Employee communication apps are designed to meet essential organizational needs and can be easily implemented with a few swipes on a mobile device.
What is an Employee Communication App?
An employee communication app is your modern intranet placed directly into the hands of your employees on their mobile device. A mobile intranet app gives employees a chance to connect and communicate through their phone without needing to exchange personal phone numbers.
Business communication has a legacy of occurring over email, in meetings or these days over video conferencing but all of these methods have its limitations. Research has shown that on average, a business user receives and sends a total of 122 emails per day, and employees can spend as much as 28% of their working week reading and answering emails!
With a modern intranet mobile app, employees are able to stay on top of important company updates, news and events by logging into a single source of truth – an employee communication app. Simpplr helps organizations simplify and centralize critical business communications for all employees on one platform and app.
Why do you need an Employee Communication App?
As every organization focuses on the best way to share important top-down company information during remote work, internal communication platforms aka modern intranets have emerged as a necessity. While most organizations manage their intranet via desktop, the need to connect to non-desk employees has grown stronger.
An employee communication app is simply easier than logging into a web portal, so the channel change will improve engagement and adoption for many. Plus, with an intranet mobile app, employees can search and access critical company documents from anywhere!
Non-Desk Employees
Non-desk, offline and frontline employees who don’t access a computer for work are increasing on a daily basis. From service employees to retail workers to maintenance personnel, employees are barely spending time behind a desk and instead are out in the field. In order to communicate important company updates, it’s pertinent to have a mobile app to directly connect information in a quick and efficient manner. An employee communication app bridges the gap between on-site and remote employees.
Increase employee engagement & lower turnover
Employee engagement is decreasing as the employees who need access to information the most are the ones who are receiving the least. Mobile apps encourage social interaction through comments, likes and sharing capabilities building up employee relations. A strong company culture reduces turnover and makes employees feel like they’re an integral part of the organization.
By having this additional avenue of communication, it also establishes a dialogue between leadership, management and employees to address important topics.
Smartphone and Desktop Connection
Importantly, it’s one intranet: available on mobile & desktop. There are many internal communications apps that are mobile-only. These are good solutions for a completely deskless workforce, but when your employees spend part of their day in front of computers: you want one intranet with the same information that can be accessed in multiple channels. Otherwise, the classic challenge with multiple sources of truth rears its ugly head, leading to intranet failure.
How to choose the best employee communication app for your organization?
Simpplr has spent a considerable amount of development time improving our next generation mobile app that is now available on both Android and Apple iOS. The new app has made considerable improvements over our last version. Some enhancements are apparent, such as the fresh UI and new feed enhancements. Others are behind the scenes with improved security and performance. If you haven’t deployed your mobile intranet, we strongly encourage you to do so. It’s a great way to reinvigorate your intranet program and increase engagement!
Understand company needs
Every organization has different needs and the key to choosing an effective communications app is understanding your organizational needs and the best way to fill them. There are business communication apps around instant messaging, project management, video conferencing – a modern intranet allows your business to reach every single member of your team with engaging and relevant content that fits their needs.
Understand employee needs
The best employee app isn’t necessarily the fanciest nor should it be the most complicated tool that your employees use. In fact, it should naturally flow with what your employees already use and be a seamless transition from desktop to mobile. Sometimes, it’s best to directly ask your employees for what they need and are looking for. Employees who feel valued and connected by their leaders are more productive and willing to put in the hard work to achieve company goals. The more employees relate, the more engaged they will be and the faster they will adopt the employee communication app for daily consumption.
Figure out costs
There are many costs tied to business communication tools from subscription price to training and then the actual cost of usage. If your organization is going from no internal communication platform then initial costs can seem significant and if it’s a solution that requires extensive set-up then costs of implementation, training and employee usage can add up.
When weighing out providers and what solution works best for your organization, it’s important to take a look at set up time, ease of use and training as well. Simpplr makes it easy to get your modern intranet up and running and into the hands of your employees with no training required.
What are the benefits of an employee communication app?
Employees to stay in the know
Let’s face it, it’s hard to get employees to stay on top of important company updates, strategy, news, and events. Logging into a mobile app is simply easier than logging into a web portal, so the channel change will improve engagement and adoption for many. Plus, with an intranet mobile app, employees can search and access critical company documents from anywhere!
Keep the company directory in your pocket
If the purpose of an intranet is to connect employees, a strong use case continues to provide employees the company directory so users can find experts and connect over many channels whether it’s by phone, Skype, email, or even messaging within the intranet itself. In the Simpplr mobile app, you can instantly search and find coworkers and contact them with a tap of a finger.
Cut through chatter with push notifications and text messaging
For those rare but critical moments when we need to notify employees (such as an office closure during a snowstorm), these notifications are the way to go. Not everyone reads their emails. Push notifications cut through the chatter faster than any other means of communication.
