Happeo vs LumApps: 2024 Showdown (+ Better Options)

Both Happeo and LumApps stand out with robust offerings such as intranet solutions, internal communications, mobile apps, content management, collaboration tools, and enterprise social networks.

However, the main differences between these solutions lie in their priorities and ideal use cases.

Happeo prioritizes seamless integration and ease of use, making it a top choice for companies that need a user-friendly, scalable platform.

On the other hand, LumApps focuses on comprehensive customization and advanced features, catering well to organizations that require a highly tailored intranet experience.

This teardown will look at each provider’s available functionality, pricing, user experience, user reviews, and beyond.

Happeo vs. LumApps: Functionality Review

Functionality Recap

Happeo offers great integration capabilities, particularly for businesses that want to use Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) within their corporate intranet.

LumApps is ideal for use cases that require few employee engagement features, centralized communication, and lots of intranet functionality.

Why Workvivo is better →

If you’re looking for a solution that offers:

• A complete employee experience platform that provides your people with a clear center of gravity
• Comprehensive branding and customization options that ensure your company identity shines through
• A highly adopted mobile-first platform that is ideal for connecting your entire workforce wherever they are
• Outstanding employee engagement and listening features

– then Workvivo is your best option.

Workvivo

Simplify communication and drive engagement with the world’s leading employee experience platform. Workvivo offers you a lively community-centric workspace that adapts well to various work settings and encourages robust interaction and collaboration among remote, hybrid, and frontline teams.

Its excellent mobile support ensures that all features are accessible at any time and from any location, making it particularly suitable for different work conditions.

Related → How To Pick the Best Intranet for a Small Business

LumApps Overview: Features, Use Cases, Pros & Cons

LumApps is a cloud-based enterprise communication and knowledge-sharing platform designed to boost internal communications, collaboration, and employee engagement within organizations.

It integrates with major enterprise tools like Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace, serving as a central hub for corporate news, workflows, and social features. This employee experience platform helps in creating a connected and informed workplace that helps align employees with corporate goals and culture.

Among LumApps’ specialized features, the personalized employee dashboard stands out. It offers users a customized view of their daily tasks, the latest company news, and direct access to important documents and tools. Additionally, LumApps includes a social advocacy tool that enables employees to share company content on their personal social media, turning them into brand ambassadors and extending the company’s reach and influence.

Features of LumApps

• Social Advocacy Module. Allows companies to curate content that employees can voluntarily share on their personal social media profiles. This module tracks engagement and reach, providing analytics that help measure the impact of social advocacy on brand visibility.
• Top-down communication. Features an advanced content management system designed for the easy creation and distribution of corporate news. This engine supports multimedia content and allows for targeted distribution, ensuring that the right information reaches the appropriate audience.
• Spaces. LumApps includes dedicated spaces for teams or interest-based groups to collaborate and share information. These spaces are customizable and can be equipped with forums, knowledge bases, wikis, and document libraries to foster a collaborative environment.

LumApps’s Main Use Cases

• Community Forums and Employee Feedback. LumApps supports the development of community forums where employees can exchange ideas, share feedback, and pose questions. This feature promotes transparent and open employee communication within the organization, making employees feel valued and heard. It also acts as a valuable tool for collecting employee feedback on different initiatives, aiding in the continuous improvement of the organization.
• Personalized Employee Experience. One of LumApps’ significant strengths is its ability to offer a highly personalized experience to each employee. The platform can customize the content, tools, and resources visible to each user based on their role, location, and interests. This personalization ensures that employees have a relevant and engaging experience every time they log in, which can enhance productivity and satisfaction.
• Internal Advocacy and Employee Advocacy Programs. LumApps also supports internal and external advocacy programs by enabling employees to easily access and share company-approved content on their social networks. This functionality enhances the company’s brand visibility and empowers employees to become brand ambassadors.

Pros of LumApps

• Targeted Corporate Communications. LumApps’ supports targeted content delivery, which ensures that relevant information reaches the right audience based on their role, department, or location. This capability is crucial for large organizations aiming to deliver personalized content to diverse employee groups.
• Multilingual Support. Provides strong support for multilingual content, which is useful for global companies. LumApps can present corporate communications in multiple languages, automatically adapting content to the user’s language preferences.
• Community Features. Offers robust community features that include forums, wikis, and document libraries within team or interest-based community spaces. These tools are essential for improving collaboration and knowledge sharing, creating an interconnected workplace where ideas and information flow freely.

