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Artificial intelligence is on the rise and is finding its way into all areas of life, including the business world. Jira and Confluence have also been equipped with artificial intelligence. This marks a milestone in the world of project management and collaboration tools. With the introduction of "Atlassian Intelligence (AI)", we are experiencing a new era of efficiency and innovation. In this blog post, we take a detailed look at AI, explain what it is, what it can do, and how it integrates artificial intelligence into your Jira and Confluence workday.
What is Atlassian Intelligence (AI)?
AI is an advanced artificial intelligence based on GPT-3 technology. This technology, developed by OpenAIis known for its ability to generate human-like text. Atlassian has integrated this technology into Jira and Confluence to improve the user experience and increase productivity. AI understands and learns from users' data and interactions to make personalized and contextual suggestions.
What can I do with Atlassian Intelligence (AI)?
AI is not just another tool, but an intelligent partner that supports you in your daily work. Here are some key features:
Automated task creation: AI recognizes patterns in your project data and automatically suggests new tasks or projects.
Intelligent search functions: Search Jira and Confluence with natural language. AI understands your queries and delivers precise results without you having to resort to JQL.
Improved collaboration: AI analyzes the context of discussions and suggests relevant documents or previous conversations.
Personalized recommendations: AI suggests suitable resources and actions based on your interactions and preferences.
Application examples for Atlassian Intelligence
To demonstrate the versatility of AI, let's look at some practical application examples:
Project management: In Jira AI helps to maintain an overview of complex projects by prioritizing tasks and identifying risks at an early stage.
Knowledge management: In Confluence AI can help provide the right knowledge at the right time by suggesting content that matches your current tasks.
Automated reporting: AI can create customized reports based on your specific requirements, saving time and speeding up decision-making.
Advantages of use
The advantages of AI in your day-to-day work are manifold:
Time saving: Automated functions and intelligent suggestions save valuable time.
Higher productivity: AI helps to minimize distractions and you focus on what's really important.
Better decision making: AI-supported analyses help you make more informed decisions.
Promotion of cooperation: AI facilitates teamwork by providing relevant information and context.
How you can integrate Atlassian Intelligence into your company
Integrating AI into your Jira and Confluence environment is straightforward. Here are a few steps to get started:
Training of your team: Ensure that your team has the necessary knowledge to make the best use of AI.
Customization to your needs: Configure AI to adapt it to the specific requirements of your teams.
Data protection and security: Make sure that your data is secure and that the use of AI complies with data protection guidelines.
Introducing AI to Jira and Confluence is more than just a technological advancement; it's a way to transform the way your teams work. It gives you the tools to work smarter, faster and more effectively.
Reducing the cognitive load of manual tasks with Atlassian Intelligence
Cognitive load - the amount of mental effort required in your work environment - can be critical to the efficiency and well-being of your employees. This is where Atlassian Intelligence (AI) plays a crucial role by helping to reduce this mental load. Let's look at how AI overcomes this challenge:
Atlassian Intelligence Features
Simplification of decision-making processes: Atlassian Intelligence (AI) provides data-driven insights and suggestions that reduce the need for extensive research and analysis. These clear, precise recommendations make it easier for employees to make quick and informed decisions.
Automation of routine tasks: One of the biggest challenges in any working environment are repetitive and time-consuming tasks. AI automates these processes, allowing employees to focus on more complex and creative tasks. This helps to avoid fatigue and overwork.
Improvement of information management: In today's information overload, finding relevant data quickly can be a challenge. AI improves the way information is organized and retrieved, helping employees work more efficiently and avoid cognitive overload.
Personalized user experience: Every employee has their own way of working. AI learns from each individual's preferences and work patterns and adapts to provide a customized user experience. This reduces the time and effort needed to adapt to new tools or find relevant information.
Promotion of effective cooperation: One challenge in team environments is coordination and communication. AI helps teams work together more effectively by providing relevant information and context at the right time. This reduces misunderstandings and improves overall productivity.
Atlassian Intelligence (AI) is not just a tool to increase productivity; it is a key factor in reducing the cognitive load on your employees. By automating routine tasks, providing personalized recommendations and improving information management, AI allows employees to focus on what's important and be more efficient and satisfied in their work. You can find more information about AI here.
Confluence is one of those tools that can do just about anything. You can provide documentation for your users and projects, publish information and news, and promote collaboration between your teams across departments. But by default, Confluence is sometimes clunky and not necessarily pretty to look at - a real developer tool, after all. But with a few plugins and a little creativity, it's a different story. Ultimately, it's up to you whether you want generic layouts or stylish Confluence pages.
To create great Confluence pages, just like cooking, you need some sort of recipe book, the necessary ingredients, and a little bit of creativity.
1. the basics in Confluence - Spaces and Pages
Right from the first login, Confluence comes with some ingenious features that allow you to create an understandable page structure. The best way to start is to create some spaces to give your Confluence a basic structure. For example, the simplest basic structure you can create is one Space for each Team (e.g. Marketing) or Project (e.g. Iron Man Suite Mk. 5).
Common Confluence Spaces
Teams & departments: e.g. Marketing, Human Resources, Sales, IT, etc.
Projects: e.g. Iron Man Suite Mk 5., Captain America Shield Mk 2, etc.
Personal Space: Mario's Dope Marketing Space, Philipp's crazy Dev. Space
Marketing Template and Spaces in Confluence
Once you have created all the relevant Spaces for your business, it is advisable to create additional parent pages in each Space. This way you make sure that you don't end up with a bunch of confusing pages and content and don't know your way around anymore. For example, you can further structure the Marketing Space by adding pages for Content Marketing, Social Media or Homepage and then adding individual content for the respective topics.
2. templates for your Confluence pages
Surely you have already worked with templates for various tools here and there, which have made your life and your work so much easier. It's the same with Confluence. At Atlassian you can find some free and preconfigured templates that you can add directly to your Confluence instance and create stylish Confluence pages.
Templates for Confluence Cloud Users
If you're already using Confluence Cloud, this is also a breeze. Just click on "Use template" and add it to a page automatically. Then you can edit your pages as usual and access additional plugins and macros.
Templates for Confluence Data Center and Server Users
Unfortunately, as a server and data center user, it's not that easy. To be able to use templates, you can either create new pages directly from a template or rely on plugins from the Atlassian Market Place fall back. Here you will find a template for pretty much every conceivable purpose.
You can also find all templates directly in Confluence (Cloud). When you create a new page, a bar appears on the right-hand side of the screen where you can choose from a variety of templates for your project.
Create your own templates
If there is no template that meets your requirements, you can easily create your own or adapt an existing one.
How do I create a Confluence template?
Go to the Confluence Space settings, (or to your Confluence settings (if you are an admin))
Search for "Look and fell" and click on "Templates"
Click on the "Create new template" button or select an existing template that you would like to customize
Give your template a name
Add editable content
Save the template
You will then find the template in the right-hand sidebar when you create a new Confluence page.
3. plugins and macros
To make your Confluence pages even more expressive or to customize them for your specific purpose, you can use plugins and the macros that come with them. Plugins can be obtained from the Atlassian Market Place.
Plugins
There are several free extensions for Confluence that you can install directly on your instance. Additionally, there are also a lot of external plugin providers.
