Internal communications digital transformation helps businesses connect cutting-edge technology with the modern workforce. But for digital transformation to be a success, it requires a human-centred approach.
Digital transformation offers employers cutting-edge solutions for simplifying and enhancing business operations and employee engagement.
But like all change, digital transformation doesn’t come without its pitfalls. To ensure that digital transformation in the workplace runs smoothly, you’ll need to put employee experience at the forefront.
In this post, we’ll explain how to create a human-centred digital transformation strategy. We’ll also show you how to harness the power of internal communications tools to optimize your efforts.
What is Digital Transformation?
Digital transformation is what happens when we use new technologies to tackle old problems. Generally speaking, the goal of digital transformation is to help businesses achieve their goals faster and with greater return on investment.
In the corporate communications world, digital transformation is often accelerated as organizations strive to stay competitive.
With the introduction of new high-tech tools, digital workplace transformation can be exciting. But it can also make employees feel uneasy. It throws your teams into unfamiliar territory and asks them to swap the tried and trusted for the new and unknown.
Successful business owners are mindful of the impact of digital transformation on employee experience. They gauge potential issues, collect employee feedback, and implement change management communications for transitions both big and small.
With the help of data, ContactMonkey, helps ensure that digital transformation runs smoothly. We integrate interactive employee newsletters with employee feedback data and workforce analytics. All to help you drive digital transformation through employee-centred change management.
Learn how to create employee newsletters that stand out with our step-by-step guide.
Digital Transformation Examples
Digital transformation can take on many forms. In Marketing, the goal of digital transformation would be to find more qualified leads in less time and on a smaller internal communications budget. In Sales, it would be to collect large amounts of data on consumer behaviour and generate more conversions.
Meanwhile, internal communications digital transformation can involve things like virtual reality (VR) communications and email tracking software.
Some of the latest examples of digital transformation in 2022 include:
- Internal analytics tracking
- Automated sales dialogue
- Hyperautomation
- XaaS (Everything as a Service)
- Generative AI
- Augmented Reality (AR) cloud
- RPA (Robotics Process Automation)
What is Digital Internal Communication?
Digital internal communication is the process of incorporating new digital technologies into organizational communications. Employee engagement apps, intranet communications, and email design tools are just a few examples of digital internal communications.
These tools exemplify the digital transformation process but can also play an important role in ensuring its success. That’s because digital transformation begins with internal communications.
The importance of internal communication goes beyond informing employees about team absences and software upgrades. Your communications are designed to drive employee engagement and cultivate brand promoters.
In this way, your internal communications drive attention to and support for your digital transformation strategy. You can show how a software solution fits into your overall strategy by creating an internal communications software buyer’s guide.
Why Digital Transformation Starts With Internal Communications
Digital transformation starts with internal communications because the latter is responsible for driving awareness and engagement across your company.
Successful digital transformation happens when employees are well-informed about new workplace technology, understand its benefits, and have an outlet for voicing questions and concerns.
Employee feedback needs to inform your digital transformation process and its timeline. Otherwise, your teams will feel like their perspective is overlooked.
In turn, they may disengage from, or resist the digital transformation process altogether.
Reliable digital communications tools and channels will help you collect and analyze employee feedback regarding digital transformation. These insights can then be used to develop a data-based approach to digital transformation.
Not to mention, you’ll have a captive and engaged audience when you begin sharing information about the digital transformation process.
How are Internal Communications and The Workplace Becoming Digitized?
Digital transformation in the workplace has rolled out in tandem with modern tech innovation. But in the last few years, this process has been put into full gear. As modern employees were forced into the confines of their houses, the pandemic demanded an accelerated growth of digitization across organizations.
Innovation has been hyperfocused on connecting dispersed teams, engaging remote employees, and aligning your hybrid workplace.
New virtual conferencing platforms and interactive employee email software have dominated the space. Meanwhile, employee instant messaging tools like Slack continue to boast new features to accommodate remote team communication.
Not to mention, ContactMonkey is continuing to spearhead internal communications digital transformation with our employee text messaging system. Employee mass text enables internal communicators to reach remote and deskless workers and address common remote team challenges.
IC pros will be able to send employee text messages, create newsletter email templates, and build employee engagement surveys all in the same place. Check out our guide to employee SMS to learn more.
And don’t forget to read our tips on business texting etiquette to get more out of SMS communications.
