HCL Connections is a secure enterprise-grade collaboration tool and has recently been updated. This is the latest version.

The global COVID-19 crisis is shifting how teams and organizations around the world are working. It has organizations redefining what is essential and creating new, innovative solutions. Companies need to communicate more regularly with employees who have suddenly become remote workers, as well as share fast-changing news, protocols, and information quickly. The communication needs to be secure and reliable. Employees and teams need to stay informed, stay vigilant, and perhaps most importantly, stay connected and productive. But in many organizations, current communication channels and collaboration tools are inadequate and can’t provide the broad reach that’s required.  We will focus on government entities here, as an example. Collaboration between central governmental departments and local authorities can be hard under normal circumstances, but this pandemic has shown many of us where our weaknesses lie — especially when we need to collaborate and unite more than ever. Data can exist in silos. It might not be clear where to go to find contacts or expertise. It can be challenging to share concise, unified information in a clear and organized way with the public. Getting the facts right and getting them to the right people can literally have lives on the line.  When the Coronavirus lockdown was first announced, the UK government issued a directive where a local authority had 48 hours to provide good-quality accommodation for the homeless. In that time frame, and using Connections, they were able to create a community, populate it with relevant, useful content created and reviewed by experts. There were real-time feeds, videos from trusted sources, messages and articles from senior leaders. Upcoming events were shared, content could be updated and shared in real-time, forums were created to address urgent needs and concerns. The challenge was met and solved. While the world turns to working from home and remote communication and collaboration, and need a single secure destination, the strength...