The staff members of the nonprofit KIDS work hard every day to provide education, care, and support to children, youth, and adults in Limburg. The organization has grown steadily over the years and now offers a wide range of activities. As a result, communicating quickly and clearly with a group of 700 dedicated employees is no easy task. The nonprofit turned to GMI Group for help in building an intranet that simplifies internal communication and administration for employees.
“We believe it’s important for everyone to feel involved in the organization and to be aware of what’s going on throughout the nonprofit,” says Executive Director Margo Nulens. “But in a large organization, it was becoming increasingly difficult to get that general information across to every employee. Moreover, communication in our schools and care departments has a very different dynamic and therefore requires a tailored approach.”
From the very first contact, we hit it off with the project team at Alistar: a young and dynamic team that listened carefully to our needs, responded with great enthusiasm, and got to work on it right away.
Margo Nulens, Managing Director
Thanks to the pandemic, from dream to reality
The nonprofit organization KIDS was aware of this challenge and had been dreaming for some time of an intranet to improve internal communication. The COVID-19 crisis provided the momentum to finally turn that dream into reality. “Every year, at the start of the new work year in late August, we hold an orientation day for all our employees. It’s a time for them to get to know one another, for us to connect with the entire organization, and for all kinds of important information to be shared with colleagues. But in the summer of 2020, that kick-off day couldn’t take place because of the COVID-19 restrictions. So we had to come up with an alternative.”
At that point, we decided it was finally time to get started on a digital platform. Margo Nulens: “We decided at the last minute to go for our dream: a shared online communication platform for the entire group. The purpose of this intranet is to give all employees an at-a-glance overview of how our organization works, what our mission is, and what kind of environment we want to create for our clients. That’s an important aspect, because, after all, our clients are at the heart of everything we do. In addition, we use it to share news updates, and employees can also access their own records there.”
One interactive platform
“Another special feature is the section for new hires. Starting a new job is always a little overwhelming. Thanks to the intranet, they can quickly see what we all do, and in the ‘Who’s Who’ section, they can also get to know everyone and put a face to all their colleagues,” says the managing director.
“It is also an interactive platform that allows our employees to sign up for training or other activities, and they can also submit their suggestions for the organizations via a digital suggestion box.”
Contagious enthusiasm at Alistar
The nonprofit KIDS had clear ideas about what the platform should look like and what features it should offer. “But we didn’t have enough in-house expertise or manpower to actually build it. Plus, we needed to move quickly. After a brief search for external support, we ended up at Alistar (then known as the GMI Group). From the very first contact, we clicked with their project team: a young and dynamic team that listened carefully to our needs, responded with great enthusiasm, and got to work on it right away.”
The challenge facing Alistar was no small one. A completely new application had to be built in just a few weeks. Our Alistar expert adds: “We started with our GMI intranet solution, which is based on SharePoint technology within the Microsoft 365 suite.”
Our SharePoint solution is like a building block set that we use to get started and from which we select the right elements to build a custom intranet platform tailored to our client's needs.
Manage and customize it yourself
“For this digital workspace, we paid close attention to the structure and the customer journey for the user. There are various departments and information flows, and the goal, of course, is for intranet visitors to quickly find their way around and access the right information. Our interface also allows us to create personalized pages for each employee group, so they receive a customized selection of information.”
The fact that we were able to launch our interactive communication platform in such a short time is certainly also thanks to the dedication of the Alistar team. The result is a great-looking and fully functional application that we can manage ourselves.
The school and care group is delighted with the result: “This is a great, effective application that we can manage ourselves. What’s more, the intranet is set up in such a way that we can also customize it or expand it as we see fit,” says Margo Nulens. “In the future, I see plenty of opportunities to use this tool to, for example, strengthen our digital communication with our clients and their families. That’s our next goal!”
Our Alistar expert agrees: “This project has also been an educational experience for us. It has given us greater insight into the various communication processes in healthcare and education. And we will, of course, incorporate that experience into the further development of our intranet solution.”
