Gerald R. Ford International Airport, the largest commercial airport in the West Michigan region, US, needed a first-time intranet to reduce their over-reliance on email and to restore engagement among team members.
- Industry: Aviation
- Country: USA (Michigan)
- Company size: <250 or Charity
Starting Point:
Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GFIA) was looking to install an intranet that would help them move them away from using email as the main form of communication between colleagues.
Over the years, the volume of internal emails had increased dramatically. Shared documents were in varying locations.
With a staff of 115, they wanted to improve their internal communication in a cost-effective and efficient way.
Solution:
GFIA approached Michigan-based Valo Premium Partner Red Level, with a screenshot of what they wanted their intranet to look like.
Red Level recommended Valo Intranet as 90 per cent of what they were asking for was found in Valo’s capabilities.
Benefits:
- Cost effective intranet-in-a-box solution
- Quick and easy to deploy
- Reduced volume of emails being sent
- Self-service intranet put in the hands of content people instead of IT
- User-friendly Valo has engaged previously “off-line” colleagues
A self-service intranet
GFIA had recently migrated to Office 365 (O365) which had opened up the possibility of using SharePoint as an intranet.
However, their Marketing and HR teams didn’t really know how to get the most from these new systems without involving the IT department.
So, one of their main requirements for a new intranet solution was that it should allow colleagues to self-serve, to add content and maintain it on their own without technical support.
Valo reduces reliance on email
In addition, GFIA wanted to use an intranet to reduce the volume of emails being sent internally. They were looking for a better way to engage with their staff and share information important to them.
Valo’s Premium Partner Red Level recommended Valo Intranet as it has a simple, easy to use, friendly interface, which is perfect for users looking to self-serve without the need for IT support.
We really liked the look and feel of Valo, as well as its capabilities, specifically the ‘people finder’ and the ease of adding content.
Valo saves time
Since introducing Valo Intranet the HR and Marketing teams are now able to post content quickly and easily. They are even able to do things like size the images for the carousel, which used to be a time-consuming job.
We are very impressed with how Valo is able to not only size images, but compress them too, so that they don’t adversely impact on the performance of our site.
Cost effective intranet
For a business the size of GFIA, Valo’s intranet-in-a-box solution is much better value and more cost-effective than a bespoke product.
As Valo is based on O365, and is customizable, it means that our partners can deploy it much faster than a non-packaged solution, which in turn reduces costs.
In addition, GFIA also chose to take out Valo’s Fresh subscription to ensure that their intranet stays completely compatible with O365 and benefits from Valo’s latest releases.
Employees “love it”
After six months of using Valo Intranet, GFIA has already begun to see the positive impact it is having among airport staff.
In some cases, departments who had never engaged via digital communications before have begun to use the intranet for the first time.
The feedback GFIA have received from employees so far is: “we love it” and “this is really great”.
Valo solves users’ problems
Valo’s Premium Partner Red Level suggests the reason Valo is so popular with the airport staff is because it brings all of the O365 tools into one place, which has encouraged greater user adoption.
People don’t adopt technology, they adopt solutions to their problems. Valo has introduced the airport staff to SharePoint and Yammer, and shown them the value of using them.
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Would you like to spread a little Valo love around your organization? Why not book a demo and let us help you fall in love with your intranet.
