This November, we launched the Tell Us Your Story campaign to learn about the people behind our customer’s intranets. Customers that shared their stories received donations to their favorite charities and are featured in our blog today. Here are some of our favorite stories about how the people in our client’s organizations are impacted by their intranet.
City of Richmond- Colleen Smith
Charity: Cancer Agency for breast cancer research and treatment
In the early days City employees learned to use the Bulletin Board and the Calendar and we provided a phone directory that was very popular. But in the last couple of years there has been a boom of new content as employees are making the Intranet their own. We have Wellness section created by the Corporate Wellness Team using multiple department page types and HTML pages. A group in our Leadership Program has developed an employee services section that covers everything from how to get your Photo ID Badge to Pay and Benefits, and Union Contracts.
Engineering and Public Works has really embraced the Department Page. They have created a friendly and informative center for their employees. Today there are 41 Movember mustaches on display for charity.
Our Co-op and Auxiliary staff got in the act big time when they found an innovative way to deliver Intranet content to outside workers. They pulled selected data from the site and displayed in on a large flat screen at the City Works Yard so employees could see things in What’s New and other things like training and employment opportunities.
We are still exploring new ideas in Richmond and we appreciate the many benefits of having our Intranet.
The Lewis Group- Susan Whitfield
Charity: Support Our Soldiers (UK)
I was asked to provide some shoe boxes to send some bits to soldiers serving in Afghanistan.
Because I felt this was a good cause I put a plea on the intranet to see if anyone else wanted to donate boxes or items to send. I also organised a raffle and cake sale to raise funds for items to send, I put notice of this on the intranet. From the fundraising and donations, I raised £312.50, we are still organizing boxes to send and so far have already sent about 20. I do believe the intranet has helped as so many more people will have been aware of this cause than if I had used word of month.
Rio Rancho Public Schools- Peter Barron
Charity: Rahel’s Challenge
I don’t have a huge story, but it’s potentially huge in the lives of children in our community. Rio Rancho is a mid-sized school district in New Mexico with close to 17,000 students, and one of our ongoing issues is defeating bullying in our schools. We have recently been sponsoring the “Rachel’s Challenge” (http://www.rachelschallenge.org/) presentations to staff and students to raise awareness about bullying and its consequences. Rachel Scott was the first student to be shot at Columbine High School in 1999. These presentations challenged us to “start a chain reaction” using everyday acts of kindness and bravery, supporting students who might be targets of bullying, and supporting those who would bully to change their behaviors.
We posted a blog on our intranet (affectionately called “RioNet”) for staff across the district to weigh in on the Rachel’s challenge and open a door for conversation. The blog has had numerous posts, and so I just wanted to let you know that, because of the ease with which we’ve been able to leverage our intranet as a tool for communication and sharing, the very lives of our children may have been saved. It is powerful and moving to see how, because of our ability to share and connect, “chain reactions” are occurring in our district. You know the Helen Keller quote, “When we do the best that we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or the life of another.”… this is what I think of when I realize that the comments and opinions our staff share via this and other blogs on our intranet have ripple effects that spread right into the lives of our children. It is a powerful use of the technology that Intranet Connections designers and engineers probably never envisioned when they did their beautiful work.
Greater Iowa Credit Union- Peggy Wurster
Charity: Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals- University of Iowa Children’s Hospital
Greater Iowa Credit Union encourages work/life balance on the intranet by allowing employees access to add special events that they want to share with others. Peggy Wurster shared that one of Greater Iowa’s tellers is involved in a comedy group and uses the intranet to invite everyone to his shows. Many of the staff have gone in support of him and put messages out there to encourage others to join as well. Read more
York Central Hospital- Nelson Cardoso
Charity: York Central Hospital Foundation
The main objective of York Central’s intranet is to provide a central location for healthcare workers on the go to access valuable company information. To do so, they use their intranet home page to announce their CEO’s message, hospital highlights, healthcare news, media coverage and press releases. Read more
The Lewis Group- Andy Boot
Charity: The Beatson Institute for Cancer Research
Lewis Group used a variety of innovative promotions to get users excited about their new intranet with ideas like an employee profile contest and CEO Blogging. Their CEO, Dave Berry, encourages employees to use the intranet by emailing his monthly newsletter called “Berry’s briefing” to employees, which links to the intranet. Read more
Bonnier Corporation- Amanda Chu
Charity: The American Red Cross
Bonnier recently launched their new social intranet to provide improved navigation and design features to better suit the organizations entrepreneurial mindset. Bonnier promotes corporate culture with their entrepreneurial vision and provides a company overview section that talks about how the company started, the company vision and its core values. Read more
We are very grateful to have received these intranet success stories from our customers. We appreciate that they shared how their intranet has impacted the people in their organization.
The Intranet Connections team is giving back this December by assembling food hampers for KidStart, a local organization that offers mentoring to vulnerable children and youth. We look forward to fulfilling the lives of youths and their families this holiday season.
