Clientcase Royal Boom Publishing - Viadesk Social Intranet

BoomConnect is the social intranet that connects people and makes knowledge-sharing easy

Koninklijke Boom Uitgevers has an outdated static intranet. The platform is only used by the colleagues in Meppel, even though the 175-year-old publishing firm has more than 400 employees working at 5 different locations. Boom needs an online platform that is accessible for all its employees. A platform that creates solidarity, facilitates knowledge-sharing, and allows people to collaborate in an intuitive way.

social intranet uitgeverij Boom - Michiel de Jong

‘The social intranet must essentially be inviting and enticing. It must be accessible and easily used by all.’

Michiel de Jong, Boom Uitgeverij

The old situation

Boom is growing and has 400 employees working at different locations, who have a hard time finding each other. The intranet is mainly used as a document archive, phone book and news service from management.

The solution

Viadesk provides Boom with a social intranet that is accessible for all its employees. The platform connects, facilitates knowledge-sharing, and allows people to collaborate in an intuitive way.

The result

Colleagues are able to find each other
More efficient working method
Documents are easily found
Optimal knowledge-sharing
Anyone can publish
Single sign on

Our old intranet was no longer cutting it

The features of the social intranet suit Boom’s mission. ‘We strive for high-quality information provision. To achieve this goal, our internal information provision must be up to par’, says project manager Michiel de Jong. ‘Reason enough to go in search of a new, modern, and more importantly, social platform.’

For Boom’s old intranet, hierarchy and one-way information traffic were central. The intranet had standard functionalities, like an electronic phone book, a corporate news function, and simple document management. The platform was only used by the employees at the Meppel location. This needed to change. With Viadesk, Boom found the social intranet that connected people in a low-threshold way, for better collaboration and optimal knowledge-sharing.

Beyond walls, projects and work groups

Michiel de Jong: ‘The social intranet must essentially be inviting and enticing. It must be accessible and easily used by all. At three levels:

From the holding, for everyone
From and for the operating companies and departments
Beyond interrelations and departmental boundaries

Based on this criteria and based on a comprehensive Request for Proposal, Boom sought and found the perfect partner for its new social intranet, in Viadesk. ‘Our choice for Viadesk is based on many aspects, but perhaps the most important one is their exact understanding of what we wanted. Viadesk enabled us to experience what we had longed for, right away.’

Transparent and practical

‘The Viadesk social intranet is better than our old one, in so many ways,’ says De Jong. It is a platform that our employees enjoy using. Mostly because information has become relevant, documents are easy to find, and knowledge-sharing has truly become possible. No matter which location you work at, everyone has access, and anyone can create groups or publish information. This makes the organisation transparent: everyone is visible to everyone.

Synergy and solidarity

According to De Jong, Boom’s new social intranet is more than a mere platform for collaboration. ‘It brings synergy into the organisation and creates a sense of solidarity that goes beyond document-sharing and the posting of responses. It is all about the ”Boom people”, whether you work in Meppel or in Amsterdam. This brings about a new way of working which is simpler, low-threshold, and incredibly effective.’