10 Best Unily Alternatives for Employee Experience (2026)

New employee journey maps can take time to develop. But when adding more smiley faces isn’t enough, how do you get an employee journey map to work better for your organization? 

The concept of employee experience maps has been gaining traction as a way to boost employee engagement and improve your onboarding process. 

The template follows a pretty straightforward path from hiring, through training, and eventually exiting, but it’s the way you use these maps that makes them valuable. 

You know your workers will have training at a particular stage, but how helpful is it? Do you see an increase in turnover at any stage? These are the types of questions your employee journey maps should help you answer. 

Why use an employee journey map?

An employee journey map can be a helpful tool for improving the employee lifecycle. This concept visualizes the entire employee experience through your organization, from onboarding until their last day.

There are a few different ways to name each stage of the journey, but every employee experience map follows the same basic flow:

• Recruitment and hiring
• Onboarding
• Engaging and training
• Development
• Progress and performance
• Exit or offboarding 

These employee journey touchpoints describe the main stages a worker might be at within the company.

You can track the average time it takes to complete each step, assign different training and feedback for different stages, and look for patterns within your journey maps.

An employee journey map can help with engagement as you can better address the needs and concerns a worker will have by knowing where they stand in the organization. 

Making the most of this tool will help you actually get some use from it.

How to make a better employee experience journey map

Don’t worry. Not all good employee experience journey maps lead to Manchester. They just have to lead to happier workers. 

Whether you already use an employee journey map template or are just starting to look into the idea, there are some steps you can take to make your maps work better.

They are the following:

1. Create different maps for different roles. The map for a frontline manager will look different from a warehouse worker, with different training and onboarding for each position. Depending on your organization, you may need a few maps or a few dozen.
   
2. Analyze your employee journey maps and look for patterns. Do many employees have trouble at the same part of the training? That may become more obvious when you compare maps and visualize the issue at hand.
   
   The latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows an average tenure of 4.1 years, and 22% of workers had been with their current employer for a year or less. 

Looking up industry-specific numbers can help you further pinpoint areas to focus on when planning out your journey maps.

3. Time feedback to the stage in the journey your employee is at. Look for onboarding feedback while the process is still fresh in their mind.
   
   Provide appropriate feedback to your employees as well. Let them know how they’ve improved after training, or likewise what they could concentrate a bit more on.
   
4. Remember, journey maps are a tool that can help predict how an employee’s experience will look, but it’s not set in stone. There can be unexpected events that change their journey map.
   
   Like a global pandemic that reduced working hours by 17.3% in 2020. Most of us are still trying to get back on track after that one.
   
5. Make sure your organization learns from the tool. These aren’t coloring book pages for employees to fill in while HR processes their paperwork. Learn from them.
   
   Did you know only 12% of employees strongly agree their company did a good job at onboarding? 

Using an employee journey map, you can analyze your new hires at this stage and see why they might feel that way. 

Wrapping up — Making employee journey maps better for your workers

Employee journey mapping is one of those tools with lots of potential. It can help you improve different processes in your organization, increase employee engagement, and create an easy-to-follow workflow for various roles.

Or you can spend an entire quarter making everyone fill these in and then promptly lose them in a subfolder that was last opened three years ago.

Just keep in mind that creating an employee journey map is the first step. You also need to make it easy to access for employees and have them provide feedback. 

Satnavs. Facial recognition. The Cloud. FinTech.

We slip words like these into conversations with ease. New technology has become part of our bread-and-butter vocabulary, without quotation (or question) marks.

Healthtech, on the other hand – that feels a bit more niche. Or it did, until Covid-19 made us sit up and pay attention. 

24 months into the pandemic, nobody needs a lecture on the importance of healthtech; it’s staring us in the face. But health tech didn’t emerge on-the-fly in response to the Covid crisis. It’s been around for a long time.

And it’s big business. In 2017, Forbes valued the digital healthcare industry at an astounding $25 billion globally. They believe that number will skyrocket above $379 billion by 2024. 

We all know that healthtech helps predict the spread of diseases, track pandemic outbreaks, and contain them. But there are other new developments in the future of healthcare that will change the way we live.

What is healthtech?

Right now, healthtech (also known as digital health) is the fastest-growing verticle in healthcare. It refers to any product or service that's enabled, or revolutionized by, technology. So far, so Sci-Fi. But healthtech is all around us already...

Wearables

Yep, you’ve already got this one. Fitness trackers (like FitBits) are health wearables. We like knowing we've put in my 10.000 steps. But other types of knowledge about what’s happening in our bodies can be more vital. For some people, it’s their heart rate; for others, their blood pressure, or their oxygen supply. 

Continuously measuring these things makes a huge difference for people with chronic conditions. And these wearables don’t just make the invisible visible; they also act as a kind of coach. They empower wearers to become active participants in managing their health condition. Immediate feedback from a wearable can change habits; habits can change health; and health saves lives. 

Wearables are particularly relevant in the time of Covid-19. But they will continue to be so well beyond it, as part of a bigger drive towards preventative or pro-active health care. 

