To be successful with Zinc it’s important to implement the solution in a way that works best for your organization. This guide is set up to help you make sure Zinc is set up right from the beginning so you can easily scale and grow as more users come onboard. 

What is Zinc?

Zinc is an All-Mode communication application built specifically for enterprises. It offers a mobile application for deskless workers to be able to communicate in All-Modes- Video, Voice, Messaging, Push to Talk, Hands Free and Content sharing. A desktop application includes all the communication modes, plus the ability for users to control and drive important messages through broadcasts, from executive teams to the field. An admin console easily allows administrators to provision who has access to what, identify who's talking to who, as well as set up the organization hierarchy and groups so teams can efficiently communicate with each other. 

The Zinc Deployment Success Team

Set up a team that identifies specific individuals with goals and responsibilities. Here's is an example of what your deployment team could look like:

Identify your Communication Challenges and Goals

As an organization, identify what specific challenges you are trying to solve with Zinc, and the goals, to ensure that you are successful. They can be:

  1. How are teams currently communicating?
  2. How many different communication modes are you currently using?
  3. What is your current time to get to a customer, what is the goal time?
  4. How fast are new hires fully trained?
  5. Are deskless workers getting the information and materials they need to be successful in their job?

Setting up the Zinc Platform

It’s important to set up Zinc properly so users can effectively communicate. In addition, you can better track usage, understand communication patterns and problem areas if you set up your platform to match your current org structures. 


The highest level entity in Zinc are Organizations. Within organization, you can create Official groups which can represent departments, teams or projects

If you are using an external directory, you can quickly provision all your users to Zinc with our integrations. Learn more here. 

Here's an sample breakdown of how the taxonomy of Zinc could be set up in an Field Service environment. 

Here's an sample breakdown of how the taxonomy of Zinc could be set up in a Hospitality environment. 

Administrators and User Roles

Determine who in the organization should have what access. 

Organization Admins - These are the administrators that have control over the access of every user in your organization. They can promote users to become Team Admins or broadcasters. They can create official groups, as well as add and remove users from Official groups. They are also responsible for determining how the communication data is stored, as well as enable or disable Zinc. 

Team Admins- Team Admins are assigned by Organizational Admins and have access to all the groups that they are assigned to or create. They can Typical use case would be to have the leaders of each of the departments, functions or groups become Team Admins of their groups. 

Ie: The Floor manager of the plant should have access to the Official Group - Plant Floor. 

Broadcasters- These are typically Admins as well, but regular users can also become broadcasters. This means they are able to send broadcasts to teams that they are assigned to. They can not add or remove users. 

Users - Anyone that has been added to an organization becomes a user. Once an Admin has added them to the organization, they are able to see all Broadcasts, all users in the organization, as well as create groups and conversations with anyone in the organization. They will be able to search and find any users using Zinc within their organization.

Non Org Users- You can also add non-organizational users, such as contractors or vendors. They must be added to specific groups or conversation. Because they are not part of an org they can’t search for other users in the organization. They can receive broadcasts, but only for the groups that they are part of. 

You can also learn more about Admins here.


Official Groups

Official Groups: These are groups that have administrators assigned to them, and can be sent broadcast, they are indicated by a blue checkmark. A good example of an Official group could be Human Resources (HR).

For example: Human Resources Official group will have all members of an organization in it. For larger organizations, HR may only have the heads of every function in it to help pass on the message. 

The managers of HR will have access to broadcast to everyone in the Official group, this way they can send information about open enrollment to health care plans, or send any HR specific news to the entire organization, or to the managers to pass on to their teams. 

Ad Hoc Groups (Conversations)

Sometimes not the entire group needs to be part of a conversations. Employees can easily start their own message stream on the side.

For example: An Ad Hoc group could be specific to a Job site. The main employee contact for that site would create the group and add any necessary teammates that he needs to communicate with to complete the job.

Searching for Groups

Users can search for only groups that they are part of. In order to find groups that they are not part of, it's recommended that an administrator put together a list of important groups and create a group called "Discoverable groups" with all the groups listed. This allows users to be able to search for a group and request to be added, or reach out to someone that is in that department individually and you can get added to that group. 

For example: A new employee learns he needs to message the North Service team to set up a work order. He didn't originally have this group in Zinc. He goes to the Discoverable Groups list and finds the invite link, adds the group and is ready to start talking with everyone there. 


Zinc provides the ability to set up groups to act as a hotline for teams to get immediate answers when on the job. Setting up a Hotline group is a great way to get immediate help from a central team. Members of the Hotline effectively take the next inbound request for help and conduct a 1:1 conversation to handle the issue. 

