Thursday, July 29, 2010

Extranets Help Employees Stay In Touch Across Locations

"Virtual" is in Vogue

Companies with multiple locations across the country...around the world...or even on the other side of town, are discovering the economies of offering employees and associates a private space online that is "theirs" — such as a company intranet. Or extranet. In this online space, they can share ideas on a bulletin board, write about successes, connect with fellow employees, view photos from the office picnic or read the most recent company newsletter. Anniversaries can be recognized. New employees introduced. Announcements made. Industry research and resources made available. Whatever communication needs to happen with the group of colleagues at work, you can use your private online intranet to build community within.

Build Community - Connect People

An InTimeTools online directory can have the people in it who are important to your business — staff, vendors, associates, clients...whoever it is that you want. The people you do business with can further make you aware of individual expertises, or special interests, or that they have been participants on certain types of projects. The outcome is a directory that has intelligence built into it that goes beyond phone number and email address. For example, if you're a financial institution and you're doing a project on micro-financing, and you need someone to compile the statistics of the research you did — wouldn't it be handy to easily locate someone with expertise in micro-finance AND statistics? It makes connecting with the right people to share ideas so much easier!

Don't Re-invent the Wheel

TRUE STORY — There was an organization that started an annual awards banquet. A committee of people put together a nomination process, the invitations, the program, ordered the awards, and did full publicity about the recipients. It was a success!

The next year, it was a new group of people on the committee and they created all new plans, new collateral...everything. Think about the time wasted in getting to a new higher level with this event. If only knowledge had just been shared so that those coming after could benefit from the hard work of those who had gone before! With an InTimeTools intranet,repositories can be developed to pass important information — and proven ideas that work — forward. And for new ideas, let's talk about publishing instantly!

Publish Instantly

Publish — especially the "breaking news" — on your company intranet instantly. And send out an email alert to your employees to let them know there is something new and to login soon. What better way to keep those who make your business go "in the know!" Use a blog module to communicate an idea out and enable those receiving it to comment and rate it and let you know whether it's a "keeper" or not. Publishing instantly not only enables you to share news right away, but also engages those most important to your success. There are a number of modules that enable communication: wiki, blog, announcements, bulletins and more. From wherever they are and whenever they login, your company's best can collaborate and connect!

Collaborate and Connect

By now you realize the creative approaches your company might take in communicating effectively with your business colleagues from wherever they are when they simply log in:

  • Member directory with the added intelligence of using filtering technology
  • Blogging with the capabilities of commenting and rating, as well as separating  posts into calendars and categories
  • Discussion forum so that intranet invitees can discuss ideas
  • Central repository of information — resources, marketing materials to keep branding consistent...
  • Email blasts and newsletters and online registration for events...

...the list goes on.We hope you'll contact InTimeTools® today!

 

Copyright 2010 by Kitson Marketing InTimeTools, Madison WI