National Grid: Building a weekly email digest
Background and challenge
National Grid is one of the world’s leading utilities employing more than 27,000 people in the UK and US. To combat email overload, communicators in the US created At a Glance – a weekly digest email that aggregated messages into a single communication. In October 2008, the company approached Ibis Communication to help turn it into a global channel.
Approach
We knew from the outset that the original application could not be adapted and that we needed a new solution within weeks. We therefore started with a short piece of qualitative research to help understand how the channel must evolve to support a global process and audience. We then used this output to assemble a new set of requirements for the channel. In parallel and working closely with IT, we identified candidate technologies, looking at externally developed packages, and systems which National Grid already owned.
We quickly concluded that MS SharePoint 2007, already deployed at National Grid, was a strong contender. Accessible to all employees, it had built-in security and process tracking features that allowed communicators to create a solution which we were confident would instantly meet the majority of requirements. We then created the new guidelines, design and process, providing detailed recommendations on how to introduce the new channel before developing a prototype solution in SharePoint.
Results
The new solution, adapted from our original prototype, is now in regular use throughout National Grid. Selecting SharePoint helped communicators avoid getting bogged-down in technology implementation, focusing instead on meeting National Grid’s evolving messaging requirements. Best of all, using SharePoint not only allowed communicators to save time, but also proved investment-neutral, setting a great example of how to leverage pre-existing platforms.