Refined
The Confluence plugin "Refined" is your secret recipe when it comes to giving your Confluence pages not only structure, but also a touch of style. With Refined, you can transform the standard Confluence interface into a visually appealing and intuitively navigable intranet that both facilitates information intake and strengthens brand awareness.
Source: Refined
With the ability to customize themes and layouts, you can give each page a unique character - whether it's project dashboards, company wikis or team spaces. Refined allows you to create engaging and user-friendly sites that promote collaboration and increase productivity without in-depth technical knowledge.
Discover how you can turn generic Confluence pages into real eye-catchers with just a few clicks that not only present your content better, but also take the user experience to a new level.
Aura from SeibertMedia
With the "Aura - Content Formatting Macros" provides you with a powerful tool for customizing and structuring your Confluence pages far beyond the standard design. This collection of macros enables you not only to present content in a visually appealing way, but also to significantly improve clarity and user guidance.
Source: SeibertMedia
Whether you want to create dynamic tabs for clearly structured navigation, integrate Miro boards or Figma designs directly into your pages, or seamlessly integrate complex content with Google Docs or HTML codes - Aura offers the solution. The diverse design options help you to convey information in a way that is not only accessible but also visually impressive.
By simplifying the integration of this diverse content, Aura allows you to create Confluence pages that are not only informative but also inspiring, encouraging collaboration and engagement within your team.
Advanced Image Gallery from XALT
For example, if you want to add an image gallery or slider to a Confluence page, you can either use the built-in functionality in Confluence, or you can use the 'Advanced Image Galery from XALT'. This makes it incredibly easy and intuitive to edit, adjust and display images in different layouts directly on the page.
Macros
Some macros come with Confluence's basic functionality, others are provided by plugins. Macros allow you to customize your pages directly and natively to your liking, and it's a basic feature of Confluence that you'll probably work with almost every day. Some macros are used by clicking on the "little plus" at the top of the screen and adding the function where you want it.
4. the most important thing: your creativity
Sometimes your pages are just for internal use and don't necessarily need to be styled creatively. But surely you've been in situations where you need to visually prepare your content. The fancy templates and plugins are of course a great help in creating stylish Confluence pages. But at the end of the day, your own creativity and dedication will go a long way in helping you create great content.
In marketing and design, people often talk about "Fake it, till you make it". To put it simply, look for inspiration on the Internet and use these insights in your projects. But be careful: Don't copy and paste!
5. structure your pages
To maximize the efficiency and usability of your Confluence pages, a well-thought-out page structure is essential. Here are some best practices to help you organize your pages so that they are not only informative, but also easy to navigate:
Establish a clear hierarchy
Start with a clear idea of how your content should be structured. Create a hierarchy that is logical and corresponds to the way users search for information. This could mean setting up Spaces for different teams or projects and organizing pages and subpages within these Spaces by topic or function.
Use consistent naming conventions
Standardized naming conventions for your pages and spaces make it easier to find information. Decide on a clear and descriptive name that reveals the content of the page or space at first glance.
Use overview pages
Create overview pages that serve as tables of contents for larger areas within your Confluence workspace. These pages can contain links to important subpages and give users a quick overview of available resources.
Apply labels consistently
Confluence allows you to use labels to group pages thematically. Use this function to link similar content and simplify the search within your Confluence environment.
Set up navigation aids
Consider integrating navigation aids such as breadcrumbs, tables of contents or user-defined page navigation elements. These tools help users find their way through your content and keep track of their current position within the structure.
Do you need support integrating Confluence into your company and team? As an Atlassian Gold Solution Partner, we'll be happy to help you find a solution. On our Atlassian Services page you can learn more about our approach and methodology.
The basics in Confluence, starting with the creation of spaces and pages, lay the foundation for clear and efficient use. The use of templates not only simplifies the design, but also optimizes the work process. The integration of plugins and macros, such as Refined, Aura and Advanced Image Gallery, not only gives Confluence pages structure, but also an aesthetic touch.
The user's creativity plays a decisive role in presenting content in an appealing way. A well thought-out page structure, clear hierarchies, consistent naming conventions and the use of navigation aids are essential to maximize efficiency and user-friendliness. Confluence offers a variety of ways to promote collaboration and increase productivity.
Atlassian Cloud is at the center of many teams' minds when it comes to effective collaboration. There are now some changes coming to the pricing structure and individual products in October 2023. These pricing adjustments affect the Atlassian Cloud products, among others Jira, Jira Service Management, Confluence and Access.
The adjustments are made for the Atlassian Cloud on October 18, 2023 and for the Jira Cloud Products on November 1, 2023 come into force.
In this article we will give you an overview of the price and product adjustments.
The most important at a glance
The increase in list prices concerns:
Jira Software and Confluence (5 %)
Jira Service Management (5-30 %)
Access (for more than 1,000 users 10 %)
Cloud pricing increases for renewal subscriptions to Jira Software Premium, Jira Service Management Standard, Jira Service Management Premium, and Atlassian Access.
New automation limits for Jira Cloud products go into effect on November 1, 2023.
These adjustments underscore Atlassian's commitment to developing innovative products that better connect teams and increase their efficiency. Over the past year, Atlassian has introduced various security updates and new product features, including guest access for Confluence, progressive deployment and improved security features in Jira Software, and advanced incident and change management in Jira Service Management.
Detailed information on pricing adjustments for the Atlassian Cloud
In this table you will find all the information about the price adjustments and how the changes will affect your existing licenses.
Increase in percent (%)
Jira Software Cloud Standard, Premium, Enterprise
5 %
Jira Service ManagementCloud Standard, Premium, Enterprise
In addition, Atlassian is increasing the preferential pricing/pricing on renewal of existing subscriptions to its cloud products. This applies to Jira Software, Jira Service Management and Jira Access.
You can find more information about the price adjustments on the Atlassian website.
Product customizations for automations in Jira Cloud products
In addition, Atlassian announced changes for performing automations for Jira software, Jira Service Management, Jira Work Management, and Jira Product Discovery. These will come into effect on November 1, 2023.
In the previous model, customers receive a single, common limit across all Jira Cloud products. For example, if a customer has Jira Software Free and Jira Service Management Standard, they receive a total of 600 executions of automation rules per month (100 from Jira Software Free and 500 from Jira Service Management Standard) that can be used in both products.
In the new model starting November 2023, each Jira Cloud product has its own usage limit. Each automation rule will use the limit of a specific product when it is run. The limits for the Atlassian Free and Standard plans will increase to reflect this. The automation limits in the new model are as follows:
More updates from Atlassian: Improved support for cloud migration
The pricing adjustments are just a few of Atlassian's recent changes. The company has also revised its support and testing options for migration projects to make it easier to move to the cloud.
Server customers who have not yet migrated to the cloud can now test the cloud for six months. The test phase now also includes support for selected Marketplace applications.
Dual licensing for large server customers has been extended through February 15, 2024, and for enterprise customers through February 15, 2025.
Why is it worth considering a migration to the Atlassian Cloud now?
For Enterprise customers who want to move to the cloud but cannot complete the migration in time for the end of Server Support in February 2024, Atlassian offers an extension of Server Support in the form of Dual Licensing*. (*For all customers who purchase an annual cloud subscription of 1,001 or more users on or after September 12, 2023).
