Australia's largest international general insurance & reinsurance group, QBE needed to consolidate and redevelop its multiple intranets and create a consistent and improved user experience.
Background
For any large organisation an intranet plays a vital role in communicating sizable volumes of information. Due to several mergers and acquisitions, QBE had nine intranets across all groups, each lacking consistency in branding, information architecture and user experience.
After selecting their technology platform then reviewing several pitches, QBE asked Hyro to provide all the necessary analysis and architectural design requirements.
Key objectives:
- Consult with multiple stakeholders in several locations and firmly establish each requirement.
- Create a consistent information architecture and user experience.
- Emphasise ‘One QBE’ as a consolidation of many organisations with a single intranet site.
- Establish a strong internal employment message that enhances QBE’s position as the ‘employer of choice’.
- Use the new CMS to improve the current management document distribution flow by creating an ‘update once/publish many times’ remote, wide-distribution system.
The Solution
Over the course of a comprehensive three-phased structure we:
- Reviewed and analysed the current nine intranet sites.
- Developed a user survey, which was distributed to all applicable staff, then compiled and analysed all feedback.
- Consolidated all findings by carrying out business and user needs workshops as well as observational field studies.
- Developed a flexible and robust information architecture system.
- Established metadata standards.
- Produced a wireframe and functional requirements specification document.
- Ensured the intranet contained a consistent branding tone, look and feel.
- Provided a seamless transition from the design phase to the build and implementation stages.
The Outcome
- Hyro have now established a best intranet use benchmark for the insurance industry.
- At the time of writing, QBE’s new intranet had just gone live. The Leadership Team is pleased with the results and further funds will be set aside to continue with improvements and enhancements in the future. Of analytics available, we have found an impressive 85% of visitors to the site access 10 or more pages per day of relevant news and information.
- On the strength of the Intranet’s success, Hyro was engaged to undertake a similar project for QBE’s external website.
Gary Boyd, Manager Web Strategy, Australia Asia/Pacific said:
"This is a priority project for us. The success of our ‘one QBE’ identity depends on getting our employees on board and having a channel for delivering information and communication to all our staff. We chose Hyro on the basis of their breadth and depth of experience, and they delivered important research, requirements analysis and design that provided a solid foundation, upon which the intranet was built. We believe the intranet will be a real communication asset long into the future."