Although work environment changes due to the pandemic have shown that companies can function with a large part of their workforce working remotely, questions remain about how to effectively support employee engagement and communication. Employee communication is not just integral to the employee experience because it drives engagement, but it also contributes to employee satisfaction, productivity, collaboration and ultimately your business’s success. Let’s begin with this question, “How do you create effective communication channels for employees when you’re not face-to-face?” There was an adage I learned when I first became a manager, communicate face-to-face as much as you can. Those were the days when your main communication options were limited to email and face-to-face meetings. That’s not to say that face-to-face meetings are outdated, but today’s reality for communicating with employees is much different and more challenging. Attitudes have changed, and — thankfully — the tools to communicate have multiplied. Let’s take a look how remote work transitions are impacting CEO thinking and decision-making. Rethinking the Ways We Communicate  KPMG did a survey with CEOs on the pandemic’s impact on business operations. The most striking outcome was that the pandemic has forced CEOs to rethink how they work and communicate within their organizations. Learning to operate in a remote or hybrid work environment is certainly more complicated, and this new work model has challenged CEOs to reevaluate business norms.   Three quarters of the CEOs surveyed said they would continue to invest in digital collaboration and communication tools because these tools help fill communication and engagement gaps.  Interestingly, 73% of CEOs found that when hiring, a remote or hybrid working environment is more attractive to perspective employees. The employee experience is typically a key factor for people in deciding on new career choices. 69% of CEOs said they would be down-sizing office space to save money. That’s a clear indication that some employees are...

Project teams are a critical component of getting work done, and their productivity is key for success. Since collaboration and communication are so important, how do you know if your current toolset tools support your needs? Eliminate roadblocks One of the biggest roadblocks to close collaboration is the lack of a fundamental framework that makes collaboration easier. In other words, collaboration is not just a personal skill, it’s a result of structure and tools that support content sharing, ideation, and interaction between team members. If you add virtual project teams into the mix, the challenges of effective collaboration are even more pronounced.  HCL Connections solves this dilemma by enabling organizational teams and project teams to create “Communities” to support a collaborative work experience. So, what is a Connections Community? It’s a flexible, digital workspace where people come together to communicate, collaborate, share information and expertise, and solve problems. Communities enable information flow and sharing across the entire collaborative ecosystem. Make success repeatable Connections Communities make collaboration an integral part of the work experience by organizing your productivity tools, apps, content and tasks all in one place. Virtually everything you need, focused on a particular project or important activity, is at your fingertips. Whether you need to view the status of assigned tasks or edit a shared document, your Connections Community provides the tools to get the job done efficiently. Connections also includes a setup wizard to simplify the creation of new Communities. Use our built-in, professionally designed templates or reuse proven and engaging templates built upon your own best practices. Creating a new community and getting a new project team up-and-running has never been faster or easier. Be more productive One of the biggest productivity losses for project teams is searching for information. Information is typically disconnected from projects and tasks, and therefore hard to find. Studies consistently demonstrate that employees spend needless hours...

Staying connected at work is more critical than ever. Speed and efficiency are paramount, and communication is more and more vital. You can’t afford to get this wrong. The latest version of HCL Connections is here and it helps teams and organizations overcome workplace challenges and helps create solutions better than ever before.    HCL Connections v7 provides the structure to close information and communication gaps. It drives efficiencies for teams that are working remotely and enables employees to get project teams up and running more quickly, to interact more seamlessly with other team applications, and drastically reduce deployment and upgrade cycles. Connections keeps project teams connected, helps manage communication around strategy and shifting business focus. And it helps promote a strong sense of community for employees — especially important as we work through the last months of this global pandemic.  Unlike other collaboration platforms that require tiresome toggling between application silos, HCL Connections delivers an intuitive experience that delivers team content, news, conversations, and project tasks all in one place.   HCL Connections v7 lets you deliver these innovations and more:   Jumpstart your project teams and make success repeatable: get your teams up and running 80% faster with new, easy-to-use set-up Community wizard and templates built upon your best practices. Templates save time and help drive increased consistency that promotes successful results.   Integrate the power of HCL Connections with Microsoft 365® eco-system: leverage the value of your Connections people-powered communities and content into your Microsoft applications. Readily access and share critical knowledge, conversations, and content in your communities. Make teamwork more seamless — built-in integration amplifies team communication, decision velocity, and productivity. Accelerate discovery and decision-making and remove boundaries with one-click access to content, conversations, and expertise.   Reduce IT costs and headaches with cloud-native support: deploy powerful new features 90% faster with component pack and cloud native support. Deploying and upgrading is dramatically faster and easier with new component pack installation scripts which automate deployment. Easily deploy the latest functionality with a cloud-native version of Component Pack (Amazon EKS and RedHat OpenShift). Connections enables a structured, collaborative approach for teams to get their work done. It offers a seamless work experience and the flexibility to...

As more and more teams are working remotely in digital workplaces, making news and content immediately accessible is more important than ever to both companies and their employees. The way we consume and communicate information has changed dramatically and the value of video has become even more apparent as a vehicle for dissemination. In fact, studies show that  67% of people understand information better when it’s communicated visually, and younger workers are twice as likely to prefer visual communications than their counterparts.  Not only do employees prefer video for content delivery, visual content can be more easily absorbed and understood. So, when you need to convey important messages and information, video is not only preferred, it is more efficient. It should be no surprise that video has completely transformed our content consumption habits both at work and at home.   Rise of the remote worker  Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of remote workers increased 159% over the past decade, due in part to the ongoing digital workplace transition. The pandemic has accelerated this trend and poses significant communication challenges for companies. With a highly dispersed workforce on-demand video communication delivers an incredible advantage.   Keeping employees engaged and productive with minimal face-to-face interaction has become more challenging. “ As many as a third (36%) of employees say their motivation levels have been affected by poor company-wide communications.” Long corporate emails turn off many employees and go unread. Video provides multi-sensory engagement and also more closely replicates being in the same room with your colleague. Videos can help close the communications gap for your remote workforce.  Get and keep your employee’s attention  “Only 40% of employees report that they are well informed about their company’s goals, strategies, and tactics,” according to the Harvard Business review. How can we expect employees to be motivated and productive if they don’t know what’s going on? How much information is actually being consumed and understood? Forrester Research study indicates that employees are 75% more likely to watch a video than read text. Video is preferred because it provides a more human, personal touch.  Building or shifting the company culture is another major challenge, especially when transitioning to a digital workplace. The employee intranet is a crucial component and when it comes to promoting your company culture, on-demand video should be an integral part of your strategy.  Whether delivering employee on-boarding and training, organizational announcements, tutorials, product announcements and recording live-streaming events, video ensures a...