Cost-efficient communication and information hub for employees

Leppäkoski invests in information management

Leppäkoski Group Oy in Finland offers long-lasting energy solutions for consumers, entrepreneurs and condominiums. They offer electricity, district heating and natural gas services, as well as energy solutions for various needs. Together, as 70 employees, they use their energy to create more joy for their clients and offer them more power to drive them onwards.

Leppäkoski wanted to develop their internal operations, which would then have an impact on the efficiency and work welfare of the workers and customers. Leppäkoski has, during the latest years, spent a 
large amount on new, modern solutions. At the same time they havereformed their supplier’s portfolio by creating a suitable multi-producer model, which supports their business and the changes it has accumulated. For them, it is important for suppliers to fit their needs and help the projects get over the finishing line.

“We believe in the Best Practice method. We wish to listen to experts and make decisions that feel correct. We wish to keep things as simple as possible and enable fast decision-making. This way, we won’t fall behind the times. Instead, we will, when necessary, be able to utilise new things properly. This operating model describes both us as a customer and Konica Minolta as a supplier-partner, so our common operations work as well,” said Juha Koponen, ICT Manager from Leppäkoski.
 

The goal is easier, secure information management, and more effective communication

Leppäkoski wanted to solve several challenges related 
to information management and communications at the same time. They find it important to match the most heightened speed of digitalisation and then move on from the on-premise solution to the cloud world.

Leppäkoski’s goals for their information management project:

• Ease and speed of information finding, regardless of time, place and end device
• The secure and easy distribution of information between internal and external groups
• Improving information security with access management control
• Simplification and support of communication
• Version management for documents
• The real-time updating of documents together by several employees

Modern SharePoint Online offers solution for communication and information management

While considering what sort of solution they wanted, Leppäkoski discussed
the different options and technologies with several suppliers. In the discussions with Konica Minolta, the company reminded Leppäkoski that it’s also an option to utilise the existing Microsoft 365 licenses and the opportunities they offer better. One of these opportunities was the more 
efficient utilisation of Microsoft SharePoint Online in internal communications and the management of documents and information. For them, it was important to keep the project decently sized for the deployment to be as easy as possible and the benefits to be available without years of 
waiting. Project also needed to note the regulations on the field, bringing in their own requirements to information management.

Leppäkoski and Konica Minolta have a long history of a partnership on the field of office printing solutions. In their regular development meetings, their ideas regarding information management and communication needs started gaining currency with Konica Minolta, too. After holding workshops with different groups Konica Minolta managed to create, together 
with Leppäkoski, more specific demands and frameworks for the SharePoint Online project.
 

Personalised intranet for communications, a clear structure for information management

The project was initiated according to the POC model, where the solution suggestion was initiated for three departments. Utilising the brand instructions and a visual outlook, Konica Minolta built a modern intranet, a SharePoint Online communication page for the entire company. Additionally, Konica Minolta built communication pages for the first three departments on the basis of their needs.

Simultaneously, a clear communication page structure was created for information management for documents and other information. With this solution, it’s easy to just share information inside the department and among different departments. It’s also easy to share information to external parties, like the accountants. Due to the solution, there’s less data being shared through email than before. People would rather share links to the information. Now, everyone is able to work on the same document simultaneously. This makes version management smarter, and there 
are no longer several versions of the same document to be found. Leppäkoski can nevertheless utilise the historical information and can, if needed, restore older versions to use.

The POC phase succeeded well. On this basis, the project was continued with several departments. Now, over ten departments have their own communication pages, which make the interdepartmental work more efficient, and the data management was performed with several departments.

At Leppäkoski, several parties enjoy the benefits the project has brought

At Leppäkoski, the workers eagerly expect the project’s completion, showcasing the importance of the easy distribution and discovery of information. The users and their training has not been forgotten, though. Some of the workers have participated in designing and implementing the project. At the same time, Konica Minolta taught them to use the new solution. Leppäkoski offers the end-users various trainings and guidelines to make the successful deployment of a new system easier.

The workers have offered good feedback on communication channels where the company can distribute to everyone news, company handbooks and best practices. Simultaneously, the teams can distribute their own news, which the colleagues can then check and comment.

This solution has enabled a modernisation of work for the people at Leppäkoski, in a data-secure way, no matter the place. The modern visuals and usability of the intranet, due
to the smart structure, have received thanks from the employees. The solution has also been cost-efficient once the users have moved from an on-premise solution to a cloud, utilising the existing Microsoft licenses. The solution also enables continuous development and data management utilisation of additional features in the future.

“We have managed to get rid of the complications brought due to the use of multiple systems. The workers can now easily utilise the information they need in their work. Additionally, our current communication is concentrated to the intranet, where everyone can now easily find the needed news and information. Moving from the diversity of news channels to a modern, visual intranet solution has been received well. It is all about simple channels that everyone likes to use – a better way to get the desired message through,” emphasised Juha Koponen.

Benefits brought by modern intranet and information management for Leppäkoski

• Easy intranet, matching the company’s look
• Efficient channel for internal communication – news and company handbooks, all in one place
• A data-secure way to save, distribute and handle the documents.
• Modern way of working – independently of time, place and end device
• A cost-efficient cloud solution
• Process automation with the help of Microsoft’s intelligent features
• Flexible and scalable future solution

“The mobile phone does not need a VPN connection to be used for browsing and the information is achievable by two-factor identification, making it secure to use. Enabling everyone to find the information they’re looking at more effectively and faster – in this, we have succeeded well in cooperation with Konica Minolta, and the operating model has been received well,” closed Juha Koponen.