Interact is proud to announce its inclusion in Forrester’s ‘Now Tech’ report, an overview of intranet providers.

The report, ‘Now Tech: Intranet Platforms, Q1 2020’, gives an overview of 21 intranet platform providers, their market presence and functionality.

A prominent global research and advisory firm, Forrester uses their analysis of various industries to advise on existing and potential impact of technology on companies.

Interact CEO, Simon Dance says: “Forrester is an incredibly well-respected market research company and a brand that carries an enormous amount of prestige. We’re honored to be recognized in the report and see it as a credit to our reputation as a leading intranet software provider.”

The Now Tech report can be viewed here.

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The post Interact included in Forrester’s ‘Now Tech’ report appeared first on Interact software.

Global intranet provider, Interact Software, has moved into new UK headquarters in Manchester City Centre.

Over 100 of the enterprise software company’s global employees will now occupy close to 13,000 square feet across the fifth floor of newly-opened Windmill Green. The building, which has been shortlisted for a number of awards including Building of the Year and RIBA’s Social Impact Award, boasts a rooftop terrace, its own apiary and Manchester’s largest living wall.

Interact has moved offices from Altrincham, where it started over 15 years ago. Now well established in both the UK and the US, the company has enjoyed exponentially strong growth in recent years which has prompted its move to new premises.

Commenting on the new headquarters, Interact CEO Simon Dance says: “We wanted to move to a space that offers flexible, state-of-the-art working for our employees. Not only does Windmill Green offer this, it’s located in the heart of the city, well-connected to transport and Manchester’s amazing amenities.”

The move comes after Interact opened a new Boston office alongside its US headquarters in New York at the start of 2020. January also saw the company celebrate after being named best performing company at the recent Megabuyte50 awards.

Interact is hiring for a number of roles in both the UK and the US. Check out the latest positions here. 

For more information about Interact and their intranet software, please visit www.interactsoftware.com.  

Press contacts:

Bianca Hartley

VP Marketing

T: +44 (0)161 927 3222

E: bianca.hartley@interactsoftware.com

About Interact  

Interact is a global enterprise software company that serves intranet software to over one million users across more than 850 organizations, including Sony Interactive Entertainment, Lush Handmade Cosmetics, and Equinox Gyms. We specialize in solving internal communication and collaboration challenges by combining our sophisticated intranet software with outstanding professional services, focusing on developing long-term strategic partnerships with our customers.   

Interact has offices in Manchester, New York, and Boston, and operates across the whole of the US and Canada, EMEA, and Australia.  

Our mission is to inform and connect every organization’s greatest asset: its people.  

The post Interact moves UK headquarters to Manchester’s ‘greenest office’ appeared first on Interact software.

Interact, a global provider of enterprise intranet software, has further strengthened its US presence by opening an office in Boston alongside its US headquarters in New York.  

The opening comes at the end of a record sales year for the company and demonstrates its continued emphasis on growth in North America.  

Talking about the expansion, Simon Dance, CEO, says: “We have seen a massive increase in demand for our industry-leading software and consulting services. Establishing an additional office in a strategic location such as Boston allows us to further extend our reach in key sectors such as healthcare, technology, and retail, as well as better support our customers in the region”.  

With global headquarters in Manchester, UK, Interact has been providing intranet software and services for over 15 years and has been present in North America for the best part of the last decade. Its international success saw them win a Queen’s Award for Enterprise for International Trade in 2019; an achievement only made possible by its solid UK customer base combined with accelerated sales in the US. 

Dance adds: “We’re experiencing an exciting time both in terms of the product and the expansion of our international operations. The growth in global sales – particularly from the US – has been phenomenal, so opening an office in Boston is the next logical step in our journey.”   

For more information about Interact and their intranet software, please visit www.interactsoftware.com.   

Press contacts: 

Bianca Hartley 

VP Marketing 

T: +44 (0)161 927 3222 

E: bianca.hartley@interactsoftware.com 

About Interact  

Interact is a global enterprise software company that serves intranet software to over one million users across more than 850 organizations, including Sony Interactive Entertainment, Lush Handmade Cosmetics and Equinox Gyms. We specialize in solving internal communication and collaboration challenges by combining our sophisticated intranet software with outstanding professional services, focusing on developing long-term strategic partnerships with our customers.   

