Extend your tech stack to the frontlines (without the IT burden)

Managing a growing IT tech stack is difficult. Between adoption, training, security, and user support, even the best IT teams can feel stretched thin. This challenge is compounded when extending workplace technology to the frontlines of your organization—after all, you now have a whole new type of user, device, and technology to support.

This doesn’t have to be the case, though. By leveraging a central platform as a unifying hub for all other technology, IT departments can significantly reduce the management overhead and security risks associated with supporting a complete frontline tech stack. Let’s look at how this works.

An IT-Focused Intranet

When we hear “intranet,” it’s easy to think of HR and internal communications. And while it’s true that these functions benefit greatly from a strong intranet solution, an often-overlooked strength of an intranet is its ability to integrate other apps into a unified digital workplace.

This is already a useful functionality in the office, where the friction created by a fragmented landscape of apps and digital tools leads to reduced adoption, productivity, compliance, and engagement—which you can learn more about over here.

When we invite the frontlines into our digital workplace, we offer them an easier way to engage with the digital tools they need to do their best work, all with greater security and less drain on the IT team.

Adoption & Ease of Use

The first thing to note about a well-implemented digital workplace is the major benefits to adoption and ease of use. Digital tools are often designed without consideration for the frontlines, from the interface to the sign-on protocols. The right intranet can integrate all the tools your frontline workforce needs into a central app with single-sign-on, simplifying the task of finding and accessing relevant tools.

For instance, payroll and scheduling apps can both integrate with your intranet solution, offering frontline workers a quick way to find pay stubs and check work schedules without managing multiple passwords. This ease of use makes adoption more likely, and allows workers to focus on high-value tasks instead of their apps.

Cybersecurity & Compliance

As we mentioned, many leading intranets allow you to integrate all your apps into a solution powered by SSO. This is not just a great way to make your tech stack more accessible—it’s also a key security measure.

Especially for frontline teams (who may have more limited technological inclination), juggling multiple sets of credentials is likely to result in passwords that are all the same, that get written down, or that are easy to guess. By granting access to all relevant tools and apps through a single intranet with SSO, you eliminate a pain point that can compromise password integrity.

You can press this advantage even further with another use-case for the digital workplace: policy adherence. A digital workplace can be a powerful way to streamline access to your cybersecurity policies, even for frontline users.

Build an IT policy wiki just for frontline users, so that they don’t have to sift through documents that don’t apply to their line of work. Then, leverage the communications tools built into many intranet platforms to send targeted blasts out to frontline teams, reminding them to review password best practice documents, personal device policies, and anything else that they need to know to stay secure on the frontlines. As a bonus, you can even check to see who has read and acknowledged your policies.

IT Support & Resources

Of course, even the best system will have its faults. A major drain on IT resources is simply the time and energy it takes to support user issues, whether those issues are caused by silicon or grey matter. In either case, the right intranet solution streamlines support to give your IT team more time back for other critical tasks.

A simple way to set yourself up for success is to create an IT knowledge base page in your digital workplace. This can lead with FAQs, with a specific set of answers dedicated to mobile users. You can also provide easy ways for mobile users to get support for any other questions, so that they don’t let problems grow unattended.

A link to your policy repository is also a great addition here, along with a feed of updates and announcements from the IT team. Finally, a way to submit support tickets should also be present.

These self-serve resources can cut down on IT overhead, but there’s still more you can do. Igloo offers an AI-powered chatbot called Igloo Digital Assistant; this digital assistant allows users to retrieve information from any IT policies, FAQs, integrated business apps, and more. It also allows IT professionals to check and action support tickets without navigating away from other, higher-priority tasks, so you can get more done with fewer distractions.

Other Critical Considerations

Some of these features are common to most intranets, but other features are rather more unique. A major consideration when choosing an intranet vendor is the way they support frontline and desked teams.

Many intranets are designed specifically for office or frontline use, leaving the other side ill-equipped. The IT benefits of a central solution only apply if that solution is central not only to frontline workers, but to the entire organization—after all, you wouldn’t want to balance two discrete digital workplaces. Igloo is built from the ground-up to serve the different needs of both parties equally from a single, central platform that can be managed with ease by your IT team.

To learn more about how Igloo can help support security, compliance, and IT efficiency, get in touch with an Igloo intranet expert today.