IWB is the local energy provider in the Canton of Basel-Stadt, Switzerland. Its workforce of 1,145 employees is spread across four main offices. The majority of IWB’s staff work in blue-collar positions, reflecting the company’s hands-on approach to energy provision.
The Project Manager for Internal Communications, Magali Lähns was looking for a digital workplace platform that improved internal communication channels and enhanced employee engagement. They selected Bloom Intranet to provide just such a solution.
IWB's challenges and needs
Before implementing Bloom Intranet, IWB faced several challenges. Its previous intranet, based on a traditional website CMS, lacked personalization and the latest features. Employees struggled to access certain systems due to the absence of a single-point entry. This resulted in inefficient and fragmented internal communication, as well as frustration for the users.
“We were seeking a single-point entry to our intranet and essential systems, and Bloom Intranet provides exactly that. Its ability to centralize communication across all departments and offer a personalized digital workspace made it the ideal solution for improving internal communication at IWB.”
— Magali Lähns, Project Manager Internal Communication at IWB
IWB needed a centralized communication platform that could reach all employees across different departments and locations effectively. Additionally, it was vital that all employees—especially those in blue-collar roles—could access the intranet and essential tools from any company device.
The solution: Bloom Intranet
In November 2023, IWB launched a new digital workplace platform by integrating Bloom Intranet with a partial implementation of SharePoint Online. Bloom Intranet was selected as the “Home” page to serve as a single-point entry for employees, providing a personalized digital workspace.
Key features included:
- Widgets for intranet personalization such as banners, a news center and apps & tools.
- Centralized communication for company updates and news aggregation.
- Accessibility on any IWB device to support employees across all locations.
Overall, the project took nine months to implement, with the rollout occurring simultaneously across all departments. This ensured a consistent, unified communication platform for all employees.
Implementing Bloom Intranet
To meet IWB’s specific needs, Bloom Intranet was configured with:
- Tailored workspaces with Board Templates:
- A banner, for important links.
- A news center, consolidating updates from all communication sites.
- An agenda, for internal events.
- An Apps widget, acting as a central hub for various systems, including SharePoint.
- Widgets for specific tools like external media publications.
- A people search feature and onboarding widget.
- Optional widgets for personalization:
- Countdown timer, that counts down the days to the next major event.
- Personal productivity, such as files, to-dos, upcoming meetings.
- External feeds to relevant web sources.
- Save for later, helping to keep track of important reads.
- Followed sites for quick access to the most relevant SharePoint sites.
- Post-it notes for quick, personalized reminders.
These widget options allowed employees to customize their dashboards. That personalization aspect greatly increased staff engagement and made it easier for each individual to use.
What difference has Bloom Intranet made?
The implementation of Bloom Intranet led to centralized communication across all departments, provided a single-point entry to access intranet resources and external tools, increased the visibility of company updates through the news center, and enhanced employee engagement by enabling personalized digital workplaces.
“The Ichicraft Board News widget and Apps widget have become essential parts of our daily workflows. Employees appreciate having all the latest updates in one place and easy access to the tools they need, which has improved communication and increased engagement across our organization.”
— Magali Lähns, Project Manager Internal Communication at IWB
Employees have provided overwhelmingly positive feedback. The consolidation of news and ease of accessing frequently used tools have been particularly impactful. While no formal analytics are yet in place, anecdotal evidence suggests that employees frequently use the platform to access news and tools easily as part of their daily workflow.
Feedback on implementing Bloom Intranet
IWB’s experience with the Ichicraft team has been excellent. Both administrators and users have found the regular updates and easy-to-follow instructions really beneficial. The company highly recommends Bloom Intranet to other organizations looking for:
- A user-friendly intranet solution.
- Tools to enhance employee engagement.
- Features to support centralized communication and collaboration platforms.
What next?
Building on this impactful implementation, IWB will expand the benefits of Bloom Intranet by leveraging analytics to identify the most effective widgets, promoting the onboarding widget to better support new hires, and enhancing digital readiness across the organization to increase overall engagement.
“We are fans of Bloom Intranet! We feel very well supported by the Ichicraft team and we would like to develop more benefits for our users in the future.”
— Magali Lähns, Project Manager Internal Communication at IWB
Conclusion
By integrating Bloom Intranet into its intranet, IWB has transformed its internal communication and employee engagement strategies for the better. The centralized, personalized digital workspace has improved daily workflows and connectivity across the organization. IWB plans to expand on its analytics and feature adoption next. The organization’s committed to leveraging Bloom Intranet to its fullest potential and reaping the many benefits that come with that.
