SharePoint Case Study:
0 to Intranet in 90 Days
Overview
DivShare Intranet by Diversified Search
Customer Profile
“Switching from SharePoint to Intranet Connections was
a no-brainer. Administration of our intranet is so much
easier. It only took us 90 days to get up and running with
Intranet Connections. We couldn’t be happier!”
MILLIE FRANCIS | Vice President of Data & Technology, Diversified Search
Millie Francis, Vice President of Database & Technology at Diversified Search, was
frustrated with the extensive time, money and resources required to administer their
SharePoint intranet. There had to be a better solution. “SharePoint simply became too
expensive to administer. We found ourselves putting off updating certain sections of our
intranet because of the exorbitant costs associated with hiring a third-party resource to
make simple changes to our intranet,” Francis recalled.
Francis knew she needed to find a simpler intranet solution fast, as Diversified Search’s
need for a centralized internal communication system was growing with the company ex-
Country or Region: United States
Industry: Professional Services
Diversified Search, an executive
search firm, has grown and evolved
since inception 40 years ago. With
eight offices in the United States
and over 100 employees, Diversified
Search now has global searching
capabilities.
Business Situation
Diversified Search was fed up with
the lack of functionality and flexibility
of their Sharepoint intranet. After 18
months with SharePoint, Diversified
Search was still in need of a solution
that would improve employee
productivity and collaboration.
With SharePoint administration too
expensive and functionality too
limited, the organization had to look
elsewhere.
panding to all areas of North America. After 18 months of struggling with the SharePoint
platform, Francis knew it was time to walkaway; to start fresh with an intuitive intranet
that didn’t take an entire development team to administer. That was when the Diversified
Search team found Intranet Connections, truly simple intranet software with simplicity
and ease-of-use that go unmatched.
Solution
Intranet Connections provided
a simple and affordable intranet
solution that delivered the
functionality and flexibility Diversified
Search required and was fully
implemented in just 90 days.
Benefits
• Over $11,000 saved in year 1
• Eliminated 3rd Party Admin
• Increased Intranet Adoption
• Improved Employee Productivity
The Search for Simplicity
The SharePoint Struggle
One could assume searching is second
solution for employees to connect,
nature to Diversified Search. Howev-
collaborate and create, Diversified
er, searching for an intranet solution
Search sought a better intranet solution
took on a whole new meaning after a
Before moving to Intranet Connections,
with Francis at the helm to find a new
rocky 18-month run with a SharePoint
Diversified Search struggled with
intranet solution within a set budget.
intranet. The organization thought
SharePoint for 18-months. The
She evaluated a number of solutions
they had found the answer when they
including: Intranet Dashboard, Bitrix,
Diversified Search team was frustrated
purchased SharePoint as their intranet
Claromentis and Intranet Connections.
solution. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the
and limited by their SharePoint solution,
Francis explains: “SharePoint wasn’t
dynamic and was painful to update and
case. Facing hurdles after hurdles with
Unfortunately, with most solutions she
their SharePoint implementation, they
ran into the same problem she had
could never get SharePoint to operate
encountered with SharePoint, they
the way they desired.
couldn’t deliver the ease-of-use the
developers implement the required
organization needed and were cost
changes to our SharePoint intranet.”
When SharePoint became too expensive to continue using and lacked the
prohibitive.
modify. Given the level of complexity
SharePoint delivered, we had third-party
“Unfortunately, SharePoint just never
the functionality Diversified Search
Finally, Francis found Intranet Connec-
really worked the way we needed it to
required, that sent Millie Francis, Vice
tions, an exact match for the resource
and it became very cost prohibitive to
President of Data and Technology for
and budget constraints she faced, as
keep updating, so we simply stopped
Diversified Search, out to look for a bet-
well as delivering on ease-of-use and
updating it. This wasn’t a resolution
ter solution that could integrally connect
functionality requirements. “Choosing
– employees couldn’t find anything,
employees across the eight office loca-
Intranet Connections was a no-brainer.
nothing was easy to navigate to and
The price was extremely competitive,
absolutely none of our employees could
their support was outstanding and the
administer any part of the intranet on
software was incredibly easy to use.
their own.”
tions, as well as provide communication
and resources for employees to perform
their tasks more productively.