Why use a Hotline Group?

Hotline groups are great to help mitigate the number of emails, phone calls or rogue Zinc conversations a group of people may be getting to solve problems. This group of people could be experts, a specific department, or just individuals that are good at answering questions. By setting up a Hotline group you can: 

  • Enable employees to find answers quicker, and solve their problems easier. 
  • Make it easier for people to talk across department or functional lines. 
  • Maintain privacy and confidentiality of all users.
  • Track help requests inside the same platform where all communication conversations takes place.

How do I use a Hotline Group?

1. From your conversations, start a new message, and type in the name of the hotline in the "to" field. 

**Tip- Search "Hotline" to easily pull up all the Hotline Groups available to you**

2. Type your message into the chat window

3. A message will be sent to the Hotline Group, and a staff member will join you in the chat to address your question.

4. The staffer will leave the conversation when they are finished helping you. 

To see how to operate a Hotline, or set it up, please refer to these articles:
Setting up Hotline Groups
Operating a Hotline Group

Specify rules and best practices for using Zinc

Zinc is very useful, but can get overwhelming if there is no structure built into the way your teams communicate. It’s best to provide a guide on how to name groups so everyone is on the same page. It’s also important to set up structure around broadcast, what should be sent as a broadcast and what should not be. 

For example: There maybe some groups that managers want to just post information and have no replies from the team. An ideal way to do this is to mark these groups as “READ ONLY”. This helps with onboarding, ramp up, and serves as a reference point for all your employees.

Educating and Training the Team

Now that your organization is all set up, users have roles, groups are setup, it’s time to start training your teams on how to use Zinc.

Identifying Use Cases 

Refer to the challenges and goals you documented and focus on how you can use Zinc to achieve your goals and resolve your challenges.


  • Start with small groups and focus on specific use cases
  • Document your results before Zinc and review the team’s progress as they start using Zinc. (Ie - Completion rates- before and after)
  • Use analytics to track usage and identify any gaps.

Sample Use Case 1:
Getting internal communication out to the field/distribution teams

Business Problem:
Teams are stating that they aren’t getting the information they need from management to get their job done.

Get the information to the right people at the right time. Increase employee morale by keeping them in the know.

Zinc Solution: Broadcasts

Set up broadcasts and broadcast lists to make sure the right people get information that is relevant to them.

Customer example: With Zinc, 65% of Vivint employees felt more informed.

Sample Use Case 2:
Bypass long hold times and email queues to immediately connect personnel to the right resource

Business Problem: Internal support for a field service organization is plagued by long hold times and slow communication. Technicians waste valuable time waiting for the answers they need.

Objective: Establish an immediate and direct line of communication to colleagues who have the right knowledge.

Zinc Solution: Hotlines

Set up Hotlines to efficiently start taking and answering questions that come into the queue. 

Customer example: With Zinc, DISH has seen tangible improvements in on-site duration and key on-site metrics, as well as enhanced employee engagement.
DISH Case Study

Sample Use Case 3:
Informing other location/teams of inventory to help run a smooth operation

Business Problem: A company has multiple locations and can share inventory across the various locations. They need real-time answers to be able to run their operation.

Objective: A consistent and effective platform where all employees can communicate no matter where they are. 

Zinc Solution: Zinc messaging and groups help location owners keep in touch other other locations. Taking photos directly from inside Zinc helps show users what inventory they have. Phones calls from Zinc helps organizations avoid having to share and find numbers.

Customer Example: Mike’s Bikes streamlined employee communication with one app.

Train the Trainers

Select a small group of individuals that will be the Zinc experts. These are the folks that will learn all the ins and outs of how Zinc works, learn about use cases from other organizations, and then go back to train their teams. 

Tip: Set up a Help (Bat Call) Group- where new members can go to ask Zinc questions on how to do something - start a conference call, add a new member, join a group, etc.

Engagement and ROI

Adoption across the company is vital in order for your investment in Zinc to be beneficial. Zinc has various tools to help you with engagement.

Talk to your teams - Take a survey and see what’s working, what is not. Are folks loving Zinc and if not, why? 

Use Zinc Analytics and Admin console to see how well your teams are adapting Zinc. Questions to ask are:

  1. How many members are actively using? Which teams are using and which are not?
  2. How many people are looking at the broadcasts being sent
  3. What communication modes are being used the most
  4. Are folks aware of all the tools- Hands Free, Do Not disturb, Voice recording, Location sharing, Conference call.

Finally take note, compare what your metrics were before and after Zinc. Identify how Zinc is helping empower your employees.

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