Would You Consider Blogging On Your Own Intranet?

It is now commonplace to see a blog section on any website that offers products or services. It allows that company to connect directly with their customers, to keep them informed about what is going on inside the company, or updates on the industry itself. Through a blog, information on new products and services can easily be pushed to common social media platforms, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.

Although a passive method to reach out to your client base and potential customers, it is an indispensable tool for communication in today’s technology age.

How can I utilise a blog internally?

An internal blog is only seen by employees, and generally hosted within your intranet. Internal blogs allow for more freedom of expression and can be expanded upon or limited as deemed by management. A few reasons why you need an internal blog:

1. Information Sharing

An internal blog is a powerful tool for information and knowledge sharing. If there are changes, (a new employee, a new product, etc.) then blogging is a great medium for sharing that information. You can setup automated emails to staff, ensuring users get a notification to read the blog or set it up to display on your intranet home page for a certain period of time. Not only is this an effective way to share information, it also ensures employees are up-to-date on the latest company and industry news.

1. Communicating Company Vision

It is easy for employees to forget the company vision, goals and core values. Culture takes over from those visions and goals, and periodically employees need to be reminded of what the company stands for and the direction it is heading. An internal blog allows you to regularly communicate your company vision and values to employees via your intranet platform, helping employees feel more connected to your organization.

1. Increased Communication

An internal blog is a great addition to other communications tools such as Yammer and Slack (and more). Allowing all employees to create blogs (approved by a content manager), creates a great forum for discussion. This not only promotes open communication between employees, but also boosts employee engagement and morale. If you are an organization with many face-to-face meetings, a blog helps keep the conversation going long after the meeting is finished.

1. Growing the Company Community

Hosting an internal blog is a great way to build a sense of community. Employees can use the blog to promote upcoming events, increase awareness for causes or give praise and congratulations to other colleagues.

What we think..

Contributing to an internal blog is the best way for your organization to share information, communicate company vision, increase collaboration and help staff feel like they are part of a larger community. Establishing an internal blog can give as many as, and if not more benefits than a public blog.

Would you consider blogging on your Intranet?

5 Public Cloud Myths Exposed

The public cloud is a hot topic in IT today. Even though it has been around for about ten years, cloud offerings from AWS, Azure and Google cloud have made the public cloud more mainstream and easier to get onto. In some instances though companies are jumping on board without really understanding it. So in an effort to debunk some myths here are five myths to consider if you are contemplating moving to the public cloud:

1. Public Cloud is Cheaper

The AWS/Azure public cloud “pay by use” methodology was a huge game changer for companies jumping onto the pubic cloud, but there is an assumption that “pay by use” will automatically make the subscription cheaper.

It can in some instances, but it should be noted that in many cases High Availability environments will usually come out cheaper with a hosting provider rather than a public cloud option. Data out transfer costs and dedicated resource costs both come into play in a big way in a High Availability environment, and things can get very expensive, very quickly. Many companies have tried out the public cloud and have gone back to dedicated resources in a managed cloud where the investment is more reasonable and consistent.   

2. Everything should go to the Public Cloud

Due to the time it can take to tailor your application to the public cloud (not all applications are really built for the cloud/virtualization, much less the public cloud), not all companies environments are sitting in the public cloud. You really need to have an in-depth discussion with your IT Provider to determine what can be in the public cloud and what should be in the public cloud.

3. Full Security/Compliance Comes with Cloud Infrastructure

Security is much better in the cloud today than it has been in years past. Even though public cloud offerings like AWS and Azure offer HIPPA or PCI compliant solutions, it does not mean that will automatically make you compliant on moving to the public cloud. The infrastructure they provide to you is compliant, but once you configure your application on top of it, it becomes a completely different story.

4. Moving to Public Cloud is Simple

Some applications can be moved to the cloud simply, however putting a full environment that has not been configured and is technical within itself is a different story. Use your IT Provider or someone with the right expertise and experience to migrate the environment as it can get complicated quickly and without a good foundation getting your application to work on top of it may end up being expensive.

5. Managing the Public Cloud is Simple

Once someone has designed, built and migrated your application to the public cloud, it should be simple to manage from there – surely? You would think so but it is not the case! You really need to have your IT Provider work on maintaining, tweaking and scaling the configurations to keep your cloud “humming” along.

The simple suggestion here is to let the experts build, migrate and manage it for you. Cutting corners in the public cloud will come back to bite you.

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Implementing a Business Intelligence Solution

Considerations when Implementing a Business Intelligence solution

As the type and number of Business Intelligence solutions have grown, considerations relating to the implementation need to be taken into account.

To help you avoid potential costly mistakes, consider the eight common mistakes organisations do make when they purchase a Business Intelligence solution and make the most out of your Business Intelligence software investment

Not properly defining the business problem the BI solution will solve.

Companies will jump in the deep end and purchase software before there is a definable problem that it will resolve. In some cases organisations will purchase simply because they have found that someone else is using it, so they need to as well.

Instead step back and look at your problem statement, what is needed to be able to resolve it, and then look for a BI solution that will give you that result.

Not getting acceptance from the end users of the system

Unless users are going to see a benefit to a BI solution offered and will use it, then the solution is going to fail. Bring in all stakeholders at the beginning of the process to ensure that not only the problem exists, but that everyone agrees that the solution offered will solve the problem.

Not factoring in security

Make sure that the BI solution you plan on purchasing has the ability to ensure that sensitive data remains secure and is not available for just anyone to look at.

Don’t be sold by the “sizzle”, you are buying the “sausage”

A common sales terms is “Sell the sizzle not the sausage”. Go past the bells and whistles and really concentrate on features that will matter at the foundation of BI solutions, data collection and integration between disparate data. Missing the nuts and bolts of what a BI solution should offer could leave you out in the cold when it comes time to grab all that data to present.

Not choosing a scalable solution

You want to be sure when looking at a BI solution that it will adapt and grow with your business. If it is already slow to query your data how will this affect your business two or five years down the road? The same could be said for the size of your data. As your data grows your BI solution will need to keep up with it. If you buy small you could find yourself looking for a better solution sooner than you think!

Not factoring in the mobile workforce.

In some cases a simple KPI displayed on a smartphone is as useful as any report that could be printed to screen or paper. Being able to put information that is easily digested at your employee’s fingertips is becoming more important as the workplace becomes more diverse geographically.

Rushing implementation

If you take one thing away from this blog, take this one! Rushing implementations is sure to cause problems down the track. Have a clear idea within your organisation about how long each phase is going to take and discuss that with the BI solution partner to ensure that everyone has the same expectations. Double check throughout the buying process that any changes have not changed this expectation as typically there I some scope creep as each party adds in or offers or wants more functionality.

Breaking down the project and prioritising specific outcomes you want to achieve and communicating them is extremely important. Also consider stages within the project and whether milestones will be based on reports being delivered in set time frames.

Insufficient training and consulting

Budget in plenty of training and familiarisation sessions for users of the system. Also factor in how much consulting / programming will be required to complete each project / facet of a project. Look for online training videos to have users get the most out of the training and in some cases replace initial training. Knowing what you are “up for” early in the buying process avoids disappointment later when the true cost is found out. Remember too that although best guesses can be used to judge how long a project or sub project may take, these can blow out based on inadequate information or improper definitions of the business process.

BI solutions can identify opportunities, highlights risks and forecast trends if properly implemented. Foresight into the whole solution process, from identifying the problems the organisations have, the selection of the BI solution and the implementation of that paramount to achieving that result.

For more information on Business Intelligence or other IT Solutions contact us