The global situation we are all facing is very unusual. Companies need to prioritize crisis communications in this exceptional context of the global crisis. To help our Powell Software customers, we have released a crisis communications site template that can easily be launched into any Powell Software product, like your Powell 365 intranet or your personalized productivity hub, Powell Hub. Powell Software is committed to helping our customers install clear, continuous communication and cope with the urgency of these kinds of situations.
A ready-build crisis communications site template
In response to the crisis, many companies are trying to implement a crisis communication plan: a standard of internal communications to keep open lines of communication while controlling the stream of information as the workforce moves into remote work. Communication must flow quickly, and information about the situation should be updated frequently to keep employees informed. Office 365 is a tool that gives companies the means to communicate digitally by combining unique features and sharing different sources of information.
If you are a Powell Software customer, this new template is the perfect way to gather news, consolidate resources, and centralize any crisis-related Q&A into one site within your digital workplace. Our Crisis Communications site template is pre-built and already available inside Powell Manager.
Test out the crisis communication template for yourself, with this interactive tour.
Focus on your crisis management strategy, not site creation.
During a crisis, time is valuable. Powell Manager, the design, management, and provisioning engine behind the Powell Software suite, accelerates the creation of any site on top of Office 365, SharePoint, and Microsoft Teams. With Powell Manager, you don’t need to create sites from scratch; no coding is needed. Our ready-made templates include pre-built web parts to facilitate a fast site launch.
The Crisis Communication site template is already fitted with web parts commonly defined within a crisis communications plan, such as news alters, targeted news, RSS news, people finders, social media feeds embedded Yammer chats, FAQs, and company events. It is more important to focus on your crisis management strategy instead of the concept and creation of an urgent SharePoint site. Still, if you ever want to go back in and update the site, you can easily drag the right communication channels, change information libraries, and update collaboration tools to align with your branding or plan at any time.
How to effectively roll out your new site
Once the communication site is live within your digital workplace, make it easy for an employee to find. We have a few features to help you promote the news site.
1. Share an announcement via our global alert feature. This feature allows you to highlight critical messages under the menu bar. With global alerts, you have the capacity to communicate very significant information on a topic broadly across the company. An alert includes a title, short description and level of importance (important, medium, high) to inform all employees with urgency.
2. Highlight the new site via the Homepage Banner- The banner web part highlights information in modern pages. The full-width banner includes a title, description, and URL laid onto an image of your choice to illustrate company information and highlight news directly below the main site menu. Add an eye-catching image and an informative title tied to your crisis communication strategy, and make sure the communication site is highlighted on the homepage.
3. Pin the site as a favorite for all employees. Label the communication site as a “favorite” within the portal panel to make it easy to find. Employees will not have to go searching for the information and find everyone in one centralized place.
4. Push notifications via Powell Apps. All Powell Software customers have access to Powell Apps and can create business applications to tie to their digital workplace. Share important information to all employees, including deskless workers, via push notifications on their mobile device via the company app. Notify them with a short message informing everyone about a published site and how to access it. All employees can easily download the app for Android and IOS.
Powell Software is here to help
The Crisis Communications Site template is just one way to help employees cope with remote working during this trying time. For more ideas, check out our tips and tricks for remote working productivity.
Everyone at Powell Software wants to ensure our customers have the best digital workplace experience available for their employees. Our customer Success Management, Support and Sales teams are at your disposal anytime to ensure continued excellent service for our platforms. We are here to help you launch the Crisis Communications site template quickly and efficiently. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.