Blogs from Happeo HQ

This month, Happeo has had to replace multiple keyboards as our team worked hard to create new magical features for you. Here are the 8 new features that you shouldn’t miss...

We have been hard at work here at Happeo HQ and have completely revamped the search functionality. From today, you can expect a faster, more accurate and customizable search experience within your Happeo environment.

Ovum is a market-leading data, research and consulting business focused on helping digital service providers and their technology partners thrive in the connected digital economy. They have recently written an analysis report on Happeo, and what the product does to empower business growth.

As described in a blog by Google, Work Insights is the new tool for G Suite admins that gives a holistic overview of usage stats within organizations. This isn’t exactly a new tool so your bosses can spy on what work you’re doing (or not doing, as it may be) but rather gives a team-level overview of the productivity levels with each tool.

This can be great news for admins that are introducing G Suite to an organization because they can see the adoption rate as well as areas where teams might need more training. For example, if the finance team aren’t using Hangouts so often, you could potentially see if they are turning to shadow apps or are just not sure how to use the tool, and then launch initiatives to help with adoption.

“We believe business success today is entirely dependent on talent, with Happeo we accelerate our growth from within.” - Anna Tolley, Global Internal Communications Manager at Randstad Sourceright

Dear clients,

I am bursting with excitement to announce that Happeo has raised a funding of $8 million from a group of leading investors, which will propel our global expansion. I am pleased to say that this enables us to serve you even faster, and better - empowering you to achieve great things with your digital workplace.

Helsinki, Finland, 07/24/2018. Finnish software startup Happeo announced today that it has raised $8M from leading international investors including DN Capital (UK/Silicon Valley), Maki.vc (Helsinki), and Vendep Capital (Helsinki).

We are quick to abandon technology when something better comes along, think back to any product that has been escorted to extinction by popularity shifts... If you said VHS,

Our clients and partners that have got to know us over the course of our journey would know that we are a passionate group of people, working hard every day to make everyone’s working experience, a better one.

This article is for Google Analytics beginners and aims to go through some of the most helpful reports to gain valuable insights into the behavior of the users in your Happeo digital workplace.

In order to be efficient, organizations should have a central place for employees to access company information, but rarely do we make accessibility a priority. Too many organizations use traditional intranet sites as a hub to drop documents and content, but it can be quite taxing on the HR and Communication teams tasked with keeping all that content updated.

We are excited to announce our native Happeo mobile application is here!

The term shadow IT refers to the systems and solutions that are used inside an organization without a specific approval. One of the most common examples of shadow IT is “shadow communications” that is often used to describe employees using their private life social media applications for collaboration and communication within their team or a project group.

Valotalive is a digital signage platform which helps organizations to manage content in info screens in multiple locations at the same time. With a new Valotalive app for Happeo, admins can easily share content created in different Happeo Channels to the organization's employees.

With a social intranet, communications department gets a brand new role. Comms people become consultants. At first, you need to figure out how internal communications should be arranged in the new world of social. When thinking of this, it may come in handy to separate corporate-wide centralized internal communication from the everyday work related communication.

In the past two years I have been reading quite a lot about intranets, social intranets, intranet 2.0’s, enterprise social networks, digital workplaces, and so on. I’ve seen so many terms that mean almost the same thing that it sometimes sounds like potato, potahto, tomato, tomahto in my head. Know the feeling?

The world is getting even more digitalized and data security is a topic on everyone’s lips. We at Happeo take data security seriously and want to be transparent about how our service works. For that reason we have now produced a Happeo security white paper that explains what data do we collect and how is that data used to improve the service for users.

The usefulness of an intranet is determined by its users. That’s why, when building a new intranet, it’s good to do some research within your organization to find out what kind of content should your employees have at their fingertips. Though every organization has their own specific needs, there are also some general tips that can help you in building more useful and relevant intranet landing pages for your employees.

My colleague wrote a blog post about “How to kick off a successful intranet project” some weeks back and it got me thinking what if you’re not even sure what kind of internal tool you’re actually looking for?

Businesses today need to tackle several challenges to stay competitive and keep the everyday business afloat. The bigger a company grows with offices spread around the globe, the more complex the working environment becomes. The main challenges that arise are often related to working habits, information, and communication.

Internal communication has changed a lot during the past decade because of technology. There are several tools that make staying in touch easier than ever and the hardest part is choosing which tool to use. The amount of different tools also enable more ways to communicate.

So you’ve been put in charge of an intranet project. Maybe you have already chosen an out-of-the-box solution that allows you to build an interactive intranet with no time. You log into the solution for the first time and realize that you know nothing about web-design and have no idea where to start your project from.

About 5 months ago we started to re-design our Channel calendar. Our aim was clear: Make calendar great again for teams. To achieve this we wanted to create a place where to get a clear overview of what the team members are doing and a place where to share important events. This was definitely not an easy goal but I think the new calendar fills in these checkboxes quite nicely.

Collaborating with your team is super easy with Happeo. By using deep integration we are able to provide a place to create, share and manage without having to worry about permission management or visibility options.

Happeo published a new Support knowledge base in the beginning of this year and there are already 50 new articles to help you to get the most out of your Happeo. The help center is designed for end users, administrators and curious minds, so you'll be able to find the answers to your questions. And if you can't find what you're looking for just pop up a new chat and ask away!

“I was shocked to hear what our employees had to say.” That’s a statement we’ve heard more than once from some of the managers we’ve discussed with during the last few years. There are quite a few different reasons why people might say something like this, but nevertheless, it means there are some underlying issues to resolve.

