British technology company Unily has today announced a winning bid to provide a major new digital workplace platform for British Airways.
A full-scale re-build of British Airways’ existing intranet, which will transform the way the business communicates with its employees, will provide access to one single channel of digital communications and connect 44,000 employees across the globe. This comes as the UK’s biggest airline celebrates its centenary in which the airline is investing £6.7bn for customers over five years, including new aircraft, new cabins, new catering, new lounges, WiFi, and new routes.
Due to launch to British Airways staff this summer, ‘ONE’ is a mobile first, one-stop shop capable of managing all staff to staff communications in one user-friendly digital platform. Employees from all corners of the globe will be able to connect, engage and share ideas via social media-style ‘chats’; personalised features and news; as well as get access real time company information such as share prices and news feeds and their own TV channel.
Digital workplace platforms are the ‘next generation’ of intranet-based communication tools and Unily is one of the leading players in the sector. Formed in 2005, the company is one of Britain’s fastest growing independent tech businesses developing digital workplace platforms for mega global brands from the likes of McDonalds, Hershey Chocolate and L’Oréal. It currently employs 120 people across the UK, America, Australia and the Middle East.
Over recent years Unily has seen its revenue grow sustainably, this year they are now predicted to hit revenues over £20m. Currently approximately 60% of its revenue comes from the US which indicates Unily’s attractiveness as a product with global appeal.
Paul Jackson, UK MD Unily said, “British Airways is one of the most important players in global aviation and we are very excited to be involved with taking their internal communications forward with this digital platform designed to connect its employees wherever they are in the world. It’s exciting to see such joined up thinking coming to fruition.”
Drew McMillan, director of colleague communication and engagement at British Airways said, “British Airways is committed to a multi-billion investment programme, focussed on improving the experience for our customers at every stage of their journey.
“By providing this new, mobile Unily intranet solution to our 44,000 colleagues, we are helping them to connect and communicate more effectively, which ultimately means a more consistent, high quality service delivered to our valued customers.”
Unily platforms operate on a personal and individual level, where team members can host personal and professional interactions through email, video and other internet or social media interactions but the platform can also be used as a tool for group, company-wide communications. Consequently this aids relationships between people whether they’re in the next room or the next country or continent. The platform is digitally enabled.
This hidden potential to unlock peer to peer communication is most prized by Unily’s clients and its benefits go beyond its basic software functionality. Users report that they feel increased trust in a company’s brand as they can see exactly what’s going on 24/7 and more connected.
The businesses that use it also report that this transparency means that employees feel that a company’s ‘ethical code’ is revealed by the way it communicates and that, typically, helps retain and motivate its staff. Unily allocates a CSM (Customer Success Manager) to every client to ensure that the client maximises adoption of the features and tools
In April 2018 Unily launched Unily Success, a success portal for all clients to exchange ideas and best practice. Unique to the market, the portal now hosts users from more than 150 global businesses.
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