5 ways an intranet app will deliver roi throughout your pandemic recovery

Play the long game to thrive in your next normal

As we look ahead to a post-pandemic future, many find themselves at a crossroads. The challenging economic climate and ongoing uncertainty leave leaders with a difficult decision. Some are focusing on minimizing their overhead costs and attempting to weather the storm. Others are looking to the future and taking action to ensure that their enterprise will come out ahead when the crisis ends.

History points to the latter as the more promising approach for long-term growth. Following the recession of 2007-2008, the top quintile of companies surpassed their peers by roughly 20% as they transitioned to economic recovery. Just eight years later, this lead soared to more than 150%. If you’re looking to succeed in the long run, you need to build a strong foundation for recovery from the start.

Digitalization is the key to long-term recovery

Digital tools helped enterprises maintain operational continuity during the pandemic’s height and they’re fated to play a determining role in how your organization bounces back. Despite challenging economic times and tight budgets, global spending on digital transformation technologies is forecasted to grow 10.4% in 2020.

However, merely investing in technology isn’t enough to guarantee long-term success. If you’re looking to maximize the rate of return for your digital investment, it pays to prioritize the employees who will use it. 82% of top performing companies pay attention to the human experience surrounding their digital technology. Next-generation intranets are uniquely positioned to underpin superior user experiences by unifying your digital landscape and offering employees rich, integrated functionality that’s accessible on any device, anywhere.

5 ways your intranet will support an accelerated recovery

Intranets can play a pivotal role in your post-pandemic recovery strategy. Leaders who launch a solution can expect to achieve the following pay-offs:

#1. The agile path to digital transformation

When COVID-19 caused mass-scale disruptions, leaders everywhere turned to digital tools to keep their wheels turning. From supporting remote work to communicating with consumers, rapid digitization swiftly became an outright necessity. As a result, nearly 80% of organizations have increased their digital transformation budgets in response to COVID-19.

If you're looking for some cost-effective wins for your digital transformation strategy, turn to your intranet. Instead of relying on extensive support from IT, look for a solution that will make self-service a reality. Consider launching an HR Hub to make it easy for your team to publish updates, book vacations, and share their feedback.

#2. Take productivity to the next level

COVID-19 catalyzed the world’s most extensive work from home experiment. Many leaders feared that their employees’ output levels would dwindle once they were out of eyesight. However, technology has proven to be the differentiating factor that determines remote productivity levels. Employees who are satisfied with their digital tools are twice as likely to maintain or improve productivity as their colleagues with insufficient setups.

Encourage your employees to work smarter, not harder. Intranets solve many of the reoccurring challenges that eat away at output levels, including searching for resources. Instead of losing 30% of their day to looking for information, your team can take advantage of your intranet’s consumer-grade search experiences to efficiently get the results they’re looking for.

The average employee uses 35 job-critical applications and switches their screen 1.1k times each day. Your intranet can also serve as an antidote for application switching, another known productivity sink. It can drastically reduce platform-hopping by creating a single pane of glass experience that ensures that your employees seamlessly access every app and tool they need.

#3. Eliminate silos amongst dispersed teams 

If you're struggling to provide timely updates and collaboration outlets for your employees, expect to pay a steep price. Enterprises lose $62.4m per year in lost productivity due to miscommunication. In the age of remote work, enterprises are particularly vulnerable to segmentation and the risk of disconnect runs high. In fact, 75% of employees report feeling more isolated since the pandemic’s onset.

Your intranet can keep your employees aligned and serve as a bustling hub of activity to encourage togetherness. Bring water cooler chat into the digital age by taking advantage of social networking functionality to spark ad-hoc conversations. Empower everyone to raise their voice and contribute to your team’s future success by sharing their suggestions via remote ideation. From interns to senior managers, all employees deserve the opportunity to create and publish ideas, vote for their favorites, and watch their visions come to life.

#4. Pave the way for resiliency 

In the new world of work, resiliency reigns supreme. Instead of streamlining roles and supply chains, leaders are looking to equip their teams with the tools and infrastructure needed to remain agile and rapidly change course at a moment’s notice.

Your employees need a diverse set of skills to contribute to more responsive organizational models. As enterprises focus on digitally-driven recovery plans, technological competency will dictate the success of your new strategy. 44% of business leaders point to a lack of digital skills as the key barrier to their transformation.

To empower your employees during their next normal, look to your intranet to bridge existing skill gaps. Include virtual mentoring initiatives, a series of webinars and online resources, and explainer articles to help everyone gain the digital skills needed to thrive.

#5. Cultivate a culture that brings out everyone's best

As leaders craft their pandemic recovery plans, corporate culture can’t be an afterthought. A strong positive culture enhances employee engagement by 30%, resulting in up to a 19% increase in operating income and a 28% increase in earnings growth.

The pandemic has brought wellbeing to the forefront of workplace culture initiatives. During the height of the crisis, support such as enhanced sick leave and childcare provisions were crucial. Your employees will continue to benefit from wellbeing schemes that support both their physical and mental health as they transition to their next normal.

Your intranet can serve as the launchpad for a positive workplace culture. Create a wellbeing hub with centralized resources, video content, and discussion forums and encourage everyone to come together to build a healthier and more supportive community.

Make reaping the rewards of an intranet your post-pandemic reality

While there's plenty of uncertainty surrounding the new world of work, the need for next-generation technology is essential. If you're looking to equip your workforce with the tools needed to succeed in this new era, get in touch with our digital workplace experts today.