What are the essential features of an online collaboration tool for Internal Communications?

An effective online collaboration tool for IC should offer seamless communication channels, real-time collaboration features, & file-sharing capabilities. User-friendly interfaces, mobile accessibility, & integration with other business tools enhance productivity. Robust security measures & customizable permissions ensure sensitive info is protected. Yes these are great features but the most important thing is to make sure the employees are comfortable with these tools. Regular update, user support, training and personalised attention to individuals is important. I feel may times employees feel embarrassed that they aren't able to use a new tool so they steer away completely.

Few things that I look for : 1. Easy to use 2. Collaborative 3. Should deliver robust analytics metrics 4. Safe & Secure from IT perspective 5. Focussed solution rather than one stop shop offering multiple offerings.

KANBAN is 'The' tool, technique, board for me with AGILE as the guiding philosophy. Absolutely effective to run coms across large or small organisations. Transparent for teams, it also helps harmonise all efforts and drive joy in the process of communication delivery!

Setting up tge system correctly to be both secure AND easy to collaborate with others is essential. I've worked with some organisations where you had to click and go into multiple settings to share a link to the document. It was complicated, so people would just end up attaching the file and emailing it!

There are additional analytics tools that you can combine with your platform. Sometimes you need to mix'n match to get the results you want.

Security and reliability is probably the most important factors to consider. Often the information discussed or used in internal communications projects can be sensitive. I recommend working closely with IT to identify a tool that is not only safe but compatible with the organisation's suite of products.

I used these tools and they are really good: - SLACK for 1:1/team instant messaging - ASANA for project management - QUIP for data collation - CANVA for quick designs

Whatever tool you choose needs to have a gentle learning curve and show immediate value. Spark imagination when onboarding the team - the platform should already be populated so you can share real-life company-specific examples of how it can be used. Also, offer different formats to onboard team members as people have a preference in digesting information - some will prefer a written step-by-step guide/overview, and others will be more focused when watching a video (recording) introducing the tool. Investing time in the onboarding is essential to increase tool adoption. After all, the value of such tools is as high as the percentage of active users within the employees.

For larger companies, consider whether you want a collaborative internal comms platform. When you have large teams, you want your comms to stand independently, away from the noise of internal social media, Teams or Slack channels, and email. Giving your comms a home where they're trusted and not sandwiched between "Pet of the week" competitions or a team selfie gives employees the confidence that what they're reading is correct.

It depends on the tool and it's purpose. Are we talking about communication tools where people will consume the content? Are we talking about collaboration tools where documents will get messy and tangled before they become pristine and precise? There are a few things that all tools must have - security, version control, and varying issues of permissions - but beyond that, it's all based on the function it needs to perform.

Think about what tech ecosystem you're using and your other tool stacks are being used across your organisation. Having a well integrated tech that works well together will improve ease of adoption and will mean less likelihood over being over-tooled (causing confusion and collaboration overload).