Wondering how the price adjustments will affect you, or already thinking about migrating to the cloud?
Contact us - our experts will check which options are worthwhile for you. We offer you a free cloud assessment: Within a very short time, you will receive a detailed cost calculation for your migration.
Together with you, we will conduct a cloud assessment and tell you what your options are and how to get to the Atlassian Cloud the fastest.
Click here for your personal cloud assessment and for the path to the cloud.
Picture this: You're in a virtual meeting, your team is spread across different offices and time zones, and you need to brainstorm ideas for the next big project. The days when scribbling on a piece of paper or a physical whiteboard was enough are long gone. With visual collaboration tools like Confluence Whiteboards, Miro, or Lucidspark, it's easier to visualize and share your ideas in real time.
However, the tool landscape with its many options is somewhat confusing. Miro is the largest provider on the market. But with the newly released Confluence Whiteboard (Beta), you may already have the perfect solution for visualizing your ideas at hand. Especially if you have a Confluence Cloud users are (if not, why not?).
This article explains the main features of Confluence Whiteboards and the differences with Miro.
What are Confluence Whiteboards?
Confluence Whiteboards is a new whiteboarding feature within Confluence and Jira, which is based on the Atlassian Team'23 was announced and is currently available as a beta version.
Whiteboards transform Confluence into a powerful online whiteboard. It allows you to collaborate with others in real time, share ideas, and brainstorm solutions.
The most important functions of Confluence Whiteboards
With Confluence Whiteboards, you can:
Free drawing and sketching
Add text, images and files
Use shapes and templates
Add comments to documents
Collaborate with others in real time
Share whiteboards with others
Templates for different topics and teams
Confluence Whiteboards is still under development, so more features will be added soon. Also, since it's directly integrated with Confluence, you don't have to pay for an additional tool like Miro.
Why you need Confluence Whiteboards
There are several scenarios where Confluence whiteboards are useful:
Remote Brainstorming: Teams spread across multiple locations can simultaneously jot down ideas, group them, and prioritize them to ensure every voice is heard.
Design Workshops: Designers can create wireframes, user journeys, and even high-fidelity prototypes while gathering instant feedback from stakeholders.
Agile Planning: Scrum masters and product owners can effectively perform sprint planning, retrospectives, and backlog prioritization.
Training & Workshops: Instructors and trainers can use Confluence Whiteboards to conduct interactive sessions where students or participants can actively engage in group activities.
Customer workshops: Consultants or agencies can collaborate with clients in real time to make strategy sessions more productive and engaging.
Research and Analysis: Teams can map research findings, user interviews, or competitive analysis and visually organize the data to gain better insights.
Another advantage of Confluence whiteboards over Miro for agile teams is that it's much easier to assign tasks and Jira Tickets Create directly from drafts and notes in whiteboards.
Confluence Whiteboards UI - Notice how easy it is to create a Jira ticket using a simple text box.
Confluence Whiteboards UI after converting the text field to a Jira ticket.
In summary, Confluence Whiteboards is a great tool that can take advantage of the features of other Atlassian Tools extends: collaboration and teamwork. It also allows you to get more out of your Atlassian licenses to increase ROI, so to speak.
What is Miro?
How Confluence Whiteboards is Miro an online collaboration platform designed to bring teams together, whether they work remotely or in the same office. It provides an intuitive, visual way to organize thoughts, brainstorm, plan projects, and more.
Source: Miro
Most important features
Real-time collaboration: Multiple users can work on the same whiteboard at the same time and see each other's changes live.
Pre-made templates: A wide range of ready-to-use templates for various activities such as mindmapping, project planning, SWOT analysis, etc.
Integration with other tools: Seamless integration with popular platforms like Slack, Google Workspace, Microsoft Teams, and more.
Unlimited workspace: The workspace can be expanded infinitely and offers as much space as needed for complex projects.
Notes and Comments: Team members can leave notes, comments or feedback directly on the whiteboard.
Safety and compliance: Strong security measures and compliance with industry standards to protect sensitive information.
Mobile accessibility: With the mobile app, you can access and edit your boards on the go.
The main goal of Miro is to create an interactive and dynamic space where team members can collaborate in real time. It facilitates creativity, collaboration and visualization of ideas, overcoming the barriers often associated with traditional or remote work environments.
Confluence Whiteboards vs Miro
User interface:
The user interface of Confluence Whiteboards and Miro is similar, but Miro offers more tools and options for editing your whiteboard. Confluence whiteboards stick to the basics, and ease of access for users seems to be a priority. When using Confluence Whiteboards, we noticed a few key differences from Miro. There is (still) no option to select fonts in whiteboards, so any text you add to your board will always be displayed in the same font.
Confluence Whiteboards UI.
Miro UI (Note the different text formatting options that can be applied within a single element).
In general, the Confluence Whiteboards user interface can be described as very simple, but helpful and easy to navigate. You can insert differently shaped text boxes, connecting lines, sticky notes, free floating text, lines, stamps, stickers and image attachments.
It's also very nice that you can preview Jira tickets directly on your whiteboard and change agent, description, status, etc.. All without having to navigate to Jira.
Integrations
Confluence Whiteboards is directly integrated with Confluence and Jira, which is perhaps its strongest feature. It's easy to launch your ideas and design collaboratively, and easier to stay in the Atlassian ecosystem.
Conversely Miro integrate well with external tools such as Slack, Zoom, and Atlassian Tools. In addition, Miro allows embedding technical diagrams from providers like Gliffy or draw.io, which Confluence whiteboards do not yet offer.
Collaboration features
There is no official information about how many users are simultaneously in Confluence Whiteboards to be able to work, as it is still in the beta phase. However, our preliminary tests show that at least ten users can work on whiteboards without problems.
Together with Miro up to 100 users can work on the same board at the same time. Guest access is also relatively easy with Miro, and you can include your customers on your Miro boards.
Pricing
Confluence Whiteboards will be free, from the Free to the Enterprise level. free, from the Free to the Enterprise level.
Miro has a free version that only offers limited features for multi-board collaboration and is only suitable for testing the tool. To get the full package, you have to opt for the "Business" level, for which you have to pay 20 US dollars per month per user.
Support and community
This point goes to Confluence Whiteboards, when it is officially released. The Atlassian community is larger and more sophisticated than Miro's, and you won't have trouble finding people who know how to use whiteboards and understand the tool's potential. However, the main advantage is that Atlassian's support and community go far beyond whiteboards. Many Atlassian partners like us focus not only on the technical aspect of a tool, but on solving business challenges using Atlassian tools like Confluence Whiteboards.
Miro also has an active community forum and many resources to help you optimize your usage.
Pros and cons of Confluence whiteboards or Miro
Confluence Whiteboards
Pro
Tight integration with the Atlassian ecosystem
Easy to use, with a simple but functional UI
Included in all Confluence (Cloud) versions
Contra
(Still) no possibility to import Miro boards
Limited formatting options
No special applications or integrations
Still in beta phase
Miro
Pro
Powerful, easy-to-use visual collaboration tool
Hundreds of third-party integrations (Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace, Atlassian, Figma, Adobe CC, Sketch, etc.)
Hundreds of free templates, API access, and developer tools to develop your own apps
Dedicated apps available for desktop and mobile
Contra
High prices for small teams
Use cases for Confluence Whiteboards & Miro
So, when should you use Miro, and when should you try Confluence Whiteboards?
