GardX connected a globally dispersed workforce with a SharePoint intranet

Unifying the employee experience and strengthening team bonds with a communication hub

The Client and Their Challenge

GardX International are a large, award-winning company in the automotive industry. They have a presence in 42 global markets and offices spanning 30 countries. GardX are market leaders of high-quality solutions for vehicle manufacturers and dealer groups. Their diverse portfolio includes vehicle paint protection, aftermarket solutions and insurance products. They achieved Winner of Video Provider of the Year in 2020 and 2021 for their innovative professional sales video platform.

The company have built a strong reputation from their commitment to providing excellent service to consumers. Their rapid growth and continued success can be attributed to their passion for creating an experience with ongoing support, not just delivering a product.

GardX partnered with ThinkShare to design a SharePoint Online intranet with the goal of unifying their dispersed workforce and inspiring collaboration.

With their workforce spread across 30 countries, they needed an intranet to deliver a consistent employee experience reflective of their values. It had to connect all their employees from disparate locations. Not all employees were aware of the values underpinning GardX’s success, so giving everyone access to the same information was a key requirement to encourage more commitment and investment with the organisation.

Communication was a top priority. The intranet had to be a designated space to share important messages and align employees with a shared purpose. We added Viva Connections to integrate SharePoint into the daily workflow of Teams, increasing its presence and driving efficiency.

GardX are an ambitious company with fast-paced growth. The intranet had to be scalable on a global level to seamlessly expand with the organisation and support their rapid growth ambitions. It had to be flexible and customisable. ThinkShare were committed to ensuring it would meet their future needs and could be repeated and updated by their internal team without losing functionality.

We also worked with GardX to ensure the theme accurately represented their branding to create cohesion with other organisational materials. The goal was to be visually appealing, modern and user friendly.

The Solution

GardX needed a reliable intranet and a provider that could work quickly. One of the main challenges was the required short timeframe of one month. GardX chose ThinkShare for their intranet implementation because of our 15 years of experience creating and deploying intranets.

Our experts were confident we could rapidly transition them to a SharePoint Online intranet which met their needs. We created an engaging intranet which would be repeatable but completely bespoke to GardX. It was important to work in close partnership with them to ensure they were satisfied at every stage. Recognising the fast turnaround, we created a detailed project plan that did not neglect collaboration. We had a weekly call to confirm GardX were happy at every stage of the process and gave them a specified time to request changes if necessary.

Despite the accelerated timeline, personalisation remained a priority to ensure the intranet represented their brand and values. GardX was fully involved in the design and deployment of the project. Workshops allowed our consultants to gain a clear understanding of how the intranet would look and feel and how they wanted the information laid out. GardX wanted to highlight key documents such as their employee handbook, HR policies and resources for increasing product knowledge, so we focused on establishing a centralised location for important documents.

ThinkShare are experienced at connecting remote workers from different sites to ensure they feel a part of the organisation. GardX’s multinational workforce means their employees are spread across multiple countries and time zones, making connection difficult. The goal was to strengthen team bonds to create a cohesive team aligned with the company’s values and objectives. The intranet had to be relevant and engaging to convey the value of using it and inspire everyone to regularly check for news and updates.

The finished intranet surfaced relevant content allowing everyone to see what’s important to the wider organisation from their smaller, remote locations. Employees can access it from wherever they’re working. The solution drew attention to company accomplishments, employee announcements and events. Achievements could be celebrated together as one company. GardX wanted to strengthen relationships across the organisation to reduce location-based isolation.

User experience was a main focus during the design stage. The finished design was engaging with intuitive navigation so people could easily find what they need. We set the intranet as the homepage across browsers to put it at the forefront of the workday. This increased familiarity with the intranet to drive uptake and adoption.

To further enhance communication, we integrated the Viva Connections application in Teams to maximise user adoption and create a unified employee experience.

Key Features of the Intranet

• Shared key organisational activity and messages
• Reinforced company values by displaying them across the intranet
• Highlighted objectives to align everyone with the business strategy
• Built internal relationships by sharing information about different locations, teams and employees 
• Integrated the Viva Connections application in Teams 

The Outcome

ThinkShare successfully deployed the intranet within the desired one-month timeframe so GardX could start seeing the benefits quickly. The project’s goal was to facilitate communication between disparate global offices and ensure all employees were working in alignment with the same values that have contributed to GardX’s success.

We established a close partnership from design to delivery. We blended functionality with a design that suited GardX’s branding and organisational culture. After a fully collaborative process, the result was a product that went beyond GardX’s needs.

The inclusion of Viva Communities made the hub of company news accessible from the flow of work within the Teams application. Employees from all their offices now have easy access to the same information.

GardX are constantly expanding and needed an intranet to grow rapidly with them. We ensured the solution supported their company’s vision. The result was an intranet that would be responsive to their fast-paced growth, fitting with their long-term business strategy.

GardX were delighted with the implementation of their new intranet. It aligned with their goal of enhanced personalisation and connected their employees across the world with a unified communication platform.

ThinkShare thoroughly enjoyed collaborating with GardX during this project. They required a rapid turnaround which we responded to with no issues. We are pleased that the final intranet exceeds their expectations and provides a platform the employees enjoy using going forward.