Interact has offices in Manchester, New York, and Boston, and operates across the whole of the US and Canada, EMEA, and Australia.  

Our mission is to inform and connect every organization’s greatest asset: its people.  

The post Interact Software opens Boston office on the back of record US sales appeared first on Interact software.

Interact, a global provider of enterprise intranet software, has been recognized as the best performing privately-owned company in the tech sector at the annual Megabuyte50 awards.  

Interact beat 49 of its’ peers to score highest on The Megabuyte Scorecard, a methodology that scores companies’ performance against several KPIs that include revenue and organic growth. They were also awarded Best Performing Company in the Accounting and Enterprise Software sector.  

Upon awarding Interact the top spot, Megabuyte said: “Interact forms part of a fast-growing cohort of intranet software providers, able to effectively compete against SharePoint consultancies. The company’s recent product development has created a highly relevant set of solutions as workplace themes such as staff retainment, culture, and peer-to-peer learning start to take center stage for businesses of all sizes.” 

The award was collected by Simon Dance, CEO, who said of winning the award: “Interact’s growth has gone from strength-to-strength. To be recognized as Best Performing Company out of some well-respected and high-performing tech companies is a fantastic achievement. It’s down to the hard work and growth driven by the whole of the organization: from our sales team to our software engineers”.  

More information on why Interact won the award can be found here. Alternatively, you can download the full report.  

Press contacts: 

Bianca Hartley 

VP Marketing 

T: +44 (0)161 927 3222 

E: bianca.hartley@interactsoftware.com 

About Interact  

Interact is a global enterprise software company that serves intranet software to over one million users across more than 850 organizations, including Sony Interactive Entertainment, Lush Handmade Cosmetics and Equinox Gyms. We specialize in solving internal communication and collaboration challenges by combining our sophisticated intranet software with outstanding professional services, focusing on developing long-term strategic partnerships with our customers.   

Interact has offices in Manchester, New York, and Boston, and operates across the whole of the US and Canada, EMEA, and Australia.  

Our mission is to inform and connect every organization’s greatest asset: its people.  

The post Interact Software unveiled as best performing privately-owned company in the tech sector appeared first on Interact software.

Interact Software is honoured to be named the winner of the prestigious Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the International Trade category for 2019.

The announcement follows approval by Her Majesty The Queen of recommendations set out by the Prime Minister and a dedicated Advisory Committee. Winners each receive an official grant of appointment. 

Awarded to companies for outstanding achievement in various areas including international trade, innovation, sustainable development and promoting opportunity, the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise are the most prestigious of their kind in the UK and are globally recognised. Now in their 54^th year, the awards have a history of recognising exceptional UK businesses.

Interact was selected for the honour following remarkable performance and growth after expanding into the international market. Headquartered in Manchester, UK, the company also has a dedicated office in New York, US, which opened in 2014. In the last three years alone, Interact has seen a 130% increase in international revenue generated.

The organisation’s ability to grow so rapidly overseas can be attributed to solid foundations built in the UK. Despite strong international growth, their headquarters remain UK-based where they continue to reinvest revenue in domestic operations to propel them further forward, particularly through the employment of more staff to work on product innovation.

Interact partners recognised and global brands including Travelex, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Lush, Equinox and European Central Bank. The company serves over 1 million users worldwide, operating throughout the US and Canada, EMEA, and Australia.

“This achievement is a testament to all the hard work and commitment shown by our team and marks our commitment to growing Interact both here in the UK and worldwide,” says Interact CEO, Simon Dance.

“Our mission is to inform and connect every organisation’s greatest asset: its people. In today’s global economy, this is more important than ever. By combining innovative technology and a deep understanding of the common challenges facing international organisations, Interact has gone from strength to strength.

“We are thrilled to receive this esteemed award and extremely grateful to our staff and customers for being a part of this incredible journey. It’s a real honour for Interact.”   