Confluence Whiteboards (in its current state) is best suited for teams that work extensively with Jira and Confluence and have no problem with their Miro boards not being able to migrate yet. If your team is new to whiteboarding, you should try Confluence Whiteboards and see if it meets all your needs. Especially if you are a Confluence Cloud user, as mentioned above.
Miro is best suited for teams that take visual collaboration tools seriously and need integrations with other tools like Gliffy, or want to do quick, rough prototyping of websites and app layouts.
Conclusion
Confluence Whiteboards
Miro
Price
From the free Confluence version to the Enterprise version included
Free version available Premium version from $10/user/month
So is it officially time to retire your Miro boards and switch to Confluence Whiteboards? Not quite. If your team uses Miro extensively, there is currently no easy way to migrate all Miro boards to whiteboards, making the switch difficult for many people. Also, many use the official "Miro for Confluence" add-on, which allows you to easily embed Miro into your Confluence.
If you are new to visual collaboration and your team uses Confluence and Jira extensively, is Confluence Whiteboards the tool of your choice. All the basic features are there, and more will follow (especially integrations with other tools like Gliffy) to further expand the functionality.
What do you think? Have you already tested Confluence Whiteboards or are you interested in testing Whiteboards for Confluence yourself?
Want to increase the return on investment (ROI) of your Atlassian license cost by adding more use cases? Contact your Atlassian experts to learn how you can realize the full potential of your Atlassian Confluence license.
Have you ever been caught in a meeting that seems to drag on forever, with no clear goal or end? It's probably happened to all of us, right? It's a common situation in the business world. But what if I could tell you that not all meetings are the same? Certain ones can boost your team's productivity, while others are just time-wasters.
In this article, we'll get to the bottom of effective team collaboration by finding out which types of meetings are important to the success of your business and which ones you can safely do without.
Necessary meetings: the cornerstones of productivity
1. onboarding meetings: the starting signal for success
Imagine starting a new job and being thrown in at the deep end with no guidance. Discouraging, right? This is where onboarding meetings come in. These are the foundation for helping new employees find their way around the company. They provide a comprehensive understanding of the company structure, upcoming projects and the new employee's role in the big picture.
Erin Baker, an experienced leadership coach, emphasizes the importance of onboarding meetings: "They help new team members learn how they fit into the big picture." They also set expectations and lay the foundation for a successful tenure.
2. brainstorming meetings: the think tanks
Companies thrive on fresh ideas. But where should these ideas come from? This is where brainstorming sessions come into play. These are the real think tanks of your team and serve to collect a large number of ideas in a short time.
David Chaudron, an organizational psychologist, emphasizes the importance of brainstorming sessions, especially when it comes to solving a problem or achieving a goal. He recommends that brainstorming sessions focus on the ideas rather than the outcome.
3. kickoff meetings: the blueprint for alignment
Have you ever started a project without knowing the final destination? It's like you're embarking on a journey without a map. Kickoffs serve to align team members with the long-term goals of the project.
Chaudron highlights the effectiveness of kickoff meetings, explaining that they are critical to building team buy-in and enthusiasm for the project.
4. feedback and retrospective meetings: the learning curve
There are always lessons to be learned and improved. This is where meetings for feedback and retrospective come into play.
Baker points out that these give the team an opportunity to discuss what went well and what didn't go so well. They serve as a platform for continuous learning and improvement.
5. budget and finance meetings: the financial compass
Misunderstandings about finances can lead to tension and conflict. That's why budget and finance meetings are so important.
The importance of these stems from the fact that they help determine who pays for what and when. They ensure that everyone is on the same financial page to avoid future conflicts and control spending.
Unnecessary meetings: Time wasters to avoid
1. status update meetings: the time-eater trap
Do you need to gather all your employees in one room to let them know what they're working on? In the age of digital communication, meetings for status updates often seem like a relic of the past.
Erin Baker argues that these are ineffective and easily replaced by email or a collaboration tool like Confluence can be replaced. Why spend an hour in a meeting when a quick email will do?
2. meetings without agenda: the aimless journey
Have you ever attended a meeting that seemed to go by without a clear goal or direction? Meetings without a clear agenda are like setting sail without a compass - you're unlikely to reach your destination.
We have learned how important it is to have a clear agenda for each. Without it, you're just wasting your time and everyone else's.
3. standard face-to-face meetings: the old-school approach
When you think of a meeting, you automatically picture a group of people sitting around a conference table. While there's still a place for that, many of them don't necessarily have to be in person.
It may seem obvious in today's world, but virtual meetings are often more efficient and comprehensive than face-to-face ones. They save time, make meetings more accessible for home offices and hybrid approaches, and can even be recorded for later use. Zoom, MS Team and Slack are your best friends here. And when you connect your virtual sessions with collaboration tools like Confluence, you'll be up and running in no time.
Maximize meeting productivity with Confluence
In business, effective meetings are the be-all and end-all for successful teamwork. But how can we ensure that they are as productive as possible? The answer lies in using the right tools. One such tool is Confluence, a powerful platform that lets you easily organize and summarize your meetings. Let's take a look at how Confluence can improve any type of important meeting and eliminate unnecessary meetings.
Planning with Confluence: During onboarding or brainstorming sessions, Confluence can outline the agenda, goals, and expected outcomes and ensure everyone is prepared.
Take notes in real time: During the meeting, Confluence can capture key points, ideas, and actions in real time so everyone is on the same page.
Learning from the past: During meetings for feedback and retrospectives, Confluence serves as a repository for past project experiences, enabling continuous improvement.
Financial transparency: Confluence helps track financial data and decisions in budget and finance meetings, ensuring transparency and minimizing conflicts.
Replace unnecessary meetings: By replacing status update meetings with Confluence updates, you can keep everyone in the loop without wasting valuable time.
Increase the productivity of your teams with Confluence
Make your team collaboration more efficient and productive with Confluence! Whether you're managing projects, sharing ideas, recording meetings, or planning the next big thing, Confluence is the platform for optimal collaboration.
Meetical: A Confluence app that helps you organize your meetings and increase productivity
Another way to take meetings to a new level is Meetical. It helps you increase productivity in your teams.
Meetical lets you automatically create Confluence pages for one-time or recurring calendar events.
These can serve as a central location for notes and are accessible to all participants via the Meetical browser extension or the event description in the calendar.
Confluence pages as browser popup
The extension can also be used to display and edit Confluence pages as a browser popup without leaving the current page. In addition, the extension also displays action items and recently viewed pages.
Templates for meeting notes
Meetical also scores with many templates for your meeting notes. These can be customized in advance and selected for newly created meetings. There are templates for many use cases like brainstorming or kickoff meetings.
Automatically add participants
In addition, the app offers several macros that automatically add all participants to the page, customize the page title and capture the necessary information about time and place.
Meetical can be added to the respective Confluence instance via the Atlassian Marketplace.
Integrations for Google and Microsoft
Fellow.app for Google Meet: Streamline meeting agendas and notes
Fellow.app for Google Meet is a powerful integration that enhances your meeting experience and productivity. With Fellow.app, you can seamlessly create agendas, capture notes, and collaborate with your team during Google Meet sessions. With this integration, you'll have all your meeting information in one place so you can easily organize and reference it later.