At this stage in the game, it’s no secret that empowering and engaging your employees is one of the keys to long-term success. Despite this, many businesses have failed to get the memo. Long-term employees with valuable knowledge and skills are often not engaged with their work.

The meeting is a standard element of a collaborative working environment. According to Birkinshaw & Cohen, knowledge workers spend 67% of their working time in meetings. Yet many of us can probably relate to an experience of having a busy day full of meetings and at the end of the day having to stay overtime to finish our actual work.

In many cases virtual communities and workspaces may be the answer to successful onboarding as they enable the absorption of team culture and norms at super speed! All the knowledge and information that circulates in the team is recorded, preserved, and most importantly accessible to new members.

 Since 2000, 52% of Fortune 500 companies have either gone bankrupt, been acquired or disappeared. In an increasingly demanding and competitive business environment many companies put their hopes in fostering innovation.

Kevin Liu is a Partner Manager at Avalon Solutions. In this post he compares Happeo Pages with the new Google Sites–both tested by the Avalon Solutions team.

Every company is unique! At Happeo we don’t believe in cookie cutter intranets – the intranet should be the backbone of the organization and reflect the culture and identity of each individual company. That’s why companies should also be able to choose the intranet model that supports their organization the best.

How do I stop valuable tacit knowledge from fading out of the organization when employees leave or retire?

The biggest and most exciting Google conference of the year is just around the corner. Will you be joining Cloud Next’17 on March 8th-10th in San Francisco? If so, we would love to meet you there!

Azets is an accounting, payroll and HR services provider with 20,000 customers in the Nordic countries. Until the end of 2016 it was a part of Visma, one of the biggest Nordic financial management software and outsourcing companies.

With more and more companies employing social intranets, and other collaborative tools for the working environment, one of the most fatal mistakes the employer can make is equate personal social media usage with a deep understanding of what it means to collaborate in a professional virtual environment.

We’ve been using our truly social intranet now for more than a year. Even though it’s quite a short period, it is surprisingly hard to remember how life was before.

Back in September Google announced the launch of the early adopter program for Team Drives for G Suite. We’re already working hard to integrate this exciting new product into Happeo, and several clients and partners have asked us what this development means for them.

When your employees are further ahead on the technology curve than you are, it’s high time to show them that you’re really listening.

Two months ago we released a beta version of Universe Pages, our out-of-the-box CMS.  After learning from tens of companies and content creators we are now ready to release Pages to all of our customers. 

Internal crowdsourcing is a valuable tool for engaging employees with the company vision and drawing on their valuable knowledge and experience. It can open up access to a vast pool of untapped potential and demonstrate to people that their opinions really matter. What’s more, it can help businesses leverage the social-collaborative mindset of millennial talent to drive innovation.

Since the launch of the Happeo enterprise social network for the Google ecosystem in March 2016, we’ve had potential customers from all over the world contact us to find out what all the fuss is about. I’ve had plenty of conversations where people haven’t been afraid to ask me straight: “So, why does my business even need a social intranet, and what does it really mean anyway?”

Happeo Channels are the cornerstone of collaboration for all our enterprise customers. We’ve spent the last 12 months developing and testing a huge number of upgrades to this key feature – all based on feedback from real users – that will help people be more productive than ever before.

Measuring the ROI of your internal communications efforts can be challenging. There are a variety of metrics you can look at, and interpreting the data can be a tough task, particularly if you're examining intranet usage. 

In a business context, storytelling is an extremely powerful tool that can bring immense benefits, and the stories you tell internally say a great deal about your company culture. With great storytelling, internal communications teams can lay the groundwork for cultural change, while sales teams can motivate, spark enthusiasm, and make a real impact on the bottom line.

Effective internal communication is critical if a company wants to get the best from its people, boost productivity, and provide sterling service to customers. Poor information flows have been the downfall of many big-name organizations, so how do we measure effectiveness and make the best use of employees' valuable insights and opinions?

Social intranets can be a fantastic tool for bringing together dispersed teams and capturing the dynamic, agile spirit that typifies startups. With the right platform in place, businesses can break down silos, bring people closer together, and transform their intranets into hugely valuable business tools.

Rather than boosting productivity and engagement, chat platforms may be repeating the same mistakes as email – everyone's (former) ‘favorite’ enterprise communication method. The internet is awash with tirades against the all-consuming, always-on nature of chat tools. Where does the happy compromise lie?

You’re watching a movie and a character’s alarm clock goes off at an ungodly hour. That sound searing into your head, you know the one. Your brain cringes and you sink back into the sofa a little. Now replace the alarm clock with your email notification chime. Same response, I bet.

Creating beautiful pages for your intranet just got even easier. With the new Pages, Happeo now includes a complete CMS out of the box.

The launch of Facebook's Workplace service on 10 October is the latest event to come out of the period of major disruptive change currently being experienced by the enterprise intranet industry. The shift away from traditional intranets towards enterprise social networks is continuing, and we at Happeo are proud to be a part of this pioneering movement.

If there’s one group that could reap major rewards from the shift towards social intranets, it’s front-line retail employees. While they can be one of the most valuable sources of customer insight and development ideas, poor access to information can leave them feeling detached from the wider organization, leading to frustration and a lack of motivation.

Business, technology, and the world around us are evolving at lightning speed. What challenges do you need to overcome in order to close the gap between your two most valuable assets – people and information – and remain innovative and competitive?

Just as with society as a whole, the users of a social intranet platform can also be divided into communities based on how they interact with each other. Happeo is introducing a Community Recommender that detects communities formed inside Happeo based on the way people interact with each other.