Comparison
Inspire vs email and intranet
Email and intranets were built for people at a desk. Inspire is a mobile app built for the people who aren’t: on production lines, in stores, in warehouses and in the field. Here is how the three compare.
| Criterion | Intranet | Inspire app | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reach | Limited utility for non-desk staff | Desktop-centric | Mobile-first, inclusive for all employees |
| Experience | Lacks interactivity | Overly complex, less user-friendly | Intuitive, gamified, fun to use |
| Features | Minimal feature set | Feature-limited | Rich, modular feature set |
| Scale & flexibility | High costs for a large workforce | Inflexible structure | Cost-effective scaling, fully customizable |
| Insight | Limited engagement metrics | Complex for the non-desk workforce | Real-time analytics & updates |
The short version
Email reaches people who sit at a computer and check an inbox. It is cheap per message, but it offers no interaction, no proof that anything was read or understood, and it often cannot reach frontline staff at all.
An intranet is a good archive for office teams. On a phone it is usually hard to use, and nobody opens it without a reason, so it rarely works as a channel for people on the move.
Inspire is a branded mobile app with news, documents, training, challenges and rewards in one place. Messages arrive as push notifications, SMS, email or Viber. Every action can earn points, which gives people a reason to open the app every day, and real-time analytics show what is read and learned, by team or location.
Questions
Can Inspire replace our intranet?
For frontline and deskless employees, often yes: Inspire covers company news, documents, FAQs and training on the phone, which is where these employees actually are. The intranet can stay in place for office staff, while Inspire reaches everyone else.
Why not just send more email?
Frontline employees often have no company email address, and those who do rarely check it during a shift. Email also cannot show whether a message was understood, and it gives people no reason to engage. Inspire adds push and SMS delivery, quizzes and rewards.
Is Inspire harder to roll out than an intranet?
Employees install one branded app on iOS or Android, or open it on the web. CNJ Digital configures the app, brands it and supports the rollout for management and employees.