For over 1 million organizations globally that use Microsoft 365, cloud-based SharePoint intranet is the most logical, cost-effective way to host an intuitive, scalable and robust company intranet.
However, without any further modification, it won’t deliver all of the benefits that an enterprise-level intranet is truly capable of providing.
If you manage internal communications at a complex, distributed organization, you already know that you need a powerful intranet search experience to connect users with resources and expertise with minimal time wasted.
You need to make individual intranet experiences hyper-relevant through deep personalization.
And, you need ways to manage, create and share content that engages employees, connects them to your brand, and maximizes the ROI of your internal communications strategy.
LiveTiles unlocks not only the full value of your M365 investment – but also the full potential of your existing SharePoint intranet.
Read on to see how three companies, starting with SharePoint, used LiveTiles to transform their intranet platforms into truly leading – and unique – digital employee experiences.
SharePoint Intranet Example 1: Using content to crack the internal communications code
Wessex Water (United Kingdom)
- Size: 2,500 employees
- Sector: Utilities (Water)
What was the challenge?
Wessex Water Group’s stated aim – and a core value – was to embed “clear communication to and between staff, resulting in a well-informed workforce”.
It was a task that their unresponsive and unimaginative content management system (CMS) wasn’t helping them to achieve.
Their main problems were:
- Making key documents, such as policies and manuals accessible to teams (which was difficult with a weak search functionality)
- Driving mobile usage – critical for connecting its frontline staff with the office, and mobile-accessible resources
- Evolving ‘style, relevance and inclusivity’ for an increasingly digital-native workforce
How did LiveTiles help them?
Integrating LiveTiles’ solution allowed them to use their existing Microsoft 365 environment to achieve three key things:
- Remove the restrictions of their previous CMS-based intranet
- Connect teams in the field and at HQ with their central organization (and one another)
- Use content to create a compelling ‘story’ around the people who work for Wessex Water, helping immerse employees in their workplace
With their new intranet, dubbed The Source, they:
- Maximized relevance and variety of content by giving departments and employees control as ‘publishers’ (this drove UGC production by letting them create hubs for different groups (such as employee resource groups)
- Combined global navigation, metadata-based content management and improved search to make content easier to find, even on mobile. This wasted less time and improved the user experience.
What can we learn from it?
If you already know the value of an intranet for internal communications, it may be a case that your ideas are right – but your platform is holding you back.
Strong search features and better navigation are vital for saving teams time when finding essential resources and apps – but it is the content itself that ensures employees have compelling reasons to engage with the platform… even more so when they own the production of that content.
Learn more about how Wessex Water used content to re-engage its internal audiences.
SharePoint Intranet Example 2: Building the ultimate intranet dashboard to help find information
Deakin University (Australia)
Staff: 10,000+
Sector: Education
What was the challenge?
Deakin University is a great example of a complex organization. It has 188 departments, spans various ‘domains’ (for example, academic, residential and student support) and each of these need to manage significant amounts of information.
Users were complaining that the confusing architecture of its intranet made it difficult to find the right people and information (for example, students using it struggled to find support resources) whilst content managers were repeatedly duplicating content.
How did LiveTiles help them?
Rearranging this complex architecture was an achievement in itself – but it was by using LiveTiles’ SharePoint-based intranet that Deakin ensured that the streamlined system was sustainable, scalable and would allow for integration of versatile SharePoint features.
Most importantly, the ‘Hub’ that resulted became centered around a universal ‘dashboard’ that signposted users to resources, improved information access, and reduced time taken to complete tasks by a quarter.
Hear from Deakin University’s Digital Workplace Manager about how the University used LiveTiles to create a reliable, single-source of truth, and make sense of a complex architecture.
What can we learn?
Without proper data governance, complex organizations can become overwhelmed by the volume of data they manage. The right platform can not only streamline this (avoiding costly duplication and helping users to self-serve) but also future-proof that organization by building scalability into its design.
Learn more about how Deakin University used LiveTiles to simplify its complex workplace.
SharePoint Intranet Example 3: Spearheading inclusion of mobile and multilingual teams
Galenica (Switzerland)
Staff: 8,000
Sector: Healthcare
What was the challenge:
For the largest pharmacy group in Switzerland, distribution is its strength, with over 500 pharmacies and partner pharmacies, 5,500 non-desk workers, and a multilingual employee base.
Significant growth wasn’t being capitalized on because too few employees had access to its central communications channel: lack of mobile access affected over half of its workforce, which meant vital frontline members, like pharmacy assistants and warehouse employees, didn’t have as great a voice in the company.
How did LiveTiles help them:
LiveTiles, layered on Microsoft SharePoint, enhanced the functionality of an already easy-to-use platform and amplified the benefits that Galenica needed most: personalization (including creation of individual news feeds), mobile-functionality, and automatic translation.
What can we learn?
Digital identity is a powerful unifier – and an expectation in modern workplaces. With frontline employees able to enjoy the same benefits, support and communication capabilities as desk-based teams (and in their own language), mobile-ready intranet can be a powerful driver of inclusion and unlock opportunities for collaboration and innovation.
Learn how Galenica drove growth and fostered the inclusion of its mobile teams with a modern SharePoint intranet.
Transform your SharePoint, transform what’s possible.
These examples of SharePoint intranet show just how versatile SharePoint online can be – but you can only unlock it when you add an out-of-the-box solution like LiveTiles.
Deep personalization for increased adoption, analytics that inform performance-driven communications, and content that gives users a meaningful connection to their organization.
When combined with a mobile-ready platform, accessible from Microsoft Teams, you might be surprised at the depth of the experience you can unlock – all from your existing Microsoft 365 investment.
The SharePoint page ideas above are just the start – to see how a modern SharePoint intranet with LiveTiles can connect your employees to everything your organization offers, all you need to do is book a demo.
