IT Communications - Channels and Tips

“Easy to use with great flexibility and no complicated network setups required.”
Yusuf Cajee, Marketing/Product Development,
Freedom Healthcare

Effective IT Communication by Screensaver

'Boring' but important? Non IT staff may see communications from IT as low on their low list of priorities. Employees typically suffer from information overload, so only communications of direct and obvious relevance to them will cut-through the clutter.

Digital signage on screensavers can be a good way to raise the visibility and ensure cut through of important IT communications.

IT communications that are effective as digital signage on screensavers include:

• New technology implementations
• Service change and upgrades
• Security policies
• Compliance education
• Virus and safe computing announcements
• Disaster recovery / business continuity policies
• Support channels available
• News and events
• Training opportunities
• Reinforcing key elements of staff training

 

Unplanned Outage Notifications

When there is an unplanned outage, the IT helpdesk phone lines can go crazy. One way to deal with this is to put a message on an IVR to let users know the status of the problem. This option can be time consuming and frustrating for both users and the IT team. It also does not proactively notify staff of the status of outages or their subsequent resolution.

The SnapComms IT communications software allow you to push outage notifications and status updates to staff when email or other systems are down. Employees no longer have to keep ringing the help desk to find out when an outage will be resolved, they can be notified of progress or resolution as it happens.

The SnapComms solution allows the targeting of messages to specific user groups based on existing Active Directory settings. Additional / new user targeting structures can also be set up as required.

“The SnapComms internal communications software helps us ensure that time critical messages get to users which they have to read. We no longer reliant on Microsoft Exchange working.”
Milan Hira, IT Manager,
AJ Park

Reducing Email Volume

SnapMag is an innovative magazine format which reduces the need for 'mass internal emails’. Any member of staff can click to submit an 'article' into predefined categories (in as much time and effort as it takes them to write an email). This means that instead of multiple messages from different departments arriving as separate emails, this information is aggregated into a ‘one stop’ readable e-magazine format.

SnapMag is more effective than an intranet notice board because:

• Administrators can act as editors to approve, decline, edit, and re-order submitted articles.
• Article design and formatting can be customized making SnapMag an engaging format
• The final magazine is ‘pushed out’ to targeted readers with full reporting on readership.
  

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SnapMag, as a substitute for ‘all staff’ / ‘general information’ mass emails, can ensure that important emails and information are no longer buried under excess internal email noise.

“SnapMag enables us to effortlessly keep in touch with sub divisions within our company in a medium that doesn’t get ‘lost’ due to too many emails flooding our inboxes.”
Cosima Wagner, Marketing & Communications,
Wipro Retail

Improving Information Archiving

SnapMag can help with information archiving since each article submitted to SnapMag for publication has an expiry date assigned to it by the author and/or magazine administrators. Upon reaching the expiry date, articles and all accompanying data published within the magazine is automatically deleted from the users desktop (unlike email) and archived in a central searchable repository.

NB) All SnapComms content (screensaver messages, desktop alerts etc), once expired, can be automatically deleted from local PCs. A feature which can further assist with information management and archiving.

Improving Intranet Effectiveness

“Thanks to the use of SnapComms tools, we have increased use of our intranet by more than 40% in the first year.”
Annabel Barbosa , Director, Communications,
WINTEC

Promoting content. Pop-up Desktop Alerts, Scrolling News Feeds and Interactive Screensaver Messages can be used to promote new resources and information available on the Intranet, with hyperlinks facilitating easy navigation to new content. Easy targeting means that only the employees who need it, receive relevant content notifications.

News Feeds on employee's computer screens can deliver scrolling headlines onto targeted employees’ computer screens. Hyperlinks allow staff to click through to specific pages of the Intranet.

Consolidate updates easily. SnapMag is an innovative staff e-mag that is pushed to employees’ computer screens. It can quickly and easily consolidate information into a visual templated format that’s dynamic and doesn't require an html editor. Any employee can submit articles (if you allow access rights). This means that anyone who submits intranet content can also add a short ‘teaser;’ into SnapMag. Since SnapMag contains 'user generated content' if can be more authentic and compelling than a traditional electronic staff magazine. Staff can recommend intranet (and other) content they find interesting with short 'tweets' followed by a hyperlink.

