Internal communication: the 11 essential tools

Why internal communication?

Sometimes neglected in favour of external communication, internal communication plays an essential role. Indeed, 51% of French people want more clear information about their company's actions (security, strategy, investments, etc.). Internal communication has several objectives: to motivate employees, involve them and inform them. However, it is not uncommon for the information offered to go unread. A survey by DigitalRecruiters shows that involving employees increases their satisfaction with the company's communication. The figures are striking: 83% of those who participated in the communication are satisfied, compared to 60% of those who did not.

Internal communication allows messages to be conveyed, the company's values to be transmitted and employees to be involved. Good dissemination of information reflects the quality of the company's operations. In large companies where colleagues do not always know each other, internal communication helps to create links. It reinforces the feeling of employees moving forward together towards a common goal.  

Types of internal communication tools

There are several categories of internal communication tools. It is important to understand and choose the right tools by defining your needs. Indeed, the right strategy is to choose tools that will serve you in the long term.

• Top Down communication tools : these correspond to the tools which allow the dissemination of information from the company to employees. Among these tools: the Digital Workplace via the news walls, the company newspaper, the Newsletter, Team Building, etc.
• Bottom Up communication tools : in contrast, these tools are used to pass on information from employees to the corporate level. They are: suggestion boxes, polls, surveys, etc.
• Onboarding tools: these include all the tools for integrating the employee into the company and its teams. For example: the Onboarding kit, a knowledge management platform, a digital Onboarding course, etc.
• Cross-cutting communication tools: these are tools that promote day-to-day exchanges within teams, to collaborate on projects. Overall, we find all the collaboration tools here. - Yammer, Teams, SharePoint among others.

🔎 To go further and define your internal communication strategy, here are 6 examples deciphered.

Internal communication tools

1) The Digital Workplace, much more than an intranet (Mozzaik365)

While 82% of employees would like their employer to do more to improve the quality of their digital experience at work, the Digital Workplace seems to be a great asset. Thus, implementing a Digital Workplace in the age of hybrid work is a prerequisite. This tool has several advantages:  

• Strengthening corporate communication ;
• Managing knowledge better ;
• Promote collaboration.

Offering a Digital Workplace to its employees allows for better communication of company information. Employees are also given the opportunity to interact and speak up to be included in the communication. As a result, both upward and downward communication are valued.  

Building your Digital Workplace from your Microsoft desktop is the best strategy. Indeed, you avoid the multiplication of tools, which favours its adoption. This is what Mozzaik365 Digital Workplace offers: an extension of the Microsoft 365 suite. It allows you to quickly and easily create a digital workspace at the cutting edge of innovation and without leaving your Microsoft environment. SharePoint is a native solution for creating a mobile and intelligent intranet. It keeps employees informed and connected. As an extension, Mozzaik365 doubles the power of SharePoint by adding new features and allowing you to create a more attractive and personalized intranet design.

2) Corporate social networks for better communication (Yammer)

80% of large companies have already launched their social platform. Having a corporate social network (CSN) promotes internal collaboration, adherence to the corporate culture, and employee development. Informal exchanges (even at a distance) are all advantages of CSNs.

Microsoft's corporate social network is Yammer. In large and medium-sized companies, not all employees have the opportunity to communicate directly. Yammer facilitates communication between strangers. Its objective? To promote exchanges within the organisation.

3) Opt for the phygitalization of your workplaces (Steeple)

Do you know what phygitalisation is? It's a fusion between the physical and digital worlds. In the context of internal communication, many elements of the workplace can be digitalized. For example, display panels, the use of touch-sensitive tablets or connected boards...  

For example, Steeple is a phygital solution for internal communication. Their goal is to help companies involve their employees in their work life. In this way, they strengthen the link between teams. They offer a digital signage solution so that employees can read and interact with the information that interests them.

4) Boost your Employee Advocacy (Sociabble)

Employee Advocacy is the hot engagement strategy. Indeed, messages are shared 24 times more and have a reach of 561% more when employees are at the origin  (Social Media Today study). This technique consists of turning employees into ambassadors for the company, both externally and internally.  

By launching Employee Advocacy campaigns, you train your teams to speak out on social networks and boost the e-reputation of the entire company. The idea behind this is that people give more credence to content published by an employee than to a company. There are many ways to carry out your Employee Advocacy strategy. It can be done from the Digital Workplace with a solution like Mozzaik365 which integrates social media feeds directly into the intranet. Employee posts are thus highlighted internally. Another option is external platforms like Sociabble. The platform uses content curation to facilitate interactions on social networks.

