New intranet in less than 16 weeks
FAB launched their new intranet in April 2017, less than four months after Claudia and the steering group decided to implement Colibo as their intranet solution.
Colibo's implementation team took FAB confidently through the implementation process, which starts with a launch meeting that clarifies the choice of apps and widgets. Then, the implementation team began preparing FAB's new intranet to go live.
In addition to Colibo's work on the implementation, it is often advised that the customer arrange a good launch of their new intranet. Therefore, FAB put more initiatives in the pipeline to ensure that everyone got a good start on the use of their new intranet.
FAB had no system or intranet to be replaced, which meant that there was not a lot of old content that would bloom again. Therefore, there was a need to cover the information needs of users so that the right structure could be built up and then launched.
The big launch
Colibo's Chief Marketing Officer, Ninna Lauridsen, was invited to attend FAB's launch party, which aimed to introduce their new intranet to all employees.
All employees were invited to the head office in Odense, where there was a large coffee table filled with rolls and brownies. The intranet steering group began their presentation, introduced by FAB's director, Jacob Michaelsen.
The Director began his speech to the employees by expressing why they had chosen to implement an intranet in the organisation.
"We will build bridges, not walls" - FAB's director, Jacob Michaelsen said.
Then, the intranet steering group took over to give a tour of the new system.
"It's always difficult to change to a new system," said Claudia Pring, HR and Communications Consultant at FAB, calling for everyone to try and tackle the new opportunities for collaboration in work groups, news feeds and file sharing.
FAB had also made guidelines for how to use their new intranet, which among other things helps to answer questions, such as:
- What do we use the intranet?
- Where do I find the organisation chart?
- How do I target messages to different groups?
- Who has an anniversary or birthday?
- How do I find colleagues with specific skills?
- How do I use tags in my posts?
- What's in the staff manual?
FAB found that, in particular, it had become easier to target their internal communications from both employees and management.
It had also become easier to talk through comments and postings in one's news-feed, combined with the common news on the front page, said Claudia Pring.
Each colleague has his own data card, drawn directly from our AD, where the employee can connect his competencies so that others in the organisation can find the person based on what they work with daily.
Look for the blue t-shirts
FAB's intranet steering group made sure everything was as easy as possible for everyone to get started using the new intranet. Among other things, they had made blue t-shirts for the steering committee, so everyone knew who to ask when they had questions. After the introduction, there was also the opportunity to get help at the intranet support stand, created particularly for that day.
There was a stand in the foyer where employees could get help logging into the intranet for the first time, as well as putting a favourite icon on their mobile devices so that the new intranet was available from day one.
The steering group had provided power banks to help the many employees who did not have a permanent workplace in the office, so that mobiles and tablets, and thus the intranet, were always available.
Hands in the air
As a previous SharePoint user, Claudia is especially pleased with the short time it took to implement and set up the use of Colibo.
"We all have our arms raised high. It's so easy to implement"
The intranet has given FAB employees more opportunities to use the new system. Among other things, they have arranged competitions on the intranet, where you could win tickets to the zoo if you were the one who had the most seen news-update.
In particular, FAB has experienced how communication has suddenly shifted from the top down to communication across departments and positions. "It's the people's intranet," said Claudia Pring.
