From Air-Powered Pipes to Intranet: How did we get here?

Beyond the clickety-clack sound of typewriters and walls of cigarette smoke, there was one technological feature that characterized an enterprise office in the 1950's and 60's - the pneumatic tube. This was a way for Janet from HR on the second floor to send a message to Sam in sales on the fifth, using a system of canisters placed in air-powered pipes. 

Thankfully we've moved past sending paper-based messages through an elaborate in-office plumbing network! But that historical tidbit is a testament to the critical and ongoing importance of communication technology in keeping businesses running smoothly and staff connected and informed.

In the era of hybrid work, modern, powerful, and versatile intranets are the critical infrastructure that help foster meaningful connections, reduce employee turnover, and generate a shared company culture.
 

How did we go from intranet to employee experience platform? 

Download our free guide to understand today's modern intranet and how it can help your business succeed.

2000 - a watershed year

‍Most modern intranet platforms combine characteristics that were once associated with local area networks (LANs) and a wide area network (WANs). On one hand they provide secure communication in a closed office or enterprise network while on the other, they enable easy access to colleagues or clients outside the office, as well as to the repositories of information available on the web like search engines and open digital libraries.

With a user-friendly interface based on hyperlinks, intranets revolutionized how enterprises accessed, exchanged, and disseminated information. Traditionally, this flow of information followed a hierarchical structure, what we call top-down communication, where executives and management direct communication downwards to the rest of the workforce. This route did not allow for much feedback from employees. 

By 2000, solutions like SharePoint, a file hosting system, and Jive, an enterprise social network, had been introduced. Enterprise communication systems began to see important integrations and competition with features that incorporated Google and Microsoft functionality.

Hybrid work era: intranets do it all 

‍Now in the era of hybrid digital work, and as cloud-based systems become the new standard, intranets like LumApps include more than simple office communication tools. 

With colleagues working at the office, at home, and on the road, an enterprise intranet is no longer just a tool for management to direct staff and delegate tasks. It is also a digital work hub that links everyone together to collaborate, encourage productivity, and foster workplace culture. 

From day one on the job, LumApps provides companies with a secure, centralized hub for all staff to communicate and share information, plus it provides a host of added benefits, including:

• Automating mundane tasks and improving employee productivity with LumApps Companion  – an AI-based tool that helps companies reduce costs and focus on mission-critical activities.  
• Simplified task management with a customizable dashboard where employees can complete HR and IT-based tasks without leaving the intranet 
• Helping establish meaningful connections for the 85% of frontline employees who feel uncertain about or disconnected from their work.
• Emphasizing human connections and interactions with two-way communication, community interest groups, social media, and training features.
• Streamlining employee onboarding via custom email campaigns that can include video learning so all employees receive standardized training
• Amplifying organizational learning capabilities through a blend of formal and informal knowledge-sharing avenues.
• Creating a micro learning environment that empowers employees in a dynamic, community driven ecosystem using LumApps Learning tools.
   

By fostering staff engagement and experiences, intranets help promote and encourage a sense of belonging, comradery, and a tangible organizational culture. Building meaningful connections in the workspace not only improves social interactions but also decreases burnout levels, lowers turnover rates, and enhances employee performance and productivity.

More than an intranet platform for office communication, LumApps goes beyond by facilitating connections among your team, whether they're in the same building, across the country, or around the globe. It is a powerful employee engagement tool, providing impactful communication and human resource solutions to your staff, regardless of their location.

A Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader, our application is designed to deliver meaningful employee engagement solutions that make a difference to how your people interact and connect with one another. We don't just support an enterprise workforce; we help build a healthy work culture.