Notes to Editors

Press contacts:

Bianca Hartley

VP Marketing

T: +44 (0)161 927 3222

E: bianca.hartley@interactsoftware.com

Interact 

Interact is a global enterprise software company that serves intranet software to millions of users. We specialize in solving internal communication and collaboration challenges by combining our sophisticated intranet software with outstanding professional services, focusing on developing long-term strategic partnerships with our customers. Interact has offices in Manchester and New York, and operates across the whole of the US and Canada, EMEA, and Australia.

The post Interact secures UK’s highest official accolade for business success as winner of Queen’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade appeared first on Interact software.

However, a widely reported NHS email debacle this week, which saw a NHS-wide “test email” crash the system, shows it’s increasingly unfit for purpose. We’re stuck in an email over-usage and over-dependency rut – and it’s significantly impacting productivity.

For a publicly funded industry such as healthcare, this is especially concerning. Taxpayers want to see maximum value for their money; accountability to numerous bodies and initiatives weighs on the shoulders of every Trust and CCG. Stories such as this are hugely damaging, highlighting the continuing inefficiencies and ballooning deficits rife within the NHS.

So, is now the time for the NHS to review options available to make their communication more efficient?

The dark side of email

For a tool designed to enable communication, email can be painfully inefficient.

A report by McKinsey Global Institute, which looked at unlocking value and productivity through social technologies, found that 28% of our working week is spent reading and answering email; a loss of productivity few organisations can afford.

This is a particular pain point for the NHS, where productivity has been falling for three consecutive years leading up to 2016. This has been further impacted by the strike actions of junior doctors, ineffectual agency locum hiring, and inefficient procurement processes; meaning that every facet of streamlining productivity is critical if the NHS isn’t to see another year of decline in their 2017 review.

The “email epidemic” has already been cited as an underlying cause for the UK’s overall poor productivity figures, resulting in some leading organisations opting to eliminate business email altogether. When incidences like this cripple organisations such as the NHS, the productivity drain is exacerbated further still.

A single email caused so much congestion that it crashed NHS servers; resulting not only in wasted time from reading and responding to pointless emails, but for a period, complete shut down of all access to emails. Employees took to Twitter in exasperation, resulting in the #nhsmail and #replyallgate trending to reflect the severity of the incident.

The fiasco had halted communication, caused intense frustration and ultimately stalled the ability for thousands of employees to get work done. In the case of the NHS, where lives are on the line, every minute of non-productive time has an impact.

Set out best practice

While some leaders are suggesting a ban on email, some research suggests that limiting email checks to certain times may be just as effective as banning it entirely. A policy of moderation might be enough to bring about the same increases in productivity.

More and more organisations are establishing an acceptable usage policy and educating staff on best practice (keep emails concise, start with action steps, use “FYI” on emails containing non-actionable correspondence).

In one example, Volkswagen made an agreement with its company work council to limit employee access to email on their Blackberry devices outside of working hours, with servers stopping the routing of emails 30 minutes after and reinstating services 30 minutes prior to staff shifts.

By having management set out best practice and support a more balanced approach to email usage, organisations can support productivity and better employee work-life balance.

Email alternatives?

Due to data security and compliance, email is always likely to stay in healthcare. However as figures show, usage needs limiting. NHS organisations are starting to consider means of communication with colleagues other than email for non-confidential knowledge sharing, information and notifications.

Social collaboration tools are increasing in the both public and private sector business communications as a viable alternative, and their value is well-documented. Writing for CMSWire, AvePoint Public Sector CTO Dux Raymond Sy argues:

“Enterprise social is not just a trendy buzzword – it’s a hard, fast enterprise reality that has helped to drive measurable benefits for many businesses across the world.”

Utilising recognisable and intuitive social tools such as forums, @mentioning, #tagging, blogs and team areas encourages greater communication and collaboration amongst colleagues. The result can be a dramatic reduction in email use; for global information technology provider Atos, that result was 64%.

Utilising specialist collaboration tools that offer integration with other business platforms, such as cloud storage applications or Office365, means platforms such as intranets can offer a one-stop-shop for effective communication, without always having to turn to email. With an effective enterprise search function, this means quick, efficient access to all essential business information from a centralised hub: breaking down information silos that typically result from the 1-2-1 nature of email conversations.

