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We have all come across LANIT projects more than once. This is a mobile application “Europrotocol online” for registering an accident without calling the traffic police or a unified GIS housing and communal services system that allows you to keep track of all utility bills in a single window. The companies of the group were engaged in the technical equipment of the Luzhniki and Spartak stadiums, as well as the multimedia complex in the Zaryadye park. During the pandemic, LANIT specialists were responsible for implementing a telemedicine service to combat COVID-19.
More than 14 employees work on the implementation of large-scale projects. Many are remote or hybrid. This makes it increasingly difficult to maintain a corporate culture, and internal communications specialists become more inventive. Formats at the intersection of offline and online will become one of the key tools for engagement in the future and an integral part of the employee well-being strategy, the company believes.
Era phygital
LANIT is confident that corporate communications in large companies are now going through an interesting stage – they are entering the phygital era. The term was originally used in marketing to describe the combination of digital and physical experiences a user has. Example: if you use a digital kiosk to get a service or try on sneakers in an app using augmented reality, then you are already there, in Figital.
“In interaction with employees, we are more likely to catch up with this marketing trend,” says Alexandra Shults, Head of the HR Brand and SMM Development Center at LANIT. – The pandemic and the self-isolation that followed it very quickly brought many formats of communication out of the experimental zone into the zone of urgent need. We found ourselves in completely new circumstances and began to try things that we would not have dared to do before.”
Gathering everyone to an offline event during an epidemic was dangerous. In addition, it is difficult to imagine a holiday or a sports tournament for 14 people from different cities. As a result, at one moment it became impossible to engage in the formation of a single corporate culture only offline. The main advantage of the figital is precisely this – the one-time coverage of a larger audience.
“During the pandemic, many employees missed the events in the office, while someone, on the contrary, admired remote work and emphasized how it changed the quality of their life for the better,” continues Alexandra Schultz. “In the end, we found a compromise at the junction of these two formats – in hybrid communications that form our new reality.”
radiocorporate
With the new approach, corporate culture is less about the physical location of employees and more dependent on the level of involvement of employees and their sharing of common values.
For example, about three thousand people listened to a radio corporate party on the occasion of the company’s birthday, and two thousand messages were sent to the general chat that day.
“We really wanted to find an original format for an online event in which the maximum number of employees could participate. We equipped a radio studio in the office, invited professional presenters, thought out the broadcast scenario, – recalls Alexandra Shults. – Guests came to the studio – top managers, employees who have worked in the company for more than 10-15 years. We interviewed them, and during the breaks we arranged prize draws for the listeners, called the birthday people. It was very nice to hear the voices of colleagues from the cities farthest from Moscow in the live broadcast.”
Interactive New Year for kids
Following the corporate party for employees, the children’s New Year tree has also been transformed. This is where live streaming comes in handy.
On the eve of the holidays, the children of employees connected to watching performances from home gadgets at a certain time. Two New Year’s performances were organized: for children from three to six years old and from seven to ten. Even younger children watched the broadcast in the company of their parents.
At the same time, small viewers could interact both with the characters and with each other: write in chat, answer quiz questions and even dance in a virtual disco.
“Children already have other idols – for example, the main characters of our shows were not Santa Claus and the Snow Maiden, but social networks and characters from computer games “revived” in a fairy tale,” the speaker continues.
Cyberchampionship
Esports and IT are inextricably linked with each other. There are a lot of players in LANIT, and the company supports their interest.
“We were surprised to discover this new facet of our corporate DNA. Organizing competitions in the most popular disciplines (CS:GO, Dota 2, World Of Tanks and FIFA), we did not expect such a big response. It was as if we pressed a button and everything started to spin. I think that all IT professionals have a passion for computer games at the genetic level, ”says Alexandra Shultz.
First, there were competitions among employees and eSports competitions with partner companies. The next step – LANIT became the organizer of the first corporate cyber tournament “Banks vs. IT” – seven companies from each side.
“The tournament lasted three months, which once again confirmed the interest of the players. Unfortunately, our team did not reach the final. However, the championship was won by the team of one of the largest telecommunications companies, so the leadership in eSports still remained with the representatives of the IT sector, continues Schulz. “For us, it was a very important experience, including organizing.”
In 2022, the company has already acted as the general partner of the International eSports Championship “Business Champions League”. Thanks to such support, the winners of the championship will receive valuable prizes: backpacks, keyboards and other gaming accessories from leading manufacturers of eSports peripherals.
LANIT Group President Philip Gens noted that the company plans to take esports tournaments to a higher level: the interest in this sport is colossal: “We want to continue to actively develop this area, as well as inspire and involve colleagues in the market. And the partnership with the League of Champions of Business is ideal for our goals and objectives – in particular, the project has a ready-made, intensively developing platform. I am sure that thanks to our combined efforts, eSports in Our Country will become even more powerful and larger.”
LANIT is already supporting corporate esports outside of big tournaments, competing with other companies in friendly derbies. So the LANIT team played with the players of the bank “Uralsib”, having won with a score of 4:1.
If a potential opponent wants to compete with LANIT in cybersport skills, then there are two ways. Firstly, this company can simply come to the “Business Champions League” and declare their desire to participate in the tournament. The second way is as follows: you can contact LANIT directly and hold a mini-championship in the format of a friendly derby.
Ready-made training, running and meditation programs in one application
Another tool that allows you to form an online community of interests is the LanitFit mobile sports app. The company launched it last year. LanitFit has ready-made training programs from professional trainers, morning exercises, functional training, as well as programs for running, yoga, breathing practices or meditation.
You can use the application to participate in marathons, group training. “We noticed that it is the competitive moment that spurs many people not to miss classes, morning runs, participate in challenges,” says Alexandra Schultz. “Together, our employees went around the Earth, reached the most eastern point of Our Country – Cape Dezhnev and returned back to Moscow, and on New Year’s Eve they visited the residences of Father Frost and Santa. It was a relay race, when each of the participants chose a certain section of the path. The distance he traveled was displayed on the app and counted as part of the overall route.”
Bot for professional communication
For informal communication and networking with colleagues, you can subscribe to Ferdinand’s chat bot in Telegram. It was launched in LANIT last year. The goal is to introduce as many employees of the company to each other as possible.
To do this, Ferdinand invites everyone to add their interests to the bot’s personal profile: describe their professional area of expertise and talk about hobbies. If there is no desire to share information about yourself, Ferdinand will select an interlocutor randomly.
The Telegram bot will offer a formed pair of interlocutors to drink coffee together – in one of the cafes on the territory of the office or meet online. After all, the interlocutor can live both in St. Petersburg and in Krasnoyarsk.
Speaker LANIT emphasizes that chance is Ferdinand’s main “trick”. “If you want to go to a meeting with a certain person, you will do it that way, and the bot helps you overcome yourself when you want to expand your network of contacts, but you are shy or just too lazy to do networking on your own,” she assures.
Two weeks are allotted for a meeting with the interlocutor, who was picked up by the bot. After 14 days, the program will offer a new acquaintance. But no one will prevent you from communicating further with those people who were found earlier.
Instead of a conclusion
The trend to entertain employees is becoming a thing of the past, and corporate communications as part of HR processes are “growing up”. In conditions of remote work and uncertainty, the creation of a comfortable psychological atmosphere comes to the fore. At the same time, in the new digital environment, hybrid interaction formats are becoming one of the key tools, helping companies to be on the same wavelength with their employees.