This past year has served as a crash course on how to effectively facilitate internal communications. It may not surprise you to hear that 47% of remote workers who believe their productivity has fallen since working from home attributed this to communication difficulties. But pandemic or not, every change inside a company impacts the way we communicate. Maybe it’s a new tool that needs to be looked after, maybe it’s an internal structure change, or maybe it’s opening (or closing) an office—and rarely do companies realize the impact of those changes until they become unignorable. At that point, it can feel too overwhelming to address.
We know internal comms is a challenge that still plagues most of us not just because we experience it ourselves, but because we hear it from our customers as well. But one thing our customers have taught us is that Guru has become an integral part of simplifying their overall communications strategies. Knowledge in Guru is increasingly being used as an asynchronous complement to real-time communication channels that get noisy and overwhelming.
That’s why our most recent round of product updates aims to support the goal of making Guru the best solution to help companies communicate and collaborate better, period. Check out this video for a quick overview of our biggest updates, and keep reading for info on everything that’s new from Guru.
Commenting
Since we’re all about reducing context switching, we’ve made comments visible alongside the Card content so you can reference the source material while leaving, reading, or responding to a comment. Users can now also resolve comments, which helps keep knowledge articles neat and tidy. Resolve old comments or ones that have already been addressed or acted on so as not to confuse knowledge consumers.
These updates are the first steps towards providing in-line commenting in Guru. Next, we’ll make comments threadable, which empowers clearer communication best practices. Our goal is to make it easier for you and your team to collaborate on knowledge directly in Guru, and making comments more contextual and actionable will help us get there.
Mobile app
We’re all used to working from any and everywhere by now, so we need knowledge that’s as mobile (pun intended) as we are. Guru’s iOS app is now more robust, making sharing knowledge from your phone easier than ever. You can send Guru cards via email, text, Slack, AirDrop, among others, just as you would any other content from your iPhone. You’ve always been able to quickly search for and view knowledge in the Guru app, but next we’ll introduce increased navigation via Boards and Collections for when you’re in more of a browsing mood.
Download the Guru app from the Apple App Store, or simply scan the QR code. And fear not, Android users, the same sharing capabilities will be available in the Google Play store shortly!
Editor
One of things we’re always working to improve is Guru's editor experience. This time, we have enhancements to tables, image uploads, bullet points, and other top customer requests. Documenting knowledge in a clear and concise way so it’s easy for your team to use is a cornerstone of a successful internal comms strategy. We want formatting your knowledge in Guru to be a piece of cake so that you can focus on the bigger picture.
We can’t talk about adding knowledge to Guru being a piece of cake without mentioning our Template Gallery, which makes it super simple for teams to reference and download templatized Guru Cards from other Guru customers. Check out our newest templates focused on internal communications, like this one from Shopify.
Slack integration
When you need to share or create knowledge in a Slack channel, the Guru app for Slack has always been there for you—and now we’re making it possible to use Guru in Slack threads. Users can now leverage Guru’s Slackbot to answer questions with a Guru Card directly within a thread, rather than in the channel. We know that Slack threads are the best way to keep track of conversations, so we’re excited to make leveraging knowledge in Guru possible within them.
And now that more conversations are happening in Slack threads, we've made it possible to capture all of the comments within one and add them to a Guru Card. Sometimes it takes multiple comments from multiple teammates to fully flesh out an answer to a question, so you and your teammates can now collaborate freely within a thread and have everyone’s individual comments captured and added to a single Card.
In order to see these improvements, a Guru Admin on your team must re-authenticate Guru's App for Slack. Learn more in ourHelp Center.
More to help Guru work better for you
Real-time notifications
Get your Guru notifications they second them come in—no page refresh required! To make collaboration and action easier, we’ve refactored our notifications to improve real-time delivery in the Guru web app.
Knowledge requests that generate notifications (Verification, announcements, Mentions, Drafts, and Questions) are a key part of how teams use Guru to communicate internally. You might have already noticed faster notifications for announcements, and you can expect the same for more notification types in the coming weeks.
