Building an Intranet from the Ground Up: Pulse

The Challenge

Following the acquisitions 4 companies in 5 years, MedData had grown from a company of 200 employees in 3 offices in the Midwest, to over 2,000 employees spread across almost 30 offices across the country. This diverse and distributed workforce needed a way to connect with each other and make the transition to their company organization without overburdening everyone’s email inbox.  

The Solution

After exploring a number of options, including using a rarely used SharePoint site, we decided to build out a new socially-driven Intranet where team members could still accomplish their work goals.

We began generating excitement for the new digital space by launching a company-wide contest to name the new site. The winning name – Pulse – reflected the healthcare industry MedData serves as well as getting a quick status check on how things were going. 

Next, we engaged team member across the organization to gather the types of content they wanted to see and would find useful in their roles.

When we launched the new Intranet, one of the first things we did was incorporate gamification elements. Complete your profile? Get a badge. Comment on a discussion? Get another badge. There were also rewards given when employees completed relevant learning modules.

We wanted a fun way for employees to be alerted when they received a new notification on Pulse, so we set-up notification sounds, which employees were able to turn on or turn off. A holiday-themed “Ho, Ho, ho” was created for the winter holidays, while a gobbling turkey was used for Thanksgiving.

We also created a bi-weekly news digest captured important content from all over Pulse, as well as a podcast series, both providing easy reminders for employees to log into their Intranet. 

Knowing that leadership buy-in was key to the Intranet’s success, I reached out to the President and CEO of MedData, and asked her to host live “ask me anything” video broadcasts, which were hosted on Pulse.

Results

The gamification spurred immediate adoption after launch and encouraged engagement. It also tapped into something more inherent—the enjoyment people get when they compete. Month after month we saw employee engagement remain at over 95% of employees checking Pulse at least once a week and ⅔ of employees checking in daily.

Once employees saw just how much their president was engaged on Pulse, to host live videos, they opted to create and upload their own content specific to their team and/or location. 

Since its launch, Pulse has become an indispensable tool for communication, collaboration, resource sharing, and support at MedData. Employees can go to Pulse to learn how the company is performing financially, to find opportunities for advancement, to access companywide calendars, to review their benefits, and to engage leadership with questions and ideas. Pulse also emphasizes having fun at work, with plenty of places where teammates can share photos, join a book club, post “shout outs,” and browse items on the employee store.

But it wasn’t just the employees who have been impressed with Pulse. MedData’s Intranet has won numerous awards, including Most Innovative Intranet from software provider ThoughtFarmer.

What I Did

You name it, I did it. Researched solutions, chose vendor, set up naming contest, worked with leadership and stakeholders across the company to set up all initial content, created gamification badges, audio notifications, newsletters, podcasts, and more.