How IMImobile Improves Communications for a Diverse Global Workforce

The Company

IMImobile provides cloud communications software and services that deliver critical, two-way customer interactions at scale for large enterprises across different industries. With offices across the UK, US, Canada, India and South Africa, they were acquired by Cisco in February 2021.

“In the IMImobile world, each touchpoint is an opportunity to deliver rich, engaging, intuitive experiences where every interaction matters.”

– J Patel
CEO, IMImobile

The Challenge

IMImobile was growing fast, expanding from a few hundred employees to a thousand-strong global workforce distributed across four continents. With rapid growth came the challenges of managing employee communications in and among diverse international locations, each with its own local culture. In a technology company with rapid-paced operations, the complex mix of languages and cultures required a quick, easy way to identify and resolve workplace issues in all of its widespread, often multilingual offices.

“In today’s always-on digital world, IMIMobile needed to be able to ensure that its teams were able to work smoothly and efficiently across different offices in varied locations globally.”

IMImobile’s managers needed a way to pinpoint local concerns by allowing employees to report their observations in a safe, anonymous way that would protect each individual’s identity.

“We wanted to develop a high level of trust through a system for addressing employees’ questions that felt more secure than workplace surveys or talks with employee engagement managers.”

The Solution

IMImobile’s leaders welcomed Suggestion Ox’s assurance of privacy and security through its online system of anonymous suggestion boxes. Rolled out across the company, the system automatically restricts access for viewing questions and responses to individual employees or managers only. The easy, exclusive two-way conversations enable employees to provide information and evidence without revealing their identities, and to obtain fast, direct replies from managers and leaders.

“You know you’ll hear the truth, because your people know their identity is protected.”

Suggestion Ox also allows users to create different kinds of customized feedback forms for specific issues. The system provides an outlet for any team member in any of IMImobile’s global offices to reach out to a manager or even to the company CEO. It serves as a barometer for workforce pressures that otherwise might not come to the attention of a busy CEO.

“Employees who may be reluctant to reveal information on a typical survey form will be candid when they can speak anonymously.”

Employee questions and suggestions can reveal to a leader where communication has to be improved, and how to do so. For example, a manager of a multilingual office can prevent misunderstandings by ensuring that her team will consistently use a single, designated shared language for meetings and messages.

“When your offices range from Toronto to Hyderabad, the anonymous feedback channel is essential for achieving clarity in inter- and intra-office communications.”

The Result

The anonymous feedback service proved to be particularly valuable during the time of IMImobile’s rapid growth. The uncomplicated look and feel of the system gave employees a high level of confidence in its confidentiality and effectiveness. The company’s senior managers acted promptly on issues brought to their attention on Suggestion Ox. Without singling out individuals, they were able to reinforce desirable behaviors that improved the evolving company culture.

“In a global organization, an anonymous online feedback system gives the senior management team at headquarters access to opinions they can’t get from the shop floor.”

IMImobile highly recommends that senior leaders of large enterprises take advantage of Suggestion Ox to gain insight into what employees are thinking and saying privately. The system also helps leaders maintain compliance with local regulations, such as the US requirement for companies to operate a whistle-blowing program. Extra features such as a telephone hotline are available.

“Good leaders provide an easy way for their teams to communicate their thoughts about policies and the way the business is managed to help everyone do their jobs better.”