Search
Behind the scenes, we’ve continued to improve our search algorithm. Even if you have your internal communications strategy down to a science, people will always need to revisit key updates and information after its initial creation. That’s where search comes in: make it super simple for anyone to find any information (even if you specifically sent it via announcements so they wouldn’t miss it 🙄).
Linking to sections
Board sections are one of the main ways of organizing information in Guru, and we’ve heard frequent requests to make sections more actionable. So rejoice, section fans! In the very near future, you'll be able to link directly to a section within a board in Guru. We know many teams rely heavily on sections to segment knowledge within boards, so being able to direct users to a section with a link makes collaboration easier.
Help Center revamp
Guru’s Help Center is the best place to turn to when you have questions about how to use the platform. That’s why we’re so excited to announce a relaunch designed to make it easier to navigate and easier to read. Check out the new look and feel, plus several new articles especially in the "New to Guru?" and "Guru Best Practices" Collections that make it easier for you and your teams to learn about Guru from the get-go.
Integrations hub
Our refreshed integrations hub makes it simple to explore all of the ways you can bring your team’s knowledge into Guru. Some teams already have access to the new hub, and full functionality is coming for all other teams soon.
Billing page (admins only)
Admins responsible for payment in Guru may notice an upgrade to our in-app billing experience. These reliability and UI enhancements are part of our ongoing mission to give you the best purchasing experience possible with Guru.
Communicate asynchronously with knowledge in Guru
The way your company communicates changes whenever employees, office spaces, and tech stacks do. That’s why it’s essential to nail down an internal communications strategy that keeps employees engaged and connected from wherever they might be working without overwhelming them. When Guru is a core pillar of that strategy, you give your employees a trusted single source of truth to find and revisit important information—as well as a way to deliver urgent updates that can’t get lost in noisy chats, back-to-back-to-back meetings, or overloaded inboxes.
You can find more inspiration around how Guru can help your team facilitate internal comms on our blog.
This past year has served as a crash course on how to effectively facilitate internal communications. It may not surprise you to hear that 47% of remote workers who believe their productivity has fallen since working from home attributed this to communication difficulties. But pandemic or not, every change inside a company impacts the way we communicate. Maybe it’s a new tool that needs to be looked after, maybe it’s an internal structure change, or maybe it’s opening (or closing) an office—and rarely do companies realize the impact of those changes until they become unignorable. At that point, it can feel too overwhelming to address.
We know internal comms is a challenge that still plagues most of us not just because we experience it ourselves, but because we hear it from our customers as well. But one thing our customers have taught us is that Guru has become an integral part of simplifying their overall communications strategies. Knowledge in Guru is increasingly being used as an asynchronous complement to real-time communication channels that get noisy and overwhelming.
That’s why our most recent round of product updates aims to support the goal of making Guru the best solution to help companies communicate and collaborate better, period. Check out this video for a quick overview of our biggest updates, and keep reading for info on everything that’s new from Guru.
Commenting
Since we’re all about reducing context switching, we’ve made comments visible alongside the Card content so you can reference the source material while leaving, reading, or responding to a comment. Users can now also resolve comments, which helps keep knowledge articles neat and tidy. Resolve old comments or ones that have already been addressed or acted on so as not to confuse knowledge consumers.
These updates are the first steps towards providing in-line commenting in Guru. Next, we’ll make comments threadable, which empowers clearer communication best practices. Our goal is to make it easier for you and your team to collaborate on knowledge directly in Guru, and making comments more contextual and actionable will help us get there.
Mobile app
We’re all used to working from any and everywhere by now, so we need knowledge that’s as mobile (pun intended) as we are. Guru’s iOS app is now more robust, making sharing knowledge from your phone easier than ever. You can send Guru cards via email, text, Slack, AirDrop, among others, just as you would any other content from your iPhone. You’ve always been able to quickly search for and view knowledge in the Guru app, but next we’ll introduce increased navigation via Boards and Collections for when you’re in more of a browsing mood.
