Double Gold: Why Kent's employee experience platform continues to set the standard. Just a few weeks after receiving Bronze at the AI Comms Awards 2026 for Best Use of AI in Internal Communications, Kent and Interact have once again been recognised by industry judges. This time, at the Internal Communications and Engagement (ICE) Awards 2026, the partnership was awarded Gold in Best Intranet and Gold in Best Use of Artificial Intelligence in Internal Communications. While awards are always something to celebrate, what makes these recognitions particularly meaningful is what they represent. They're not simply recognition for technology. They're recognition for a communications strategy that has fundamentally changed how thousands of employees connect with their organisation every day. A digital workplace that works for people. Every organisation has knowledge. Policies. News. Documents. Conversations. Expertise. The challenge isn't creating more of it. It's making sure people can actually find it, trust it and use it. That's where a modern employee experience platform makes the difference. Rather than acting as another destination employees have to remember, it becomes the digital centre of the organisation. One place to discover information, connect with colleagues, recognise great work and get answers quickly. For Kent, that platform is Frank. Named after the company's founder, Frank has become the digital home for more than 13,000 employees across 26 countries, bringing together personalised communications, AI-powered search, social collaboration and Microsoft 365 integration into one experience. More than an intranet. Before launching Frank, Kent faced challenges familiar to many global organisations. Information lived across fragmented systems. Important updates became buried in email inboxes. Regional teams worked in silos, and a four-person internal communications team faced the challenge of supporting a rapidly growing global workforce. The ambition wasn't simply to replace technology. It was to create a digital workplace that genuinely made work easier. Today, Frank is delivering measurable results: * 70% monthly active users sustained since launch * More than 22,000 AI-powered searches every month * 150 trained local content creators publishing across the organisation * 75% reduction in communications team email volume * Employees describing the platform as having "Kent in my pocket" Those outcomes are exactly what the ICE Awards recognised. AI with purpose. Artificial intelligence is most valuable when it solves everyday problems. For Kent employees, that means finding policies, documents and answers in seconds instead of searching across multiple systems or waiting for support. Combined with personalised content, mobile access and employee-generated communications, AI has become part of a wider employee experience that helps people spend less time looking for information and more time doing meaningful work. Recognition built on partnership. One of the highlights of the evening was celebrating alongside the people who made the project possible. Representing Kent were Joanne Hennigan, Senior Vice President, Communications & Advocacy, and Lourdes Carmona, Communications Specialist. Joining them from Interact was Alex Clarke, Director of Customer Success. It was also a pleasure to share the evening with several other Interact customers, celebrating the innovation happening across the internal communications profession. Award wins like these are never the result of software alone. They're built through partnership, shared ambition and a commitment to continually improving the employee experience. "Winning awards alongside our customers is always special because it's recognition of a shared journey. These Gold awards reflect the vision and commitment of the Kent team, who set out to create a better experience for their employees and embraced new ways of working. We're incredibly proud to have partnered with them on that journey and to see Frank recognised as an example of what's possible when technology and people come together with a clear purpose." Alex Clarke, Director of Customer Success, Interact. Congratulations to Kent - a celebration of their employee experience platform. Interact Software is incredibly proud to work alongside organisations like Kent that continue to push the boundaries of what's possible in internal communications. Winning Bronze at the AI Comms Awards was an incredible achievement. Following that with two Gold awards at the ICE Awards is further recognition of the vision, commitment and collaboration that has made Frank such a success. Congratulations to everyone involved at Kent. Interact Software can't wait to see what comes next.

Award-winning AI: Kent and Interact recognized at the AI Comms Awards 2026. Kent and Interact are celebrating after winning Bronze in the Best Use of AI in Internal Communications category at the AI Comms Awards 2026, recognizing the transformative impact of Kent's AI-powered employee experience platform, Frank. Announced at the AI Comms Awards ceremony on Thursday, the award recognises how Kent has successfully used AI and intelligent employee experience technology to connect more than 13,000 employees across 26 countries through a single digital workplace experience. Developed in partnership with Interact, Frank has become the central hub for communications, collaboration, knowledge sharing, and employee engagement across Kent's global organisation, helping employees find information faster, stay informed, and work more effectively wherever they are. Transforming internal communications at scale. Kent, a global engineering and energy services company, faced a significant challenge following a period of rapid growth. As the organization expanded, employees were relying on fragmented systems, disconnected SharePoint sites, and multiple communication channels that made information difficult to find and share. The organization needed a single digital destination that could unite communications, improve knowledge discovery, reduce reliance on email, and create a more connected employee experience for a globally dispersed workforce. Working alongside Interact, Kent launched Frank in January 2025. Named in honor of the company's founder, Frank Kent, the platform combines intelligent personalisation, AI-powered search, social collaboration, and Microsoft 365 integration to create a seamless employee experience. At the heart of the solution is an AI Search Assistant that allows employees to ask questions in natural language and receive instant, permission-aware answers, helping people find policies, documents, expertise, and information in seconds rather than minutes. The platform also delivers personalized content based on role, location, and interests, ensuring employees receive the information most relevant to them while maintaining a consistent global experience. Delivering measurable results. Since launch, Frank has delivered significant business and employee experience outcomes across the organisation. Key results include: * 70% monthly active users sustained since launch * 34% daily active users across 26 countries * 22,126 searches per month with an average of just 1.1 clicks to content * 75% reduction in communications team email volume * 25% reduction in company-wide email traffic * 150 trained local content creators publishing across the business * 80% employee involvement during the platform launch The project has also transformed how internal communications operates at Kent. Rather than relying on a small central communications team, local teams and subject matter experts across the organisation are now empowered to create and share relevant content, helping communication become a shared responsibility throughout the business. The impact has been felt across the workforce. Joanne Hennigan, SVP Communications & Advocacy at Kent, said: "It's our one digital door into the world of Kent, making work simpler, faster and more connected." Mandy McDermott, Internal Communications Director at Kent, added: "We have gone from a team of four communicators to a community of 150. That is the real transformation. We have made communication everyone's job." Recognising practical AI innovation. The AI Comms Awards celebrate organisations that are using artificial intelligence to deliver meaningful results in communications, engagement, and business performance. Kent's award-winning project stood out for its practical application of AI to solve real employee challenges. By combining AI-powered search, intelligent personalization, and self-service access to knowledge, Frank has helped employees spend less time searching for information and more time focusing on their work. The platform has also become a critical part of Kent's wider digital workplace strategy, supporting onboarding, collaboration, culture initiatives, and future business growth. Importantly, the success of Frank demonstrates that AI can deliver measurable value when applied to genuine business needs, improving employee experiences while delivering operational efficiencies at scale. Celebrating a shared achievement - AI Comms Awards 2026. The Bronze award marks an important milestone in the ongoing partnership between Kent and Interact and reflects the commitment, innovation, and collaboration of the teams involved throughout the project. Together, Kent and Interact have created a digital workplace that not only improves how employees communicate and access information today, but also provides a foundation for future growth and innovation. As organizations continue to explore the role of AI in the workplace, Kent's success offers a powerful example of how intelligent technology can transform internal communications, strengthen employee experience, and create more connected organizations.