Realdania were looking for a new intranet solution to replicate their existing platform. And as their former intranet was being discontinued, they needed a replacement, fast.
- Industry: Non-governmental organization
- Country: Denmark
- Company Size: < 250 users
Starting point
Realdania’s former intranet platform ran out of technical support so they needed to find a replacement, quickly. Plus, they wanted their new intranet to have a similar look and feel to their old one.
In addition, as they are in the early stages of a digital transformation program, and gradually moving the organization towards Office 365, they were looking for an intranet that would be modern, cloud-based and compatible with Office 365 and SharePoint.
Solution
Valo’s Danish Partner Pointwork recommended Valo Intranet because it’s built on modern SharePoint experience, it follows Microsoft’s roadmap and can be customized. Plus, it has a good search function, navigation menu, and a mobile app.
Realdania also liked Pointwork and Valo’s collaborative attitude and agile processes.
Benefits
- A modern, cloud-based, future-proof intranet
- Compatible with SharePoint & Office 365
- Follows Microsoft’s roadmap
- Excellent, fast search function including ‘People Finder’ tool
- Easy-to-use navigation
- Improved content editing tools
A new intranet solution, fast
Realdania is a Danish Philanthropic Association with approximately 165,000 members and 200 employees. Their mission is to improve the quality of life for all by developing the built environment.
They were very happy with their previous intranet, which had been designed and custom-built to meet the exact criteria set out by the marketing department.
However, their former intranet provider was no longer providing support for the platform, and had given Realdania’s IT team a year’s notice to find a new solution.
Realdania’s Head of IT Thomas Wittrock was tasked with finding a like-for-like replica. He reached out to our Danish Partner, Pointwork who recommended Valo Intranet. Together Valo and Pointwork could support the agile processes they needed to get the new intranet up and running quickly.
Pointwork set up a live demo for Realdania’s IT team to review, so they could see exactly what they were buying before committing.
“Pointwork gave us a Valo demo and it actually looked like our site. That gave me a good feeling that this was the right product for us,” emphasizes Thomas Wittrock on the importance of the demo.
Valo Intranet to replicate the previous intranet
Valo and Pointwork’s approach to collaborative working was also another tipping factor for choosing Valo Intranet. Plus, the fact that Valo is built on top of SharePoint Modern also helped to clinch the deal.
We wanted to do it the right way, the first time. So, we chose Valo because it is built on top of modern SharePoint and is the best technical solution for us.
As Realdania’s main goal was to replicate the look and feel of their old platform Pointwork and Valo’s dev team worked hard to make this happen.
Search & navigation functions a top priority
Realdania were also looking to improve on two of the areas that their former intranet did not perform well on; search and navigation.
Pointwork customized and optimized Valo’s search and navigation functions, especially the People Finder tool. Now colleagues can search by department and by name, which they couldn’t do before. They are also happy with how Valo’s Mega Menu displays the menus and content inside their intranet.
Valo’s search is very fast and very good. Staff especially like the People Finder tool and the Mega Menu. They are much better than the previous solution.
The new Valo Intranet, Jarmes Hjørne, was launched in late 2019. The internal comms team have praised the way they can now arrange and highlight news and content based upon editorial choices, instead of just the publishing day. Plus, they agree the editing functions in Valo are also better and more intuitive than in the previous solution.
A cloud-based, customizable solution
From an IT perspective, Thomas really likes how Valo Intranet is a cloud-based solution and could be installed relatively quickly for a fixed cost. Pointwork provided fixed date for delivery and an agile process where Realdania were able to see the product whilst it was being developed.
Pointwork’s CTO Peter Brinch Larsen recommended Valo Intranet simply because it completes SharePoint and fills out all the corners that Microsoft isn’t taking care of yet.
We chose to recommend Valo because it is developed using Microsoft best practices. Valo is a highly innovative in-the-box intranet solution that meets most requirements and can be customized and adapted to the customer’s needs.
Realdania are only at the beginning of their digital journey, and are taking a step-by-step approach to transformation. In the near future, they plan to introduce other Valo features into their digital workplace including Yammer, Valo’s mobile app, and Valo Teamwork.
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Is your intranet built on legacy technology? Are you looking to upgrade to a cloud-based solution? Book a demo today to find out how Valo’s tools, built on SharePoint Modern, can future-proof your workplace.
