Communicators today
The 2023 Gallagher State of the Sector report highlights a major issue for communicators: they’re stretched thin for time and resources. In today’s fast-moving world, their job isn’t just about putting out information. It’s about making sure it really resonates with everyone in the company, fitting into the unique culture and needs of where they work.
Plus, with everything changing so quickly, these communicators often find themselves at the forefront of crisis communications. They’re the ones keeping spirits up and making sure everyone knows what’s going on when things get shaky. It’s a job that needs a mix of creative thinking, smart planning, and being able to handle a lot of work without dropping the ball.
This constant balancing of quick changes and crisis communication underscores the critical need for efficient tools in the communicator’s arsenal. That’s why we’re super excited to announce that we’re launching a new partner for comms — Staffbase Companion.
Our stance on AI
Before we dive in, let’s take a look at why Companion is a really big step for us.
We have always been very cautious about integrating AI into our platform. The reason for this is that recently, AI has become a marketing buzzword. However, for Staffbase and its CEO Martin Böhringer, four points are crucial:
- AI use cases need to be curated: We want to make sure that AI is only integrated if it offers real added value for communicators.
- Humans need to remain in full control: AI is developing at a crazy speed right now, but communication also needs a human touch. That’s why we want AI to play only a supporting role, while humans always remain in control.
- AI needs to meet comms expertise: We always want to combine our expertise in Comms with the leading AI technology, which is currently hosted by Microsoft.
- Both end and admin users need to benefit: We want to take a more holistic approach to AI and focus on both end and admin users to help organizations save time both in the office and on the frontline.
This also explains why we named our AI project Companion.
Introducing: Staffbase Companion Editor
AI at Staffbase isn’t here to compete with you in a battle for your job. For us, the future is augmented, neither one nor the other wins, but you win together with AI.
So AI should really assist you and make your life easier. That way, you’ll have more time, capacity, and headspace for the things that actually matter.
Companion is a long-term vision for us. That means we will also offer various AI features under the name in the coming months. The first Companion feature we’re launching is our AI-powered editor.
It’s a kind of personal content assistant designed from the ground up for communication. It’s already integrated in the Staffbase Studio. Open the Staffbase Studio, and with the little magic wand icon, you have the choice between the different use cases and predefined prompts. All of these are based on best communication practices.
We’ve created Companion Editor to make sure that AI is more seamless, easier, and faster to use in the comms workflow by optimizing the user experience even further with an inline editing function.
Use Case Overview
- Use your own prompt: Craft content that truly reflects your vision by inputting your own prompts.
- Kickstart: Break through writer’s block and unlock your potential for creative and effective content brainstorming.
- Title & Teaser: Create powerful titles and teasers that draw readers in from the get-go.
- Summary: Streamline your workflow by generating quick and concise summaries.
- Optimize: Optimize your text form and structure for maximum readability and effectiveness.
What’s important to keep in mind is that the results generated here are only suggestions that can be adapted and edited at any time. With these first selected use cases, we want to approach the problems of limited time and capacity from two sides.
Experienced editors may not need inspiration. They already know how to create and write content. But maybe they have a hard time coming up with a strong teaser or title. Or maybe they just need a short, quick summary to drive clarity and brevity across all of their channels.
On the other hand, Companion offers employees without years of editorial experience the opportunity to contribute content quickly and efficiently, but also professionally.
So, why Staffbase Companion?
AI is a hot topic right now, and several companies in our field are building generative AI features. So, how does Staffbase Companion stand out?
Staffbase Companion is special because it is hosted in the Microsoft environment. This allows us to offer enterprise-grade, scalable AI that is truly enterprise-ready.
- Using Microsoft Azure OpenAI, we offer an additional layer of security for enterprises that may still be a little cautious or don’t have AI policies in place yet.
- All inputs and outputs generated stay in your instance and are not shared with other customers, Microsoft or OpenAI.
- Your data will also not be used to train the Large Language Model. So you don’t have to worry that what you enter into Companion will eventually show up as an answer at another company.
- Companion is built-in directly and does not require any additional logins or tokens. So you don’t need an additional OpenAI or ChatGPT account and can start directly as soon as the feature flag is enabled.
What’s next?
We are already working on the next set of Companion Editor features that will help you optimize and find content:
- Assess how engaging and clear your text is for certain target groups
- Help you with inclusive language
- Explain words or terms in case you need some help
The next step will be to feed Companion with examples from your communication teams and train it to adapt tone and language according to your company. We are also exploring image generation as a future iteration of Companion.
We’re also developing the next AI-powered feature: Companion Search. Companion Search is an AI chatbot that is fed with content from your intranet and app so that information can be found quickly using a chat-based interface. More details on Companion Search will follow soon.
All of this further elevates our AI vision which caters not only to editors, but also to employees to deliver augmented experiences more holistically.
Have we hooked you yet? Book a demo to see Companion in action today!