3D-printed prototypes

3D-printing technology still sounds far-fetched. But it’s here, and it’s a quiet revolution in healthcare. Technology like this can create everything from personalized prosthetics to bio-tissues and blood vessels, at a fraction of the past cost. It transforms organ transplants and tissue repair. It can even produce realistic skin grafts for burn victims. 

In 2020, researchers at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, managed to develop a method for printing 3D-print living skin, along with blood vessels.

Blockchain for electronic healthcare records

Blockchain and the future of healthcare? Not obvious at first. But think of electronic health records, and how important it is to keep those accurate and safe. 

Blockchain technology can play a key role in ensuring that medical records are 100% accurate. It also makes them significantly harder to hack. Conflicting information is automatically detected, thanks to a decentralised network of computers. And blockchain not only helps prevent data breaches; it also cuts costs. 

So it’s no wonder that many health and pharmaceutical companies are investing in blockchain technology.  A recent report put the blockchain health market at $890.5 million by 2023.

Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a key driver in health tech. We already see it in chatbots and virtual health assistants that act as diagnostic tools, and even as therapists. 

But the real power of AI becomes clear in areas like precision medicine. In the past, many cancer patients received cookie-cutter treatments with high failure rates. Because of AI, we now have more personalised treatments, based on individual genetics and lifestyle factors, amongst other things.

AI also plays a big role in the discovery of new drugs and the development of vaccines. That’s a Bigger Deal Than Ever Before in the Covid pandemic. 

And finally, two of the things AI is exceptionally good at is Pattern Recognition and optical character recognition. That means it can analyse large amounts of cancer images that help recognise and diagnose cancer. One famous example of this is Google’s DeepMind, which created an AI for breast cancer analysis. The algorithm outperformed human radiologists on pre-selected data sets to identify breast cancer, on average by 11.5%.

The market value of AI for future of healthcare worldwide? $34 billion by 2025.

VR/AR

Most of us are already familiar with this technology. Immersing yourself in a simulated environment is fun. But it can also be a therapeutic tool. For instance, VR environments help train people to deal with mental health triggers safely. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Bipolar Disorder. Covid-related Stress and Anxiety are now being treated this way.

The training potential of VR is – well, awesome. Take surgeons, for instance. A recent Harvard Business Review study showed that VR-trained surgeons had a 230% boost in their overall performance.

Compared to their traditionally-trained counterparts, they were both faster and more accurate. At Case Western Reserve University, students learn via a VR-based HoloAnatomy app. This offers detailed and precise experience without the need for real bodies.

Top 4 emerging healthtech trends for 2022

In light of the Covid pandemic and rapid growth in remote work, safeguarding your workers has become a mandatory part of doing business. This means you’re now also looked upon to bring in measures like: 

By making these types of smart technologies accessible to your workforce, you can give way to improved safety standards and early alerts that reduce the risk of contagious threats. Keep track of these trends to keep your employees safe in 2022 and beyond.

identify opportunities to leverage them for your organization going forward. 

Virtual care and remote medicine are on the rise

You drive to the doctor. You sit in a waiting area for ages until your name's called. When your appointment finally happens, it's a few questions, a prescription, and you're sent on your way. You wonder why you spent so long commuting for a matter of minutes.

Sound familiar?

That's why virtual care is replacing minor in-person appointments. The past two years have further accelerated this trend, leading to an increase in virtual visits or telephone consultations. 

According to a recent McKinsey study, the number of people using telehealth rose from 11 to 46% during the pandemic. It further predicts that telehealth would account for $250 billion — 20% of the US healthcare spending in near future.

Virtual care not only reduces the risk of spreading contagious diseases but allows healthcare professionals to fit more consultations into their daily schedules. This is a vital factor for highly populated nations facing a shortage of medical professionals, such as India and China.   

Genomics and gene editing lead to further breakthroughs 

Before you get all excited — no, we haven’t figured out how a spider’s bite can turn a normal kid into spiderman.

But the good news is that there've been significant breakthroughs in gene editing, accelerating the development of different types of "precision medicine."

This means drugs can be tailored to the genetic profile of each patient, enhancing their effectiveness and minimizing side effects.

Precision medicine is already used in many ways, one of which is 'lab on a chip' — a technology that allows fast detection of Covid. It’s a hand-held device that can detect if someone is infected with better accuracy than conventional signals such as fever and coughing. So, it can go a long way in getting our lives back to normal. 

Data and AI drives shift to fairer healthcare insurance and coverage 

With all the strain that the coronavirus pandemic has put on our healthcare resources, you’d think it must have grown the bottom line too. Surprisingly, that’s not the case. In the US, healthcare revenues fell by 50%  as patients avoided surgeries and hospitals. 

But the silver lining in midst of all this is the revelation that people are willing to share their personal data when it’s a matter of their health. This is evident from how much people have engaged with track-and-trace systems. 

The more data people share with health services, mobile apps, and online systems powered by AI, the more accurate picture healthcare providers will have of their well-being, along with a sense of when they should intervene. Not just that, it helps healthcare providers forecast the most efficient way to deliver their services.  

This also matters from a financial perspective because other entities such as insurance companies can use advanced predictive technologies to measure risk and set premiums more accurately. 

AI, IoT, and Smart Cities improve our ability to detect and respond to future outbreaks 

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that we were embarrassingly unprepared to deal with an outbreak. And we should have a collective, predetermined strategy if something similar happens in the future.

A key part of this strategy is the concept of “Smart Cities," powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and the internet of things (IoT). According to Statista, global revenue from smart city projects is estimated to reach $129 billion in 2021. 

The idea of a smart city is based on incorporating digital connectivity and data-driven decision-making at our respective locations. And its applications extend to many areas such as: 

• Energy distribution
• Public transportation networks
• Refuse collection
• Environmental health initiatives

It’s not just the organizations that are becoming health-care oriented, but also city planners and municipal authorities. These government bodies are now allocating resources to develop technologies that can help us predict, detect and prevent pandemics. 

Another major focus is environmental health. Tech-driven initiatives are being put in place to reduce air pollution and build resilience to the effects of climate change, including the rise in sea level and temperature..

Conclusion

Even if most of your workers are remote, don’t think for a second that your health concerns are over. They now require even more attention because you don’t have the luxury of regular, face-to-face contact. It’ll be hard for you to tell when your employees are burning the candle at both ends. So you still need to support the mental health of employees as they perform their duties in the field, or from home. 

That’s where the healthcare technology trends we outlined can help. There are several health apps available for professionals to monitor physical activity, practice meditation, set reminders for breaks, water and exercise, and so on. 

The only way to avoid setbacks that can take you by surprise is to stay on top of the latest trends and innovations. The faster you can respond to relevant changes in your industry, the better for your organization.

AI isn’t exactly the new kid on the block, but 2024 was the year it truly hit its stride. Businesses that embraced it didn’t just dip their toes in — they’re already seeing big wins.

According to Boston Consulting Group, businesses that are leading the way with AI have achieved 1.5x the revenue growth than those that lag behind.  

So could 2025 be the year when AI becomes commonplace in internal communications and HR? HR leaders seem to think so. 3 in 4 say that failing to adopt and implement AI in the next 12 to 24 months will harm organizational success. 

AI is becoming a necessity rather than a nice-to-have — and the employee intranet is the perfect place to put it to use. AI has the power — not just to enhance intranets — but to reinvent them for the modern workforce.

Let's take a closer look at the essential features and benefits that an AI-powered intranet can bring to your employees and organization.

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Why employee intranets are stuck in the past

Traditional employee intranets — we’re talking those clunky, desktop-based platforms — rarely meet the needs of today’s modern workforce.

Typically used as a content management hub on a private network, they serve up static documents that tend to quickly go out of date, like company policies. Interfaces are usually hard to navigate. There are few (if any) employee engagement features built into the system.

The result? Employees actively avoid your intranet solution. Adoption and usage rates drop. It gets even harder to streamline workflows and share important employee communications.

In recent years, modern intranets and employee apps have been rectifying some of the problems created by traditional intranets — and AI is taking the digital workplace to a whole new level.

How AI is turning corporate intranets into must-have tools

The talk about AI isn’t just hype. Incorporate this tech into your intranet software and you can finally create a social intranet that serves as a single source of truth for your employees.

Here’s a taste of what AI can do for your employee intranet:

Personalization

Imagine logging into your intranet and seeing everything you need in one central location — no digging, no guesswork. Thanks to AI, your intranet can serve up personalized internal communication, relevant content, and digital tools in a company news feed that’s designed to feel custom-built just for you.

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Enhanced search capabilities

Natural language processing (NLP) means we can speak to AI as we would a person — and it understands what we’re saying. This enables intuitive and conversational intranet search functions. Also, AI may soon be able to answer employee questions using its knowledge of intranet resources, rather than simply serving a list of resource links.

Proactive assistance

AI can be integrated into your employee intranet as a chatbot. It can answer employee FAQs and guide onboarding for new hires. It can help employees find the intranet content and tools they need. This frees your HR, IT, and comms teams to focus on higher-level tasks.

Real-time recommendations

Your intranet could become your employees’ personal assistant, predicting what they need before they even realize it. Need a document? It’s already highlighted. Looking for a collaborator? AI’s got a suggestion. It’s like having an intranet that reads minds.

Voice and chat integration

Employees can enjoy seamless intranet interactions through virtual assistants and voice commands. Employees don’t even need to type. They can get answers to questions like, “What are my tasks for the day?” or “show me the latest HR policy,” without having to navigate the intranet interface. This is great for accessibility and for employees who want to access your intranet on the go. 

Task automation

AI can automate a wide range of routine tasks, including PTO requests, compliance training reminders, and IT support tickets. It can search for and flag outdated intranet content, automatically generate content tags, and launch pulse surveys as per your schedule. It can become the home for easy-to-find collaboration tools that help employees connect and work with one another. Managers and employees can also use AI to compose intranet content.

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Easy analytics

AI can help you make the most of your intranet by analyzing data on usage patterns, features that aren’t used very often, and your most popular content. You can also use AI to analyze employee sentiment and identify employee engagement red flags. This gives you time to make changes before dissatisfaction impacts productivity and retention.

Why an AI-powered intranet is a win-win

AI transformation can feel daunting. But the benefits it brings for both employees and organizations can’t be ignored.

Benefits for employees

An AI intranet improves the employee experience. Automation and proactive AI support make work quicker and easier, so employees can focus on more meaningful and strategic tasks. AI can optimize the collaborative parts of a unified platform — like enabling an easy-to-navigate employee directory, or quick-to-use instant messaging — that make or break a great experience on a daily basis.

An AI-powered intranet also reduces friction and frustration because employees are presented with relevant information at every turn. Every employee — from the desk-based employee to the frontline worker — gets a user-friendly, personalized intranet experience that improves their engagement and motivation.

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Benefits for organizations

AI improves your intranet solution, driving higher employee adoption rates and ensuring you get the best possible ROI from your intranet investment.

Your new and improved intranet can also become a key part of the company culture, supporting employee engagement, productivity, collaboration, and retention. And with easy data analysis, it’s much easier to track success relating to all these business objectives.   

AI roadblocks — and how to power through them

An AI-powered intranet can transform your digital workplace, making it more engaging, efficient, and collaborative. But — as with any big change in the workplace — you need to give careful consideration to potential pitfalls.

Here are some of the challenges of incorporating AI into your intranet software and what you can do to overcome them.  

Data privacy concerns

AI systems process vast amounts of personal and organizational data. So preventing data breaches and the associated loss of employee trust is imperative. You should only use encrypted intranet platforms and work to establish clear data privacy policies.

Change management

Introducing AI to your traditional intranet is like rolling out the red carpet for innovation — but not everyone might feel like a VIP right away. Some employees may hesitate, wondering, “How do I even use this?” That’s where effective communication and training come in to save the day.

Balancing AI and a human touch

Use AI to augment, rather than replace, human connection. AI can handle repetitive tasks and help with data analysis. But when it comes to tasks that require decision-making, emotional intelligence, creative collaboration, and relationship-building, ensure that employees — not bots — take the lead.

How to make AI intranet adoption seamless

If, like us, you’re convinced that AI is going to be an intranet game-changer, here’s what you need to do next.  

#1. Conduct a needs assessment to determine what features matter most

To find an AI intranet that meets all your organizational needs, start with a needs assessment. Consult with stakeholders at all levels to find out which intranet and AI features they’d like to see. Then, put features in order of priority before you go vendor shopping.

#2. Partner with a tech vendor specializing in AI-powered intranets

There are lots of tech vendors out there — but not all of them specialize in AI-powered intranets. Work with an AI intranet specialist and your partner can guide you seamlessly through the intranet upgrade process. You can also count on platform reliability, time and cost efficiency, and access to the most advanced AI features. Check out our recommendations of top intranet software providers here.

#3. Prioritize mobile-first design to align with employee expectations

Like the rest of your modern employee intranet, any AI tools should be available to all employees across all devices. Employees — from your office-based knowledge workers to your remote workers and frontline workers in the field — should get the same great intranet experience. So prioritize user-friendly, mobile-first intranet software that meets employees’ high expectations.

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#4. Roll out AI capabilities in phases to avoid overwhelming users

When rolling out any new intranet feature, it’s best to do so in stages, getting employees used to one new feature at a time. This reduces staff overwhelm and helps you sustain intranet engagement. A phased approach also takes the pressure off your IT team, who are less likely to be swamped with training and support requests.

Incorporate AI and take your employee intranet to the next level

Let’s face it: AI isn’t just the future — it’s here. And it’s reshaping the company intranet into something your workforce will actually want to use. With the help of AI, organizations are enhancing the digital employee experience, boosting workplace productivity, and fostering corporate culture — ultimately improving outcomes across the entire company.

The question is: Are you ready to make the leap?

By making the shift to a modern intranet solution now and preparing your platform, employees, and organization for the future, you can stay ahead of the curve — and start to reap AI’s benefits sooner rather than later.

Blink. And discover how an AI-powered intranet can reimagine your organization.

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What makes her awesome?

Carla has been with Elara Caring since 2022 as an Attendant Coordinator at the Mount Vernon branch in Texas.

Carla is a wonderful frontline champion at Elara Caring. She is the first to step up to help or train others. Her ability to teach and lead is amazing — CTs and all PCs reach out to her due to her kindness and understanding and compassion. She is a wonderful person and has taken the time to help me and lead me when there was none other.

Carla sacrifices what she wants for others and it's a blessing. People call her from other offices and states for help because they know how valuable she is to this company. Her determination and leadership is what this world needs more of. She doesn’t just do a great job — she touches lives in every way and work and in the client's home.

I have watched her over 6 months of being at this company and thought, “Wow, we have a jewel!” She deserves to be recognized for her greatness and champion spirit. Elara Caring is better each day due to the fact we have a champion on staff — Carla Brewer is a great person, a great employee, and a treasure to this world.

How has Blink helped in her role?

Carla is a master at Blink and often helps with training. She uses it to talk with the attendants and takes the time to go slow so all learn how to use it.

What does she want to do next?

I believe that Carla wants an environment where all feel valuable and like they have a place. She uses her life to bring light to stressful places and I believe she will only soar in this next level in her life and this company.

Nominated by: Sissi Watts, Attendant Coordinator

Remember when the humble pager was the cutting edge of healthcare tech?

Well, things have moved on… Healthcare systems worldwide are embracing new technology like never before.

This is — in part — due to the challenges facing the healthcare sector. An ageing population with complex healthcare needs. A shortage of healthcare staff. And patients who expect the same ease, convenience, and digital access they enjoy when completing other life admin tasks.

Technology is one of the only ways to do more with less. It’s a way to improve patient care and reduce recruitment challenges. It’s also a way to reduce costs. According to McKinsey, health systems that invest in digital and analytics capabilities now could cut costs by $200 billion to $360 billion.

So, where are things up to in 2025? Today, nearly 90% of health system executives say that digital and AI transformation is a high or top priority for their organization. And many facilities are already seeing benefits from the digitization of healthcare.

Want to join them? Let’s get you up to speed with what the digital transformation of healthcare looks like and how to get your next digital project off the ground.

What is digital transformation for healthcare?

Digital transformation for healthcare means using technology — like AI, cloud computing, and data analytics — to improve patient care and streamline processes.

In your healthcare organization, that might look like any of the following:

• Using telemedicine to see more patients and triage for in-person care
• Using electronic health records (EHR) to share patient information and provide joined-up care across departments
• Using wearables to monitor patients remotely, in real-time — providing “hospital at home” care or supporting patients with chronic conditions
• Using AI technology to complete routine admin tasks
• Using data analytics and AI to spot health trends and make early diagnoses
• Using robotic systems to improve surgical precision
• Using employee apps and intranet platforms to improve communication among healthcare staff  

The benefits of digital transformation for healthcare

Digital transformation can help you create the kind of organization that keeps pace with the pressures facing the healthcare industry in 2025.

Yes, it takes effort — new systems, new ways of working, the odd bump in the road. But the payoff is huge. Here’s what you can expect:

Better patient care

Digitizing processes keeps services consistent, cuts clinical errors, and improves documentation. It also supports healthcare providers to deliver personalized care plans, predict potential health risks, and tailor treatments to each patient. The result? Improved patient safety and better clinical outcomes.

Easy access to key services

Digital transformation for healthcare means patients often get to see a healthcare provider sooner. People who would struggle to make it to an in-person appointment can speak to a physician over a phone or video call. Patients can also view medical records and test results straight from their smartphones. This helps them take a more active role in their healthcare, which means better adherence to treatment plans.

More connected teams

Getting information to busy frontline workers isn’t easy. But with tech tools, you can establish communication channels for essential updates, knowledge sharing, and even co-worker camaraderie. Healthcare communication becomes more effective, and employees feel more supported — by the organization and each other.  

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Data-driven decision making

When you use digital systems, you collect and store a huge amount of data. You can use this data to fine-tune your own systems and processes. You can also use it to make data-driven decisions about patient care.

Streamlined admin

Coordinating work schedules, scheduling appointments, transcribing patient notes. When you use AI and automation for admin tasks, you reduce the workload of your frontline staff and give them more time to spend with patients.

Productivity and collaboration

Electronic health records (EHRs) enable teams and departments across your organization — and others — to securely access patient information. This means less duplication of work and a joined-up approach to patient care.

Better employee engagement

Closing the digital gap in healthcare makes frontline work less frustrating and more efficient. With frontline-friendly tools, employees can access critical information and contribute to decision-making processes. This spells higher rates of healthcare employee engagement, which — in turn — leads to better productivity, less time off sick, and better healthcare staff retention.

Reduced costs

By making healthcare more efficient, improving patient outcomes, and reducing employee churn, healthcare organizations can reduce their costs. According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), eliminating inefficiencies in healthcare systems would save $1 trillion in the United States alone every year.

Challenges of digital transformation for healthcare (and how to overcome them)

Healthcare hasn’t been first in line when it comes to digital transformation. Legacy systems and paper processes are still a frustrating feature of life on the healthcare frontlines. So what’s standing in the way? The following key obstacles are often to blame:

• Too many tools. Nearly 79% of NHS doctors say that the number of different systems in use is a significant barrier to the digitization of healthcare.
• Data security worries. Patient privacy is non-negotiable. If staff and patients don’t trust the tech, they won’t use it.
• Skill gaps. Not everyone has the tech knowledge they need to pick up new systems.
• Resistance to change. When there’s barely a spare second in the day, the last thing healthcare providers need is another new process to master.  

The good news? Healthcare organizations across the globe are successfully overcoming these challenges. Here are some ideas for how to follow suit.

Provide staff training

The best technology is easy and intuitive to use. But you can’t just throw a manual at people and hope for the best. Instead, deliver bite-sized training sessions and hands-on demos. Assign digital ambassadors within your organization — people who can lead the way and offer advice on new tech tools. When staff feel confident about digital processes, they’re much more likely to embrace them.

Choose interoperable systems

If systems don’t talk to each other, your teams spend a heap of time hopping between them. That means duplicated work, multiple sets of login details, and confusion about what lives where. Centralized hubs and single sign-on solutions keep everything in one place, with integrations ensuring that information passes seamlessly across all the digital tools you use.

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Be transparent about system security

HIPAA-compliant security measures, multi-factor authentication, and clear data policies keep sensitive information secure. You can share details of these security measures with staff and patients to reassure them that you have solid safeguards in place.

Communicate the “why”

Both staff and patients are resistant to change when they don’t see the point of it. Craft change communications that explain why new tools matter, what benefits they’ll bring, and how they make life easier for everyone. When there’s a clear and consistent narrative, you’re more likely to get the buy-in of end users.

How to build a digital transformation strategy for your healthcare organization

No two healthcare organizations look the same. Different teams, different patients, different pressures. So every digital transformation strategy looks a little different, too.

That being said, there are some core pillars you can put in place to give yourself the best chance of success. Here’s where to start:

1. Get everyone on the same page

Before you dive into new shiny tools, take stock. Where are you, digitally, right now? Where do you want to be in one, three, or five years? Set clear objectives and agree on organization-wide priorities by talking to all stakeholders — from your senior leadership team to your doctors, your nurses, your admin staff, and your patients.

2. Dive into the specifics

Time to ask the hard questions. Where are your processes failing patients or slowing down staff? Is it paper-based scheduling? Clunky EHR systems? A disconnected workforce? The more precise you are about your barriers — whether they’re technical, process-driven, or cultural — the better your digital solutions will be.

3. Build a budget

While the digitization of healthcare is cost-effective in the long run, it doesn’t come cheap. And it doesn’t tend to happen all at once. So build your budget in stages. Allocate or secure funds for each phase, build in a buffer, and plan for training and support — not just tech spend. Too many strategies fail because organizations invest in tools, but not in the people who use them.

4. Craft a roadmap

Put your challenges, objectives, and budget into a roadmap. Outline what is being implemented and who will take responsibility for each part of the process. Break your transformation down into key actions, metrics, and milestones to keep your initiative on track.

5. Find the right tools

Using your roadmap as guidance, you can start looking for digital technologies. Test tools before you invest. Look for partners who are with you for the long haul. Seek out tools that integrate with the other workplace software you currently use. And think long term — will this solution still fit your needs years from now?

6. Plan your implementation

You’ve chosen your digital solution. Now it’s time for the launch. Without a plan, even the best tools can flop. So start with a pilot group to iron out any issues before you roll out to the rest of the organization. Map out training sessions and your communications campaign. And don’t forget to set up support — whether that’s a help desk, digital ambassadors, or user-friendly how-to guides.  

7. Collect feedback

Every phase of your digital transformation strategy is a chance to learn something new. So ask all stakeholders what they thought of the process and what they think of the end product. Using this feedback — and data on tech tool usage — you can tweak your solutions to better meet end-user needs. You can also develop better strategies for your next digital initiative.

Read more: How to build a digital transformation roadmap.

An example of digital transformation in healthcare: the NHS 10 Year Health Plan

The NHS is a huge healthcare organization with big plans for digital transformation. In the organization’s own words:

“We’re using technology to help health and care professionals communicate better and enable people to access the care they need quickly and easily, when it suits them.”

A roadmap for digital transformation in healthcare is laid out in the NHS’s 10 Year Health Plan for England. This is a great resource if you’re looking for inspiration for your own digital initiatives. Why not take a look?

Happier teams and healthier patients? It all starts with digital solutions

Digital solutions are transforming the way healthcare is delivered. They’re helping organizations to reduce admin, connect employees, and deliver better patient care.

As we’ve seen, digital transformation for healthcare isn’t without its challenges. You need rock-solid security, interoperable systems, and the buy-in of patients and healthcare staff to achieve digital success.

But in 2025, finding ways to overcome these obstacles is vital. Digital transformation is here to stay. AI is taking us in new directions. And healthcare systems need to make use of these tools if they’re to thrive under increasing pressure.

Blink. And explore digital solutions for your healthcare organization.

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Effective communication is the glue that holds all your employees together. It unites everyone, from the top management to the frontline and remote workers, towards a shared set of organizational goals and values.

Yet a recent study paints a grave picture of most working environments. 80% of professionals rate their business’ communication as poor or average.

And when kept unchecked, ineffective communication often leads to a snowball effect of disengagement and confusion. 

It doesn’t have to be this way. Implementing effective organizational communication strategies is the key to unlocking smooth coordination among your employees. And in this post, we’ll take a look at what those strategies are.

A successful organizational communication strategy is not just about sending out company updates or newsletters. The true goal is to build a culture of trust and foster open communication in the workplace. When your frontline workers feel heard and connected to leadership, your entire business thrives.

Building a robust organizational communication plan can feel overwhelming if you are starting from scratch. Before you outline your goals and channels, it is incredibly helpful to review real-world internal communication strategy examples to see how top organizations keep their frontline teams aligned and engaged.

Why is organizational communication important?

In a recent report called "Internal Communication in the Eyes of C-Suite Leaders", it was found that C-suite executives recognized the vital role internal communication plays in improving their bottom lines and driving business results. And rightly so.

Workers need to interact and exchange information and documents with one another frequently. Plus, they want the top management to listen to their concerns, suggestions, and feedback.

The same goes for senior leaders in the company. They want to make sure that internal marketing campaigns, critical company announcements, news about employee benefits, and other important messages are reaching each and every member of the workforce.

By fulfilling these needs for both parties, a good corporate communication strategy solidifies the bond among the workers and facilitates the sharing of information. The result? A big boost in employee engagement and productivity.

Now the question is, how can you level up your company’s communication? By following the most effective organizational communication strategies.

What are the best organizational communication strategies?

Without further ado, here are our best organizational communication strategies to help resolve workplace conflicts and facilitate a smooth exchange of information across your company.

1. Create a corporate communication plan

Failing to plan is planning to fail. If you don’t have an internal communication plan in place, drop everything else and build one first. Without a plan, you won’t have a clear roadmap to implement effective communication in your business.

A great communication strategy will help you answer vital questions like:

• How to make your messages more relevant and engaging?
• Which communications channels should you be using?
• How can you ensure the right content reaches the workers at the right time?
• What roles will your C-level executives play in workplace communication?
• How will you encourage employees to engage in two-way conversations?

The planning process starts with having a clear understanding of your communication goals and audience. And then conducting an audit of the current communication campaigns and channels you have in place.

This is followed by determining your communication schedule and channels for the next six or 12 months. To learn more, check out our in-depth guide on building an internal communication strategy.

2. Encourage one-to-one conversations

Not every concern can be appropriately discussed in a group setting. For example, you may want to address a personal grievance or performance issue. And in such cases, it’s much better to initiate a private chat.

A one-on-one meeting gives you the chance to read the worker’s body language, know their communication style, and get visual cues on how to proceed with the interaction.

Even when you don’t have a specific issue to discuss, setting aside one-to-one time with your employees on a regular basis is essential. Because it helps you understand and bond with them more effectively. So make sure to add this company communication strategy to your arsenal.

3. Sprinkle a little humor

Workplace communication is usually a serious endeavor. You often convey information that’s intense. Whether you’re discussing a problem or setting goals, laughing and cracking jokes may seem out of place.

But a series of serious interactions can put workers in a negative mindset. And it affects how they interpret and draw conclusions from the information shared with them. When a meeting gets too heated, people want to leave as soon as possible, which hinders the flow of information. 

Although it’s not always possible to avoid a stressful conversation, levity can help you a lot in pushing your company’s communication strategy forward. Lightening the mood is an important skill that helps you defuse tense situations and relax everyone involved in the communication.

So the next time you’re communicating something to your employees, try to make them laugh.

Also, if you’re worried that your jokes won’t be any good, then you’re focusing on the wrong thing. It’s not so much about making clever remarks as about trying to make people feel relaxed and comfortable. In fact, research shows that people welcome any kind of levity as long as it’s not offensive or hurtful.

4. Nurture two-way communication

Effective communication is supposed to be a two-way street. An organization cannot reach its full collaboration potential if information flows only in one direction — from top management to the rest of the workers.

If employees can’t ask questions or discuss the information conveyed, then you aren’t communicating. You’re commanding. You’re giving orders and expecting workers to follow them.  

Of course, some directives are absolute and non-negotiable. But you can’t rely on this approach all the time when working with today’s skilled, talented professionals who thrive in an environment of autonomy.

Instead, the right company communication strategy is to invest in creating a receptive space where workers can put forth their concerns, share suggestions, and feel heard. And make sure those inputs are acted on. Not brushed under the carpet.

Listening to feedback doesn’t just help your employees feel valued. It also helps you clarify your message. You may think your communication is crystal clear but still miss some aspects critical to help others understand the information. Two-way communication can fill those gaps.

Facilitating two-way communication in your organization is easier than you think. For example, Blink is a corporate communication app that comes with a social-media-style news feed visible to all employees.

Anyone in the company can post an update, on which others can like and comment. This helps the most relevant stories rise to the top. Plus, the admins can choose to amplify selected updates even further. 

5. Bring consistency in your communication

All your communication, whether written or verbal, and whether internal or external, should have the essence of your company’s brand and workplace culture.

Plus, it should have a unique, consistent voice that reduces any chance of ambiguity and unifies your workforce. Such a voice also helps you communicate in the right spirit, not to mention avoid conflicts and misunderstandings.

But the more people participate and contribute to your organization’s communication, especially from different locations and time zones, the harder it gets to keep the voice consistent.

So what you need is a set of shared guidelines, formats, and best practices that everyone can refer to when creating content. And you can prepare the same in the form of a communication style guide.

Once you’ve clearly laid out your communication guidelines, make sure to train your communication department, as well as other contributors, on how to put the instructions into practice for subsequent messages.

6. Make use of visual aids

Different people have different learning styles. Some are comfortable reading pages after pages of text, some want to listen on the go, while others need something to view, like a video.

Regardless, almost everyone gets enticed by imagery. Presentations and infographics help people wrap their heads around the given information. So using colorful posters, charts, and graphs to distill complicated ideas is one of the best ways to make your message clear and memorable.

There are many ways to use visual aids for workplace communication. For example, if you find yourself repeating certain messages to your staff, or answering the same questions again and again, you can save time and effort with a visual aid to share the corresponding content.  

Is someone in your ear every 10 minutes with questions about holidays? Design a holiday calendar workers can check on their own. Bombarded with requests about printer passwords? Print them in large letters and stick them near the machine.

You don’t need to be a master designer to do this. Tools like Canva, Piktochart, and Venngage come with drag-and-drop functionality and hundreds of ready-made templates designed by professionals. So all you need to do is pick a template and replace its contents with yours. 

7. Train your staff on effective communication

We have spent a good chunk of our lives communicating with others, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re good at it.

For example, many employees have such a logical, fact-based communication style that they often forget to take others’ emotions into account. Others often get carried away by feelings and miss key details. And the gaps in communication lead to conflict, ambiguity, and workplace politics.

So in any organization, effective communication should be proactively taught and encouraged. And it should be a vital part of the training programs you have in place for workers.

Great communication training helps teach your employees how to keep their emotions in check and present their ideas clearly and comprehensively.

8. Conduct more open sessions

Meetings are seen as a dull affair, especially when just one or two people are doing most of the talking. You’ve probably sat through many where you were just expected to attend and listen.

But that doesn’t mean all meetings are bad. A meeting is just a tool. And like any other tool, you can handle it effectively or poorly.

So every once in a while, you should conduct an open session with all the workers in your company or in specific departments. This meeting will have a set agenda, and every employee will be encouraged to speak up and talk about their work, their experiences, and any concerns or suggestions.

Scheduling such open sessions regularly will not just improve communication, but also help you get a pulse of different teams and your overall culture.

9. Leverage the right tools and technology

Remote work, dispersed teams, smartphones, and other advancements are shaping the new reality of work. But in many organizations, the communication systems and processes haven’t caught up to this change.

The good news is modern technology and employee engagement tools have made it easier than ever to streamline internal communication and include every employee in the process, from hiring to global HR services.

Frontline workers, for example, have largely been excluded from communication channels available to desk-based employees, such as email and instant messaging. With the rise of smartphones and mobile apps though, it is now possible to make them a crucial part of your ongoing communication.

With Blink, for example, workers can easily share documents, engage in live chat with one another, and resolve problems fast.

So it’s time for you to see if the technology you have in place is really enough to get the job done. If not, invest in the right tools to take your communication to the next level.

10. Cultivate the habit of active listening

No doubt, writing and talking clearly are crucial for proper communication, but managers and other employees should also know how to listen.

Poor listening undermines communication and defeats the purpose of effective collaboration. Without the right listening skills, messages are more likely to be misunderstood.

Now, you may think you listen, but good listening is more than identifying others’ words. As Stephen Covey says, “Most of us listen with the intent to respond, not to understand.”

So, cultivate a habit of listening among yourself and your employees. Encourage everyone to practice active listening methods. And teach your staff to reflect, summarize, and ask clarifying questions when listening to a customer or coworker.

When employees and customers feel heard and understood, they’re more likely to keep working with you and have a positive image of your brand.

How can you improve organizational communication in the workplace?

Follow these tips to help achieve effective communication in the workplace:

1. Use the right tools. Having the right tools to communicate, that everyone can access, and use is vital. Review your tech stack and make improvements where needed.
2. Get feedback. Employee surveys can help shed light on your current communication methods and where you can make improvements.
3. Use different communication formats. Images, emails, videos, the list goes on. Use different formats for the different types of communications you need to deliver.
4. Distribute through the right channels. What's the best way to deliver the message? Email, instant message, intranet, app notifcation? Make sure you pick the right channel.
5. Focus on employee engagement strategies. An engaged workforce is open to communication and sharing their voice.
6. Measure the outcomes. Keep a close eye on your metrics. How many people are reading your emails and communications? Is it enough or do you need to improve?

Wrapping up: effective organizational communication strategies

As you can see, good communication doesn’t happen by accident. You need to make sure that your messages successfully reach the intended audience, are interpreted clearly, and are understood empathetically.

It takes effort from both you and your staff. So the more confidently you apply the organizational communication strategies we have outlined in this guide, the more your team would also integrate them into their actions. So take time to develop and execute these concepts diligently to build a collaborative and efficient workplace.

And remember, using a communication solution like Blink can reduce your communication effort while increasing the penetration of your messages, even with a largely remote or dispersed workforce. Book a free demo today.