Create structured agendas
With Fellow.app, you can create structured agendas to ensure everyone is on the same page and focused on the issues. You can take notes during the real-time meeting and mark action items for follow-up. Fellow.app also offers collaborative note-taking features, so multiple participants can contribute to notes at the same time.
Integration with Google Calendar
One of the outstanding features of Fellow.app is its integration with Google Calendar. The details and attendees are automatically applied, making it effortless to create agendas and notes. After the meeting, you can easily share meeting minutes and action items with all participants. The integration also provides analytics and insights to help you track productivity and identify areas for improvement.
Tactiq for Microsoft Teams: Effortless meeting protocols and collaboration
Tactiq for Microsoft Teams, on the other hand, is a game changer for note-taking in Teams meetings. This integration seamlessly integrates with Microsoft Teams and allows you to effortlessly capture and store transcripts and notes. Tactiq provides a centralized platform where participants can access and collaborate on their notes, ensuring that no important information is lost.
Record meetings automatically
With Tactiq, you can automatically record and transcribe your meetings so you don't have to take notes anymore. The transcripts are time-stamped so you can easily navigate to specific sections of the meeting. You can also highlight important moments, add notes, and mark action items directly in the transcripts.
Collaboration in real time
Tactiq's intuitive user interface enables real-time collaboration, allowing multiple team members to contribute to notes simultaneously. This fosters a collaborative environment where everyone can contribute their insights and ideas. The integration also provides note exporting and sharing capabilities to keep everyone in the loop.
Integration with Microsoft Tools
Tactiq also integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft applications such as OneNote and SharePoint, making it easy to store and access notes across different platforms. Powerful search capabilities make it easy to find specific information in notes.
Increase your meeting productivity with integrations
In summary, Meetical, Fellow.app for Google Meet, and Tactiq for Microsoft Teams offer valuable features that enhance your experience. They simplify note-taking, provide collaboration opportunities, and ensure that meeting information is organized and accessible. Whether you use Confluence, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams, these integrations can significantly increase your productivity and help you get the most out of your meetings.
Conclusion: Revolutionizing your meeting culture
The secret to effective team collaboration is not in the number of meetings, but in their quality and relevance. The ability to recognize and leverage the value of different types of meetings, such as onboarding, brainstorming, kickoff, feedback and finance meetings, can significantly increase a team's productivity. It is equally important to avoid unnecessary meetings such as aimless meetings with no agenda and those that could be more efficiently conducted virtually.
However, awareness of which meetings to hold and which to avoid is only the first step. The real art is putting that knowledge into practice to best manage the team. From improving the onboarding process to fostering creativity in brainstorming sessions and ensuring clear agendas and goals, it's up to you to establish an effective meeting culture. After all, at their core, meetings are meant to bring the team together, generate innovative ideas, align efforts toward common goals, and ultimately drive business success.
Atlassian's recent Team23 event in Las Vegas was an impressive showcase of innovative products, integrations and powerful updates that aim to redefine the future of work. In this article you will learn which Atlassian product innovations were presented at Team23. These included Atlassian Intelligence, Confluence Whiteboards, Databases, Atlassian Together, Atlassian Analytics, Beacon, BYOK, Jira Product Discovery, OpenDevOps and Compass.
From revolutionizing data management to improving team collaboration with artificial intelligence. Read on to learn more about the potential of these new solutions and how they can benefit your teams.
Atlassian Intelligence - AI in Confluence and Jira
AI is on the rise and is already being used in numerous products. It was only a matter of time before Atlassian introduced it into Jira and Confluence.
What is Atlassian Intelligence?
No matter whether you work with ConfluenceJira Software or Jira Service Management, Atlassian Intelligence helps you with your daily tasks: Meeting summaries, defining new tasks, and even writing responses.
Source: Atlassian
One of the main benefits of Atlassian Intelligence is that it provides institutional knowledge for Atlassian Cloud products, so users don't have to wonder what certain terms or concepts mean. Atlassian AI finds them if someone has already explained them in your Confluence knowledge base.
Another interesting feature of Atlassian Intelligence is that it understands natural language queries and provides instant answers. As a user, you can ask questions just like you would ask a teammate, and the AI will respond with helpful information. Basically, ChatGPT for your Confluence.
Atlassian Intelligence also lets you perform queries, or searches, like a human. It converts queries from natural language to JQL or SQL, which makes it easier to work with Jira Cloud products.
Atlassian Intelligence also provides virtual agents for Jira Service Management that are available 24/7 on Slack and Microsoft Teams to help employees immediately, at any time. This means less waiting and less work for users who need help quickly.
Everyone loves whiteboarding to gather ideas and collaborate with colleagues on new ideas or pressing issues. Until now, we had to resort to a physical whiteboard or digital solutions like Miro use
Source: Atlassian
But now this (and more) is possible with Confluence.
Just like Miro, you can collaborate in real time, illustrate your ideas with stickies, lines, sections, and more, and share stamps, polls, and timers with your teammates.
With Whiteboard in Confluence, you can now turn your ideas into actions. This is done through the deep integration of Whiteboard functionality in Jira and Confluence.
Let's say you found a new set of tasks in your brainstorming session that you want to work on and track. With Confluence Whiteboards, you can now turn your stickies into Jira essues and/or Confluence pages, link Jira essues together to schedule tasks, and edit Jira essues and Confluence pages without leaving your whiteboard.
Who doesn't love to manage all their work in one place? With Confluence Databases, it's not just a dream, it's a reality.
Work aspects like Jira tasks, Confluence pages, due dates, statuses and much more are under your control in one place. It's the perfect solution to stay on top of all your work and make sure it's organized and under control.
What makes Confluence databases special is the live synchronization feature between databases and pages. Imagine always having the most up-to-date information at your fingertips, without tedious manual updates. A time-saver that guarantees you're always up to date.
Confluence Databases gives you the possibility to display your databases as tables, maps or boards. In addition, you can create a personalized view. Simply filter and sort the entries as you like. This makes your data easier to interpret and keeps you informed and up to date.
If efficiency and practicality are your top priorities, Confluence Databases is the right solution for you. User-friendly, powerful, and packed with features that help you get more done in less time, it's time to try Confluence Databases.
If you're looking for a tool that improves team collaboration and workflows across your organization, Atlassian Together could be just what you need. This powerful platform is designed to increase productivity by supporting team-oriented workflows and enabling seamless collaboration between decentralized teams, business and software units. Atlassian Together supports a flexible and efficient work environment that ensures remote working is as effective as on-site working.
Source Atlassian
One of the coolest features of Atlassian Together is its support for flexible task management and cross-team collaboration at scale.
This means you can combine structured and flexible working methods to create the best system for your team. What's more, Atlassian tools connect business and software teams to support alignment from development to launch.
Another benefit of Atlassian Together is corporate-grade security. The platform continuously tracks high-risk activities to monitor potential threats to the organization and ensure your team's data is always protected.
Atlassian Together includes a number of useful tools, such as Confluence, Jira Work Management, and Atlas. These tools help with task management, project management, and clear communication, making it easier for your team to collaborate effectively so they can get more done.
