Internal Communications needs a reboot. Could this app be the answer?
Quartz: a conversational news app that may offer an unconventional fix to the internal comms problem.
When push comes to shove, most companies do an okay job at marketing themselves.
But they also do a pretty woeful job at keeping people in the loop internally.
If you’re lucky you might have an annual kick-off where your CEO dresses up as an action hero and spouts some morale boosting platitudes.
Perhaps you even get a company newsletter telling you about Ken from the Warrington office, who recently sat in a bath of baked beans for charity. (It used to be printed, but now that’s way too lavish and it comes as a badly formatted PDF).
Or maybe you work for one of those progressive firms that hosts a quarterly webinar with the board: cue awkward silences, screened Q&As and someone’s dog barking in the background.
Alternatively, you may have the good fortune to work for one of those companies that takes communicating with you to a whole new level. Where your email in-box is cluster bombed on an almost daily basis with news and updates. So dry, so irrelevant, you would rather push needles in your eyes than read them.
It’s easy to be flippant, but the fact is internal communications is tough.
However, it’s also vital in ensuring your people get a sense of where the company is heading, feeling involved and valued – and part of something they well, want to be part of. But you knew that.
Imagine being able to deliver company news in a highly engaging way, direct to the mobile devices of your employees in snackable soundbites
Surely there’s a better way?
Something like this perhaps. It goes by the name of Quartz.
And the thing is, it’s not an internal comms tool at all. It’s a conversational news app. With a difference.
Your news is delivered in a messaging styled interface. You get the first snippit of news. Then the option to find out more. Or get the next story.
And if it can be said better in an emoji or GIF – it will do.
It’s simple, elegant and has a human and personalised feel to it all (despite the chat-bot like experience, apparently it’s manually programmed).
While it’s a news app today, with a little repurposing it could become an internal comms platform to be reckoned with.
Giving you the ability to deliver the company news that matters in a highly relevant and engaging way. Direct to the mobile devices (and wearables) of your employees – in snackable soundbites. So they can interact with them the way they choose at their convenience.
Here’s looking at you Quartz. There’s a world of email-battered, in the dark employees looking to you for help.
Check out the Quartz App here. It’s worth it.