Interact customers win in three categories at this year’s Ragan Employee Communications Awards

One of the world’s leading foreign exchange and international payments provider, Travelex, and Avon & Somerset Constabulary have won three awards between them at the 2017 Ragan Employee Communication Awards. This is the sixth consecutive year that Interact customers have been honored.

Travelex won in two categories: ‘Best Social Intranet’ and ‘Best Blog’. Avon & Somerset Constabulary won ‘Best Value to Employees’ for their intranet, a category that also saw Interact customer The NBS – part of the Royal Institution of British Architects – named runner-up.

It’s the way Travelex has used social features – particularly in nurturing their internal blogging culture – that has won the organization the accolades. A large, highly dispersed retail workforce in small teams or even as solo workers made for a disconnected global community where colleague interaction was challenging. By giving every employee the ability to post freely about a range of topics and their own personal opinions, it’s provided them the opportunity to build the highly active global community they have today – one where content varies from posts and updates from senior leadership to personal stories from all levels within the business.

Tricia Scott, Global Intranet Manager at Travelex says: “We’re delighted to have been recognized by Ragan. Our intranet – The Lounge – has given our colleagues the means to broaden their relationships at work by connecting our people all around the world. Today they can discuss and relate to their co-workers in similar roles on different continents. It’s something that’s now giving rise to more sophisticated use of the platform, where our people are utilizing it to help problem-solve and innovate to fix genuine customer issues based on the experiences they share with the community.”

Avon & Somerset Constabulary have succeeded in making their intranet, named Pocketbook, the primary resource for information for their 5,000 frontline officers and 3,000 support staff, many of whom access the information strictly via their smartphones. Intelligence they are accessing includes information on missing persons and advice on how to handle suspects from other officers who have dealt with them before.

Speaking about their award for Best Value to Employees, Scott Fulton, Head of Strategic Digital Services at Avon & Somerset Constabulary comments: “We’re very proud to have received this award from Ragan. We worked hard to deliver an intranet that was built around the needs of its users – our police officers and police staff – who operate in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment.  Having that work recognized externally on such a global scale, against some big name organizations is humbling.”

Commenting on its sixth consecutive win, Interact CEO Simon Dance says: “We’re delighted to see our customers receiving recognition from Ragan. Travelex and Avon & Somerset Constabulary are both fantastic examples of how intranets serve a much bigger purpose than many people think. In both organizations, their intranets have been central to significant organizational transformation in the way their employees operate day-to-day.”

Past winners of Ragan Awards include Interact customers Make-A-Wish, William Grant, Dollar Finance, The Mediterranean Shipping Company and Sport England.