Steps in the digital transformation of internal communication

Effective internal communication contributes to a company's success. The sooner and more accurately information reaches employees, the faster the company can respond to market challenges. And in doing so it can also gain a competitive advantage. For productive communication, however, the use of digital tools is now indispensable. This article is about the steps in the digital transformation of internal communication. Read on if you'd like to know how to step into the world of 21st-century digitalised company communication.

1. Defining goals

As the first step in the digital transformation of internal communication, you absolutely must define the company's goals and strategy. This is a crucial step, without which it makes no sense to start digitalising, since without defined goals you can't choose the tool that's right for you — which can lead to failure and increased costs.

So it's important to define what goals you want to achieve with the digital transformation. These could be, for example, increasing the efficiency of communication processes, involving colleagues, automating routine answers and tasks, or even strengthening company culture.

2. Choose the tool

Once you're clear on what goals you want to achieve, the second step in the digital transformation of internal communication is to choose the tool and the platform. It's advisable to choose a solution that everyone — both office and blue-collar workers — can use easily. CHEQ is a good example.
Of course, you also have to consider how well and in what way the communication tool fits the company's strategy. When choosing the tool, you also have to weigh up what features you'll need. This is where the big question comes up: is it worth developing your own tool, or is there already a ready-made solution that covers the company's needs?

3. Make sure the tool is secure

Once you've chosen a communication tool, before signing a contract and rolling it out you also need to find out whether the system is secure. On the one hand it has to comply with GDPR requirements, and on the other it's an important consideration how it handles confidential documents. Is it possible, for example, to send encrypted documents? Is the solution based on an open or a closed communication system? Can unauthorised people access company communication? By that I mean whether someone who isn't an employee of the company can read the messages. Messages sent via Facebook Messenger, for example, can easily be accessed by a skilled unauthorised person. That's exactly why it isn't safe to communicate company matters through such a channel.

4. Building a support community

As the next step in the digital transformation of internal communication, you need to build a support community. The main task of the support team's members is to evangelise the digital transformation and help colleagues switch to digital communication. In our experience, every leader from team leaders to senior management should be involved. If employees see that their leaders happily and regularly use the digital communication tool, they'll adapt to the change more quickly. It's also extremely important that every employee knows there's someone to turn to if they need technical support.

The goal of the support community is to involve every colleague and bring them up to speed with the digital transformation.

5. Tracking the digital transformation of internal communication

A great advantage of digital communication is that, using the right tool, it lets you track your results very easily. On the CHEQ admin interface, for example, you can measure — that is, track — what percentage of employees use the application. You can also observe what purposes they use it for, so you can draw ideas from that to support catching up and the transformation. It's also worth asking for feedback, which you can take into account to shape the transformation of your company's digital communication.