Page 36 - PR Communication Age January-June2020

To ensure business continuity throughout COVID-19, proper topical news is even more important when people are
and functional communication must be maintained. IT Plat- not coming into the office.
form based & digital communication platform aimed at 4. Informative and inspiring videos - daily or weekly mes-
transforming internal communications, says companies need
sages from CEO that help teams keep motivated and
to have the right tools to get them through this unprec-
focused on key tasks. The organization can also use this
edented global event, and to do this, company culture needs
format to deliver light and fun messages from Heads
to flow beyond the physical office to keep 'business as usual'.
of the Departments.
Information must be spread across an entire organization As businesses across the world adjust to work-from-home
in a consistent way to ensure group homogeneity and this environments amid rising cases of COVID-19, a Mumbai
in turn forms the structure of a well-functioning organiza- based company has created technology for a cloud-based
tion. Team goals and performance metrics are another communications platform for business processing. The tech-
hugely important area of information that needs to flow nology, called 'Jodo World', built by Avhan Technologies,
effortlessly to align and motivate teams. In this time of went live around three months ago after nearly six years
heightened anxiety and uncertainty, communication around of development. Their platform allows a company's employ-
wellbeing and health is of particular importance.
ees and customers to communicate with each other using
1. While keeping communication flowing to home-based
audio, video or text on the company's existing website on
workers - as remote work ramps up, there is a risk that a regular browser, doing away with the need for special-
individual workers may start feeling disconnected and ized software or apps.
even isolated. This has the definite implications for
mental wellbeing as well as a direct impact on how Auckland based company 'Labyrinth solutions' launched their
well they perform their jobs and contributing to the or- visual communication platform 'vibe' to solve the commu-
ganization as a whole. Moreover this practice is viable nication challenges that organizations are facing when it
only for the employees who are related to service ori-
comes to engaging with today's' workforce. Labyrinth is
ented jobs but no way helpful for those who are en-
already working with a number of high-profile New Zealand
gaged on product/delivery related activities as their
businesses to improve this collaborative working spirit, both
presence is a must on the product & delivery lines.
in and outside the office. Vibe delivers vibrant, snack able
and timely information via digital channels - some examples
2. Again the question is - How they will communicate? include screensavers and dedicated web browsers.
They must be provided with some means - either the
smart phones with mobile-net availability or the laptops Using the vibe web browser ensures the first thing employ-
with sufficient net connections through hotspot or ees see when they use the internet is a dedicated home
dongle. Again working on mobile-net has definite limi- page designed to promote productive communication. The
tation. Until & unless the broadband connections are
highly visual nature of the format is what vibe clients say
available at home the smooth functioning of commu-
help it stand out above other communication solutions.
nication is not at all feasible. Next question comes in -
When the warehouse group conducted their trial recently
How many of these employees/workers may be allowed
with over 1,200 employees working from home, their in-
to avail broadband connections on behalf of the orga- ternal communications teams were very impressed with
nization. how it helped keep teams connected and motivated.
Some methods to ensure healthy com- "Team members stated that the Vibe screens were very

munication for remote work: useful for ensuring that they were receiving important in-
formation remotely. This included information about how
1. Event calendars; highlight employee birthdays or other
to keep everyone safe during the pandemic, current store
celebrations that will get people interacting online.
communications and promotional videos - all information
2. Quotes of the day and motivational messages; limit that team members may have missed through being out of
them to a line or two of text and powerful images. the office. Vibe screens are the ideal platform for upload-
3. Important company updates; of course, keeping every- ing more motivational messaging, especially now when
one informed about performance, policies and other employees are working from home," says the Warehouse

36 PR COMMUNICATION AGE January - June 2020