Cons of LumApps

• Inefficient User Management with Google Workspace. There is a delay and lack of synchronization in how LumApps handles user status updates from Google Workspace. Users must be disabled in Google Workspace and wait for 24 hours before the changes are reflected in LumApps, leading to inefficiencies in user account management.
• Steep Learning Curve and Limited Widget Customization. Users find LumApps’ learning curve challenging, with difficulties using the page builder even after multiple uses. The global widgets function is restrictive as it does not allow for basic customizations such as renaming buttons, which limits its utility and effectiveness in streamlining content creation.
• Overwhelming Branding. The presence of LumApps branding on emails, push notifications, and the mobile app tile is excessive and hinders social intranet adoption among employees who do not recognize it as a trusted company source. Additionally, users are frustrated with the extra costs associated with customizing the mobile app tile. Simple CSS adjustments such as changing hyperlink colors are more complicated compared to other CMS platforms. There is also a lack of functionality for batch editing or updating articles, which limits efficient content management.

Why choose Workvivo over LumApps?

• Customization at Every Level. Unlike LumApps, which offers limited customization options, Workvivo allows organizations to modify almost every aspect of the platform. This goes beyond just branding and visual changes; it includes functional adaptations that can reflect the unique workflows and cultural elements of an organization, making the platform feel genuinely personalized.
• User Interface: LumApps resembles a public news site whereas Workvivo is a consumer-friendly, mobile-first platform. Its familiar social feel helps to drive adoption.
• Integrated Recognition and Rewards. Workvivo seamlessly integrates recognition into daily workflows, allowing managers and peers to recognize efforts and accomplishments instantly. This integration is more intuitive and accessible compared to LumApps, where recognition features feel more like an add-on rather than an integral part of the platform.
• Advanced Analytics for Decision Making. Workvivo offers advanced analytics that provide deeper insights into how employees are interacting with the platform and each other. These analytics go beyond basic usage stats and dig into engagement patterns, content effectiveness, and communication breakdowns, offering actionable insights that can be used to enhance not just the platform but overall corporate communication strategies.

Feel the pulse of your organization with employee insights and powerful analytics

Workvivo helps employees be heard and employers listen with comprehensive listening and engagement solutions:

• Send expert-guided engagement surveys to measure engagement and quickly spot areas of risk early so you can take action before they become a problem.
• Create ad hoc surveys for moments that matter, events, or just for fun with nuanced analytics to truly understand your employees on a deeper level.
• Send quick-fire polls for immediate feedback.
• Understand employee behavior, identify engagement patterns, and view platform usage at multiple levels.
• See dashboards spanning content usage, sentiment, activation, governance, and lots more.

Happeo Overview: Features, Use Cases, Pros & Cons

Happeo is an all-in-one digital workplace platform that integrates deeply with Google Workspace. It offers tools for communication, collaboration, and community building within an organization.

It merges intranet, collaboration, and social networking functionalities into a single unified environment. Its strong integration with Google Workspace makes it particularly beneficial for organizations that already use Google’s productivity tools.

Key features of Happeo include personalized channels, an intelligent search function, and extensive customization options. Channels can be used to distribute news updates or specific project communications, ensuring that relevant information is easily accessible to all employees. The intelligent search function enhances this accessibility by enabling users to quickly locate files, conversations, and colleagues across the platform.

Features of Happeo

• Dynamic Search Functionality. Happeo’s powerful search engine enables users to perform comprehensive searches across all content types, including documents, videos, and posts. This functionality is enhanced with filters and tags that help users find the exact content they need quickly and efficiently.
• Advanced Analytics. Happeo provides detailed analytics on user engagement, content reach, and platform usage. These insights help administrators understand how effectively the platform is being used and identify areas for improvement.
• Integrated Google Workspace. The platform offers deep integration with Google Workspace, allowing users to access Gmail, Drive, Calendar, and other Google services directly within Happeo. This integration facilitates seamless workflows and communication, eliminating the need to switch between multiple tools.