New Technology for Internal Communications to Drive Digital Transformation
Digital employee engagement tools are designed to improve communication between employees in your business. But their position at the apex of your organization also makes them a great resource for driving digital transformation.
Here are just a few of our favourite digital employee communications tools to spearhead digital transformation in your organization:
- Interactive email newsletters
- Employee intranets
- Video internal communications
- Employee SMS
- Staff forums
- Employee podcasts
Build a business case for digital internal communications tools, campaigns, and initiatives with our step-by-step guide.
15 Ways That Internal Communications is Driving Digital Transformation Strategy
The reach and influence of organizational communications gives them a unique edge when it comes to driving digital transformation. Below, we break down some of the ways you can leverage internal communications to optimize the success of your digital transformation strategy.
1. Provide clarity in the digital transformation process
Your employees will be the ones using your new digital workplace tools the most. So it’s imperative that your internal communications provide as much clarity as possible.
You’ll need to answer questions like: Who will be using the new technology? What’s the timeline for its implementation? And, will there be employee coaching involved?
With ContactMonkey’s internal communications software, you can use smart links to embed a range of resources into your internal newsletter. This makes it easy to convey lots of information without taking up too much email real estate.
Learn how to use internal communications software to embed smart links into employee newsletters.
2. Ensure company-wide involvement
Even if only certain teams will be engaging with a new technology, the digital transformation journey impacts everyone. Having a company-wide reach, your internal communication channels help ensure that everyone is in the loop about key updates.
This way, you have a much better shot at getting your whole team on board, preventing push-back down the line.
Not to mention, engaging all your employees in company decisions helps staff feel valued and boosts employee morale.
If you have information that is relevant to only a portion of your employees, you can create custom email lists to reduce the amount of unnecessary your employees receive. Create custom emails lists without IT using ContactMonkey’s List Management feature, which integrates with your Human Resource Information System (HRIS) like Workday and ADP, as well as Azure Active directory, so your lists automatically update.
Reach 10,000+ employees instantly
Email at Scale is made for teams with large audiences. Engage your workforce without sending limits.
3. Drives employee advocacy
Internal influencers can have a lot of sway over how employees welcome and engage with digital transformation. By enlisting specific employees or groups in promoting a new technology, you can encourage better understanding and acceptance.
To spot these brand promoters, you’ll need to tap into your internal communications analytics and see which employees are most engaged. With ContactMonkey’s internal communications software, you can access individual employee engagement analytics from a simple dashboard.
In addition, you can conduct employee eNPS (Employee Net Promoter Score) surveys straight from your employee emails using ContactMonkey’s eNPS tool. These will give you quantitative insights on who your brand promoters truly are using a single question.
If your organization has external or internal regulations around email privacy, you can use ContactMonkey’s anonymous email tracking to gather email metrics while maintaining your employees’ privacy.
4. Communicate goals and benefits of digital transformation
If you want to get employees on board with your digital transformation process, you’ll need to explain the reasons and benefits behind the change. Your email newsletters and virtual events are the best place to do this. Using your internal newsletters, you can outline and visualize the benefits in writing. Then, reinforce these points by expanding on them during your virtual team meetings.
With ContactMonkey’s email newsletter templates for Outlook and Gmail, you can even combine written and visual communications by embedding infographics and even videos into internal newsletters. Using our internal communication templates, you’re able to speed up and streamline employee engagement by selecting from a range of pre-made messages:
5. Support cultural change
Digital transformation in the workplace doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It requires cultural alignment and even company culture change to support the process. According to Concurrency, 97% of businesses consider cultural change to be essential for successful digital transformation.
As the driving force behind internal brand storytelling, your internal communications play a powerful role in supporting culture change and laying the groundwork for digital transformation.
6.Increase workplace agility
Workplace agility refers to a company’s ability to adapt to change in the modern workplace. And it’s a major criterion for successful digital transformation.
Your internal communications can drive workplace digital transformation by supporting a culture of agility. This involves regularly promoting industry updates in your company newsletter, praising innovative thinking, and implementing effective change management communications.
7. Create excitement and urgency
When employees see your digital transformation as something positive, or at least necessary, they’ll be much more receptive to it. You can start building a sense of excitement and urgency around a new digital tool with the help of an internal communications campaign.
These types of internal communications build buzz about a particular topic over time. For instance, you can plan your campaign over the span of a month. Then use your internal newsletters to promote a different feature or use case for digital transformation every week.
