For much of history, the horse-drawn cart was the primary method of transport for carrying people, goods and other cargo. Then came the Industrial Revolution; the invention of the steam engine and eventually the motor car. As a result, it was ‘goodbye’ to the horse-drawn cart – and consign it to the footnotes of history (or in modern times as a novelty activity).
The design of the modern city is perhaps, appropriately, a fundamental example of the symbiosis between technology and design, and the replacement of the horse and cart with modern, better alternatives. With better technology in the form of automobiles, the city needed to adapt. We created smooth roads that were more appropriate for rubber wheels, widened and straightened crooked streets so cars could manoeuvre more easily, and created huge underground spaces for storing all those cars in. Necessity is the mother of invention – as technology evolved, so did cities to find a way to accommodate this evolution. A major update and rethink was needed; new infrastructure was called for and implemented.
The same is true for your organisation’s intranet. Throughout this five-part series, we have made the association between an intranet manger and a city planner. In our last post we looked at the features of Fresh – Content and Code’s intranet – and showed how by implementing a modern intranet, you are able to revamp your ‘city’ for modern user needs.
Choosing Fresh is a little like adapting a city to be prepared for modern vehicles. Recognising that a city designed for the horse-and-cart era just doesn’t correlate with the needs (and possibilities) of modern technology. So how exactly does Fresh bring a company’s major resource into the twenty-first century?
Fresh is a cutting edge, Office 365 intranet
Taking advantage of the latest innovations in technology, Fresh enables your employees to use the most up to date tools and features to get their work done. A big focus for companies is the ability to work together; with the right avenues for partnership and teamwork, research has shown that your organisation can increase its productivity and get a great return on investment within months. A modern Office 365 intranet gives you these avenues and enables you to become more efficient, boosting your bottom line and giving you the opportunity to produce a real return on investment.
Fresh gives you top collaboration and communication tools
If collaboration is a boost to employee productivity, then a central space in which to work together should be an important requirement. Of course, that’s been the goal of intranets since their invention. However, Fresh helps companies finally achieve this goal through innovation and its leveraging of Microsoft fastest growing commercial product in history – Office 365.
Fresh incorporates Social portals such as Yammer which means you can always contribute to the conversation. The social tool, like many of its consumer relatives, lets users add their point of view to a discussion (comments), get closer with their colleagues (friends), develop connections (network), form teams and bring more of themselves to the table. It’s about giving them an additional way of collaborating – something that’s especially important in a world where teams are often scattered across the country.
An Office 365 intranet, Fresh has everything you might expect in terms of collaboration power, but is based in the cloud, meaning you have a very lightweight infrastructure – no expensive servers to maintain and replace. Your users will be able to upload videos from their devices, quickly and reliably, as well as create, edit and publish blogs and other content easily. It’s secure – complying to all the major international security standards and is stress-tested regularly to ensure quality and safety.
These features and more ensure that Fresh is a place where your employees will begin and end their day; where they can get work done and utilise all the benefits of a modern business.
Fresh is fully mobile
Along with collaboration, modern workers want the ability to access their work from anywhere. More than simply giving you access to your files and documents, Fresh enables you to effectively ‘check in’ to the office even when you are miles away. Whether some of your employees are freelance sales reps who travel a lot or international employees in outpost offices; a modern, engaging and functional intranet that allows you to stay connected and on the same page is a real competitive advantage. Complete projects faster, get ahead of your workload, solve problems and accomplish goals without the tools getting in the way.
Fresh is all about you
Collaboration is certainly key in business – today, more so than ever. However, another aspect to the way we work now is the need for a sense of individuality. Employees are more than just numbers or cogs on the production line – and want to be valued as such. Along with a greater sense of togetherness, and being able to work well with each other even from a distance, is being acknowledged for one’s own work, and for what one can bring to the business as an individual.
The most innovative Office 365 intranet, Fresh, is designed with both the collective as well as the individual in mind – the above 21st Century capabilities assist you in this. You have your own space for your own content, you can post videos, write a blog and publish it with a tap from your phone or tablet, get involved in a Yammer discussion with your line manager, search for a colleague in a different department and see the work they are doing. Forget modern, that’s almost futuristic.
By deploying Fresh you also gain access to Content and Code’s fifteen years of expertise and knowledge. Our team – including Microsoft MVPs – have been building, implementing and supporting intranets since SharePoint’s inception, and with our close ties with Microsoft, Fresh is built with the Office 365 future roadmap firmly in mind. And by future-proofing your intranet, it’s guaranteed to stay… Fresh.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
If you’re looking to bring your intranet into the 21st century, then Fresh is for you. Fast, flexible and fun, Fresh can be deployed in less than 50 days. Talk to us today for more information on how Fresh can become the intranet your staff will love, not loath.