Are you looking for a tool to visualize data from multiple sources and gain insights into your team's performance? Then Atlassian Analytics might be just what you need. With this powerful tool, you can create comprehensive visualizations of data from various sources (e.g. Excel, Google Sheets), including Atlassian products.
Source Atlassian
Atlassian Analytics includes preset templates for service management, asset management, content management, and DevOps use cases, making it easy for users to get started. It also provides a powerful SQL visual interface for custom data analytics and multiple data visualization options so you can create the perfect visualization for your needs.
Atlassian Analytics supports database links to query non-Atlassian data sources such as Snowflake, Amazon Redshift, Google BigQuery, Microsoft SQL Server, PostgreSQL, and others. This means you can use data from a wide range of sources to create comprehensive visualizations.
Atlassian Analytics also provides collaboration features that allow users to embed and comment on diagrams and manage permissions at the diagram level. This ensures that your team can collaborate effectively and make data-driven decisions.
Atlassian Analytics leverages data from multiple Atlassian products to accelerate decision making across DevOps, IT service management and business teams. The service connects seamlessly with the Atlassian Data Lake for data sources, allowing users to configure which products and instances to pull data from.
Atlassian has unveiled Beacon, a software solution to detect, investigate and respond to risky activity in its cloud products. Beacon uses automated alerts, comprehensive investigation tools and response mechanisms to protect organizations from threats such as unauthorized data leakage, unauthorized access and insecure configurations.
Source: Atlassian
Key features:
Automatic alerts for unusual activity in Jira, Confluence and the Atlassian Admin Hub.
Detailed risk assessment capabilities, including user location, past alerts, and recent activity.
Optimized threat management through alert detail information, status tracking and SIEM forwarding.
Integration with Teams, Slack and SIEM to route alerts directly to the appropriate teams.
Protect against unauthorized information leakage with alerts on bulk exports, audit log exports, and external synchronization risks.
Identify high-risk user behavior at scale, with alerts for suspicious searches, unusual logins, policy changes and more.
App access monitoring with alerts for app installations and unsafe configurations.
Beacon by Atlassian provides a comprehensive enterprise security solution that enables instant detection, investigation and response to potential threats across Atlassian cloud products.
Atlassian's cloud products already have world-class security measures in place, and customer data is protected at all times by Atlassian-managed keys in the WS Key Management Service (KMS).
As part of Team23, "Bring your own key (BYOK) encryption" was announced. An upgrade that gives you the ability to encode your Atlassian cloud product data with keys that are securely stored in your own AWS account. This means you can manage your keys and revoke access whenever you see fit, whether for your end users or for Atlassian systems.
The advantages of BYOK:
Less risk: BYOK is like an additional security lock for your sensitive data, giving you an extra layer of protection.
Improved data management: Because your encoding keys are hosted in your AWS account, you can log and monitor access through AWS CloudTrail.
Increased control: Say goodbye to vendor dependency when it comes to blocking access. With BYOK, you're in charge.
As a product manager, Jira Product Discovery is an invaluable tool that helps you organize, prioritize, and communicate your product ideas and insights.
Source: Atlassian
Imagine having all your ideas, user feedback, and product opportunities from different sources collected in one place and being able to evaluate them effectively.
With this tool, you can say goodbye to shared spreadsheets and presentations. Instead, enjoy the simplicity of custom lists and views to prioritize ideas based on impact, effort, and targeting.
Another outstanding feature of Jira Product Discovery is that it promotes seamless team collaboration. You'll appreciate the clear communication facilitated by custom roadmaps and views that change the way you think about product roadmaps.
And thanks to seamless integration with Jira software, you'll be well-informed from development to delivery and can link your product roadmaps and ideas to Epics for a holistic view.
Essentially, Jira Product Discovery combines the features of spreadsheets and PowerPoint into one easy-to-use tool that saves you from using third-party integration tools. It's your all-in-one solution for efficient product management.
Compass provides a unified platform for developers to simplify and optimize their work on distributed software architectures. Imagine having a single platform where you can monitor your technical architecture through the catalog feature and apply technical best practices at scale using DevOps Health. This supports your team's autonomy and ensures that the components you work on are secure and reliable.
Source: Atlassian
Compass improves the user experience for development teams through its extensibility engine that connects information across your entire development toolchain. With real-time updates on component activity and dependencies, you get a consolidated view across development tools. Compass also provides an overarching view of all the components your team is working on, showing their dependencies and responsibilities.
The platform's extensive integration capabilities give you options for customizing components, teams, or global systems. Compass is more than just a tool; it is your partner in creating secure, compliant and efficient software architectures.
In the past, only large companies had an intranet. Nowadays, in the era of hybrid and remote work models, more and more small and medium-sized companies are using such tools to communicate with their employees worldwide and at any time. In this article, we will show you what an intranet is, what types of intranets there are and what are the 4 best corporate or social intranet software solutions on the market. And most importantly, what benefits you can get from an Intranet for your company.
Corporate intranets are private, internal networks within the company. With such software solutions, you can communicate and collaborate - tailored to the needs of individual departments, teams, or the entire company. In times when open communication and flat hierarchies are becoming the norm, the intranet (inter-software) is becoming increasingly important. In the past, an intranet was primarily used for announcing information from management positions. In other words, there is a difference between traditional intranet software and social intranet software.
The focus is on social
Modern intranet solutions therefore focus on social functions and include elements of social media platforms. In addition to classic top-down communication, all employees can communicate with each other on the social intranet, publish contributions and comments, network and share files. In this sense, a corporate social intranet is basically like LinkedIn or Facebook.
The basic idea behind an intranet is that employees always have direct contact with your company, thus establishing a deeper sense of belonging.
One of the most important aspects is communication and the provision of important information. Of course, every employee should also be made aware of the intranet during onboarding, create a profile, and network within the company.
Requirements and purpose
What the intranet is ultimately used for depends on what your company's requirements are. Simply put, should it only be used to communicate important information or to strengthen a sense of belonging?
In any case, an intranet has not only positive internal effects, but also external ones. Consistent branding and targeted communication convey a common set of values and thus strengthen the entire corporate image, both internally and externally.
How to find the perfect intranet solution for your company and what you should look out for, you will learn here in this Article.
These functions and features are a must-have of a corporate and social intranet
Social intranets offer a wide range of functions, features, and customization options. And they can be tailored to your company's specific needs. Before you decide which provider to go with, make sure you've determined exactly what you want your intranet to be able to do and what you don't want it to be able to do. Below you will find a list of common features of corporate intranet solutions.
Single sign-on with Google (or similar) to other tools used.
Accounts and personal profile for all employees.
Encrypted permissions and access management (a plus for your IT & Compliance department).
Chat function and Integrations to Slack, Microsoft Teams and co.
The division into business units and departments. Even Spaces for individual teams are configurable.
Newsfeed with all relevant information of the C-Suite or Executive level.
Newsfeed from and for all employees.
Social media features like a comment function, like and share button.
Provision of important information for and by teams: For the sustainable provision, of know-how/knowledge (More about this in our Webinar) via a Knowledge database in the form of wikis and blogs.
Sharing documents and other files.
Access to an employee database that allows anyone to find the right expert or contact person.
Access for external employees and customers in the form of an extranet (closed area on the intranet).
Interfaces to other, external tools such as Slack, HubSpot (CRM), or Google Workspace (+ many others). This makes your intranet the digital hub of your company.
