Klöckner & Co revolutionizes internal communications with an employee-driven intranet
Klöckner & Co, a major player in global steel distribution, faced intense pressure to modernize communication and collaboration within its highly traditional and decentralized organization. By partnering with atwork, Klöckner undertook a bold digitalization initiative to overhaul its internal communications by creating #DigiDesk, an intelligent, mobile-first intranet. This platform, based on Microsoft 365, Yammer, SharePoint, and Azure, consolidated and personalized communication for around 8,500 employees in over 70 countries. Deskless workers were given access to critical information and collaboration tools via mobile apps, while local project groups could tailor the intranet to regional needs. Adoption rates soared, engagement improved, and intranet usage grew from 80,000 to 2.4 million visits annually. The transformation positioned Klöckner as a digital pioneer within the steel industry, inspiring other companies to follow their journey toward a culture of open, cross-functional communication.
- Organization
- Klöckner & Co
- Industry
- Manufacturing
- Location
- Germany
- Published
- October 2019
Reported outcomes
Strategic outcomes
Why do we believe this deployment?Customer identity, provider attribution, maturity, and source checks
- Customer
- Klöckner & Co
- Provider
- Microsoft
- Maturity
- Unknown
- Linked source
- adoption.microsoft.com
No explicit deployment-stage evidence found.
Primary read
Use case focus
Showing 3 of 3
- 1Employee-Driven Intelligent Intranet Implementation
- 2Mobile-First Internal Communication for Deskless Workers
- 3Personalized Content Delivery for Global Workforce
- Siloed, hierarchical communication processes slowed information flow.
- Deskless and frontline workers lacked access to timely corporate communications and resources.
- Globally distributed workforce needed content tailored to local needs and languages.
- The legacy intranet was static, outdated, and underused (only 80,000 visits yearly).
- Maintaining IT systems was costly with slow access to the latest features.
- Implemented a mobile-first 'intelligent intranet' (#DigiDesk) using Microsoft 365, SharePoint, Yammer, and Azure.
- Enabled each country and regional office to shape their own communication experience and content.
- Encouraged horizontal, hierarchy-free employee engagement via Yammer communities and open CEO interaction.
- All employees given Microsoft 365 licenses for mobile access.
- Evergreen approach to keep services updated with minimal IT effort and maintenance.
- Intranet usage grew from 80,000 to 2.4 million visits per year.
- Employee engagement and mobile participation dramatically improved.
- Internal communication shifted from siloed and hierarchical to open and participatory.
- Enabled rapid, agile adoption of further Microsoft 365 apps and collaboration features.
Architecture
The intelligent intranet (#DigiDesk) was built using Microsoft 365 as the foundation, leveraging SharePoint for content management, Yammer for real-time communications, and Azure for cloud infrastructure. Individual communication sites were created for each country, grouped into a global hub structure, all accessible via desktop and mobile apps by employees worldwide.
Sources & evidence1
- Customer explicitly identified
- Primary source available
- Technical implementation details available
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