Additionally, the the healthcare sector faces the challenge of a fluid workforce, battling high staff turnover combined with people changing rolls internally frequently. The ability to find the right co-worker with the right expertise (and to be able to trust that information is up to date) is essential for the delivery of quality care; using email is an ineffectual way to do this.

Having a centralized employee directory that offers integration with directories such as Active Directory or Azure Directory can prove a powerful and efficient feature of a social intranet. Creation and deprovision of accounts is seamless and automated, with systems that offer rich profile fields supporting healthcare staff in finding the right people with the right expertise.

Interact’s People’s Directory, for example, offers the capacity to add skills, languages, hobbies and interests; when a user has a need to find someone who speaks Spanish or has experience in a specialized area of medical research, this provides an instant tool for connecting colleagues – regardless of department, speciality or location.

Healthcare organisations are also now recognizing the benefits that real-time interaction can have on a workforce, particularly one that can often be dispersed out in the community, across clinics, hospitals or telecommuting. The practice of moving to solutions such as social intranets or instant messaging services as an alternative will help connect employees – and alleviate the overdependency on email.

This move away from email for day to day communication will be an advantage for a healthcare organization’s IT team too. Having a secure, compliant, cloud based intranet for communication and collaboration across departments improves an organisations security through the use of SSO, where staff can sign in to key platforms via their intranet, saving time, reducing IT burden and increasing security through the reduction of lost and hacked password incidents. Having a cloud based intranet also reduces the chances of internal servers becoming overloaded to the point of crashing, as with the incident this week.

As enterprise social tools continue to evolve, and healthcare organisations become more comfortable with opting for cloud solutions to support their move to greater efficiencies, email over useage and dependency may become a thing of the past.

Every saving made makes a difference in a publicly funded organization, and the cost of implementing a social intranet pales in comparison to that of the entire email system going down for a day. With NHS England decreeing digital transformation as part of it’s strategy to move towards a more productive and efficient NHS service, maybe intranets are what is needed to assist with the move from email to a better way of organizational communication.

The post The true productivity impact of 186 million needless NHS emails appeared first on Interact software.

[San Francisco, CA, September 20, 2016] Interact, a provider of intelligent intranets with global headquarters in Manchester, UK, has today announced its continued US expansion with the opening of its new office in San Francisco, to be led by founder and CEO Nigel Danson. Since opening its first US office in New York in 2014, the company has achieved excellent and sustainable growth both globally and specifically in the US region.

To date in 2016, Interact has seen a significant increase in enterprise sales, with its enterprise customer revenue doubling from 2015 to 2016. This has been further bolstered by the recent acquisition of Piedmont Healthcare, with nearly 14,000 users dispersed across the US. To accommodate this growth Nigel Danson CEO has moved to San Francisco to head up the new US headquarters, with future plans to open an office in London later this year, led by long term CTO Simon Dance, who has recently been appointed UK CEO.

Danson states: “Operating on both the East and West coast of the US puts us in a strong position to work with many more forward thinking organizations across the US, and continue to deliver excellent service to our existing US customer base.

From the outset Interact has focused on building a collaboration platform that is people focused rather than content focused – a criticism often leveled at other content and document management systems which fall short of delivering a rounded user experience based on a blend of business critical communication tools.

“What we have created is a platform that is intelligent and collaborative. The fact we already have some 750 companies using Interact software is testament to the people focused approach we took from the start”, Danson continues.

With new US customers such as Piedmont Healthcare now on board, Interact now provides its intranet software solutions to more than 160 US based customers and has a strong new business pipeline. With the ever increasing need for more efficient business communications across multiple sites, regionally and globally, the company is looking forward to continued growth in the US through its work with progressive organizations.
-ENDS-

Press Contacts:
Lauren King,
VP Global Marketing
E: lauren.king@interactsoftware.com
T: +44 (0) 161 927 3222

Steve Zucker
US Marketing Director
T: +1 (646) 564 5775
E: steve.zucker@interactsoftware.com

Henry Clatworthy,
Account Executive, Metia
E: henry.clatworthy@metia.com
T: +44 (0)20 3100 3611

Interact
Interact is a global provider of intelligent social intranet software. Servicing over 1,000,000 users, its flexible and scalable solution has revolutionized the way companies communicate, collaborate, share knowledge, and streamline internal processes.