This will both promote awareness and build excitement around the new digital transformation technologies.
8. Improve collaboration during digital transformation
Interdepartmental collaboration and alignment is essential for successful digital transformation. If some departments are supportive of a new tool or process while others are against it, it can create siloes. In fact, it could lead to full-fledged interdepartmental conflict. In light of this, your internal communications should bring together different departments in conversation.
This can involve launching focus groups centred on the subject of upcoming digital transformation. Or it can involve allocating time for discussion during your virtual town hall.
9. Connect digital transformation to company values and purpose
Connecting your digital transformation to broader company values helps employees better understand its purpose. Use your internal communications to outline your company values and demonstrate how a new technology helps to support them.
For instance, if transparency is a key company principle, introducing internal communications digital technologies that promote employee feedback will help promote a more transparent workplace.
10. Demonstrate how digital transformation aligns with team recognition
Employee recognition is vital for keeping employee morale and engagement high. And there are many ways that you can connect your digital transformation initiative to employee recognition.
Say for instance you’ve implemented a performance management system or CRM. You can show employees how it helps you recognize their achievements. Does it highlight top-performing sales reps? What about employees who have made the biggest social impact on your company?
By tying together digital transformation with employee recognition ideas, you’re better positioned to get positive feedback on the tool.
11. Facilitate a smooth change management process
A core responsibility of your internal communications is to lead your teams through change. With a change management communications plan, you can ensure that all employees are receiving core updates on your digital transformation process and remain on the same page.
You’ll also minimize interruptions by ensuring that employees have all the necessary resources to prepare for digital transformation. Check out our change management communications guide for more tips on leading change in your organization.
12. Break down organizational silos
In big companies with many different departments, organizational silos are commonplace. Without great digital communications technology to promote collaboration, team alignment can be tough if not impossible.
Internal communications digital transformation helps to facilitate interdepartmental conversations and slowly break down silos.
For instance, Yammer’s employee social networking platform allows employees to engage with one another much like they would on social media.
Meanwhile, tools like ContactMonkey provide a single company-wide hub for asynchronous communications. With branded newsletter templates and two-way communication features ContactMonkey helps you promote a cohesive brand identity while making it easier for departments to stay connected.
13. Boost employee engagement
Having effective internal communications from the start provides you with a captive audience that allows for maximum employee engagement with your digital transformation initiatives. On the other hand, a lack of communication, and poor communication channels lead to a lack of interest, awareness, and engagement with your digital transformation efforts.
With the latter, it becomes hard to get teams excited or even on board with new digital technologies.
By prioritizing effective internal communications from the start, you’ll be able to solicit the type of engagement necessary to get employees involved in your digital transformation process.
14. Gauge employee concerns
Humans like routines. As evidence of this, take the fact that 62% of corporate staff say that they don’t like leaving their comfort zone. And that’s not much of a surprise. Change can feel scary and disruptive. It pushes us out of our comfort zone.
Even when change is for the better, the experience can be disruptive to our workflow and productivity. With that in mind, an effective internal communications strategy always includes employee feedback tools.
These open up channels for employees to voice concerns about a potential digital transformation initiative. On their end, employers can gauge internal communication challenges before they become deal-breakers.
With tools like ContactMonkey, you can embed quick change management pulse surveys straight into your Outlook or Gmail newsletters. You can even create customized change management pulse surveys with anonymous feedback options designed to collect confidential feedback on sensitive topics.
Learn how to quickly create pulse surveys with our easy and intuitive guide.
15. Empower your employees
When you show employees that you care about their ideas, opinions, and concerns, you’re showing them that they are valued in your organization. This helps empower employees and demonstrates their ability to make decisions and express their own thoughts and ideas.
With a solid internal communications strategy you can channel employee insights at every stage of your digital transformation process. And that’s exactly what distinguishes digital transformation from a human-centred digital transformation strategy.
Implement Human-Centred Digital Transformation Through Internal Communications
Your digital transformation process doesn’t have to resemble a dystopian movie where machines take over. That being said, digital transformation is only as effective as the foundation you build for it.
With the help of digital internal communications, you can spearhead a human-centred digital transformation strategy. And that’s a sure way to avoid turning your workplace into the set of the Matrix in the process.
ContactMonkey’s digital internal communications drive digital transformation by keeping employees engaged and informed during change management. Book your free demo to see how ContactMonkey can help you create a seamless digital transformation process.
