Ooredoo’s “buzz” portal – the global intranet that connects employees in its operating companies in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa – has been named one of the world’s top ten intranets in a new report by leading research firm, Nielsen Norman Group.
The buzz portal was recognised alongside intranets of a number of elite companies and organisations, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Mayo Clinic and National Geographic.
Each was named to the list because of the important support its intranet provide for employees, as well as the usability and use of social features to drive employee engagement.
Ooredoo was the only company from the Middle East or Asia to make it to the World Top Ten, and was praised for its ability to support dialogue and provide information in multiple languages and for a wide range of cultures.
Ooredoo’s buzz provides an essential tool for teams in different countries to share ideas, plan co-ordinated campaigns and contact experts in Ooredoo offices around the world. Since its launch in 2012, buzz has provided Ooredoo employees with a meeting place to talk to their international colleagues, as well as a key focal point for online resources.
Ooredoo Group chief human resources officer Mohanna Nasser al-Nuaimi said, “We developed Ooredoo’s buzz portal because we know that technology has a huge role to play in enriching people’s working lives, and we wanted to ensure that Ooredoo employees have access to one of the very best intranets, wherever they are in the world. To receive international acknowledgement from a global expert in intranet usability shows how strong a lead we are taking in this area.”
For Ooredoo, investment in cutting-edge employee communications technology serves the dual purpose of ensuring that employees have the best possible facilities, and also making certain that the company’s expertise continues to develop so as to better serve customers, the company said. With more companies looking to use intranet technology as the primary vehicle for engaging employees in multi-location, multi-time zone offices, Ooredoo is providing strong support through its globally-recognised capabilities.
“Ooredoo’s intranet connects thousands of employees by exploiting social sharing features and offering robust language support. With a simple user interface and targeted encouragement, Ooredoo’s intranet fosters a culture of sharing across the organisation,” said usability expert Jakob Nielsen, principal, Nielsen Norman Group.
Many of the winning intranets in the top ten include social features that encourage employee engagement, such as inviting comments and ratings on news articles and showing the number of comments made to indicate the interest level in an article.
In addition, most of this year’s winners emphasised mobile intranet access, as more employees access information on their smartphones, iPads and portable devices.
Nielsen Norman Group’s “Intranet Design Annual 2014: The Year’s 10 Best Intranets,” is available at: http://www.nngroup.com/reports/intranet-design-annual.