Intranet Connections’ intranet software
Researching
delivered an intranet that was simple
With growing frustration due to the
and concepts that were easy to grasp,”
lack of flexibility offered in SharePoint
Determined to provide an easier
Francis reported.
and the cost of operating SharePoint
steadily increasing, Francis realized
Point. Moving from SharePoint to
was important for Francis to decen-
SharePoint would never be a sustain-
Intranet Connections, I just expected
tralize administration of their Corpo-
able solution for Diversified Search,
the platform to be more complicated.
rate Intranet, DivShare, so that each
“it was like pushing a round peg into
As soon as I let go of the complexity
office could control and update their
a square hole, SharePoint was never
and embraced how simple it was to
individual office sites themselves.
going to be a good fit for us and we
add a page, set-up a new site, upload
were hemorrhaging funds just to
documents or modify the homepage
“With Intranet Connections, it is easy
make it work in the limited capac-
– my productivity skyrocketed and I
for me to train employees how to use
ity we were utilizing it. It not only
had built our new intranet in no time.
and administer it. We now have Ex-
required a large majority of my time
Intranet Connections is truly simple
ecutive Assistants and other internal
and that of a third-party resource, but
intranet software!”
stakeholders managing individual
office sites and making changes on
it also required two other employees
part-time to administer a severely im-
Within 60 days Francis had a working
a daily basis. There was no ability to
paired system. It had to be replaced
intranet for Diversified Search that
delegate ownership on SharePoint
without question,” Francis explained.
she could test with employees to see
and now we have employees volun-
how the new intranet site resonated.
teering to own sites on Intranet Con-
Francis moved quickly and decisively
With employee feedback, including
nections,” Francis happily reports.
after selecting Intranet Connections.
a new name for their Corporate In-
With predetermined intranet plans
tranet – DivShare, Diversified Search
“Not only that, but because our in-
and committee decisions made,
had a brand new, fully-functioning
tranet adoption rate is so much high-
Francis was able to start building her
intranet in 90 days with Intranet Con-
er with Intranet Connections, we are
new intranet on day one with Intranet
nections.
receiving terrific feedback from many
employees on how we can improve
Connections, no third-party developers or customization required.
0 to Intranet in 90 Days
“The set-up and implementation
DivShare, including the suggestion to
process with Intranet Connections
have individual sites for each office
was simple. Modifications that would
location.”
previously take me a half day to
After 18 long months utilizing an in-
perform in SharePoint or the hiring of
“Our employees just love being able
sufficient SharePoint intranet, Francis
a third-party development resource, I
to go on our intranet and actually
aimed to deliver Diversified Search’s
could now make in two minutes with
find what they are looking for,” says
new intranet quickly, meeting the
Intranet Connections,” described
Francis enthusiastically.
functional requirements of the old
Francis. “Incredibly, not only could I
intranet and expanding to accomplish
make minor modifications and addi-
The primary purpose of DivShare was
all the goals in Diversified Search’s
tions to the intranet within minutes,
to connect all eight offices, keeping
intranet plan.
I could also delegate page and site
employees better informed of not
ownership to Executive Assistants us-
only what was happening at their
ing Intranet Connections. I could not
office location, but also what was
and would not even dream of doing
happening throughout the company.
Francis was amazed at how easy
it was to get started with Intranet
Connections: “setting up the new
intranet with Intranet Connections
was a breeze compared to Share-
“Our employees just love
being able to actually find
what they are looking for.”
MILLIE FRANCIS
VICE PRESIDENT DATA & TECHNOLOGY
DIVERSIFIED SEARCH
that on SharePoint.”
With eight offices in North America, it
By building out eight sites within
DivShare, one for each office, Francis
was able to tailor the important infor-
by employees between offices has also
mation on the intranet to each specific
significantly decreased. Formerly when
office location. This provided all the
a Philadelphia employee needed office
critical information for traveling employ-
directions for Miami, he would have to
ees and employees with inquiries about
email or call an Executive Assistant at
other offices with instant access to the
that office to request current directions
critical information, such as: directions
from the airport, parking information,
emergency information, weather, alarm
codes and more.
in order to provide details for a traveling
employee or client. Waiting for a reply
to this email or a call back could take
hours or even days, delaying a criti-
This made accomodating for different
cal screening or onboarding process
time zones and office hours a moot
unnecessarily.
point for employees because they no
additional product investment.
“In choosing a new intranet, it was
critical for us to extend the cost of each
solution we considered out to a five
year trajectory. While Intranet Connections’ initial cost was more than some
solutions in the first year, it dropped
dramatically in cost in the subsequent
years,” Francis explained about the
intranet pricing.
