports, bring together information form multiple sources into one place. Reporting apps can help drive insights which support real-time decision making for management, system owners and more. Weve developed numerous dashboards for clients, as well as reporting dashboards as part of other apps.

Content, knowledge and learning

Some apps are created to better manage content, knowledge or learning resources, and provide access for employees. For example, we built a powerful bespoke central policy library that was suited to the specific needs of the Institute of Cancer Research.  Chatbots can also help connect employees to content and knowledge.

Collaboration

Office 365 has a stack of collaboration tools including Yammer, Teams and Team Sites. There are  many possibilities to customise these to suit your processes and ways of working. For example, we added a unique knowledge management solution to Microsoft Teams for !What If?, allowing teams to easily share the most valuable documents containing knowledge from projects.

Mobile solutions

Sometimes business apps based on Office 365 can be designed specifically for mobile devices, particularly if the target audience are frontline or mobile employees who might not have easy access to a computer during the day. For example, Content Formula has developed a mobile news app for field workers. Thanks to Microsoft’s own mobile apps for Flow and PowerApps it’s become very easy to deploy custom mobile apps.

Core operational systems

Sometimes an app goes beyond being an app; its so central to what your organisation and employees do its really a core system. With our award-winning work for property company Moving Made Easy, we created an entire digital workplace designed around the different stages of selling a property, replacing a creaking legacy system, driving significant headcount efficiencies with integration and automation, and even creating new opportunities to innovate their service.

Customer apps

Although most business apps for Office 365 tend to be for employees, its also possible to develop apps that impact customers.  For example, in our work for Moving Made Easy, our solution output PDF reports that are automatically sent to customers. There are now plans to extend the system for direct customer access.

Enhance existing tools

Sometimes you want to use tools from the Office 365 suite, but perhaps they dont quite work in the right way for you. Sometimes a little customisation can go a long way and really add value. For example, we enhanced the use of Microsoft Teams for innovation company What If? so that spaces can be automatically archived and aligned to the companys project management methodology.

Approaches for developing your business app strategy

There are no hard and fast rules to developing your strategy, but here are a few successful approaches weve observed based on our work with clients:

Base your strategy on user and stakeholder research

A strategy for your apps should be based on thorough user and stakeholder research which reveals how people work and their pain points. At Content Formula we carry out our discovery process involving user and stakeholder interviews and workshops, so we get a thorough understanding of the problems we are trying to solve.

Identify obvious opportunities

Usually within any organisation there are some obvious opportunities where an app can make a significant difference. A typical example might be a process which is primarily carried out by email or even manually. Perhaps there is an activity where users must enter different systems to complete tasks or get information.

Sometimes these opportunities might prove to be low hanging fruit where an app can quickly and easily resolve user frustrations or save time. Prioritising straightforward, high value apps that touch a lot of people can demonstrate the power of Office 365 to stakeholders and users and give a wider programme of transformation some momentum.

Align your business app strategy to company and digital workplace strategy

A strategy for your business apps doesnt exist in a vacuum. It needs to align with your wider company strategy but also your more specific digital workplace or Office 365 strategy in order to deliver value, drive adoption and make sure it meets any necessary standards.

Chase widespread value

Some apps are likely to deliver more value than others. Despite it being tempting to design a specific app which might be very clever, it usually makes sense prioritising solutions which have the most widespread value. For example, apps that:

  • cover core or critical activities, for example relating to customers
  • impact a wide number of people
  • deliver considerable time or cost savings
  • enable other potential digital workplace solutions or apps
  • help to eliminate or reduce critical risks.
  • drive or enforce compliance

Build more complex apps in phases

Sometimes more critical apps can evolve into more complex systems, but it can be worth delivering these in phases so you can start to gain value from them and learn about their usage. Its not always advantageous to build too much complexity when youre starting out, and you may want to wrap this into your strategy.

Work iteratively and learn as you go

Most organisations find they learn a lot about how to get the best out of Office 365 once they see it deployed and being used. Taking a more iterative approach to app development can help you to spot opportunities but also get insights into how to develop tools and incorporate more user feedback. If you want to customise Microsoft Teams for an app, learning how Teams is already being used gives you an advantage.

Dont just recreate whats gone before

The digital workplace tools within Office 365 can help you to design completely new ways of doing things. If your app strategy is just redesigning processes in a slightly more efficient way using Office 365, you may be missing out on some exciting opportunities.

Its all about the apps!

Office 365 provides an exceptional platform to build compelling bespoke business apps to help your employees and your organisation. If youd like to talk about your business apps strategy for Office 365 then get in touch with us.

 

Let's discuss your project...

Book in a free consultation call with us to discuss your project and find out more about our services and how we can add value to your digital workplace. Simply fill out the form and pick a time and date in our calendar.

Alternatively, if you have a question and would like to find out more about us first, please use our contact form and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

We look forward to meeting you.

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