Happeo’s Main Use Cases

• Employee Onboarding. Happeo provides a platform for the efficient onboarding of new employees. Customizable pages can be designed to host onboarding materials, guides, and essential resources that new hires can refer to. This use of Happeo speeds up the onboarding process by making it easy for new employees to find necessary information and connect with their colleagues and the organization’s culture right from the start.
• Project Management. While not a dedicated project management tool, Happeo supports project management through its channels and integrations. Project teams can create dedicated spaces for collaboration where they can share updates, track progress, and manage timelines. The integration with third-party project management tools ensures that all resources are centralized, streamlining project communication and coordination.

Pros of Happeo

• Seamless Google Workspace Integration. This integration allows users to easily access and collaborate on Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, and other Google apps directly within the Happeo platform. By leveraging single sign-on (SSO) with Google, users can log in with their existing Google credentials, simplifying access management and enhancing security. The tight integration ensures that updates and changes made in Google Workspace are instantly reflected in Happeo, maintaining real-time synchronization across tools.
• Flexible Customization Options. Users can create personalized dashboards, design custom pages, and configure the layout and appearance of the platform. This flexibility ensures that Happeo can adapt to various organizational structures and workflows, providing a unique and branded experience for each company.
• Strong Security and Compliance. Data security management is a top priority for Happeo, and the platform includes several features to protect organizational data and ensure compliance with industry standards. Happeo utilizes encryption for data at rest and in transit, multi-factor authentication (MFA), and role-based access control to safeguard sensitive information. Additionally, Happeo is compliant with GDPR and other relevant regulations, providing peace of mind for organizations handling personal and confidential data.

Cons of Happeo

• No native document management system. Users have experienced difficulties with Happeo’s file storage functionality. Happeo has taken a deliberate decision not to build a document management repository and relies on its integrations with other platforms like Google and Microsoft, so clients will need to have a solution in place if they want to store documents on Happeo.
• Delayed Analytics and Missing Features. The platform’s analytics suffer from time delays, making real-time information inaccessible. Additionally, the channels lack some essential features such as polls and surveys, which limits user engagement and feedback collection.
• Inconvenient Video Upload Process. Users find the video upload process stressful as it requires uploading videos to Google Drive before posting them on Happeo. This extra step adds complexity and reduces the efficiency of content sharing on the platform.

Why choose Workvivo over Happeo?

• Employee Engagement Focus. Workvivo is designed with a core emphasis on employee engagement. Unlike Happeo, which primarily functions as a collaboration and intranet software, Workvivo integrates social media-like features that encourage interaction and participation among employees. Features such as activity feeds, likes, comments, and employee recognition tools help create a more connected and engaged workforce.
• Content Creation and Sharing. Creating and sharing content on Workvivo is straightforward, with tools designed for ease of use by all employees, regardless of their technical skill level. The platform supports a wide range of content types, including text, images, videos, and documents. Happeo, while robust in document management and sharing within the Google Workspace ecosystem, lacks the same ease of use and flexibility in content creation and sharing.
• More Comprehensive Integration Capabilities. Workvivo offers extensive integration capabilities with various third-party applications and services beyond just the Google Workspace and Microsoft ecosystems. With a wide range of low-code and no-code integrations spanning HR, Payroll, productivity, collaboration, and lots more. This flexibility allows organizations to tailor their digital workplace to fit their specific needs and existing technology stack. Happeo’s integrations are more limited to Google Workspace, which can be restrictive for organizations that use a broader range of tools and services.

How to choose an intranet software for your business

Define Your Business Needs

Identifying the specific needs of your business is the first and most important step of selecting an intranet provider. Consider what you want to achieve with the intranet software:

• Communication. Do you need a platform primarily for internal communication? Effective communication tools such as instant messaging, forums, and news feeds can keep everyone in the loop and create a sense of community within the organization.
• Collaboration. Is your focus on collaborative workspaces and project management? Features like shared workspaces, project tracking, task management, and collaborative document editing can significantly enhance teamwork and productivity.
• Content Management. Are you looking for robust content management features for document sharing and storage? A good intranet provider should provide centralized document repositories, version control, and easy access to important files and resources.
• Employee Management: Are you looking to improve employee performance management, foster recognition and engagement, or enhance learning and development? A good intranet provider should integrate with existing HR systems, offer functionalities for performance reviews and goal setting, support recognition programs and social features, etc.