Download the Guru app from the Apple App Store, or simply scan the QR code. And fear not, Android users, the same sharing capabilities will be available in the Google Play store shortly!
Editor
One of things we’re always working to improve is Guru's editor experience. This time, we have enhancements to tables, image uploads, bullet points, and other top customer requests. Documenting knowledge in a clear and concise way so it’s easy for your team to use is a cornerstone of a successful internal comms strategy. We want formatting your knowledge in Guru to be a piece of cake so that you can focus on the bigger picture.
We can’t talk about adding knowledge to Guru being a piece of cake without mentioning our Template Gallery, which makes it super simple for teams to reference and download templatized Guru Cards from other Guru customers. Check out our newest templates focused on internal communications, like this one from Shopify.
Slack integration
When you need to share or create knowledge in a Slack channel, the Guru app for Slack has always been there for you—and now we’re making it possible to use Guru in Slack threads. Users can now leverage Guru’s Slackbot to answer questions with a Guru Card directly within a thread, rather than in the channel. We know that Slack threads are the best way to keep track of conversations, so we’re excited to make leveraging knowledge in Guru possible within them.
And now that more conversations are happening in Slack threads, we've made it possible to capture all of the comments within one and add them to a Guru Card. Sometimes it takes multiple comments from multiple teammates to fully flesh out an answer to a question, so you and your teammates can now collaborate freely within a thread and have everyone’s individual comments captured and added to a single Card.
In order to see these improvements, a Guru Admin on your team must re-authenticate Guru's App for Slack. Learn more in ourHelp Center.
More to help Guru work better for you
Real-time notifications
Get your Guru notifications they second them come in—no page refresh required! To make collaboration and action easier, we’ve refactored our notifications to improve real-time delivery in the Guru web app.
Knowledge requests that generate notifications (Verification, announcements, Mentions, Drafts, and Questions) are a key part of how teams use Guru to communicate internally. You might have already noticed faster notifications for announcements, and you can expect the same for more notification types in the coming weeks.
Search
Behind the scenes, we’ve continued to improve our search algorithm. Even if you have your internal communications strategy down to a science, people will always need to revisit key updates and information after its initial creation. That’s where search comes in: make it super simple for anyone to find any information (even if you specifically sent it via announcements so they wouldn’t miss it 🙄).
Linking to sections
Board sections are one of the main ways of organizing information in Guru, and we’ve heard frequent requests to make sections more actionable. So rejoice, section fans! In the very near future, you'll be able to link directly to a section within a board in Guru. We know many teams rely heavily on sections to segment knowledge within boards, so being able to direct users to a section with a link makes collaboration easier.
Help Center revamp
Guru’s Help Center is the best place to turn to when you have questions about how to use the platform. That’s why we’re so excited to announce a relaunch designed to make it easier to navigate and easier to read. Check out the new look and feel, plus several new articles especially in the "New to Guru?" and "Guru Best Practices" Collections that make it easier for you and your teams to learn about Guru from the get-go.
Integrations hub
Our refreshed integrations hub makes it simple to explore all of the ways you can bring your team’s knowledge into Guru. Some teams already have access to the new hub, and full functionality is coming for all other teams soon.
Billing page (admins only)
Admins responsible for payment in Guru may notice an upgrade to our in-app billing experience. These reliability and UI enhancements are part of our ongoing mission to give you the best purchasing experience possible with Guru.
Communicate asynchronously with knowledge in Guru
The way your company communicates changes whenever employees, office spaces, and tech stacks do. That’s why it’s essential to nail down an internal communications strategy that keeps employees engaged and connected from wherever they might be working without overwhelming them. When Guru is a core pillar of that strategy, you give your employees a trusted single source of truth to find and revisit important information—as well as a way to deliver urgent updates that can’t get lost in noisy chats, back-to-back-to-back meetings, or overloaded inboxes.
You can find more inspiration around how Guru can help your team facilitate internal comms on our blog.
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