5) Take advantage of a Video area (Ioga and Playplay)

A video is shared 6 times more than an image. So video is an often underused medium and that's a mistake. Still underused, there is a real opportunity to get into video editing. If you want to create internal communication and employer brand videos, you can opt for software such as Playplay which makes video accessible to all.  

On the other hand, when deploying your knowledge management strategy, Ioga can be very useful. It is a software that allows you to create knowledge capture videos in the form of a question and answer format. The tool goes even further by allowing chaptering to segment your videos.

6) Harmonise mail signatures (Letsignit)

Harmonised email signatures give the company greater visibility. In accordance with the graphic charter, they give a real unity and allow elements such as articles, events, etc. to be shared. In other words, the email signature is a real business card for the company. Taking care of it is therefore essential. You can create it on a Word document and use good old copy and paste, but for more quality, some specialised tools exist. This is the case of Letsignit which allows you to synchronise your directory such as Azure AD with your signatures. This way, you can be sure that they are always up to date!

7) Keep yourself informed with the Newsletter (Sarbacane)

It is not uncommon for companies to include an external newsletter for customers or prospects in their strategy. However, they sometimes forget the importance of an internal newsletter for employees. However, it is this that allows important messages to be passed on within the company. It also reinforces the feeling of belonging and the adhesion to the company culture. To create quality newsletters you can use tools such as Sarbacane. This French emailing software provides you with email templates and allows you to monitor the KPIs of your mailings.

8) Internal survey (Mozzaik365)

Evaluating motivation and satisfaction is not to be neglected. What better way to do this than with an internal survey? This will certainly allow you to evaluate your Employee Net Promoter Score and to implement corrective actions. It is also an excellent way to include employees in decisions by asking their opinion on certain subjects. Mozzaik365 offers this option and the possibility to include suggestion boxes in company intranets. This way, you allow employees to share their ideas. You can then put them to a vote to highlight the most relevant ideas.

9) A collaboration tool (Teams and Mozzaik365)

Collaborative work has many virtues such as saving time, employee satisfaction, lowering turnover... Among the good practices of collaborative work, is the choice of the right tool. Microsoft Teams or SharePoint are essential collaboration software. They allow you to work remotely and asynchronously on documents, to exchange information via chat or video conference, to plan tasks, to create work teams... In short, the necessary foundation for teamwork. Mozzaik365 adds functionality to this. Indeed, the extension centralizes the collaborative tools and promotes exchanges. How does it do this? Thanks to the contribution aid, the site factory, the integration of Teams components and a knowledge management platform.

Another tool that seems obvious for better collaboration: messaging. It is a key tool for internal communication! Every company must have a way to contact colleagues without overwhelming their mailbox. Messaging is not only the way to share messages, but also documents or even to communicate in a more informal way with GIFs or emojis. Microsoft Teams excels in this area.  

📌 To go further, discover the good practices of collaborative work

10) Digital onboarding (HeyAxel)

With the rise of teleworking, many companies now need to carry out the Onboarding of their new employees remotely.Onboarding is the first image an employee has of the company. As such, it is a crucial step in the employee journey that should not be overlooked. According to Payfit, a failed Onboarding costs €7,000 and the first moments in the company are the ones where the recruit decides to stay in the company or not. HeyAxel is an Onboarding platform that allows you to plan and monitor the integration of recruits. Their real strength is that they offer an experience that is 100% integrated with your work environment including Teams.

11) Job offer (Welcome to the Jungle)

The main challenge for a company is to attract the best talent. To do this, many aspects come into play: company image, employer brand, attractiveness of the sector, etc. Candidates are placing more and more importance on company values. 44% of candidates take the company's values into account when making their choice. The Welcome to the Jungle job platform reflects these values through company profiles, descriptions and articles. Having a Welcome to the Jungle page is therefore an essential asset to promote your company to candidates. This way, candidates are more aware of the company culture and you maximize the number of applications received.

You can also find our job offers here!

Things to remember

📌 Choose a tool that covers as many of your needs as possible;

📌 Ask your staff to participate;

📌 Create a test phase before adopting a new tool;

📌 Measure productivity after integration of a new tool.