Breaking down barriers between different departments and switching from on-premise to cloud solutions were the starting points as Alma Media started to look for a new, more community-centric intranet. The intranet was given not only a facelift but a whole new identity.
- Industry: Media
- Country: Finland
- Company Size: Large, 1001-5000 users
Starting point
Alma Media, a Finnish Media company focusing on digital services and publishing, had a customized on-premise intranet, Walma, which usability did not match the current needs. As other services were already removed to cloud services, the time was right to take the next step with the intranet as well.
Solution
Alma Media made the transfer from a customized intranet to a cloud-based intranet in-a-box solution, Valo Intranet. At the same time, the whole content in the intranet was updated. Ready-to-go intranet felt like a more secure solution than keeping the customized intranet.
Benefits
Each employee now has the access to all news across different departments breaking the previously existing barriers between different company units. With a mobile-friendly intranet, finding the information is a lot easier than before. With the new intranet, Alma people are able to build a more open and social working community.
A wish for an easy-to-update and community-centric intranet
Alma’s previous customized on-premise intranet called Walma was getting outdated and didn’t match the company needs. Renewing the intranet was also a topic that had been brought up in surveys concerning the company’s internal communication. As other services were already transferred to the cloud, updating the intranet was the obvious next step.
The new intranet needed to answer today’s needs for usability. “Mobile friendliness and finding the relevant information easily were the most important features when we started to look for a new intranet solution” tells Alma’s Software Expert Sanna Walle.
We wanted a more community-centric intranet. In the old intranet, the user was only shown the news concerning their own department. We wanted to break those barriers between departments and give the chance to all employees to see everyone’s daily life, no matter which department they’re working at.
Customized or ready-to-go intranet?
There were two options left at the moment of the renewal. Switching to cloud-based Valo Intranet or updating the existing one. Alma Media chose ready-to-go Valo and transferring the intranet to the cloud.
Since this model has worked for others, why not for us as well? A ready-to-go intranet felt more secure with its functionalities than a completely customized model.
With the intranet in-a-box-solution, the project was finalized within the schedule. “Project was agile. Blue Meteorite had clear processes to walk-through the project and you could really tell they had been doing it before”, tells Lotta.
Activating the community
The new intranet has received great feedback from Alma people.
Users have been thanking for the user interface, clarity and the usability. Especially publishing is easy and creating news now only takes a couple of minutes.
The content was also updated during the project and some of the old content was left out of the new intranet. With the Search function in Valo, finding the right content is easy.
We have received great feedback on the findability and accuracy of the information.
Renewing an intranet is not only about updating the technology. The new tool will change the working habits and therefore the internal launch is important in the whole renewal process. “We had an internal launch campaign where we spread mystical notes to employees’ desks. We also kidnapped the old intranet and covered the front page with a black banner that had a countdown to the opening of the new intranet” tells Lotta about the launching phase.
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