With over 10 years’ experience, Interact has worked in partnership with organizations across multiple industries throughout the world, including ASPCA, G4S, and ADT. Headquartered in the UK with offices in New York and San Francisco, Interact is a recognized global leader in intranets.

The post Interact opens regional HQ in San Francisco to accelerate US growth appeared first on Interact software.

Atlanta, Ga. (September 20th, 2016) – With more than 13,000 employees dispersed throughout Georgia, leaders at Piedmont Healthcare knew they had to find an innovative way to connect and engage them. In order for Piedmont to continue to drive exceptional results and enhance the employee experience, they approached intranet experts Interact with the task of implementing a social collaboration platform that can grow as the organization matures.

Designed to make employees’ lives a little easier by delivering intelligent search results, targeted content and mobile access, Piedmont’s new intranet will offer a dedicated space for employees to collaborate across departments.

“While it is nearly impossible to meet everyone face-to-face in organizations our size, this social intranet is the next best way for people to get to know their team,” Kelli Newman, internal communications manager at Piedmont, said. “Employees will be able to use the intranet and engage with content as they would on social networking sites.”

The intranet, powered by Interact, is the first of its kind for a healthcare system in the Southeast. In addition to an intelligent search feature, which lets employees search for content or for team members by name or skill, the new intranet will recommend content based on employee usage and will suggest pages that are likely to be most helpful.

“We’re continually impressed by the ways people find to improve their performance with our software,” Nigel Danson, Interact’s Founder and CEO, said. “We’re especially happy when we know that it’s being used by an organization that makes such a difference in the lives of others. Piedmont has always been at the forefront of the healthcare industry in how they use technology to benefit their patients; implementing a social intranet is the next step in order to realize the full potential of the business.”

The new intranet is set to launch January 2017.

-ENDS-

Press Contacts:

Amanda Bartlett,
PR Manager, Piedmont
E: Amanda.Bartlett@piedmont.org
T: 678-842-6112

Steve Zucker,
US Marketing Director, Interact
E: steve.zucker@interactsoftware.com
T: 646-564-5775

Interact

Interact is a global provider of intelligent social intranet software. Servicing over 1,000,000 users, its flexible and scalable solution has revolutionized the way companies communicate, collaborate, share knowledge and streamline internal processes.

With over 10 years’ experience, Interact has worked in partnership with organizations across multiple industries throughout the world, including ASPCA, G4S, and ADT. Headquartered in the UK with offices in New York and San Francisco, Interact is a recognized global leader in intranets.

The post Piedmont partner Interact to build social intranet appeared first on Interact software.

In order to do this correctly and ensure minimal disruptive impact to a business, HR and internal comms teams alike must take some crucial steps to ensure the information they deliver is accurate, timely and communicated in the appropriate way.

BREXIT communications timing

The first step is to figure out the appropriate timing to deliver the information, especially as there are no clear facts on how this may affect businesses and employees alike. Consensus in change management is that delaying internal announcements can prove hugely detrimental to morale and uptake; avoid accusations of sitting on information and endeavour to act quickly. However, knee-jerk announcements that aren’t effectively planned can equally cause considerable issues further down the line, particularly when an announcement has negative implications or consequences for those it concerns.

In light of there being no immediate, clear facts on how BREXIT will affect your business, it may be wise to consult legal outlets like Allen & Overy’s BREXIT contingency guidelines with a plan to do an initial “holding” response until more information becomes available.

BREXIT communications process

Next you need to consider the process. Map out a flow for your internal communications process, defining what needs to happen and who needs to be involved.

Begin with the definition of the message, then map out your ‘route to market’ for delivering your communication and ensure you are reaching everyone you need to as efficiently and effectively as possible. For example, do you have European offices operating in a different time zone or in different languages that may also need to be notified? Or remote workers who may not have access to your internal systems and would miss out on a ‘town hall’ announcement? Additionally, consider the follow-up to the delivery of your message. Any senior members of staff associated with the message, for example, HR or line managers, should be readily available and prepared to receive questions.

