Dynacare: Enhancing patient care with an award-winning healthcare intranet
With more than 11m Canadians turning to Dynacare for essential medical services, the enterprise recognized the need for a new and more powerful intranet software to support their growing workforce. When launching ConneXe, leaders envisioned a digital destination where employees would start their day and find the tools and resources needed to perform their best work.
In addition to winning over Dynacare’s workforce, ConneXe has received international recognition from the user experience experts at Nielsen Norman. Dynacare’s solution was spotlighted as one of the world’s ten best intranets in 2020, beating out a host of competitors in the process
A commitment to innovation and an unparalleled standard of care fueled Commonwealth Care Alliance’s rapid expansion. In less than five years, the Boston-based not-for-profit organization more than doubled in size.
With 40k+ members relying on Commonwealth Care Alliance, the organization recognized the need for a highly searchable platform that would connect their people and centralize knowledge. When launching CommonGround, leaders envisioned a product for employees, by employees that would facilitate workforce communication, engagement, and collaboration.
In addition to winning over Commonwealth Care Alliance’s workforce, CommonGround has won several awards. The intranet earned top honors in the Experience category at The Inspiring Workplace Awards, serving as a testament to Commonwealth Care Alliance’s commitment to taking member care to the next level by leveraging digital technology.
Ambitious growth goals: A rebrand sets the stage for change
Dynacare is one of Canada’s largest, most established health solutions companies. The Ontario-based enterprise serves healthcare solutions to more than 11m Canadians, including essential medical testing, insurance solutions, corporate wellness programs, advanced genetic testing, and digital health solutions.
In 2015 Dynacare underwent a rebrand, repositioning itself as a ‘health solutions company’. To support ambitious growth plans, the company required an aggressive digital transformation strategy, part of which involved implementing a new, more powerful intranet that could support collaboration, communication, and cultural goals.
Key challenges and a vision for success
As a pioneer for health and wellness solutions, Dynacare sought a scalable intranet that could evolve with the enterprise throughout their expansion. Leaders envisioned a collaboration-focused solution that would drive communication and productivity during a period of growth.
“The vision was to have ConneXe at the center of our digital workplace; a digital destination where employees can start their day and find the tools they need to do their best work,” explains Andrew Munday, Communications Coordinator.
ConneXe was designed to play a central role amongst Dynacare’s technological offerings. The forthcoming intranet would serve as a single source of truth for all users, uniting workers from every division within the organization.
“We wanted to create a destination that connects employees from anywhere, anytime, and on any device – to drive higher levels of collaboration, simplify access to information, and ultimately to improve the day in the life of our employees,” notes Munday.
Key challenges:
#1. Providing a true native language experience for French and English speaking employees
#2. Enabling deskless connection with a mobile experience
for frontline employees
#3. Driving company-wide adoption of Microsoft365
#4. Delivering a permission-trimmed experience to every user
All signs point to SaaS
After creating a steering committee comprised of representatives from IT, Corporate Communications, and HR, Dynacare weighed whether it was best to build a custom development or partner with a service provider. Following extensive research, the team ultimately decided to pursue a SaaS solution.
“What we learned was that the effort to build a custom-developed solution that was mobile responsive would be cost prohibitive. So, we turned to the IaaS (Intranet as a service) marketplace to evaluate alternative agile options to development,” confirms Munday.
A comprehensive selection process ensued, with five vendors up for consideration. “We evaluated each vendor on the following criteria: News Publishing, User Experience, Social & Knowledge Management, Search, Analytics, Employee Services, Integration, and Wild Card. Unily emerged as the leader in all categories,” he continues.
Following a branded proof of concept, Dynacare selected Unily as a partner for their intranet launch. Deciding factors included a strong North American presence, multi-lingual capabilities, and a commitment to design and user experience.
Building a case for change
Prior to ConneXe, Dynacare utilized a custom-built SharePoint intranet. Despite two launch attempts, the platform failed to gain traction. Non-intuitive user experience was identified as the main roadblock, leading project stakeholders to prioritize UX during the design of their new intranet. Dynacare took a research-based approach to uncover what users were looking for in their forthcoming platform.
“We used a variety of analytical tools to complement anecdotal feedback we were hearing from employees to assess the current state, and to gain insights on the areas that required improvement,” explains Munday.
