In today’s digital world, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to control communication as an organization. Employees and customers are bombarded with literally thousands of messages daily from multiple channels.
Research has shown that only 70% of employees open up organizational emails, making this once-reliable method of communication less than ideal. Of the 70% who click on the email, only 30% actually read it. With organizational email numbers so low, is it any surprise that marketing emails that go out to customers have an open rate of less than 20%?
Why is This Happening?
In today’s world of Vines, memes, and tweets, the attention span of the average human when perusing communication is about 8 seconds. If it takes you more than that time to get your message across, then you very likely missed. Not only that, we now live in a world of push notifications. Employees and customers are no longer interested in seeking out news and updates on portals or websites. If it is important, it will come to them.
Our internal solution was iDenedi. What started out as a directory of people for new and existing employees, soon turned into an announcement platform to get out the organizational message in a way that was swift, secure, and came to the employee on their phone no matter where they were.
We noticed the difference immediately – read rates for internal messages went up to 80%, half of those within 20 minutes of sending out the announcement. In addition to an increased read rate, interaction with internal messages increased. Where two years ago, very few people responded to emails from management. Today, we have employees liking and commenting on organizational announcements in a way that shows an actual conversation is being had.
It took us only a couple of months to realize that iDenedi had potential beyond internal announcements. Finally, we were able to get through to over 400 employees and 25 partners with information about our mission, vision, the changing scope of the company (we were transitioning from a services provider to a software company), and our products. How could we maximize this experience and take it to our customers?
External Awareness Through Sharing
We soon introduced ‘public announcements.’ By default, group announcements are private – meaning only the members of a particular group can see and interact with them. However, when making an announcement, we gave the option to create ‘public announcements.’ These were announcements that we wanted to circulate beyond the group. They included information about product enhancements, offers, company achievements, etc. and when the announcement is made, they include links for social media sharing.
The results were immediate – with a group of over 400 employees if only 10% of them share the announcement on social media (with the typical social media user averaging around 500 contacts- often more), our outreach was a staggering 20,000 ‘consumers.’ And these were actual people – potential customers and partners.
iDenedi has definitely been a game-changer in cutting through the noise.
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Originally published Jul 18, 2019 2:05:15 PM, updated November 19, 2019
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What is it like to manage a project without proper communication? Sounds like a nightmare, isn't it?
With all those complex layers of tasks, details and decision making required in any project - IT or otherwise, It would be pretty much impossible to work on a project where communication is inefficient.
Project management is not done single handedly. A successful project is accomplished through effective communication amongst multiple stakeholders.
So what are some of the best ways to improve communication in project management?
Be Present For Your Team
As a project manager, you must set the tone for your entire team. One of the key elements of successful communication is being present. You should aim to be the manager who is readily available and who has a clear understanding of your team’s roles, challenges, and achievements. If you always communicate from behind a computer screen and constantly rely on indirect forms of communication (like e-mails and voicemail), then you’ll foster an environment of passive communication between your team and clients.
Define a Communication Plan
Create a comprehensive communication plan for how you expect your team to communicate. When creating your communication plan ask yourself “what kind of communication is required?” (meetings, reports, etc.), “who do I need to communicate with?” (co-workers, stakeholders, clients, etc.), and “how frequent should we communicate?” Share this plan with all stakeholders and set their expectations at the beginning of the project.
You May Be Interested In Exceeders' Job Opportunity: SCRUM Master
Plan Team Meetings Efficiently
Team meetings are an important part of any project management team, but they are also a double-edged sword. As effective as meetings can be in facilitating communication, they can also take away from actual work time. Plan meetings with a set agenda so that you reap the benefits of meetings without suffering delayed workflow. Consider what will be discussed at the meeting, who needs to be involved, and how long it should last. Your team mates and clients will thank you for this!
Set Up a Review and Approval Process
One area that is vital to IT projects, and one that tends to hit the most communication snags, is the review and approval process. Several project management tools are available in market that can streamline the review and approval process for project managers. Team members and clients can share updates, leave feedback, and sign off on approval in real time. Using such communication tools that improve project management can facilitate product delivery and project completion.
Take Help of Project Management Apps
Project managers have a lot of their plate already; a major part of their role is making sure that everyone is aware of their personal responsibilities. Any IT project consists of multiple parties. It can be hard to keep an overview of everyone on the team and make sure their tasks are progressing as they should.
Project management tools can help managers delegate tasks and track progress at any given time. Tools like this allow your entire team to stay on the same page throughout the project and streamline communication for a more efficient workflow.
Celebrate Achievements as a Team
Communication is not only essential throughout a campaign or project, but also once that project is finished. You should communicate what went well, and allow your team to celebrate their shared accomplishment.
It is also great to discuss what should improve for the next project, but at the same time make sure the energy remains positive and appreciative.
Even if your project management team communicates fairly well, there is always room for growth. Consider implementing some processes, and practices mentioned above to take your communication and IT project management to the next level.
Are you a talented project manager looking for career in a growing IT hub? Here are some of the job opportunities at Exceeders.
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At your university, you probably have thousands of alumni who you want to be able to keep in touch with and keep engaged. However, well over 90% of graduates change their contact information within the first two years after graduation. You risk losing out on several valuable connections and a thriving alumni network.
To keep your alumni engaged, you need a better system to manage your alumni contacts. That’s where alumni management software comes in. But how do you find the right solution for your alumni database? Here’s how!
You know how it is: It is becoming increasingly difficult for your university alumni office to track and engage with your graduates, and the level of engagement continues to fade over time. Graduates start losing touch with each other,
In fact, 70% of alumni organizations say their top goal is to increase alumni engagement, but 27% of those have no strategy to boost engagement.
