A New Communication & Social Media Adventure

The countdown is over. I've said goodbye and now I'm ready to start a new adventure to expand social media and interactive communications to a whole new audience. Yes this does mean my time with the Mouse has come to an end. 

I am happy to officially announce to the greater public, that I've accepted a position with Avery Dennison. In my new role, I'm tackling interactive communications and social media for the Company. I'll focus internally toward the employees through the Intranet and technology outlets like mobile devices, touch panels, and more. Additionally, I will focus heavily on social media platforms, best practices and campaigns for the internal audience and externally to consumers and clients. Once I jump in and become immersed, get ready to hear more about this exciting journey. 

About Avery Dennison
Avery Dennison continues to evolve while embracing trending communication practices and continues its strong commitment of innovation. Avery Denison is probably a lot more than you might think. Take a glimpse into our world and see how Avery Dennison is all about Inspired Brands and an Intelligent World: 2010 Year in Review

As I said farewell to the Walt Disney Company, I shared a brief video to Disney colleagues. Here's a copy of that video.

How to Build a Mobile Intranet Roadmap

Who's ready to redo their intranet again? Every couple of years, we communicators seem to take another stab at finding the right equation for the perfect intranet. I believe that 2011 will be a big another year for Internal Communication folks. This is the year we add real mobile access to our intranets.

Employees are quietly demanding access to their tools when and how they want them. Us consumers are doing the same thing with outside sources, like Facebook, newspapers, maps, etc. So it makes sense that employees expect the same experience at work. Since intranets are a lot more than just company news typically, including resources like employee directories, office maps, business applications, and commissary menus, employees will greatly benefit from mobile access. 

There are many ways to deliver a mobile Intranet experience. There are also many devices and ways to digest this mobile information. The variables and tools almost seem endless. Now let's take a dive into what information should be mobile, the tools available and important variables.

Should everything be available on a mobile device?

It would terrific to have all of our tools from the office in our palm, right? It would also be cluttered and time consuming. The beauty of a mobile app, they are easy to use, simplified and work well with our favorite mobile device. We can find what we need very quickly. Apply this same thinking and ask yourself, do I really need instant access to everything on the Intranet? Not really. Less features will allow for better usability. Use the following questions to help identify what top items should be on your list for mobile access:

• Will employees be able to take action on their device vs. having to go to their desk?
• Are there important messages employees need to know immediately? (i.e. safety)
• How will employees use specific information while away from there desk?
• Will access to specific resource or information make the employees job easier?

Need a head start? Here's a few must-haves:

• Employee directory
• Location directory
• Enterprise workflow approvals (i.e. travel & expense, purchasing, time off)
• Safety messages (think push notifications)
• Social interaction (if you have something like Jive, make it easy for employees to connect)
• Brief learning courses

All-in-one, separate site or individual apps?
There are a few ways to offer mobile solutions to employees. 

• Simple design: The first idea focuses on only one build with a very clean and easy user interface that allows for ease of use on multiple devices and browsers. This offers a consistent experience. For example, if you have a two column design, the site will be much easier to navigate on smaller devices and the full screen version will be less cluttered. Intranet tools are starting to add mobile options.
• Mobile site: If your intranet is brimming with resources and you're required to keep it as is, then a separate mobile site might be the answer for you. By creating a separate version of the intranet for mobile devices, a clean and unique design can be applied. They key here is make it feel easy and make it work on multiple devices and browsers. A possible draw back may be when you hear employees loving the mobile site and complaining about the full site.  
• Mobile apps: Most of us are familiar with mole apps now. If you have a smartphone, mobile apps have saved you time and delighted you with surprised ease. In this option, you can deliver multiple apps to allow your employees to access parts of your intranet. If you are a large company with enterprise workflow, you'll probably need an app just to manage this process. Then you can offer another app for directories and important contact information. Be smart about the apps you create and only add ones that make sense. There is a limit to having too much of a good thing.      

Variables aplenty

The explosion of smartphones and tablets is very exciting for consumers (employees) and businesses. There is also the variety of browsers, operating systems and security. Does your company use BlackBerry, iPhones, Android, Windows 7, or something else? Different devices have different browser options as well. When creating or reinventing an intranet, its important to build and design for the varied options. If your business only allows one platform today, will that be the case in a year? Chances are employees will bring their personally owned devices in to the office and want to connect to the intranet. Be smart and plan for multi-platforms. Do your homework and find options that can expand. Lucky for us, the enterprise app trend seems to be focusing on apps that can cross platforms.

