OVERVIEW
The Bundaberg Region covers a mighty 6,451 square kilometres at the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef. The region is home to more than 100,000 people with strong growth projected over the next decade. As the largest employer in the area, Bundaberg Regional Council employs close to 900 people and prides itself on diversity and inclusion. Bundaberg Regional Council’s vision is bold but simple: to build Australia’s best regional community.
THE BUSINESS GOAL
Bundaberg Regional Council wanted to foster greater communication and collaboration within its workforce by introducing an up-to-date platform which had the ability to share relevant and timely information and encourage knowledge sharing and teamwork. The Council needed a new, visually engaging platform to provide its employees with a single reference point for information and contact.
Operating within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, Council wished to leverage Teams and SharePoint as well as integrating with Active Directory and other essential apps.
The vision: a trusted one-stop shop to enable staff to engage, collaborate and connect with each other across council, to continue “Building Australia’s best regional community”.
HOW WE HELPED
Having established the vision and goals of the project with stakeholders, WebVine created a beautiful new Injio intranet for Bundaberg Regional Council. The new platform, OurNet, presents accurate, up to date information from a single hub – accessed via a responsive, mobile friendly interface. Employees can easily find council policies, procedures, and the latest news & announcements as well as meetings and events through the centralised calendar.
Leveraging Teams integration, a revitalised staff directory and bespoke intranet features, employees can find and communicate with each other, share ideas and work together on projects, as well as recognise colleagues publicly for a job well done. An ideation module encourages innovation, and a job vacancies feature helps encourage staff referrals, addressing ongoing recruitment challenges.
As a leading, innovative council, Bundaberg Regional Council has also adopted WebVine’s brand new productivity tool hovva! Using their individually curated hovva workspaces, employees can manage their day-to-day applications in one place, viewing and responding to Outlook emails, Teams chats and meeting updates all on the one screen.
BUSINESS OUTCOMES
It’s early days but OurNet has been a smashing success so far. More than 70% of the workforce access the site each day and stay for 10 minutes on average.
The intranet provides staff with the latest news, policies and quick links to important information and platforms. This eliminates the need for employees to search for information through multiple sources, or ask their colleagues, saving time and reducing confusion. Anecdotal evidence from key support staff indicates a significant reduction in “how to” and “where can I find” questions!
The InsideOUT staff newsletter is now published on OurNet in an easier to access, engaging and interactive format, and comments and likes encourage feedback and discussion. Readership has increased since the launch of OurNet.
Usage of the hovva workspace is gaining traction, with early adopters embracing the ability to accept a meeting invitation, respond to an Outlook email and send an emoji in Teams without switching screens.
