At Ideagen Op Central, we are constantly talking about Single Point of Truth (SPOT) content and the power of having a SPOT. But, you might be wondering what exactly a Single Point of Truth is and why exactly it is so important. This article will take you through SPOT Content, what SPOT really entails and why your business desperately needs it.
SPOT Content refers to consistent content. All of your content, regardless of where it is hosted, should be the same. This relates to all policies, procedures, best practices, news articles, intranet posts and communications in general. At Ideagen Op Central, we use a Single Point of Truth to link up all of your content. So that everywhere your content is mapped to, regardless of whether it lives in your manuals, training programs or newsboard, it all remains in sync. When you update your content in one place, this mapping updates it everywhere the content lives, making your messaging completely consistent.
Everyone who hears about SPOT Content agrees that consistent messaging is definitely important, but it only works when you commit to it. By that, I mean if your content is living in 20 different systems, it's not able to be properly synced up, meaning consistency cannot be achieved. If you do want to implement a completely accurate SPOT, you will need to run all your communications through a single system. For example, you can use Ideagen Op Central to host your manuals, handbooks, training, news blasts, onboarding programs, etc. By running all of these communications through Ideagen Op Central, you will be able to achieve ultimate consistency and will never have to worry about all the risks associated with inconsistency again. And for those things that you might want that Ideagen Op Central doesn’t do, we have integrations that can help you sync up your business ecosystem.
Without a SPOT, it is virtually impossible to keep all of your content up-to-date with changes, and consistent in terms of messaging. Your policies might be telling your team one thing when your training programs and news blasts on the same topic are telling your team another! Essentially, no one in your organisation can be expected to know and understand all of your policies, standards, business changes or anything really.
But is inconsistent content so bad? In short, yes it is. Inconsistent content can lead to brand damage, slowed growth and non-compliance. All of which can have disastrous long-term effects on your business. Inconsistency can, at the worst of times, even cause hefty fines and legal implications.
Conflicting instructional content is a common business problem, but it doesn’t have to be! By implementing a Single Point of Truth, all concerns over inconsistent content will be a thing of the past.
Speak to the SPOT experts at Ideagen Op Central and leave your worries about conflicting content behind.