How IT leaders can support cross-functional collaboration

Employees are 230% more engaged and 85% more likely to stay with a company beyond three years if they are supported by their tech systems. This underscores the importance of providing employees with modern, user-friendly technology tools that support their needs and expectations. 

Social networks, messaging apps, and collaboration tools have made it easier to connect co-workers across departments, regardless of their location. However, the proliferation of these apps is causing challenges for IT professionals. 

The challenge for IT professionals? If you don’t provide the collaboration tools that fit what your team needs, they will go find and download it themselves, resulting in shadow IT that you can’t manage or secure. 

But simply throwing more technology at the problem isn’t helping – it’s creating a phenomenon that author Rob Cross calls “collaboration overload.” 

As described by McKinsey, “We’ve gone through all of these ‘delayering’ initiatives to streamline decision-making cycles, assuming that was the thing that was slowing everything down. At the same time, we’ve layered on all these collaborative tools. It’s the Slack channels, team spaces, emails, Zoom calls, maybe a gratitude application, plus one or two other custom things that people are doing in their organizations. All these technologies look cheap from the chief investment officer’s office, but layering them on creates a phenomenal “overwhelm.”’

Employees need more than simply another messaging or project management app. They need an efficient, connected, and productive workplace that empowers them to do their best work and equips them with ultra-personalized and smart communications. 

So what can the IT leader do about this – and how should they be involved? To achieve cross-functional collaboration, IT leaders need a roadmap that aligns with the organization's goals and objectives. 

6 ways an intranet can foster collaboration

Looking for ways to improve collaboration across your company? Download this free checklist to see how an intranet can help.

1. Identify software gaps across lines of business
IT leaders should select collaboration tools that meet the team's needs, while also evaluating for ease of use, accessibility, security, and integration with other business systems. This may be one of the most visible roles of IT – selecting and supporting software to meet the needs of other lines of business within the company.  

IT leaders should assess the current tools and processes available across the business and identify the gaps that exist between different departments (or inside a given department). They should work with other business leaders to understand the organization's requirements and identify areas for improvement.

2. Select collaboration tools that integrate with existing systems and workflows 
According to Gartner, one of the biggest challenges IT leaders face in promoting cross-functional collaboration is getting employees to adopt new tools and processes. 

To overcome this, IT leaders should advocate for collaboration tools that integrate with existing systems and workflows, such as email, calendars, and project management software. By choosing tools that integrate with existing systems, you can help reduce the learning curve and increase adoption rate and likelihood of employees using the new tools. 

Plus, integration with other systems helps to reduce digital friction (the need to switch from one app to another, need for manual data entry, and more), which can save time and reduce errors.
    
For example, the LumApps intranet is a tool that helps increase collaboration and improves internal communication, but it also integrates with many of your existing tools. LumApps includes powerful integrations with common business tools like Workday, Slack, Zendesk and more, so employees can complete tasks and collaborate with coworkers all within one tool. Plus, LumApps integrates with Google Workspace and Microsoft Teams so your employees can use existing logins to access the intranet.

The new Companion tool takes this even further and pulls all these business apps into a customizable dashboard that employees can use to view data and complete tasks in their various business apps without ever leaving the intranet dashboard. The same apps can be accessed via an employee’s query to the LumApps Digital Assistant.

All these technologies look cheap from the chief investment officer’s office, but layering them on creates a phenomenal “overwhelm.”

— McKinsey (source)

3. Provide training and support
IT leaders should provide training and support for employees on how to use collaboration tools effectively. Another strategy is to select a tool that is intuitive enough to require minimal onboarding or training. This will ensure that all employees are proficient with the new tools and are using them to their fullest potential.

Gartner recommends creating a "digital workplace" program that includes training, resources, and support for employees using collaboration tools. This can help increase adoption and ensure that employees are using the tools to their fullest potential. 

The LumApps intranet includes secure video handling, directly in the intranet, that you can use to build a support center with training videos and dedicated playlists for employees to watch on demand. You can also utilize the employee journeys function to create a custom email flow that outlines training and emails the ‘video course’ directly to the employee. The system can ‘nudge’ them with reminders until they complete the online training.  

4. Choose tools that support asynchronous collaboration 
Asynchronous collaboration refers to collaborating across time zones or schedules, without requiring everyone to be online at the same time. There are several benefits of adopting tools that promote asynchronous collaboration – you can help the team stay aligned, avoid delays caused by time differences, and increase profitability by extending your business working hours.  

5. Ensure accessibility
IT leaders should ensure that the collaboration tools are accessible to everyone, regardless of their work location or technical skills. They should also ensure that the tools are mobile-friendly and have a mobile app to support remote workers, employees on-the-go, and frontline workers.

The LumApps intranet has a mobile app so employees can access pertinent information from anywhere. Plus, you can connect frontline or deskless employees even if they don’t have a Microsoft Teams or Google Workspace account.

6. Monitor and measure performance
IT leaders should monitor the effectiveness of collaboration tools and processes regularly. They should use key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure success and adjust as needed.
 

6 ways an intranet can foster collaboration

Looking for ways to improve collaboration across your company? Download this free checklist to see how an intranet can help.

LumApps is a scalable employee intranet that enables every employee, frontline workers included, to connect to the right tools, people, and information across the organization, regardless of their role, language, location, or device. 

Here are some of the top reasons that IT leaders like the LumApps solution: 

• Simplified Work Experience: LumApps provides a single platform for employees to access all the company's resources and apps, reducing the need to switch between different applications.
• Customizable and Scalable: LumApps can be customized to meet the organization's needs and can be easily integrated with other business applications.
• Leverage Your Productivity Suite: LumApps can integrate with Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, enabling employees to work efficiently and collaboratively. LumApps is a business partner with both Google and Microsoft so these integrations are seamless. 
• Secure and Compliant: LumApps ensures data security and compliance with industry regulations, providing peace of mind to organizations.

IT plays a significant role in enabling this collaboration, and LumApps is one such tool that can help businesses achieve seamless cross-functional collaboration. With its customizable and configurable features, LumApps connect all your workforce (desk workers, on-the-go employees, and frontline workers) to colleagues, information, and business apps, regardless of location, device, collaborative suite, or organizational structure.

Book a demo to learn more about how LumApps can help improve collaboration at your company. 

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