These analytical tools included:
- Net Promoter Score
- Corporate Communication Employee Feedback Surveys
- Google Analytics data (active users, page views and bounce rates)
Building blocks for success
#1. Finding knowledge - providing employees with easy access to organizational updates, policies, forms, and more
#2. Finding experts - providing employees with the ability to search for and find colleagues with expertise in different areas, including different scientific disciplines, IT and HR
#3. Providing a single point of access for all systems - allowing employees to access all the apps and tools they use to do their best work in one place with single sign-on policies, forms, and more
#4. Facilitating improved collaboration and productivity - allowing employees to communicate and collaborate more easily with colleagues, both within departments and across the organization
The solution: Unlocking limitless collaboration
As the name of the platform implies, connection is at the heart of Dynacare’s new solution. Through mobile optimization and multi-lingual functionality, ConneXe builds the foundation for teamwork that transcends all bounds.
A mobile solution for a mobile workforce
Since roughly two-thirds of ConneXe’s users are based in laboratories and on the road, it was imperative that the new platform could deliver a superior mobile experience. Historically, mobile intranet adoption was a pain point for Dynacare’s workforce, with usage rates for the enterprise’s legacy platform hovering around 2%.
Through a branded app and mobile responsive design, ConneXe ensures a consistent user experience for all employees, regardless of their device of choice. To keep teams aligned while employees are working in the field, users can take advantage of mobile push notifications for real-time updates.
Multi-lingual functionality
Previously, Dynacare relied on two separate sites to accommodate different language requirements. ConneXe brings everyone together through multi-lingual functionality that eliminates language as a barrier, meets Canadian legislative requirements, and puts a stop to segmentation.
Driving productivity to new heights
When Dynacare employees are treating patients and conducting research, there’s no time to waste. With easy access to key apps and tools and team sites for efficient collaboration, ConneXe takes productivity to the next level.
Efficient access to apps and tools
ConneXe replaces the need for constant platform switching with a single pane of glass experience that centralizes the resources employees rely on to deliver quality patient care. A drop-down apps and tools menu provides one-click access to all critical business systems from any page.
Team sites level up groundwork
ConneXe streamlines collaboration by making it easy to identify sources with niche expertise. Team sites keep every employee on the same page by centralizing project updates, links to resources, and leadership contacts.
With 61 different apps, ConneXe includes every tool employees need to reach peak productivity.
Internal comms during periods of expansion
Is it possible to maintain a close-knit culture during periods of expansion? ConneXe keeps connection and camaraderie at an all-time high by serving as the backbone for an internal comms strategy designed to resonate with every user.
Leading by example
ConneXe creates new opportunities to increase leadership visibility and open lines of communication. A dedicated leadership page helps every employee put a face to a name and build a connection with those driving Dynacare’s strategic direction. Users can choose to follow leaders to get notifications about new business insights straight from the source.
Setting every employee up for success
From new hires to seasoned veterans, ConneXe is designed to support every employee throughout their journey at Dynacare. An Employee Essentials page serves as a one-stop shop for employees looking for guidance and programs that will inspire them to do their best work.
Rich internal comms
Rather than a one-size-fits-all messaging approach, ConneXe ensures that content is uniquely relevant to every user. News is targeted to employees based on their role and region. If users are looking for specific updates, they can use topic tags to find stories that align with their interests.
A spotlight on specialist expertise
Specialist knowledge is Dynacare’s lifeblood. Top-level patient care hinges on niche expertise, but all too often this information proves difficult to pinpoint. ConneXe puts a stop to silos, paving the way for a new era of knowledge sharing.
Beyond a traditional directory, users can also access information on the structure of the business and details related to cross-functional departments.
A comprehensive who's who
The new intranet’s “Who Does What?” page plays a critical role in empowering knowledge sharing throughout the enterprise. Beyond a traditional directory, users can also access information on the structure of the business and details related to cross-functional departments.
Advanced search capabilities
A powerful, integrated search ensures no information slips through the cracks. Once users type in a key word, they are presented with relevant results from every information repository Dynacare uses, putting the enterprise’s full knowledge base at everyone’s fingertips.
Results that speak for themselves
Following the launch of ConneXe, Dynacare has enjoyed widespread platform adoption, improved employee engagement, and optimized knowledge sharing practices. With more than 2.9k employees using the platform, ConneXe’s near universal adoption is a testament to the intranet’s ongoing emphasis on user experience.
Dynacare’s team has continued to track the platform’s performance, as all business cases put forward must stand on their own by generating a positive rate of return. Since launch, both hard and soft metrics continue to highlight the efficacy of the platform, demonstrating an ongoing move in a promising direction.
In addition to enterprise-wide success, Dynacare’s platform has received international recognition from the user experience experts at Nielsen Norman. ConneXe was spotlighted as one of the world’s ten best intranets in 2020, beating out a host of competitors in the process. By launching ConneXe, Dynacare unveiled a bespoke solution that capitalizes on their entire knowledge base, ushering in a new era of growth and innovation.
Post launch stats:
ConneXe wins best intranet design 2020 from the user experience experts at Nielsen Norman.