Pro Tip → Choose a solution that integrates communication, collaboration, and content management seamlessly to ensure multiple needs are met in one platform.

Evaluate User Experience and Interface

The intranet software should have an intuitive user interface that is easy to navigate for all employees, regardless of their technical proficiency. Key aspects to consider include:

• Ease of Use. How simple is it for employees to find and share information? The user experience should be straightforward, reducing the learning curve and encouraging adoption.
• Customization. Can the interface be tailored to fit your company’s branding and needs? Customizable dashboards and personalized user experiences can improve engagement and usability.
• Mobile Access. Is the platform accessible and fully functional on mobile devices? Mobile compatibility ensures employees can access the intranet from anywhere, promoting a flexible and responsive work environment.

Integration Capabilities

Your intranet software should integrate seamlessly with the other tools and software your business already uses. Consider the following:

• Third-Party Integrations. Does it support integration with popular tools like Microsoft Sharepoint, Office 365, Google Workspace, Slack, etc.? Integration with existing tools can streamline workflows and reduce the need for switching between applications.
• APIs and Custom Integrations. Are there options for custom integrations if you have unique business needs? API availability allows for custom integrations that can cater to specific processes and workflows for your organization.

Security and Compliance

Security is important when choosing intranet software, especially if it will host sensitive business information. Key considerations include:

• Data Encryption. Ensure the platform provides robust encryption for data at rest and in transit. Encryption protects against unauthorized access and ensures data integrity.
• Access Controls. Look for granular access control features to manage who can view and edit content. Role-based access controls (RBAC) and user permissions are crucial for maintaining data security and confidentiality.
• Compliance. Ensure the software complies with relevant industry standards and regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, etc. Compliance with legal standards helps protect your business from potential legal issues and penalties.

Scalability and Performance

The intranet software should be able to grow with your business and handle increasing amounts of data and users efficiently. Consider:

• Scalability. Can the platform scale easily as your business expands? Scalability ensures that the intranet can accommodate future growth without performance degradation.
• Performance. Is the software responsive and reliable with minimal downtime and fast load times? High performance is essential for user satisfaction and productivity, ensuring that the platform remains efficient and effective as usage increases.

Support and Training

Comprehensive support and training options are essential to ensure smooth implementation and ongoing use of the intranet software. Consider:

• Onboarding and Training. Are there robust onboarding processes and training materials to help employees get up to speed quickly? Effective training ensures that employees can fully utilize the intranet’s features and benefits.
• Customer Support. Is there 24/7 customer support available to assist with any issues? Reliable customer support can resolve issues promptly, minimizing disruptions and ensuring continuous operation.

Related → Introducing New Hires to your Company Culture and Values (+ Template)

The Big Question: Which internal communications software will you choose?

This might be difficult to answer because your preferred solution has an impact on the overall employee satisfaction within your organization.

To make this easier, we recommend considering how each platform aligns with your business needs, integrates with existing tools, scales with your growth, and supports your communication goals.

Both Happeo and LumApps put forward some strong capabilities:

• Happeo excels with its deep integration with Google Workspace, making it an ideal choice for organizations heavily invested in Google’s ecosystem.
• LumApps stands out with its social advocacy tools, which are beneficial for enterprises aiming to boost their external brand visibility and enhance internal communication.

However, for a comprehensive solution, Workvivo is the best fit for many businesses. Its social-media-inspired user interface significantly boosts user engagement and adoption.

The platform offers extensive customization options, allowing you to tailor it to reflect your organization’s unique culture and communication needs. With its mobile-first approach, Workvivo ensures that all employees, regardless of location, remain connected and engaged, providing a consistent and seamless experience across all devices.

Opting for Workvivo means choosing a platform that meets your current communication needs and adapts and evolves with your organization.

Workvivo: The digital heart of your company

Simplify communication and drive engagement with the world’s leading employee experience platform.