These certainly are strange times. Now that we’ve settled into working from home, we thought we’d share a quick status update, as well as some observations and thoughts. Before we begin – we hope that you and your loved ones are safe and continue to be so.
First off, you should expect no interruptions to our service or support networks. The team at Intranet Solutions is working from home with direct and secure access to resources and ticketing, so there’s no issue accessing content or undertaking support tasks. Additionally, our contact details remain the same, so if you need anything don’t hesitate to get in touch with us via 1300 822 123 or support@intranets.com.au
As so many of you noticed, the current situation has reaffirmed the value and importance of an intranet. Countless organisations experienced a last-minute scramble to migrate their production assets to secure online platforms, train their staff in new processes and to configure communications solutions. Several of our clients had many of these solutions already prepared as part of their intranet. They were able to easily keep their staff up to date with developments, rapidly disseminating information and tools across their network.
We’ve also seen new emerging behaviours regarding how clients interact and engage with their intranet. Over the last three weeks, many of our clients have organically drifted into one of three streams:
- Communications and alerts. These clients have leveraged the News and Alerts applications to keep their staff up to date with internal and external developments.
- Document and Policy Management. Many of our clients began using their intranet as a way of managing assets and compliances. They have been using the Document Library to supply staff with crucial assets, and the Policy Manager to train, onboard and upskill their workforce.
- The intranet as a portal. Many organisations engage with multiple dedicated online services to coordinate a remote workforce, such as Dropbox, Slack, Microsoft Teams and Google Docs. Implementing a Portal-centric intranet is an easy way of collating these numerous services, ensuring that staff know where to find everything they need.
With these three streams, we’re seeing some great validation coming through for a variety of applications and features. With the swap to a drag-and-drop content interface in version 8.2, clients were able to create dynamic pages quickly, but it often wasn’t leveraged. However, with the current situation, we’re seeing our clients engage with it to rapidly build COVID and working from home notification hubs that incorporate news items, alerts and resources. Some smaller applications have also seen substantial use, such as the buttons component, policy manager and infocapture.
So what are we going to do about it? Well, for one, we’re shifting our content strategy slightly. 2020 is turbulent enough, so we want to make sure that our clients are using the tools they have to the best of their ability. Over the coming weeks, we’ll be rolling out a variety of content specifically tailored for those using an Intranet Solutions Intranet. We’ll also be providing some content around working from home and how to address common issues that arise. Additionally, if there are any questions you have about your intranet’s capacity or any configuration questions you might have, please contact us via the details above.
Finally, we’d like to touch on one more thing.
This current pandemic is a spectacularly trying time for everyone, and many people are more isolated than they’ve ever been. Many are experiencing anxiety, fear, uncertainty and loneliness – and that’s ok. These are challenging times, and it’s normal to feel these emotions. Fortunately, there are numerous services and platforms available to help. A lot of doctors and mental health practitioners have pivoted to video, ensuring that the help you need is accessible. At the bottom of this article, we’ve included some references and links for people that feel that they need to reach out for help.
We’re all in this together, and we wish you health and safety in these uncertain and turbulent times.
Mental Health and Counselling
- Beyond Blue
- RUOK
- Department of Health and Human Services
- VicHealth
- Head to Health
- Mental Health Commission
