From Chaos to Clarity: Apex Powers Up with SharePoint Online Transformation
Unlocking data potential by improving operational efficiency, empowering employees with a modern intranet experience.
Apex Utilities Inc. (Apex) is a provincially-regulated natural gas distribution utility delivering reliable, clean, and affordable energy service to over 82,000 residential, rural, commercial, and industrial customers in more than 90 communities across Alberta.
Embracing the Power of SharePoint Online
Apex invited Lantern to assist them in addressing their data management challenges. In-depth discovery interviews were held with various departments to understand team communication, content ownership, common tools, and data structures. We proposed a solution and framework for future data and communication management based on our findings, and Apex moved forward with a migration to SharePoint Online.
To kickstart Apex’s digital transformation, our team conducted a thorough current state assessment, understanding where data resided and identifying any complexities that might come up during the migration process. Functional unit workshops with 25 Apex teams and a comprehensive questionnaire revealed crucial insights:
Low intranet adoption: 71% of employees didn’t use the existing intranet platform, and 94% relied on their network drives.
Governance and ownership issues: Lack of a governance plan and high employee turnover had led to data repositories becoming disorganized and confusing.
Overwhelming data volume: Uncontrolled file additions without proper content disposition strategy led to data indexing and presentation problems.
Absence of a productivity framework: Employees desired a better way to manage, discover, and collaborate on data but felt overwhelmed by the burden of disorganized content.
Solution Implementation: Streamlining Data Management
Lantern collaborated with various departments and stakeholders to create site designs and develop a robust M365 SharePoint Online solution. We merged content from different sources to create a single source of truth for each department and used Microsoft 365 security and compliance features to classify and manage records in the site structure.
Throughout the planning and design phase, Lantern guided Apex Utilities through essential principles and best practices, outlining the future state architecture. To ensure a successful migration, an intranet steering committee was formed, representing the diverse needs and preferences of Apex employees. A Migration Approach plan was developed, and through regular communication with the Apex Utilities steering committee and functional units, we implemented the following steps of the plan:
- Migration Planning
- Bridging Strategy
- Training
- Change Management
- Communication Plan
Outcome: A Modern, Streamlined Intranet Experience
Inspired Teamwork resulted in a remarkable and trusting collaboration between Lantern and Apex. Our client’s intranet received a complete makeover, featuring a new interface design and branding to establish a unique identity.
Over 1.5 Terabytes of content, including approximately 6 million items of form data and documents, were successfully migrated to SharePoint Online from their aging platform.
Conclusion: APEX’s Migration Success Story
Embracing Innovation Velocity, our client embarked on a Digital Transformation journey with a successful migration to SharePoint Online – completely changing their data management practices and overcoming challenges posed by unmanageable data repositories. This has empowered Apex’s employees with a modern, user-friendly intranet, making data management, discovery, and collaboration more efficient than ever before.
Embrace the power of streamlined data management, seamless collaboration, and efficient discovery. Step forward into a future where your organization thrives on the modernity and innovation offered by Microsoft’s SharePoint Online, delivered by Lantern.