Modern internal corporate communication: GC GROUP relies on Microsoft Viva Connections

The challenge: An inflexible intranet without interaction

As a specialist wholesaler, the GC GROUP offers building technology solutions and services in the areas of plumbing, HVAC, electrics, installation, roofing technology, and civil and industrial engineering. The Group prides itself on its entrepreneurship and innovative strength, especially with an eye to digital transformation. For instance, this year it celebrated the 25th anniversary of GC ONLINE PLUS, the sector’s first ever B2B online shop. “We have a highly developed digital culture. And courage. We believe that it’s better to try and fail than not to try at all,” says Daniel Remmers, Cloud Administrator (M365) at the GC GROUP. This digital culture also applies beyond fixed locations: the Group operates about 900 express pickup warehouses (ABEXs) where trade professionals can obtain supplies at short notice, ten of these ABEXs are already fully digital and open 24 hours.

The GC GROUP is growing all the time, which poses a number of challenges when it comes to internal communication. “We got to a point where urgent action was required. The idea was to make the processes that governed internal corporate communication faster, more efficient, and more intuitive for everyone to navigate. Basically, our intranet was outdated,” says Erik Trümpler, who is responsible for the Group’s external and internal communication. “It was a very inflexible system whose main drawback was that it didn’t support user interaction. In other words, it failed to accommodate the very essence of communication. If employees wanted to offer some feedback or comment on content, they’d have to call me or send an email.”

As a result, the business units lost interest in the content featured and increasingly started putting together their own solutions—first separate websites, then based on SharePoint. “This naturally made it much harder for us to communicate effectively about key topics such as messages from senior management or HR. The information was simply no longer getting through to everyone,” Trümpler says. “So we asked ourselves how we could improve the flow of information to the different Group companies and reunite these many disparate islands. Unlike other groups, we don’t have a homepage that everyone can access; our business units and partner companies deliberately take a very independent approach, each following their own designs, logos, and requirements. This in turn means we have rather complex structures and makes implementing tools a challenge.” But the GC GROUP has found a suitable solution: the Microsoft 365 portfolio. “It works for us because the interplay and compatibility of the tools increases user acceptance and enhances the user experience,” Remmers says.

The solution: More content and interaction and less complexity through Viva Connections

At first, it wasn’t possible to map the complex corporate structure effectively on SharePoint. This led to jettisoning the individual designs and logos in favor of a uniform layout for all brands. Even organizing the SharePoint pages into different hubs was not helpful because it meant that each page had its own URL. It wasn’t until the SharePoint App Bar and Viva Connections were introduced in 2022 that the required overarching structure could be put in place. “Viva Connections brought our SharePoint structure to where our people work and communicate every day,” Remmers recalls. “L.I.S.A, our employee portal, is integrated into Teams, where it makes all relevant information available via a dashboard, a news feed, and a resources section that features all the most important links.” The term L.I.S.A stands for learning, information, service, and accents (meaning current trends and focus). The name is the result of an employee survey and has already become firmly established: “While those of us in IT still think in terms of whether we need a library, a SharePoint page, or a list, our users simply request a L.I.S.A page,” Remmers says with a grin.

Most “accents” in internal communication currently come from the news feed. “The options for internal communication have multiplied, even as the time and effort they require has gone down considerably. Now, we can create news items in a matter of minutes with a choice of much more attractive formats, and publish them in multiple languages to cater to our international locations,” Trümpler says. “We’re also using a wider variety of media formats than before, including drone videos of new buildings at various locations alongside interviews with the people who work there. This means we’re always in the middle of the action.”

The new content is literally having a measurable impact—the interaction numbers for the new comment and like functions are in the triple digits. For the Group podcast, these figures reach even into the thousands. What’s more, the Group’s internal communication is growing organically from within, with more and more topic suggestions and content ideas coming directly from the GC workforce. “When it comes to internal communication, knowing what’s on your colleagues’ minds is just as important as distributing corporate news items effectively,” Trümpler says. “Users have the permissions required to add items to the news feed easily themselves, resulting in additional and more diverse content in a shorter time frame.”

Internal communication in the age of hybrid work

Now that employees are not only consuming content, but also actively generating it—as well as interacting and exchanging ideas with each other—a new dynamic is emerging between authors and readers. “L.I.S.A makes it possible to view the SharePoint pages of all business units, brands, and partners. This lets our colleagues find out what’s happening in other parts of the company, creating synergies as well as a broad information spectrum,” Remmers says. “And most of all, it increases employees’ bonds with the Group as a whole. We’re a family. We talk to and learn from each other. Everyone has a seat at the table. This culture also helps new employees find their feet much faster and more effectively, which in an age of hybrid working is extremely valuable.”

Following on from the news feed, the next step will be to gradually populate the dashboard to make it a central access point for all key apps. “In the future, we want every solution our colleagues need to be tied into the L.I.S.A dashboard. Sales apps, travel expense accounting, training via Viva Learning, logging work hours—all this and more will be accessible remotely,” Remmers explains. “So at some point I’ll be able to launch my Teams app, click on the ‘Log work hours’ icon in the L.I.S.A app, and choose the option I want. The information I enter will then be sent via an interface to the back-end solution.” Going forward, the main goal is to use target groups to personalize dashboard and news feed content as far as possible.