We tell our clients over and over that consistent messaging throughout your organization helps build a strong brand.
But that becomes difficult when your staff numbers 100 or more and is spread out over multiple locations.
Most large organizations have an intranet (defined as a private network accessible only to an organization’s staff). Typically designed by the internal IT department, they tend to be sparse in nature, providing the basics, such as policies and procedures, forms and contact information.
Imagine how effective such a system could be if it was designed from a marketing perspective: If the primary goal was to communicate with and motivate a very important audience—the company workforce. We recently had the opportunity to build such a system for one of our larger bank clients.
Working closely with the IT and marketing departments, the first thing we did was research what information employees used most frequently and where we could ease pain points with enhanced organization and functionality.
One of the most helpful features we added was the instant search capability. We found most employees needed to find critical information quickly. This system actively returns matching results as the employee fills in the query.
Secondly, we clearly defined role permissions and allowed the user community to assume management of most of the intranet. This lessened the demand on the IT staff for support and also created a much more timely and responsive system.
With a much improved (and attractive) employee directory, staff can put a face to the emails and phone numbers. A document management system effortlessly keeps the latest versions of policies, forms and other documents instantly available.
We also designed a simple to follow e-guide. This gives branch employees immediate access to product guides, literature and the latest rates, greatly improving consistent messaging and enhancing cross-sell opportunities.
Since utilization is at an all time high, corporate management has an efficient vehicle to reach all employees at the same time. This becomes particularly important in this era of bank mergers and acquisitions. It becomes a pivotal tool as blocks of new employees join the workforce.
A time tested strategy states that if you take care of your employees, they will take care of your customers. A sleek, easy to use employee intranet plays a pivotal role in achieving this. It begins with a commitment to keep the workforce highly informed and motivated. It should be viewed as a critical internal branding tool, every bit as important as the customer facing website.
If you’d like further details on how to build or rebuild your employee intranet, contact Netwave today.