At the same time, a strong alumni network increases the value of your university, and alumni donors can have a big impact on your university’s funding. In the end, letting these alumni connections disappear into the void and not keeping them engaged can have serious short and long-term consequences for your university.
That’s why an alumni management software is a key to managing and re-engaging your alumni. This is what our own tool, iDenedi, can help you with. Here’s how it works.
iDenedi works as an organized, live, alumni directory. With iDenedi, your university can easily set up groups representing each graduating class and year.
Alumni can join their respective groups where they can comfortably, and privately share as much contact information as they would like with your university and their peers.
This way, your alumni will stay in touch and continue networking, sharing opportunities, mentoring younger graduates, as well as keeping connected to your university.
Wondering how iDenedi for Alumni works? Here are the most important features you can use to quickly connect your alumni connections on iDenedi.
Today, more and more people simply ignore emails. And why shouldn’t they? Their email inboxes are crammed.
Many alumni admit to checking their alumni emails only once or twice a month. This often makes them miss important events and notifications.
In the alumni groups on iDenedi, university alumni offices have the opportunity to keep up a lively conversation with their graduates - notifying them of job opportunities, alumni events, fundraising efforts, and so much more. These announcements are not only easy to make but will be willingly received through mobile devices by alumni themselves as notifications.
Not only is iDenedi invaluable for keeping up with your alumni, but this alumni management software can also be used to generate recruitment opportunities for your university’s fresh graduates. You see, universities can create dedicated groups where their new graduates mingle with alumni. This opens up both job and mentorship opportunities. In this way, new graduates on the lookout for jobs get a unique channel to find jobs through your alumni network.
To connect alumni, you will need to set up a group in iDenedi. Fortunately, you can do it with a few clicks. Here’s how it works:
Once you have your alumni group up and running, you can start offering all the benefits that an active alumni network has to offer. Group communication is simply smarter with iDenedi!
That’s it, now you know how an alumni management software like iDenedi can help you create a more active and engaged alumni network.
Ultimately, your university can benefit from such a network in several different ways, including higher alumni donations and more job opportunities for your students and graduates.
Want to learn more about how iDenedi can help your university connect with its alumni? Read more here.
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Is your privacy a part of your online security? After all, it’s getting harder than ever to keep personal information secure and private. And if the wrong people get a hold of your information, you could even risk things like identity theft.
If you want to learn the best way to protect your privacy, read on. Here’s how you do it easily with a simple tool, iDenedi.
Your contact details are used for online access. Most of the apps now ask you to use contact number or email to log in. Just think about it: How many apps do you have on your phone? How many services do you use online? That’s right, quite a few. And you’re using either your mobile or email to access these applications.
As your contact information is becoming your credentials to log in to many applications, privacy is becoming more and more vital.
Those who know how to protect their privacy, do it. But the rest of us? We continuously find ourselves exposing our contact information to many different parties on a daily basis when we register for any offline service or buy any item. Willingly and loudly we provide our contact information to registration desks and cashiers.
When you visit a physical location such as schools, hospitals, and shops, you are requested to give your mobile number and email address. This exposes your information to everyone within hearing distance.
Make no mistake: Strangers can access this information, which exposes you to everything from inconvenient telemarketing to online hacking to impersonation.
And the problem isn’t just service providers or app developers who get access to our information, it is also stranger and unauthorized parties who might get access to your contact details. Alternatively, they might not keep your information as secure as you’d like to, which makes your personal information vulnerable to security breaches.
Here’s what you’re risking if you don’t protect your privacy:
Your information can be used to target you with annoying marketing campaigns. Telemarketers often buy personal information they wouldn’t otherwise have access to.
Even worse, your information can be used to impersonate you. Just think about the damage this can cause. And not just for your credit card bill. Your identity can be used for many nefarious purposes.
So, what can you do to protect your privacy? That’s what we’ll look at next.
How do you make sure your information stays private?
There are two alternatives.
First, the hard way.
If you’ve ever looked into privacy protection, you know it’s a jungle.
To sign up for services you need to use, you need to give up your personal information. Setting up complicated systems to protect your data just doesn’t feel very doable.
But there’s an easier way.
When you register for our tool, iDenedi, you get a personal ID. This ID is a virtual public number that can be used for all of your registrations.
It’s incredibly easy to start using iDenedi: Download the app, register, obtain your ID and begin using this ID whenever you fill in a registration form. Plus, we’ve made iDenedi IDs easy to remember, using the below format:
The first letter is I as in “individual”.
The second two letters stand for a country code
The last 8 numbers stand for a date
Once you have your ID, you can use it whenever you sign up for a new service. The ID protects your information, so you can feel secure it won’t get in the wrong hands.
Now, you might be thinking:
“All of this sounds good… But what about my kids? How do I keep their information safe?
Good question. With iDenedi, you can create an account for your kids. Just go to your own profile and create a child account.
When you have an account set up, you can create an ID for your kids. Simply go to your profile and create a child account to generate the ID.
There you have it. Now you know why you should protect your privacy and how to do it.
The easiest way is to use a tool like iDenedi. It protects your identity in a simple way.
Want to get started? Get iDenedi here.
At your university, you probably have thousands of alumni who you want to be able to keep in touch with and keep engaged. However, well over 90% of graduates change their contact information within the first two years after graduation. You risk losing out on several valuable connections and a thriving alumni network.
Is your privacy a part of your online security? After all, it’s getting harder than ever to keep personal information secure and private. And if the wrong people get a hold of your information, you could even risk things like identity theft.
Want to get more visibility for your company? But you know how it is… You don’t have the social media follower counts to get more social media engagement. And anyway, most of them are irrelevant contacts.
