The Bot Platform solution in Microsoft Teams makes for smooth sailing at Ports of Jersey

Ports of Jersey Limited, an incorporated business that operates the island of Jersey’s airport, harbors, marinas, and Coastguard, had to reexamine its internal communications when much of its workforce transitioned to remote work. The organization needed a solution that would allow employees to stay more closely associated and interact with each other. Ports of Jersey IT staff had been researching bot solutions that could field common IT questions. The Bot Platform solution in Microsoft Teams offers templates, tutorials, live support, and other features that make it easy to build apps and help Ports of Jersey drive more engagement through Teams.

Ports of Jersey Limited, an incorporated business that operates the island of Jersey’s airport, harbors, marinas, and Coastguard, had to reexamine its internal communications when much of its workforce transitioned to remote work. A community-focused organization, Ports of Jersey aims to enrich the experiences and journeys of residents and visitors by developing facilities, services, and products that serve the 5-by-9-mile island. In addition, it raises money for local charities, supports Jersey events, and offers educational programs on sea safety.

But when many employees started working remotely, it became difficult to create a sense of unity and engagement among Ports of Jersey’s workforce. The organization needed a solution that would allow employees to stay more closely associated and interact with each other. “Our organization needed to become more connected and engaged. We had been using Microsoft Teams for a while already, but the shift to remote work made it really come into its own,” says Linzi Duckworth, Marketing and Communications Executive at Ports of Jersey.

“Our organization needed to become more connected and engaged. We had been using Microsoft Teams for a while already, but the shift to remote work made it really come into its own.”

Linzi Duckworth, Marketing and Communications Executive, Ports of Jersey

Bots loop workers in and boost engagement

Senior leadership had started holding monthly virtual briefings to keep employees apprised of what was going on with the organization and COVID-19. Initially, the CEO invited employees to type in questions during his presentation. However, that proved to be difficult and somewhat awkward, and did not yield much input from team members. At the same time, Ports of Jersey IT staff had been researching bot solutions that could field common IT questions. They found The Bot Platform and thought it might be perfect for what they needed. It was an easy-to-use, flexible bot-building solution that seemed trusted, reliable, and secure, and it had a team of experts for support. It also worked seamlessly with Teams. Seeing the potential of The Bot Platform, Duckworth decided to create a digital assistant expressly to generate questions for the CEO briefings.

As a marketing and communications professional, Duckworth didn’t have any IT background, yet she was able to create her first bot, Bob, in two hours with support from The Bot Platform. Bob was so successful that it generated a 250 percent increase in questions asked during executive briefings. “By introducing Bob, we created a smooth pathway for staff to ask questions that really mattered to them in advance,” says Duckworth. “In essence, we used The Bot Platform to drive more engagement through Teams, which employees were already using every day.”

“In essence, we used The Bot Platform to drive more engagement through Teams, which employees were already using every day.”

Linzi Duckworth, Marketing and Communications Executive, Ports of Jersey

Employees access simple-to-create bots via Teams

Bob’s success had a domino effect, and soon leadership asked to create other bots that staff could access via Teams. They were so enthusiastic they created two more bots quickly due to The Bot Platform’s no-code platform that anyone can use to build their own apps, bots, and digital assistants for Teams. The solution offers templates, tutorials, live support, and other features that make it easy to build apps. “Plus, since the apps work with Teams, our employees can easily take advantage of them,” added Duckworth. “For example, our second bot, Kermit, increased awareness of our important sustainability initiatives and created a simple way for employees to get involved.” It also gave them a process to make suggestions, so they felt like they had a voice in the company’s vital sustainability agenda.

“The third bot I built—in only 30 minutes—is named Trev the Newsman, and we use it to share stories that post to our SharePoint site. This was really important because many of our employees are not in front of a computer on work shifts and instead keep in touch through their phones,” says Duckworth. With Teams, all workers can interact with the bots, whether they’re in the office, out in the harbor, or on a pilot boat. “If we didn’t have Teams, I don’t know how we would have stayed connected because emails are not the same for communication. On Teams, you can share emojis and GIFs, and see people virtually. It definitely would have been awful if we didn’t have Teams,” Duckworth says.

“If we didn’t have Teams, I don’t know how we would have stayed connected because emails are not the same for communication. On Teams, you can share emojis and GIFs, and see people virtually. It definitely would have been awful if we didn’t have Teams.”

Linzi Duckworth, Marketing and Communications Executive, Ports of Jersey

Ports of Jersey continues to uncover multifaceted uses of The Bot Platform

On the heels of launching three helpful bots in Teams, Ports of Jersey aims to keep building with The Bot Platform. “We want people to be able to build their own tools and deploy to the channels where they already work. The Bot Platform empowers people to build things exactly how they want them to work. Our HR and IT departments are now looking at it to create interactive FAQs and HR-focused digital assistants. After that, who knows? Using The Bot Platform with Teams is a great engagement tool for keeping in touch,” Duckworth concludes.