You're spoilt for choice; that's how it is when you're looking for intranet solutions. But that's not all, the requirements of your company determine which type of infrastructure is suitable for you.
You can choose between SaaS (Software as a Service), on-premise (on your own server - in-house), or in the cloud at AWS and Azure.
The last two are more complex in terms of configuration, administration, and maintenance. Often, the costs here can even be higher than for modern intranet SaaS solutions. Here, you have to reckon with costs in terms of hosting, server infrastructure, and personnel. The big advantage: Your data stays with you in the company and does not end up on unknown servers. DSGVO and data protection and compliance regulations are more easily achieved here. But even here there are exceptions (Confluence Intranet with Linchpin).
If you choose SaaS solutions, on the other hand, the provider usually takes care of everything. However, you should first make sure that the security regulations are adhered to. Not all providers are DSGVO-compliant here.
The 4 best social and corporate intranet software solutions on the market
Remember, there are many intranet software solutions on the market. In the end, your company's requirements determine which solution is the right one. So it's important to know what your company's goals are. In our corporate intranet comparison, you will find a detailed list of social and corporate intranet solutions.
Confluence Intranet from Linchpin and Atlassian
Social & Corporate Intranet at B/S/H
Confluence is actually more of a collaboration and wiki platform than an intranet. But with the Linchpin app, the software becomes a true all-rounder. This bundle is already used by a large number of customers worldwide. It doesn't matter if your company has "only" 100 or 50,000 employees and is distributed worldwide.
Linchpin and Confluence have the advantage of being modularly tailored to a wide variety of requirements and cover pretty much all of the functions and features mentioned above.
In addition, this type of solution is available for both the data center and cloud solutions. This means you always have full control over your company data and meet current compliance and security regulations.
The intranet solution can also be easily adapted to your brand and therefore offers the option of communicating your company's identity continuously. Through a sophisticated authorization and access management, individual intranet areas can be made accessible only to certain user groups.
Furthermore, the solution includes an app for all common mobile operating systems such as iOS or Android.
A big plus point with Confluence is the Atlassian Marketplacewhere you can find countless integrations, extensions, and apps that extend your system with important functions. The Atlassian Community also helps you with all your questions.
Costs
The costs for Confluence and Linchpin depend on the number of active users. Only the basic version with 10 users is free in the cloud version (hosted by Atlassian via AWS). Linchpin is currently only available for data centers. A cloud version is in the works.
Confluence is divided into the Cloud and Data Center variants. Where the cloud is already available for teams of 10 - 30,000 users, Confluence Data Center is suitable for companies with 500 or more employees. The costs here for Confluence amount to 27,000 USD. This does not include the necessary server infrastructure. The cloud, on the other hand, is free for 10 users and increases depending on the user tier. For 500 employees, the costs are between 20,000 USD and 36,000 USD.
In addition to the actual system costs, you also have to pay for Linchpin.
You can find more details about the costs here: Confluence and Linchpin.
Success Story - Social Intranet B/S/H/
Learn how B/S/H/ uses a Confluence intranet to provide over 60,000 employees with the latest information every day, strengthen your brand worldwide, and create a sense of connection.
With Staffbase you can bring all your employees together - anywhere, anytime, and on any device. With their cloud solution, your intranet can be accessed from smartphones, tablets, and desktop computers. The advantage: a consistent user experience across all devices!
The design of the app and intranet is fully customizable. So you can easily set up multiple sections and distribute them to different audiences - or work locations - within your organization.
Costs
Staffbase, the German company that develops an online intranet solution called "Staffbase", already works with well-known companies such as Aldi Süd, Viessmann and DHL. The company offers a customized service for each of its partners. This means that each company receives a special offer tailored to its individual needs and requirements. Staffbase also offers support services such as training and consulting to help companies improve their internal communication flows.
Microsoft SharePoint
Source: Microsoft SharePoint
Everyone has probably come into contact with SharePoint. The software helps companies share information and collaborate seamlessly on the go. It enables teams not only to exchange information but also to share files and other documents and to get the latest information about the company via top-down communication.
SharePoint also offers the option to create separate areas for each team and customize them according to your needs. With the help of apps and extensions, you can also expand the range of functions. As one of the first corporate intranet solutions ever, there is also a strong community that helps you get the most out of the solution.
Costs
If your company already uses Office 365 in the Business or Enterprise variant, you can use SharePoint free of charge. For all other interested parties, the lowest rate starts at EUR 4.20 for Plan 1 or EUR 8.40 for Plan 2 per user. As a complete package with Office 365, you will pay 22.60 EUR per user.
Jive
Source: Jive
Jive's social intranet software is designed to increase the productivity of your employees with the help of a knowledge base and real-time communication. The software works both as a desktop version and as an app. You also have an integrated collaborative CRM and can create and send newsletters internally. So that you don't have to constantly switch between different programs, Jive integrates numerous applications.
The best thing about Jive, however, is its ease of use. The software makes it easy for your employees to collaborate by, among other things, allowing them to create their own internal blogs where they can write about their current projects or exchange ideas with their colleagues. You can also share information on a central platform and keep track of all important data in real-time.
This way, your employees always have access to all relevant information to make decisions faster, solve problems more efficiently and thus increase the productivity of your company.
Costs
Similar to Staffbase, you have to send a request to Jive to get a quote.
One factor you need to consider with almost all social or corporate intranet solutions is the necessary configuration. Depending on the infrastructure you end up using, maintenance and technical support are also not to be neglected. External support is necessary in most cases. As an intranet solution partner, we take care of the configuration and maintenance of your Confluence intranet. Get to know us.
Creating engaging Confluence pages can be a little daunting, but it doesn't have to be.
Confluence is a great tool for teams of all sizes, and there are a lot of ways you can make it work for yourself and your team. Confluence from Atlassian is an awesome tool for getting all your ideas down on paper and sharing them with your team.
When you start a new Confluence page, you have a blank canvas. How do you start filling it in? In this article, we'll show you how to create an engaging Confluence page that gets your message across quickly and effectively.
Learn how to get the most out of Confluence:
If you're just getting started, here are some tips on how to get the most out of your Confluence pages.
Make sure you have the basics down pat: Use spaces, pages and templates to give your pages structure, plugins to extend your capabilities, and creativity to build the best pages possible.
Don't forget that people like pictures! Upload an image or two, or embed a video if it's relevant to your content. Choose interesting images to boost engagement or highlight important information.
By choosing an image that reflects your content or highlights important information, you can help increase engagement and focus your reader's attention. For example, if you're writing a page about office parties or events, images or galleries of the party are a great way to start.
Use videos to give more insights on a topic: Videos are another great way to give your readers more insight into a topic. For example, if you have a meeting recap that works better as a video than written text, adding it to the page can be helpful for your readers.
Stay consistent! If you want people to use your page as a reference later, make sure you format things consistently so that they're easy to read when people look at them later on (and so that you can find what you need in a hurry).
Keep your content organized in spaces and child pages. Within each space, you can create pages for specific purposes. For example, you might create a page called "Sales Reports" within your Sales space. Or you might want to create a page called "2022 Marketing Strategy" in the Marketing space. You can use the same page title for multiple pages as long as those pages are in different spaces. For example, there could be a "Product XYZ" page in both the Sales and Marketing spaces.
