Labatt Breweries of Canada
Labatt's Employees Meet at "The Pub" to Improve Internal Communications and Collaboration
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Company Overview
Labatt Breweries of Canada is one of the nation's oldest companies, brewing beer since 1847. Today, Labatt is part of Belgium-based Interbrew S.A., one of the largest brewing groups in the world with more than 180 types of beer available in over 110 countries worldwide.
Business Challenge
As part of Interbrew, Labatt brews 67 quality beers in eight breweries across Canada, which are distributed across the world. Traditionally, the company used employee meetings, newsletters and postings on bulletin boards to keep employees informed of corporate announcements and information, but with Labatt's employees spread across the country, the company was faced with the challenge of delivering information to employees in a consistent and timely manner. Furthermore, most of Labatt's corporate information was in silos belonging to various business units, meaning employees had difficulty finding up-to-date, pertinent information.
"In early 2001 it became evident to us that we had two major challenges on our hands from an IT standpoint," said Jonathan Starkey, Manager, Data Architecture Centre of Excellence, Labatt. "First, we needed to bring together all of our employees through a single point of access, so that information could be communicated in a timely manner regardless of physical location. The other challenge was to eliminate information silos within Labatt to create greater visibility when making key business decisions."
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Solution
Following careful examination of Labatt's business and technology requirements, the Labatt IT team decided that a corporate Intranet would provide the most efficient way of delivering the single point of access to employees, as well as deliver a comprehensive solution for document management and collaboration. Labatt selected Microsoft® Content Management Server 2002, Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Portal Server 2003 and SharePoint Team Services as the technology solution for its new Intranet.
Bringing in the Experts
In 2001, Labatt began working closely with Microsoft Services, an organization focused on providing enterprises with the knowledge to enable them to realize maximum business value from Microsoft software and solutions. With Microsoft Services, Labatt developed a comprehensive strategy for the design, development and deployment of the new portal. The Microsoft Services team has more than 100 offices and just under 4,000 consultants worldwide.
Labatt and Microsoft Services determined that a phased roll-out of the portal would enable delivery of a single point of contact to employees within a matter of months, which would be followed by the addition of document management and collaboration capabilities shortly after.
Navantis, a Microsoft Gold Certified partner, provided architectural guidance on SharePoint and developed the SharePoint-based solution. They worked with Microsoft Services and Labatt to ensure that what was being delivered was what the business needed. Microsoft Services played a key role in all phases of the portal deployment, acting as a trusted advisor and enabling Labatt to maximize its investment in Microsoft technology. Additionally, Microsoft Services collaborated with Labatt to customize document management capabilities of SharePoint Portal services to meet the unique needs of the brewing company.
"Microsoft Services understood our business and developed the right solution to meet Labatt's unique business requirements," said Jonathan Starkey, Labatt. "The successful deployment of Labatt's portal is a testament to the solid working relationship between the two parties and to Microsoft Services' ability to translate technology into maximum business value."
Meeting at The Pub
In August 2001, Labatt rolled out the first phase of the new portal, The Pub, which was a joint effort between the public affairs and IT teams. The Pub was designed to provide employees with a common meeting place and a single point of access to the information that matters most to them. With 3,800 employees, the company needed a robust content management solution that would facilitate content generation and document management, while being able to adapt and easily integrate with subsequent phases of the Intranet deployment.
Using Microsoft® Content Management Server 2002, a comprehensive solution for managing Web content, Labatt quickly deployed a content and feature-rich Intranet site, which was easily accessible through Microsoft Internet Explorer to Labatt's employees across Canada. With Microsoft® Content Management Server 2002, designated employees would now be able to publish content on the new Intranet using easy to use tools, designed specifically for non-technical users. Microsoft® Content Management Server 2002 is easily integrated with Microsoft Office meaning that they are able to produce and edit content in programs they are already familiar with.
Labatt's employees can now access a wide variety of information through The Pub, ranging from internal job postings to the employee directory to discussion forums.
Using the Intranet, Labatt has rolled out new programs to its employees such as the Innovation Database. As a company, Labatt is focused on creating innovative ways to improve every aspect of the business and the Innovation Database provides a forum for employees to submit ideas and receive recognition and rewards for ideas that are implemented.
"We've been able to deliver a number of innovative initiatives to our employees using Microsoft® Content Management Server 2002," said Jonathan Starkey, Labatt. "As part of The Pub, Labatt has built in media delivery services to provide Pub TV which is delivered on video displays at Labatt's executive offices in Toronto. In addition, employees are able to view the company's latest television ad campaigns and training materials, and view live executive Web casts. Each of these applications delivered through The Pub enable us to strengthen employee communications, ultimately bringing our company closer together."
Taking it to the Next Level With Document Management
In January 2003, the second phase of The Pub was rolled out, providing valuable new features and functionality to employees including document management and collaboration tools.
