Sanofi Pasteur MSD has overhauled the information and collaboration strategy for its intranet

SQLI was chosen by Sanofi Pasteur MSD to set up a single intranet platform based on Microsoft SharePoint 2013. It was designed to rally its employees in Europe around a dual aim of implementing stronger, more unified information governance and developing information sharing and collaboration.

MOVING TOWARDS HOMOGENEOUS, RELIABLE AND CONTROLLED INFORMATION AND REINFORCED COLLABORATION

Sanofi Pasteur MSD is a joint venture equally owned by Sanofi Pasteur and the American company Merck, which distributes safe and innovative vaccines for people of all ages and employs more than 1,100 people in 19 European countries.For several years Sanofi Pasteur MSD has been involved in digital transformation. In an effort to convey an image of innovation and efficiency as well as to foster a sense of belonging and commitment among its employees, Sanofi Pasteur MSD wanted to equip all of its teams with a new, single intranet platform that was "Simple, Secure & Social" as a replacement for the seven existing intranet platforms. The new intranet needed to respond to two major challenges:+ Disseminate homogeneous, reliable and controlled information to all employees, at a global and local level, and provide new services;+ Energise collaborative work and strengthen exchanges, and knowledge management and sharing.Marion Vincent, Deputy Director of Internal Communications for Sanofi Pasteur MSD, explained: "We wanted to streamline our communications approach in order to allow all of the Group's employees quick and simple access to the company's key information as well as the latest international and local news. In addition, we wanted to go farther in terms of collaborative work and knowledge sharing. It was also important for us to convey our values and our culture of innovation by offering them an intuitive, friendly, ergonomic and trend-setting tool, which is an important catalyst for boosting team commitment."As it was already equipped with MS SharePoint 2007 and a number of other Microsoft tools, Sanofi Pasteur MSD made the logical decision to migrate to MS SharePoint 2013, which offers a wider variety of features and offers improved ergonomics and ease of administration and use.Due to Sanofi Pasteur MSD's confidence in its functional, methodological and technological expertise – SQLI is a Microsoft Gold partner – as well as its creative skills, they chose the SQLI Group to carry out this ambitious, innovative and developmental project.Norbert Seimandi, Chief Digital & Information Officer Europe for Sanofi Pasteur MSD, clarified: "SharePoint 2013 was relatively unknown in 2013 and we didn't have any significant feedback. However, the choice of this platform was a relatively easy one: it was a continuation of our technological choices and we also believed in Microsoft's investment in incorporating an increasing number of IS components for a significantly more user-friendly and efficient experience. It was a real challenge for us to select a service provider. At the time, it was hard to find any suppliers with real references on this platform. For us, SQLI seemed like the best partner to assist us and it had demonstrated expertise in complex, innovative projects."

A TWO-PILLAR SOLUTION COVERING EVERY USER NEED

For this project, SQLI mobilised a mixed team that demonstrated its ability to provide comprehensive support: from the UX and graphic design provided by members of the WAX Interactive team (the Group's digital agency), which also contributed to the marketing campaign for the launch of the new tool through posters and videos, to the integration, development and migration of data by SQLI Enterprise.

Sanofi Pasteur MSD's former intranet platforms have already been swept aside in favour of a platform with a single access point and streamlined administration – mySPMSD – which is divided in two parts:First, an institutional portal with an overhauled design reflecting the most cutting-edge graphics trends (responsive design, large scrollable pages with side menus, etc.) and available in five languages, which includes:

• Corporate and local news+ Background information on the company
• A simple, user-friendly search engine with information on all Sanofi Pasteur MSD vaccines and related diseases
• An introductory page for the different Business Units+ Links to the directory and the various existing applications

And a communities portal with an interface inspired by Windows 8, which will be rolled out over the next few weeks. It will host various collaborative sites (with suggested communities) that will allow employees to interact and work together in new ways as well as share best practices. 

In addition, in order to make it easier to create and manage communities, users have access to an assistant that will guide them through every step of creating their community, including confidentiality, certification of clearance, design and more.

Moreover, due to its responsive design, the entire intranet is available to mobile populations, such as medical visitors, who will now have access to information on their desktops as well as mobile devices, in which Sanofi Pasteur MSD has invested heavily.

THE INITIAL OBSERVED BENEFITS ARE HIGHLY PROMISING

Before the collaborative system was even launched, the institutional portal has already generated real excitement among employees, who have responded warmly to its original, fluid, user-friendly design. Two indicators support this observation:

• The platform has seen a rise in users that is much higher than initially expected and much quicker than anything seen in the past;
• The support service offered to assist users during the launch was much less active, demonstrating the intuitive nature of the interface, which was designed for and around users. By implementing mySPMSD, Sanofi Pasteur MSD reaffirmed its commitment to innovation and is already considering a number of possible developments made possible by SharePoint 2013, such as opening up the site to its external partners.

Norbert Seimandi added: "Given our targets, this long and complex project was implemented in an exemplary fashion and in agile mode. We were able to be innovative and SQLI has been a driving force in this innovation. It is certainly too soon to establish an overall assessment of the project, but the initial positive feedback has left us very optimistic about the roll-out of the second phase. We have been very pleased to note the extremely high level of uptake of the tool by users."

Marion Vincent concludes: "SQLI was truly able to provide creative, ergonomic and innovative solutions. Beyond the form of the platform, we are extremely satisfied with our employees' feedback on the speed and simplicity of access to useful, better structured information. SQLI's overall support was a real strength that allowed us to save valuable time. Our collaboration was a genuine win-win partnership, with a keen focus on the benefits for clients, whether on the part of SQLI with regard to Sanofi Pasteur MSD or on our part, vis-à-vis our internal customers. Furthermore, it was also a fantastic human adventure."