Private Status Page: A Comprehensive Guide
Private status pages are very special websites used to maintain transparent communication between the company's employees and other stakeholders. It's mostly used for important performance updates but also for disruption and downtime notifications (and every other problem that should be addressed on short notice).
The purpose of any private status page is to encourage communication and support to those who have access to it, providing updates on issue status and incident management.
Why Are Private Status Pages Important?
When running an online service and advanced IT systems, you do everything you can to make it work smoothly. But sometimes, some vulnerabilities appear, making your service prone to cyber attacks, malicious requests, and network disruptions. That means the end users don't have access to the service, being unsatisfied with the performance.
Additionally, a private status page is used to build trust among your employees and stakeholders. It improves your company's reputation, making you a reliable service provider in the industry.
What Should a Private Status Page Include?
What's featured on your status page depends on the offer, the nature of your service, and how many active users it has at a time.
In general, make sure you include this information:
- List all your internal systems and services
- Always show the current status of each system and/or service
- Address any known issue at the time
- Time estimation until the system is back to the normal working regimen
- A history of outages and disruptions
- Continuous transparency and communication
- Contact information for support
How to Create a Private Status Page?
The first thing you need to find is a reliable status page provider. These companies offer hosted and self-hosted solutions, as required by the client. Additionally, you can customize and brand your status page to represent the company culture you maintain.
Still, we suggest you look for reputable companies that offer custom branding, real-time update features, email and SMS notifications, as well as third-party service integration.
Most of the status page providers will allow customization and flexibility when it comes to the design. But once you create it, you can explore the benefits of real-time disruption updates, clear and consistent communication, and having your service working smoothly like never before.
How to Effectively Use Status Pages?
To properly use status pages and experience their benefits, you need to know a few important things. First, your status page must be easy to find and use. You can encourage the employees and stakeholders to always have it open in a separate window or include it in your emails daily. They need to feel the urgency of checking the status page regularly.
Next, you should always be honest when addressing service issues. Don't say it's a tiny disruption in case you face a large outage. People expect tiny disruptions to be resolved in an hour or two, but they're aware the bigger issues require more time and effort. Let the people know what to expect from this process using realistic updates of your systems and services.
Encourage direct communication by notifying everyone involved of the upcoming maintenance events, new features, and other important information they need to be aware of.
Final Thoughts
A private status page is an excellent solution for any company that offers a certain IT service. With timely notification, everyone can be up to date with the latest developments, obstacles, and updates that improve the service. That's the only way the work will go smoothly, and the end users will get the service they expect.
Of course, with the help of transparent internal communication, these challenges become much easier to deal with. In that way, you achieve satisfaction among everyone involved in the service and, as a result, also among the end users. Just one change, one investment in the status page, can mean the maximum improvement of your business.