“Intranet Connections made the most
sense for Diversified Search based on
Now with DivShare’s individual office
price, usability, product functionality
send an email during office hours to find
sites, employees can access other
and ease-of-use. We are completely
the answer to a simple question – they
office sites to download letterheads,
satisfied with our investment in Intranet
just had to access their intranet.
office directions, and parking info them-
Connections.”
longer needed to pick up the phone or
Measurable ROI
selves, without any unnecessary delays.
Again, an enormous time-cost savings
A People Intranet
for Diversified Search, spread companySince deploying DivShare, intranet
wide that is almost incalculable.
adoption has sky rocketed compared
Overall, Francis and the Diversified
Search Team are incredibly happy with
to their usage rates on their SharePoint
Not only have the time-cost savings
their decision to move to Intranet Con-
intranet. Additionally, time-cost savings
using Intranet Connections been sig-
nections from SharePoint.
have been significant for Diversified
nificant for Diversified Search, but also
Search with Intranet Connections:
the actual cost-savings are significant
“If someone can’t find something on
DivShare, I am able to put it up within minutes of their request. They can
watch me make the change in moments
from their computer,” Francis reports ,
“I didn’t know how to make changes on
SharePoint and I didn’t have the time
as well. Out of curiosity Francis ran the
numbers for cost savings with Intranet
Connections and was astounded, “we
saved over $11,000 this year alone
using Intranet Connections and that
factors in the initial purchase investment
“SharePoint became too much of a
burden to manage in-house and paying
someone to do it proved to be too
costly. Intranet Connections has been
extremely easy-to-use, everything is
so seamless – it just works!” exclaims
Francis,
of the software. All cost savings reaped
“Plus, it is easy to maintain going
after our first year with Intranet Connec-
forward, I can’t imagine using anything
I save at least five hours a week using
tions will continue to add to our already
else. Not only that, but their support is
Intranet Connections, and that is a con-
significant return on investment.”
outstanding! If I ever have a question or
to spend half a day figuring out how to
post a simple picture. I can tell you that
servative estimate.”
encounter a problem the Intranet ConSince Intranet Connections charges
nections Technical Support Team fixes
Beyond hours saved to administer their
a one-time licensing fee, Diversified
it immediately so I can move forward.
Corporate Intranet, Francis also pin-
Search will continue to build their return
Intranet Connections simply delivers in
pointed that the number of emails sent
on investment year-over-year without an
every way we were searching for.”
“
We saved over $11,000 this year alone using
Intranet Connections and that factors in the
initial purchase investment of the software.”
MILLIE FRANCIS
VICE PRESIDENT DATA & TECHNOLOGY
DIVERSIFIED SEARCH
BNA
Established in 1999, Intranet Connections has a rich history in the intranet software industry. With
over 1,600 clients, we have intranet software that serves a variety of industries:
Corporate Intranet
Financial Intranet
Healthcare Intranet
Our three product offerings are based on the implementations and evolutions of our customers’ intranet
successes, including: banks, credit unions, financial firms, hospitals, medical center, hospices, longterm care facilities, professional services firms, non-profit organizations, higher education facilities,
technology companies and manufacturers/distributors; some of which have been with us from the
beginning.
A FEW OF OUR HAPPY CLIENTS
Intranet Connections: A Company with Values
We have thrived in the competitive industry of business intranet software because of the core principles
our company was founded upon: SIMPLICITY, POSITIVITY, INTEGRITY, CREATIVITY and EMPATHY.
Woven into the fabric of our company and software, we strive to embody these values in every avenue
of our customer’s experience with Intranet Connections.
Simplicity
Positivity
Integrity
Creativity
Empathy
The core concept that drove
the creation of Intranet
Connections software was
KISS (Keep It Simple Silly).
As our company grows,
the concept of simplicity
has evolved into a more
customer-centric version
where we ask “How can we
make life simpler?”
We bring energy and
enthusiasm to our work, so
our customers can have a
positive experience doing
their work. We believe that
as a team, we can tackle
hurdles and achieve great
things, and that our software
can inspire a positive
workplace.
We have survived this
many years because of
our continued product
innovation, integrity and
authenticity. We have
inspired intranet champions
and advocates, and are
proud to have customers
that have been with us for
over a decade, still going
strong!
How an intranet makes an
employee feel, and they
ways in which they interact
with it, are very important
to us. We build innovative
and creative interfaces that
are easy-to-use with robust
functionality to support
them. It is a very creative
process.
The relationships we build
with our customers, and the
connections we make, is
what sets us apart. It’s not
just about selling software
– you can’t make an impact
with just technology. We put
ourselves in our customer’s
shoes and truly listen to
their needs.
Connect with us
+1 604-924-9770
www.intranetconnections.com