Are you taking the plunge with a mobile intranet soon? Will it be a big bang launch or will you test the waters with a fun and ultra desired app? If you've had some challenges, share! Tell us your nuggets of wisdom or ask your questions here.

Happy building!
  
Portions of this page are modifications based on work created and shared by Google and used according to terms described in the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution License.   
   
   

The Intranet: Communication Portal or Employee Toolkit?

Over the last year or so, I’ve seen a quiet war waging between communicators and employees.  Communicators passionately want to share breaking news, org changes, evergreen stories and the not so timely letter from the CEO.  On the employee end they say yes, keep me in the know.  But there is another want, not yet verbalized. They are really asking for a place to find what they need.  Employees want to get their hands on the ever elusive employee policies, org charts, and all of the tools that will help them be good company citizens while allowing them to focus on the job they’ve been hired to do.

Yesterday’s Intranet
The typical intranet seems to have all the basic offerings with obvious issues.  Your navigation may look good, but at closer inspection one will notice the cryptic link definitions based on departments and project areas.  Somewhere in this labyrinth lies useful information. But first you have to figure out the department that manages the form you need.  Now throw in a dash of the public and internal (if you’re lucky) company news.  Then there's a showcase of a new employee or new project in the company.  As you scroll down further you’ll find hidden gems like about us, bad clip art, a pointless integration of SharePoint or similar tool, and way too many animated graphics – all not updated in months. Lastly, if you’re a larger company, you may have invested in an enterprise software that allows employee self service via your intranet. These functions will be somewhere clickable in navigation, hopefully.

How about search? Do you suffer from a case of badsearchitis? Have you ever surfed the intranet looking for an HR form or IT policy?  Or maybe you need to use the enterprise system to log in your hours worked, file an expense report, or view your paycheck.  These and many more tasks have filled company intranets for the last few years.  No longer do employees log on to the company homepage just to find out the company stock price or view the world clock.

We communicators have worked diligently on our editorial calendars, giving departments a voice, and creating a home for employees.  But that was yesterday.  Today came a while ago and it’s time to take the best of our world and combine it with enterprise software, collaboration apps and tools “to get the job done”.  It’s time to make the shift to an Employee toolkit.

Employee Toolkit – key essentials
Admitting the need to evolve from a communication portal to a blended approach is the first step of bringing real business value to your intranet real estate.  It’s time to load your space with all of the key essentials.  Here’s a list of the core basics that companies may find useful.  Based on the needs of your company, you may need to cherry pick the options.

1. Easy to use navigation & organization – make it simple, make it clear, and make it meaningful.  Do away with department pages and define the links by subjects.
2. Search – It should work!  This is the starting spot for most employees.  Make sure your meta data is correct and that your search tool is crawling all of your spaces (intranets, SharePoint, etc).
3. Resources – Group key forms, policies, guides, finance information and the like.  Imagine having a one-stop shop for all the things you need.  Life would be amazing. (It’s ok to have separate sections for benefits and large categories as long as they truly are large – remember, simple navigation)
4. Enterprise tools – This is an important one. If you use something like SAP or Oracle for self service, make it easy to find and use. Have a great user interface – it’s so important.  Employees want this to be a no-brainer and they will love you for it.
5. Company News – Share important news and share it timely. Employees shouldn’t have to read about key company changes in the external news.
6. Interaction/Collaboration – Create a space (as part of the Intranet) for employees to have a voice in the news, resources, and to also continually shape their intranet. Plant and tend this garden.
7. Mobile – Everything is becoming mobile. Your intranet should be the same. If you can’t make it all function on a smart phone or tablet, aim for core tools like highly used self-service functions, company news, and collaboration. More and more, employees are bringing their smart devices into the office.
8. Customizable – Let employees choose what is important to them. I’m a big believer in providing framework and the main elements. But let employees have a voice in their home. As consumers (yes, employees are consumers), we see this everyday with iGoogle and MyYahoo.
9. Help – Share contact lists, phone numbers, and email addresses for your help groups – HR, IT, Legal, Finance, etc. Employees will call the IT help desk if they do not know who to call. Talk about frustrating for everyone.
10. Emergency Information – If you’re company is large, you’ll need a space to share what’s happening if an emergency arises. Think real-time and easy to see. Employees should and need to be safe.

The trick here will be in placement and design. If you make 3/4 of the page news, then you’ve lost the Employee Toolkit idea. Intranets should not be the CNN of your company.  Design the page so it’s truly the place to find the tools and information employees need to stay informed and get their job done.  Your home should be a resource employees want and need to visit daily.

Questions to stir the pot

What other essentials would you add to the list? What are your barriers in making the right intranet change? What has worked and what has failed?