Social intranet – the latest technologies for company-wide communication & networking
Employee expectations of digital collaboration have changed fundamentally in an era characterized by remote working and increasing geographical distance between teams. Developing and effectively implementing innovative digital ways of working is essential for boosting workforce productivity and collaboration across the organization. It's time to take action and bring your workforce together in a digital workplace environment by moving away from a classic intranet to a contemporary social model that inspires and takes internal communication to the next level.
What is a social intranet?
An accepted social intranet goes beyond the simple provision of information, in the way a regular intranet does, and creates a platform for intensive communication. It acts as a central digital environment at a time when employees are working apart from each other. By integrating the latest intranet tools and services from the Cloud Platform Provider, companies can facilitate a smooth flow of information and communication and thereby strengthen cross-departmental collaboration regardless of employee location.
More than just a tool: introducing a social intranet
When introducing a social intranet it’s essential to look beyond purely technological aspects. Because what good is a seemingly perfect technical setup if employees don’t work with the tools?
Widespread acceptance and created engagement within the workforce are key factors for the sustainable success of an intranet in terms of internal communication. This means that you need to prioritize your employees as the most important resource and involve them in the transformation process. We work with you to identify the technologies that meet your specific needs and support the entire change process – from introducing the tools or social intranet software to integrating them into day-to-day work and internal communication.
Our custom change management measures ensure successful implementation by familiarizing employees with the new technologies and intranet solutions, and introducing new editors to their roles. This includes training, editorial concepts, and sustainable internal communication positioning but also well-thought-out and, where necessary, multilingual communication campaigns with best practices and strong community management. This all proactively addresses fears and resistance and also helps to spark real enthusiasm among employees for communication and the information provided in their new digital workplace environment.
Advantages of a social intranet compared to a regular intranet
Increased employee engagement and creation of a collective sense of group identity
Interactive features such as comment functions, discussion forums, and like buttons promote employee engagement. The feeling of involvement and co-determination helps to increase motivation and satisfaction and creates a lasting sense of community.
Cross-departmental communication and collaboration
A social intranet creates a central platform for employees to share information, discuss ideas, and collaborate on projects. It creates a transparent communication culture and strengthens the sharing of information across departmental boundaries.
Increased productivity through efficient and location-independent knowledge management
By centralizing the storage of documents, resources, and expert profiles, a social intranet enables efficient information and knowledge management. Employees have quick access to all relevant information, which increases productivity and also reduces duplication of work.
Social intranet tools from Microsoft for company-wide communication
Microsoft SharePoint
Microsoft SharePoint offers a pioneering solution for company-wide collaboration and information management. It provides a wide range of tools and functions that enable teams to work together effectively, share content, automate processes, and organize and use knowledge. SharePoint can be used to create highly functional intranet sites without the need for complex code or complicated customizations. This ensures optimal viewability on all devices, which translates into an engaging experience for your employees. Creating responsive, dynamic pages is simple and doesn't require in-depth IT knowledge, so it significantly reduces workload for IT departments.
SharePoint serves as a central knowledge hub where company-wide information and expertise can be accessed by all employees. An intelligent intranet based on Microsoft SharePoint not only increases productivity but also promotes social collaboration across team boundaries. This dynamic platform allows ideas to flow while the team stays connected; it promotes knowledge sharing and helps unlock the company's full potential.
Viva Engage
The seamless integration of Viva Engage into your social intranet opens up great opportunities for shaping the employee experience. A single click is all it takes to intelligently connect employees and strengthen communities, which leads to stronger collaboration and an increased sense of belonging. The social networks that are created promote interaction and knowledge sharing between employees from different departments and levels, and this ultimately increases the cross-departmental productivity of the entire workforce.
Viva Engage allows you to build an innovative and effective digital workplace environment that goes beyond standard corporate communication and takes information sharing to a new, dynamic level. As well as providing opportunities for direct interaction and collaborative working, the platform also offers knowledge sharing functions and promotes team thinking and engagement. Integrating Viva Engage into your social intranet increases communication and employee engagement and encourages a positive company culture, which ultimately leads to increased performance and innovation within your organization.