Maximizing the Value of RSS Feeds on the Intranet
RSS can be a fantastic way to let staff know about new developments or updates to the Intranet. Unfortunately, if we rely on staff to opt-in to specific feeds, we can be fairly certain that many will not. This can have an impact on the effectiveness of RSS as a channel. SnapComms’ RSS Ticker tool allows you to ‘push out’ specific RSS feeds to target user groups as an on-screen scrolling news ticker, eliminating the need for staff to opt-in to important feeds.

Increasing the Effectiveness of Training

In 30 days people typically forget 80% of what they have learned on a training course unless it is reinforced.

SnapComms’ Pop-up Quiz can be targeted to staff that have attended training or are using new systems. It pops-up on the user’s computer and can contain links to the Intranet (or other resources) thereby allowing staff to research questions before they answer them. Customizable recurrence options for uncompleted quizzes help ensure maximum participation.

“The SnapComms tools allow us to educate employees.”
Rella Stone, Senior Manager, Information Security,
Cox Communications

Increasing Survey Response Rates

Surveys which pop-up on targeted employee computer screens as an interactive desktop alert (rather than being buried in an email inbox).

Customizable recurrence options, based on individual survey completion, drive participation which can help ensure that all feedback is represented …including the important but often ‘silent majority’ who perhaps do not have extreme views or agendas and are therefore generally less motivated to participate.

Reporting is centralized on the SnapComms Content Management System and provides an up to the minute view of responses.

“SnapComms' Staff Survey is a great benchmarking tool”
Annette Culpan, Internal Communications manager,
Vodafone NZ

'Resource Light' Social Media System for Enterprise Communication

SnapComms provide plug-and-play blogging, discussion forums and helpdesks that can be easily be set up and run by other departments across the business (e.g. HR or the Employee Communications team). This allows them to quickly and easily try concepts out, test uptake and evolve the use of such tools without the need for ‘big project’ budget or IT resource.

Automatic user authentication via the Snap Client means that the forums are secure and do not require the use of user names and passwords.

Non IT administrators can quickly and easily set up new forums, blogs and interactive helpdesks and specify which employee groups have posting, commenting, moderation and viewing rights.

Optional desktop newsfeed notification can be used to alert users to important new posts (e.g. a CEO blog update, outage notifications, Crisis Communications etc).

Plug-and-play Helpdesks
The SnapComms Helpdesk tool allows employees, who are experiencing problems, to report an issue or ask a question in an online ‘helpdesk’. Moderators can be nominated for each ‘helpdesk’ and receive desktop alert notifications when new questions are posted. Moderators can answer questions directly or point the person to where an answer can be found on the intranet or network.

This means that the same question only needs to be answered once. The answer is clearly visible to others reporting the problem or asking the same question.

Each specific question is tagged and is search-able, meaning that past questions and answers can be easily found in an evolving repository of knowledge.

Engaging Staff in Technology Change

“The SnapComms' tools provide a range of ways to encourage and motivate staff to actively participate.”
Kelvin Tan, General Manager,,
Gosh Advertising

Where possible, involve employees and gather their views prior to implementing a technology change.

Build engagement with new technology. Use interactive screensaver messages to promote technology changes visually and build engagement and participation using staff quizzes.

Fast, Cost Effective, Screensaver Deployment

The SnapComms screensaver messaging tool is very simple to set up and manage via the Snap Content Manager. It can turn employee screensavers into interactive bill boards and offer a great channel for IT communications. If appropriate, the deployment of new screensavers can be simply managed and run by the employee communications or HR team which can free up IT resource.

About the SnapComms solution

Australasian-headquartered SnapComms provides software tools to help improve internal broadcast messaging and to ensure key information reaches the right audience at the right time. The technology includes interactive screensavers, scrolling newsfeeds, desktop alerts, user generated e-mags, pop-up staff quizzes and surveys, employee blogs, discussion forums and helpdesks.
Offering both hosted and non-hosted solutions to government and private entities, SnapComms currently has customers in the U.K., USA, Canada, South Africa, the Middle East, Australasia, and South America. SnapComms' U.S. office operates out of Goleta, California under the name Cut Through Communications. Pricing is on a per license basis from as little as $1 per user per channel per year.

Evaluate the SnapComms Enterprise Communications Software - TRIAL