Case | Rikshem
Rikshem climbed from the bottom to the top with its intranet
When Rikshem launched its new intranet, it was a real boost for internal communication. From receiving low ratings from users, it quickly rose to the top. Through continuous improvements and clear goals, the intranet is still standing firm and continues to make everyday life easier for employees.
Background and challenge
"The intranet is supposed to be our central channel for internal communication, so it needs to be user-friendly and efficient. Our previous platform was not flexible enough, it was slow and difficult to work with. Employees couldn't find what they were looking for and information was out of date. That's why we needed a new modern platform that meets our needs today."
Lillemor Odgren, Communications Officer at Rikshem
Solution
New way of working and stronger company culture
In addition to developing a new platform, Rikshem wanted to change ways of working and build a strong corporate culture. To achieve this, they developed clear impact goals to help them achieve the purpose of a new intranet: a Rikshem by simplifying and strengthening individual work and collaboration for the company to achieve its goals.
– They had carried out a feasibility study to develop the impact goals. They carefully reviewed their target groups and understood their needs by looking at statistics, interviewing employees and setting up customer journeys. They also prioritised what is most important and did a thorough review of their various document management platforms to find the best way to work with it, says Charlotta Ivansson, project manager, Soleil.
– Employees responded that they want to be able to exchange experiences and ask each other questions. We are spread out all over the country and some people don't have many people to talk to locally, explains Lillemor.
Soleil started by understanding the users' needs and identifying the most prioritised target groups. For Rikshem, which has many employees in the field and who are spread across different local offices, it is important to reach out with both local and central information in a simple way. All to increase the user experience by making the right information and the right functions easy to find. With this knowledge, they could then begin the work of building Rikshem's digital workplace.
Integrations that make everyday life easier and more efficient
Employees should easily access all guidelines and procedures linked to Rikshem's processes directly from the intranet, whether they are in the field or in an office. Therefore, for example, there is an integration with their document management system where they store all documents linked to the common working methods.
– We have helped them to make all processes searchable on the intranet and developed clear descriptions that are easy for users to understand. It's also easy for editors to work with predefined templates that they can publish.
All linked documents are automatically updated on the intranet when process owners make a new update in the underlying system, which means minimal administration. We then helped them with the information structure to find a clear navigation and grouped the content in a way that makes sense to users. This makes it easy for users to find what they are looking for, explains Charlotta.
In order for Rikshem's users to get a search function that is powerful and can quickly filter the search results based on what is a document, web page, person or post in social groups, an integration with the document management system was necessary. Here, Soleil supported Rikshem by building the link to Sharepoint.
Involved the whole organisation
Rikshem had a project group that included someone from every part of the organisation. They also had a reference group test all the functions before letting all employees in.
– Since the Web Service Award report can be broken down into different departments, I could see where in the organisation the employees were dissatisfied and with what, so I made sure to involve them properly in the project, says Lillemor.
Thanks to the thorough feasibility study, Rikshem really knew what functions and what kind of content their users wanted.
– We have worked a lot with the content and structure, which we tested thoroughly on the target groups beforehand. It feels so good that we can be confident that they will find what they are looking for and that the information is correct and updated, says Lillemor.
The result
From one of the worst in the industry to the best in Sweden
Before Rikshem started work on their new intranet, they conducted a Web Service Award survey of the existing platform. The purpose was to get a baseline measurement and ensure that they were building in the right way. The results showed a big improvement in user satisfaction after the new intranet was launched. In the first survey, scores were between 29 and 60, while the second showed an increase to between 58 and 79 – well above the industry average of between 45 and 59.
– It's incredible what a difference they have made, says Charlotta.
Among other things, the survey shows that employees save time thanks to the intranet because it enables a new way of working to manage information. For example, Rikshem has communicated that they do not want anyone to send emails to large groups, but communicate on the intranet in a smaller group, in the social flow or via a news item. This way, the information reaches the people who are affected by it, when they have time to absorb it themselves.
– Because we wanted to increase interaction on the intranet, we measure and monitor statistics on this. And it has increased significantly. Employees in all parts of the company have a better intranet. We can also use statistics to see in which departments users are not as satisfied and check with them what we can do to improve, says Lillemor.
Since the launch, Rikshem and Soleil have continued to develop the intranet. Document management has become smoother, and a new organisational chart has been developed – something that employees really appreciate.
– The development of our intranet continues and we are grateful for the cooperation with Soleil. Their team is very professional and dares to question our ideas but also make other suggestions. They feel more like a sounding board and a partner than a supplier, concludes Lillemor.
The impact goals with Rikshem's intranet
- Relevant and true – Increase users' perception that information is relevant and true.
- Easy to find and right – Increase users' perception that the right information and the right features are easily found.
- Promote exchange – Rikshem shall promote the exchange of information between users.
- Engage and integrate – Rikshem shall promote user engagement and interaction with each other.
- Holistic understanding –The users' knowledge of the company's long-term goals shall increase and the understanding of how it relates to the daily work shall increase.