Using Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Portal Server 2003, an out-of-the-box tool to create portals complete with enterprise level search functions, document management and collaboration tools, Labatt added functionality to the existing portal to enable employees to share information, collaborate on documents and help increase individual and team productivity.
Document management functionality was a key driver for the creation of the portal, and the Labatt team required a flexible solution that would be intuitive for end users. Key features, such as check-in and check-out, which guarantee that only one user works on a document at a time, and versioning to track changes - were critical to ensure the integrity and accuracies of business critical documents.
Working with Microsoft Services, Labatt customized the indexing and search functions within Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Portal Server 2003. "Given the number of employees and the amount of information housed on our portal, we immediately recognized the need for a robust search function," said Jonathan Starkey, Labatt. "The indexing and search functions within SharePoint provided a solid foundation for us to build our own custom search function. We've created a highly specialized classification system for all documents, enabling a user to select what categories a document belongs in when they place it into the system. What this means is that users are able to save time by quickly locating the documents they need."
Building Team Workspaces For Collaboration
A key part of the functionality added in phase two was the inclusion of team workspaces. Using Microsoft® Windows® SharePoint® Services, a team Web site solution designed to significantly improve the way teams manage information and activities, Labatt can now quickly and easily create sites for individual teams, within a matter of hours.
"With the addition of team workspaces to the Intranet, we've had a very positive response, with more than 30 sites being set up over the last five months," said Jonathan Starkey, Labatt. "The real value-add of SharePoint Team Services is that we're able to deliver a high level of functionality to end-users with very little time spent setting up workspaces."
With the new portal, various business units, including sales and marketing, legal and the Oland Speciality Beer Company (a division of Labatt) have created team workspaces which provide a common point of access for project or departmental information, including, documents, contacts, tasks and discussions.
Business Benefits
Through the seamless deployment of Microsoft technology as the infrastructure for Labatt's Intranet, The Pub, the company has been able to empower employees, improve employee communication, and create efficiencies with the IT department, while making a significant impact on employee productivity and collaboration.
Improved Employee Communication
Within Labatt, The Pub reaches approximately 70 per cent of the company's employees, many of whom access the site on a daily basis to receive updates on the latest corporate information, share ideas in the Innovation Database or actively engage in discussion forums. An estimated 50 per cent of visitors are active in Labatt's discussions forum, creating a greater sense of belonging for many employees.
"Employee response to The Pub has been extremely positive," Jonathan Starkey, Labatt. "Through our Intranet, we've been able to deliver immense value to our employees by providing tools that enable them to make better informed decisions and increase their productivity. The business value of bringing employees closer together is apparent when you look at the individual contributions and recommendations for greater innovation that come in through The Pub."
Empowering Employees, Creating Efficiencies in IT
With Microsoft® Content Management Server 2002, Labatt has been able to empower over 100 individuals across the company with author/editor capabilities for The Pub. By putting control and management of the Intranet's content in the hands of business users, Labatt has streamlined the web publishing process.
Now, authorized content writers and editors can post new information quickly, meaning that content is more relevant and compelling for visitors to the Intranet. By empowering users, the Labatt IT team doesn't need to be involved with the Intranet on a day-to-day basis, as employees from across the organization are handling routine updates and posting new information independently.
"We've put control of the Intranet in the hands of the content specialists," said Jonathan Starkey, Labatt. "The learning curve for our employees to be able to actually publish content to the Intranet was minimal as most work is done using Microsoft Office software that our employees already know how to use."
Employee Productivity and Collaboration
For the 70 per cent of Labatt's employees using the portal, it has helped make a significant contribution to improving productivity and collaboration across the board. With the robust search function within The Pub, employees are able to quickly locate the documents they need and obtain the information they require to make better business decisions.
Within individual teams, new workspaces have created a powerful means to collaborate on documents, communicate status and share information using just a browser. Document management capabilities have streamlined the way teams work together, reduced confusion over document versions, and eliminated instances where two people are working on the same document at the same time. SharePoint Team Services and Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Portal Server 2003 have assisted in providing Labatt employees with the tools they require to work together easily and effortless in a way that positively impacts the bottom-line.
"There's no doubt that our Intranet has resulted in greater productivity and collaboration throughout Labatt," said Jonathan Starkey, Labatt. "By providing our employees with these tools, we are simplifying the lives of each employee while giving them the power to make better informed decisions through greater access to information. This is truly an investment in the long-term success of Labatt."
For More Information
For more information about Microsoft products and services, call the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada, call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (877) 568-2495. Customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft text telephone (TTY/TDD) services at (800) 892-5234 in the United States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada. Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local Microsoft subsidiary. To access information using the World Wide Web, go to: http://www.microsoft.com/ For more information about Labatt products and services, call 1-800-268-BEER or visit the Web site at: http://www.labatt.com/
