How communication and adoption ensure optimal use and support for X-net.
Enexis Groep is one of the seven regional grid companies in the Netherlands and brings energy where people need light and heat. Enexis Group manages its networks with’ state of the art ‘ services. Safe, anytime, anywhere. They do this with pride, customer-friendly and from the awareness that we only have one Earth on which we should be economical together. It is a social organization that all employees love to work for.
Enexis Group has been working for some time on a major modernization battle and the migration of systems from Microsoft SharePoint 2013 to Microsoft 365. The intranet of Enexis Group, X-net, has also been included in this modernization. The realization and furnishing of this was carried out by Portiva. Evolve was asked to outline an approach for communication and adoption so that use and support for X-net is optimal. We looked at the extent to which employees want to use the intranet sustainably, they know how to use it and they experience the time and opportunity to use it. In our view, adoption is about involvement, learning, training and understanding. Of course, communication plays a crucial role in this.
In short, our activities:
- Support in formulating intranet objectives and KPIs
- Drafting and executing/guiding the adoption and communication strategy
- Describing which (groups of) employees play a key role in achieving success
- Developing strategy and key messages per (sub)group
- Research into communication structure
- Development of communication and instructional materials
- Training of content editors
- Developing and executing an activation campaign
In short, our deliverables:
- X-net Strategic Framework
- Organization-wide communication
- Support, training, and guidance for project group, steering committee, and ambassadors
- Player-specific guidance
- Specific support sessions
- Training of the various players
- Instructional material for the various players
- Configuration aligned with organizational goals
- Clear Q&A for X-net
Why you need to make the added value of an intranet concrete
Following the biennial benchmark research that we carry out from Evolve, Enexis group approached us in the summer of 2020 with the request to support the adoption and communication of their renewed intranet, X-net. Enexis group asked us to map out who they should involve, educate and train to ensure that X-net would land well in the organization.
In order to know what needs to be paid attention to within the new intranet, it is important to know what the added value of an intranet is. That’s why we started by defining the main goals of X-net and converted them into key messages for the main players. These goals were also decisive for the functionalities, design and prioritization of the platform.
On the basis of desk research and workshops with the communication department, we have established a strategic framework. It sets out who the main players were and what it took to get them into the story and what instruction was needed to make them fulfill their role. We tested this framework with the steering group, consisting of managers, and the sounding board group, consisting of employees.
The intranet is not a button that you convert
The adoption and communication took into account different groups of employees, which were first defined. We looked at who should be included in the process at what time, with the aim of involving those players in advance so that the new intranet would land quickly and well. In order to get all players involved in the adoption of X-net as well as possible, we have distinguished three types of activities: communication, support and training.
In the adoption, the emphasis was on internal activation through visible use of colleagues, (informal) leaders, the contribution to the daily work and highlighting the significant improvements compared to the ‘ old ‘ x-net.
Of course, it was important to determine what means would be used to reach the colleagues. Based on the existing channels and media, an opinion was drawn up and implemented. For example, we organized a number of webinars, developed a Quick reference Card and used the banner position on the old intranet to announce the arrival of the new intranet. From Evolve, we also prepared sample communications, made a briefing for the welcome video and coordinated the user acceptance tests.
Evolve was also involved in guiding content editors and, where necessary, we contributed to the implementation. During the collaboration, we also monitored compliance with the strategic framework and the connection of the new intranet to organizational goals..
This ensures good guidance for involved employees
On January 11, 2021, the new intranet went live. The renewed X-net has been very positively received by all employees. Immediately after going live, the intranet’s traffic increased from a few hundred visitors to thousands of visitors. It can be seen that X-net Has Landed well in all layers of the organization. Because of the fragmented approach, everyone is involved and therefore well supervised.
Maartje Zijlemans – Communications Advisor at Enexis group: ‘we are very enthusiastic about our new intranet, from administrators to users. It has not only become visually a lot more attractiveand clearer. All content has been given a better place and it’s a lot easier to manage. A whole improvement that we like to keep working on, because you are never finished.’
Want to know more?
Do you want to know more about project support in implementing a social intranet or do you have a question that we can help you with? Please feel free to contact Anouk via anouk@evolve.eu or +31 6 57 58 83 63.
