How to prove your internal communications ROI

It’s one of the most pressing questions communicators face.

Extreme Networks provides end-to-end software-driven networking solutions from the data center to the desktop. They acquired three companies in two years, nearly tripling the number of employees. As their organization grew, they found they needed a more efficient way to run sales enablement and get materials and communications to their growing team of reps and partners.

Extreme Networks took these three steps to meet their objectives and also proved their internal communications return on investment (ROI) at the same time.

1. Goodbye email newsletters, hello branded app

Extreme Networks knew they had an email problem. They had low open rates and engagement, which meant nobody was reading their emails. However, with three major acquisitions and now over 3,000 employees, it was critical for employees to understand how they might be affected by the changes.

Firstup and Extreme Networks launched E360, the company’s branded mobile app, to streamline communications, increase employee engagement, and reach every employee—even their new globally distributed workers.

2. Video as an engagement tool

Ed Meyercord, Extreme Networks’ CEO, needed to reassure all employees during the transitions, that even as the enterprise grew, they would maintain a small company feel and would stay true to their culture and values.

Using E360’s video capabilities, Ed shot a series of executive videos welcoming new employees to the organization. He used his phone to shoot unscripted and unedited “selfie” videos which he then pushed live from his phone to E360.

Employees were blown away by the videos. Their CEO seemed less like a hard-to-reach executive and more like a person who genuinely cared about the company and its people. Also, the videos were easy to create and cost-effective. Ed didn’t need to use extra marketing budget or a full crew. And, the videos had engagement and views that his emails never did.

3. Enabling a global sales team

Extreme Networks now had a growing and distributed sales team. Dan Dulac needed a way to keep their sales teams and resellers up-to-date with the latest product information, best practices, positioning, sales decks, training, and more.

Extreme Networks launched E360 to their sales team at their Sales Kickoff Conference with great success. The branded app quickly became integral to all sellers as the one-stop shop to access everything the team needed to succeed in real time.

And by measuring content performance, Dan found that the top salespeople were also the most engaged on E360. There was a direct correlation between accessing valuable information and resources and employee engagement, productivity, and increased sales.

Dan shared his insights of their internal communications ROI with his entire team and leadership. With the results from E360, the organization then launched more apps: a new sales training app and two external apps for customers and partners.

Learn how effective internal communications improves employee engagement and increases revenues.