Viva Amplify
Viva Amplify is a pioneering social intranet tool designed specifically for organizational communication teams and managers to optimize their messages and engage employees. A central platform efficiently pools communication processes, offering writing guides and supporting features to help deliver targeted messages to the workforce from different areas of the organization, e.g. Management, Corporate Communications and Human Resources.
The ability to publish to multiple channels at once allows communicators to distribute their content widely and manage campaigns effectively from one central hub. Analyzing metrics makes it possible to evaluate the success of communication measures and adapt future strategies as required.
As experts on the modern workplace environment, we understand how important a seamless and connected intranet is. Viva Amplify enables organizations to create targeted campaigns, share information with employees, and motivate them to take action. The platform offers functions for approval management, scheduling of posts, and detailed analytics to continuously optimize the effectiveness of internal communications – and everything is in one place for maximum efficiency and impact.
Microsoft Power Platform
The Microsoft Power Platform revolutionizes the intranet concept. Through the integration of Power BI, Power Apps, and Power Automate (which work in the background), it delivers a unified platform for data analysis, custom app development, and automation. Users can create custom applications, visualize data, and automate processes with ease. This makes for an agile, collaborative, and social intranet that meets the needs of modern businesses. Discover the transformative power of Microsoft Power Platform as a modern workplace tool and make your intranet more efficient and sustainable than ever before.
Microsoft Teams
In the modern workplace environment, a significant amount of company-wide collaboration now takes place with Microsoft Teams. Teams allows you to communicate effortlessly with colleagues, hold meetings, share files and manage projects – all in one central location. Integrating Teams into your workflow allows you to explore innovative ways to collaborate and create an effective working environment that increases efficiency and encourages teamwork. Whether it's using the chat function, video conferencing or making calls, Microsoft Teams as a browser tool or mobile app has become an integral part of today's modern workplace. It is therefore all the more important to link Microsoft Teams with your social intranet so that your employees no longer perceive them as separate systems.
Use Microsoft Teams as an access point: integrate your SharePoint intranet directly into Microsoft Teams via Viva Connections and communities through Viva Engage. This means that your employees can access the social intranet as soon as they open Microsoft Teams and are kept up to date with the latest news and information. We show you how Microsoft Teams can be combined with your social intranet to revolutionize the way you work and help you achieve your business goals.
Change management – a further success factor for your social intranet project
New tools and technologies have huge potential, but their incorrect or insufficient use can seriously impact efficiency. The right change management approach will help you gain the acceptance of your employees, support editors in their new roles, and master the challenges of overhauling your intranet communication. We show you how, with an effective change management approach, you can master the balancing act between technical implementation and employee support to make your social intranet a success. Dynamic campaigns have the potential to motivate employees, while utilizing pilot user groups with Viva Engage increases engagement in communities.
We also share best practices on how to successfully use integrated Microsoft 365 services such as SharePoint, Viva Engage and Viva Amplify for your campaign management. Plus, we provide editors with holistic support through training, editorial concepts, and sustainable internal communication positioning. We work with you to pave the way into the future, using the opportunities that change management offers to establish your social intranet and unlock the full potential of your organization.
Whitepaper: Change management, culture and communication
The human factor plays a key role in internal communication. Only individuals who take this into account and integrate change management into a social intranet project from the very beginning can form the foundation for successful change. In our whitepaper, you will learn from a practical example how to successfully manage change and make your next digital workplace project a resounding success.
Why we're the right partner for you and your social intranet project?
We provide you with holistic support to create a social intranet that works best for you and, as modern workplace experts, ensure that your intranet meets the requirements of modern, digital working. This includes choosing the right tools and intranet solutions, implementing social intranet software, and supporting the introduction of your new intranet across your organization. Our consulting services focus on increasing company-wide productivity and internal collaboration. The expertise we've gained from numerous successfully implemented projects for large companies makes us the right partner for your tailored social intranet project: we work with you to master the challenges of the digital workplace environment.