BREXIT communications content

Once you have prepared the timing and process, you need to define the message. Often, ironically, the message itself is the one thing that gets forgotten. In the rush to get information out or in the fixation on ‘how’ to deliver, it can be easy to lose sight of what we actually need to communicate. Begin by clearly defining the message and its objectives:

• What is the top-level message?
• What do your employees actually need to know?
• How will this impact their roles and the business as a whole?
• What questions are they most likely to ask?
• What actions or outcomes do you require from your employees?

At this stage, it will be difficult to give definitive answers for what BREXIT means for business and employees, so it would be advisable to keep your message concise, try to minimise worry and invite feedback and questions. Even if you cannot answer the questions immediately, it shows you are listening to your employees, being empathic and can at least research and come back with an answer at a later stage.

BREXIT communications channel

Once the initial message has been determined and you have decided who will deliver it and at what time; the most important decision is around how you deliver this information. This is very much dependent on the culture and structure of the organisation in question – alongside the nature of the news to be delivered. The most important consideration is how to communicate change in a way that it will be understood and engaged with by your audience.

Interact did a poll on their customer community surveying what Internal Comms and HR teams felt were the most appropriate channels for communicating an announcement of change or uncertainty, like that of the BREXIT outcome we all now face.

A majority response put a cascade of information via managers as the favoured channel of choice, amounting to 69.4% of votes. This was followed by a town hall announcement at 24.2% and intranet announcements, which received 6.6% of the vote.

However, when mapping out a route to communicate BREXIT internally, it is important to consider the demographic of your employees, seek feedback on their preferred channels of communication and adapt for the different groups. No single channel is the holy grail for communicating change or sensitive information; nor will any decision please everyone. Instead, a multi-faceted, multi-channel approach may be the best option to ensure information is received and interpreted by individuals as consistently as possible.

The post How to announce BREXIT communications to your employees appeared first on Interact software.

Manchester, UK, 14 June 2016: Expanding global retail specialist N Brown will work in partnership with intranet experts Interact, to deliver a cutting-edge digital solution to its internal communications strategy this year. The initiative supports their strategy to become a digital-first organisation.

“We now see over 60% of demand coming from online, as the market continues to shift towards a technology-dominated arena. As part of our future growth strategy and transformation programme, we are investing heavily in our colleagues and systems to ensure we rise to that challenge, placing a digital-first mind-set at the forefront of our mission”, explains People Director, Caroline Massingham.

“With over 2,500 employees spanning over different brands, locations and roles, ensuring our employees remain engaged with the N Brown vision to be the universally loved experts in ‘fashion that fits’ is a considerable challenge. When investing in the overhaul of our intranet we were therefore looking for a partner who not only demonstrated cutting-edge technological solutions, but would also help support our communications and engagement strategy and facilitate agile working throughout the Group.

“After an extensive tender process, Interact were the clear front runners.”

The new N Brown Group Intranet is set to launch later this year, combining a fresh interface with future-proofed technology, social tools and collaborative apps to integrate with existing business processes. The Interact solution will also boast a comprehensive search facility, enabling users to source colleagues and information easily and efficiently through the use of keywords and tagging. A cloud-based platform, it will be accessible for all users regardless of location or platform.

“The existing intranet system utilised by the N Brown Group was failing to match its vision for a “digital first” approach to driving business forward,” said Nigel Danson, Interact CEO and Founder.

“The governing objective was to roll out a fresh solution that supports the communications and engagement strategy, and would also facilitate agile working, enabling users across the range of different brands, roles and locations to collaborate and identify with the brand mission and values. Our expertise in this field has enabled us to rise to the challenge. In particular, our ability to integrate social tools will enable users to like, share or comment on content, while an intelligent search functionality ensures users are able to not only source information but also colleagues more effectively. By breaking down previous barriers to communication, we can facilitate a new approach to employee engagement for the Group.”

Interact is the leading provider of intelligent intranet software for retail organisations globally, serving large retailers such as ASOS, AO.com, Waterstones, James Perse and Sheetz.   

###

Press contacts:

Lauren King

VP Marketing

T: +44 (0)161 927 3222

E: lauren.king@interactsoftware.com

Lynne Newnham

Account Director, Metia for Interact

T: +44 (0)203 100 3796

E: Lynne.newnham@metia.com

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