Populous is a global architectural and design practice specialising in sports facilities, arenas and convention centres, as well as the planning and design of major special events.

As one of the largest architecture firms in the world, the global practice work from over 18 locations with a culturally diverse team of 800+ employees with specialist architects and designers bringing a unique combination of international and local expertise and knowledge to every project, to create a unique, innovative and appropriate architectural solution.

CHALLENGE

Populous were facing two core digital employee experience challenges:

• Digital communication, connection and culture
  Employees valued and enjoyed connecting with the world of Populous outside their direct teams but this was limited and difficult to do.

• Digital collaboration and teamwork
  With many disparate digital collaboration tools and limited governance, employees were confused about which platform and when.

Cocentric were engaged as part of this wider digital workplace strategy to understand the current digital landscape and provide direction and solutions to solve the challenges.

With a clear, restructured channel strategy and roadmap, Populous needed a central solution to bring their digital landscape together and provide easier ways into knowledge, communications and applications.

SOLUTION

Introducing Popi

Popi is Populous’ new intranet. Popi plays a key role in Populous’s digital workplace, providing a central access point for applications, people, projects and business knowledge.
With over 12,000 site visits per month colleagues use Popi to stay up-to-date with the global organisation and access the tools they need to work as one team.

Popi was created thanks to One Digital Workspace. One Digital Workspace by Cocentric is an integrated intranet solution built with Microsoft SharePoint, providing an enhanced user experience and improved usability.

Accessible by desktop or mobile, Popi has been placed at the centre of the Populous’ digital workplace integrating with a wide range of the existing platforms.

Popi surfaces personalised user content. The centralised solution has generated efficiencies in the way that Populous employees work with increased collaboration and connection across the business Popi – One Digital Workspace features:

• Workplace – Surfacing global and targeted communications

• Microsoft Teams – Insight into team collaboration and interactions

• Applications – Simplified access to global and regional tools and platforms

• Calendar – Integration with Outlook to provide a quick calender view

• People – Search and refine to access to people’s profiles and contact details

• Knowledge Hub – Single source of truth for business knowledge

• Project Hub – Wordpress integration enabling access to the project library

RESULTS

Popi is now providing easier ways into knowledge, communications and applications to over 800 global employees anywhere, any time.

Popi has solved the four key challenges that Populous were facing:
• Limited knowledge and best practice sharing
• Confusion across applications and platforms
• Disconnected communication and collaboration channels
• Regions and offices operating in isolation

IOIC AWARD WINNER FOR 2023

In recognition of this exceptional work, Populous and Cocentric proudly won BEST INTRANET at the IOIC Awards 2023. This collaborative endeavour exemplifies how innovative strategies and transformative partnerships can reshape the landscape of the digital workplace and foster a more connected, engaged, and empowered workforce.