Business Situation:

LifeWorks, a global leader in technology-enabled HR solutions, needed an effective internal communications solution to replace their antiquated, on-premises intranet. After achieving rapid growth through several acquisitions, their technology could no longer support knowledge management for 7000+ employees across numerous geographical regions.

Their old technology was mainly used for document management without any robust upkeep. LifeWorks employees found it difficult to use and share content, the search feature was non-functioning, and there was no centralized process to navigate documents. With the demands to keep employees engaged with relevant and fresh content, their small internal communications team needed a practical solution with a polished look and feel to communicate their brand’s vision.

Having a centralized employee hub to share and manage content, knowledge, and applications was essential. Employees needed to find information quickly, collaborate across the organization, and engage in meaningful ways, no matter the device or location.

Solution Story:

With many options on the market to build their new employee hub, SharePoint became the clear and cost-effective winner. Having already invested in Microsoft 365, LifeWorks could easily integrate SharePoint with its existing technologies and utilize its upgraded capabilities. However, they lacked the in-house expertise to fulfill their technical requirements and needed guidance on how best to proceed. In their search for the right vendor to assist them, they quickly found others pushed too hard to fit them into standardized molds.

LifeWorks felt confident knowing Imaginet would take the time to understand their unique business needs and work together to build a model truly fit for them, not the other way around; an approach that proved both reasonable in cost and time.

Discovery

At the initial kick-off, LifeWorks and Imaginet determined goals and expectations, to ensure project success. Imaginet gathered background research through a series of workshops and meetings to understand their internal communication goals, different user groups, and design requirements to inform the information architecture and data structure before development began.

Design-Develop-Review

Using the information gathered, we worked together to plan and design a model for their modern employee hub. Imaginet’s SharePoint developers focused on technical delivery, creating custom web parts, layouts, and page templates to achieve the desired functionality and look and feel.

Simultaneously, LifeWorks’ team focused on transitioning their content to propel the project forward. Through daily scrums and check-ins, both teams reviewed progress and maintained close communication to ensure everyone was on the same page. This integrated approach proved of high value to LifeWorks who received proper guidance and coaching to learn about their new solution, to achieve tangible business impact.

Having Imaginet’s engagement manager oversee the project, provide status reports, and ensure success creating a collaborative and trustworthy environment for both parties to thrive. In addition to receiving guidance from development, Imaginet provided LifeWorks with training sessions and supporting documents to ensure proper usage and hand-off at project closeout.

With their new modern SharePoint employee hub, they’ve raised the bar on employee engagement.

Rather than depend on the internal communications team to create and publish content, all regions can update and maintain their site, creating a self-sufficient content machine. LifeWorks employees stay engaged with videos, GIFs, and photos through smart, structured, and organized sites. And they can find the right information with common navigation and intuitive search. Inspired by the capabilities of Microsoft Viva Connections, Imaginet built a solution to keep everyone informed about what’s happening across the organization. LifeWorks curated, company-branded employee hub brings together relevant news, conversations, and resources and empowers everyone to foster better connections.

With the help of Imaginet, LifeWorks now has a stunning, modern, and highly functional intranet solution that employees will enjoy using anywhere, at any time.