Building a Digital Collaboration and Communication Roadmap to transform the employee experience at a major public hospital.
During the pandemic, our client experienced an overwhelming increase in email correspondence, causing their on-premises Exchange Server 2013 to struggle with demand. With its end-of-life rapidly approaching, enhancements became unfeasible. To address these challenges, we helped them migrate to M365, immediately improving access to emails and calendars and offering a personalized inbox to better manage messages.
The migration also enhanced security and opened doors for improved information management. However, as employees and leaders explored M365 further, they recognized its broader potential to transform the digital workplace. It became evident that a digital roadmap was essential to prioritize initiatives and maximize their M365 investment
Our Approach
The project was delivered in three phases: Discovery, Analysis, and Digital Roadmap Development.
Discovery Phase
In this phase, we focused on gaining a deep understanding of the client’s core functions, people, and technical landscape. We worked closely with project teams, leaders, and stakeholders across the business, including hospital administrators, health service providers, HR teams, and governance leaders.
Activities included a technical assessment, digital maturity review, and a series of workshops with over 80 representatives, with a strong emphasis on clinical settings (72% of participants). This phase resulted in a detailed understanding of the current state, key challenges, and opportunities, as well as important factors such as privacy, regulatory requirements, and contractual obligations.
Analysis Phase
The analysis phase synthesized the discovery findings, categorizing opportunities into key work segments. For each segment, we identified dependencies, critical enablers, and licensing requirements, while also considering key benefits and a high-level impact assessment.
The outcome was a set of recommended initiatives aligned with the ‘Modern Collaboration Architecture’ framework, which emphasized three key themes for the digital workplace:
- Easy to use
- Mobile-friendly
- Safe and secure
Digital Roadmap Phase
Building on our research, we began crafting the digital roadmap, outlining the steps required to implement M365 successfully, address employee pain points, and digitize manual processes. The roadmap was designed not only to introduce new digital tools but also to ensure effective governance, information management, and change management to sustain the investment and support employees in adopting new ways of working.
The final product was the Digital Communication and Collaboration Strategy Roadmap, which included resourcing recommendations. This was used by the project team to develop the business case and cost proposal.
The Result
The Digital Communication and Collaboration Strategy Roadmap gave our client a clear path forward, helping them prioritize initiatives that would yield the greatest benefits for their employees.
Key takeaways included the continued importance of the intranet as a central resource for news, people, and information. The roadmap also emphasized the need for solutions to enable targeted communication and prioritize urgent updates. Ultimately, this project allowed the organization to make informed investment decisions, enabling employees to fully leverage the M365 suite of products.
