Innofactor : VR Group’s Verstas wins Best Intranet of the Year Competition

Verstas, winner of the Best Intranet of the Year competition, breaks down the barriers of traditional intranet models. The solution offers all VR employees the opportunity to participate in the development of the company and the workplace, making it possible to respond to today's challenges in terms of customer service and employee needs alike.The concept development and implementation of Verstas was carried out with Innofactor, and the final product is the end result of long-term collaboration.

Espoo - 21 June 2016 The Verstas intranet, provided to VR Group by Innofactor (NASDAQ Helsinki IFA1) won the Best Intranet of the Year competition. This year, the jury focused particularly on the implementation of the solution as a whole: emphasis was placed on how the solution supports the implementation of communication and cooperation. VR's solution provides excellent support for the organization, i.e. the people. VR Group made the decision to redesign its intranet, 'Verstas', three years ago. After the conceptualization phase, Office 365 was selected as the platform. The new Verstas was taken into use in autumn 2014. After the introduction of the new Verstas, the solution has been developed further constantly and regularly by introducing new features and teaching users how to make the most of the solution.

One of the central objectives of the modernization of Verstas was to make digital communications and easy collaboration available for the entire personnel. VR Group has over 8,000 employees with very different jobs in the three main business divisions, passenger transport (VR), freight transport (VR Transpoint) and infrastructure engineering (VR Track), as well as various supporting functions. