AGCL Intranet – a dynamic and comprehensive employee relationship portal designed by BlueApple Technologies

BlueApple Technologies have left the competition behind to re-define and achieve newer heights with AGCL Talkies. A paradigm shift from the traditional intranets, BlueApple Technologies have provided a uniquely designed employee relationship portal which gained seed on 02nd January, 2002. The ambitious idea sprung into existence as http://www.agcltalkies.com/, and has created wonders in terms of reaching out to the target audience – the AGCL employees.

Since the advent of the Intranet, which was solely created as an entertainment and information archiving portal for most corporate firms, it has gone through tremendous technological and radical advancements. Any corporate worth its mighty dollar in the market, has had their own intranet community platforms to promote and address employee loyalties. However, not all of them have tasted the fruits of success. Intranet, as commonly understood, is a platform which offers employers the freedom to experiment. Intranet can be utilized in diversified ways, as rightly understood by BlueApple. Based on extensive research and study on behavioral patterns of telecom workers, this technology development firm, designed a portal, which over the years, has been used as a single point of contact and union for all numerous processes and offices of AGCL, across the Pan Asiatic region. The effectiveness of an intranet can be best quantified by the penetration percentage of the employees. However, even with a penetration rate of almost 95%, BlueApple hasn’t rested on the laurels of this nothing short of phenomenal success. Avaya Global Communication Limited’s intranet success story is a fine example of the utilitarian and effective nature of an ERP (employee relationship portal) and the wide extent of its reach to the internal customers.

In the past, Intranets’ have suffered major setbacks and the reasons have been numerous. While some Intranets may have suffered critical design issues, others may have had to recuperate from the lack of poor penetration tactics. Although intranets are well-established environments, yet many companies have complained that their intranets have been under utilized. One of the most important reasons for low end usability, of the Intranet, has been the lack of user acceptance. Another key reason is complexity of the Intranet system followed by visual interface and content mapping. The Avaya Global intranet has been different, since it has achieved success in garnering immense user support and has steadily built internal customer loyalty.

The idea to have and own an information and communication platform for exchange of ideas, views and to improvise on the existing information flow and to put the employees in control, was the single most important driving factor in the creation of AGCL talkies. The single line brief given to BlueApple was – to design a portal to cater to the needs of the internal client. And BlueApple understood this brief clearly; it is not just about the design, the content and the functionality, it is about the people. Innovative development methodologies and strategies have been devised in sync with the wants and requirements of the AGCL employees. The initial phase saw the intranet as an entertainment portal for the work-taxed minds and in the next few years, it grew by leaps and bounds to reach out to the employees and has managed to retain their interest. The AGCL intranet has become dynamic in nature not just in terms of content and design but also in terms of usability. The primary rule has been – continuous evolution and up-gradation. Today the portal has gained not just more visibility but has grown in size and is equipped with all the possible information and ideas employees can think of or need. The Intranet boasts of HR initiatives, Induction policies, 360 degree Appraisals, Messages by the CEO – Mr. Niru Mehta, Entertainment sections which are regularly updated. Recently as part of BlueApple’s endeavors to provide a unique experience to the AGCL employees, a complete section on World Cup Football was added including a Contest. This contest has been a raving success.
Another leap in technology and innovation is the customer studio, which has opened an entirely new world of opportunity and business operations through the intranet. It is still in its nascent stage and will undergo the process of evolution as Avaya Talkies grows in bounds. Innovative initiative such as Tambola on the Intranet has witnessed new heights in popularity. To relax the tired minds, employees can participate in photography competitions, provide their feedbacks, make birthday wishes, and play games to win prizes. HR initiatives such as Ethics Counselor, Appraisal Status, raise relevant issues and much more, and that sums up as Total Involvement!

AGCL Talkies has become an exclusive hub for the AGCL employees where, not only do they get to seek knowledge but also have the means to use it to contribute their vital inputs relating to organizational or process changes.

It is a known fact that the employee psyche says, “I want to be involved and I want to be appreciated” This is exactly the key idea that BlueApple has labored with, to create a wonderful Intranet system which despite definite boundaries has provided infinite solutions. The dynamism of the Intranet has got the AGCLites hooked on to it for their daily dose of news, views and other entertaining tit-bits. It’s like waiting for the morning newspaper to know what’s new.

Responsible for maintaining and updating the information, BlueApple have made remarkably visible changes throughout their relationship with AGCL. Give a thought to the fact that from just a handful of verticals in 2002, now AGCL talkies reigns supreme with 12 verticals across 43 offices worldwide and has been seen, read and responded to by over 90% of the staff. That’s what the Intranet was intended to do – reach out and achieve a loyal user base.

The road ahead maybe smooth and the strategies clear, but BlueApple will continue to take onus and initiative to push for more! With the huge success of the AGCL Intranet, the first and foremost barrier of capturing the attention of employees and increasing usability has been taken care of. From here it will be smooth sailing to the next milestone.