As FAB experienced increasing growth, the challenge of internal communication became more and more obvious. Among other things, they found that many employees had limited knowledge about each other and their working procedures. Therefore, FAB could not be sure that knowledge was shared optimally.
With 130 employees spread throughout Funen and only approximately 50 with a permanent workplace at the headquarters in Odense, it was time to "tie the headquarters and departments together" as CEO Jacob Michaelsen stated, during FAB's launch party for the new intranet.
Many geographical locations led to individual forms of communication
Due to the many different geographical locations that FAB employees work from, they realized that it was time to bring people closer together.
The housing company is characterised by the fact that many employees work remotely and rarely meet each other in everyday work life. Also, FAB found that employees had no place to be informed about the happenings in the company. They needed a digital gathering point for everyone, regardless of the department, the workplace, and whether they were using their mobile or computer. They also needed a system to limit the many "all-mails".
One of their biggest challenges was to find the ideal tool for an organisation like FAB. A tool that seize the employees that are geographically dispersed and where the use of IT in everyday life variate widely.
Intuitive intranet that embraces all employees
FAB was looking for a collaborative tool that could accommodate as many of the users' needs as possible. The requirements were:
- Intuitive
- Easy access to colleagues and their skills
- Available on both mobile, tablet, and desktop
- File sharing capability
- Knowledge sharing across the organisation
- Quick implementation
HR- and Communications Consultant, Claudia Pring, who is responsible for internal communication, began investigating possible solutions. In the process she share:
I came from a SharePoint solution in a previous position, which was far too heavy to use, edit, and teach people to use - we wanted to go completely in the other direction.
The choice of intranet quickly fell on Colibo's social intranet, which, with its intuitive design and interface, was easy to understand and embrace.
New intranet in less than 16 weeks
FAB launched their new intranet in April 2017, less than four months after Claudia and the administration group decided to implement Colibo as their intranet solution.
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 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 administration 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.
Look for the blue t-shirts
FAB's intranet administration 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 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 table, 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.
Hands raised 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. 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," says Claudia Pring.