Learn how to provide, share, and manage knowledge in our free webinar.To the webinar
If you're not quite sure how to start writing a page or want some inspiration, you should use a template. Templates are basically finished pages that you can use as an example. To get to the templates, click on “Create” at the top of the page and pick one from the template overview. If your company has already set up templates for you, they will pop up first in this list.
After choosing one, Confluence will guide you through filling it out with your own unique content (and if you don't like how it looks, build one from scratch. Confluence offers a variety of templates you can use as a framework for your pages. Spice up your pages with add-ons like plug-ins and macros.
You can also use the Advanced Image Gallery app in Confluence to get the most out of your site!
Now that you know the basics, it's time to start creating some amazing content in Confluence. Great Confluence pages are content-rich, easy to navigate, and visually appealing.
Atlassian Cloud or Data Center. Both deployment methods have their advantages and disadvantages. Currently, what you choose mainly depends on your requirements, the number of users you need on your systems, the security specifications of your IT-Department and the long term strategy of your organization.
Before we further discuss when to choose Data Center or Cloud, let’s first tackle the various pros and cons of each system.
Atlassian Data Center
Atlassian Data Center is a self-hosted method to run your Jira or Confluence systems. Data Centers have the feature of routing server requests through different nodes that are self-hosted. In the event of one node failing, the others are able to handle the load. A server system with different nodes would be worth the effort when an instance has 500 or more users. However, there, are occasions when there are as few as 250 users. Data Centers can save you money in the long run, especially if your company is growing quickly or you want to grow.
Using Atlassian Data Center you are able to take full control over your IT Infrastructure. This way you can:
Reduce downtime to a self-controlled minimum
Scale the required infrastructure to your requirements (on demand)
Full control over data protection and data security
Control over the updates for your system
Unlimited number of users
Data Centers are independent of the number of users you need for your organization. The Atlassian Cloud, on the other hand, is currently limited to 20.000 users. (They are currently testing up to 50.000 users at Atlassian.)
Atlassian Cloud
The Cloud is here, and it won’t go away. On-premise solutions are no longer an option (at least for most organizations). The question though remains, do you want to follow the trend and be an early adopter, or will you miss the opportunity to adopt future-proof technologies?
Serverless infrastructure (cloud) offers many benefits to organizations throughout the world. Additionally, Atlassian's constant work towards optimizing its product is paying off: concerns regarding security and compliance are being taken seriously and appropriate steps are being taken to close the gaps. Let's take a look at exactly why you should consider the cloud option for your business, now that you know how it works in Atlassian products:
100% Availability: The Atlassian Cloud has guaranteed availability of 99,95%.
Faster configuration: Setup and configure new instances within just a few minutes.
Automatic Updates: The Atlassian Cloud receives updates as soon as they’re available. No more manual updates *????*.
Increased productivity: Leverage modern tools, approaches and features to your advantage and save valuable resources (time)
Reduced Management costs: The time for physical hardware, manual maintenance, sunk costs and upgrades are finally over. Moving to the cloud clearly saves you money by removing infrastructure costs from the equation.
Pay for what you use and when you use it -> cost-effectiveness
Atlassian Cloud or Data Center - What to choose and when
Data Centers are chosen by organisations when their Atlassian applications have become "business and mission critical". Ask yourself what the costs of a system failure would be and how valuable the Atlassian applications are in your organization. In the event that your entire development team were unable to work due to a system failure, this would be particularly adverse for your business as you pay for the work generated.
In addition, certain organizations have an enhanced need for data control and privacy. Hosting your own Data Center on your own servers means you have complete control over the upkeep and maintenance of the servers, but also have full control over the data at your disposal. Companies with extensive security needs, like banks or health insurers, may find this to be a crucial factor.
Cloud is a long-term investment that allows companies to scale, improve employee productivity, increase speed, and increase innovation.
With both models - cloud and Data Center - you gain reliability, increased productivity, and cost savings. Server users who wish to continue to maintain their own IT infrastructure should consider switching to Data Center.
As you can see, both models have their advantages. In the end, the main factors of choosing cloud over Data Center are up to your requirements.
Need help evaluating the different possibilities? Our Atlassian expert will help you choose the right solution for your requirements and needs.
Confluence is an excellent basis for your corporate intranet. But only together with Linchpin or Refined you get your interface and functions that make Confluence a central hub for communication, the provision of important information and the extended arm of your company. But you're probably asking yourself the questions, which app should I use for my intranet? Linchpin vs Refined. Which solution is better?
In the following we have examined the Linchpin and Refined in more detail and recorded the most important differences in a clear table.
Linchpin vs Refined
Linchpin
Refined
Target group
People looking for an intranet solution with social media features.
For people who want to use Confluence as an intranet.
Product Use Case
Create a social intranet that matches your company's look and feel and creates a familiar work environment.
Add structure, themes, layouts, and navigation to Confluence to create intranet, documentation, and collaboration pages for projects.
Summary
With Linchpin, you can customize your Confluence to your brand and add social features like team events and microblogging. There are also modules to support different use cases like content personalization or extranet features.
An out-of-the-box solution that is very easy to use and covers most requirements in terms of design. Among the most important features is a navigation system that organizes the entire space into categories. With the theme and website designs you can create a structure for your content and intranet layout.
Advantages and limitations
Easy to install and use. Theming with Logo and individual colors for buttons, header icons, etc. Extensive intranet features with microblogging, personalized content, localization, custom navigation, advanced profiles and more.
Quick to set up and you can get great results with minimal effort. There are limitations as far as customizing the design, the navigation and news-streams. Social functions like events, org charts, extensive profiles and microblog are missing.
Inherit design elements from global designs to space and adapt automatically.
✅
❌
Easy to update (even with major UI changes)
✅
✅
*Basically, the design of Confluence Confluence can be customized with both intranet providers. However, Linchpin offers more functions, e.g. a more extensive customization of the header or the fonts. This can be seen in the demo-instances.
Further intranet features
Feature
Linchpin
Refined
The ability to like posts, entries, etc.
✅
✅
The ability to comment on posts, entries, etc.
✅
✅
Simple design features, so teams can manage their own spaces without a web designer.
✅
✅
Personalization of menus
✅
❌ (global menu can be created and structured, but no further customization possible)
Social functions besides the normal Confluence (microblogging, events / RSVP function, profiles, organigrams)
✅
❌ (via Apps on the Marketplace)
App Center for a personalized set of legacy systems
✅(no SSO of legacy apps)
❌ (via Apps on the Marketplace)
Terms of Use for Compliance with Laws.
✅
❌ (via Apps on the Marketplace)
Touchscreen and native mobile app.
✅
❌
Summary and recommendation: Linchpin vs Refined
Linchpin
Refined
Why we love it
Transform Confluence into a modular, fully personalized social intranet platform.
Customize Confluence design partially (which is sufficient in most cases), very quick & easy setup.
Theming & Personalization
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
User-friendliness
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Social Intranet Features
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
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Implementation effort
Medium
Low
Pricing
€€€
€
Refined
If you're looking for a simple and relatively inexpensive upgrade to Confluence's design and navigation, you should go with Refined.
Linchpin
If you want to use Confluence as the basis for a full-fledged social intranet, Linchpin is probably the right solution for you.
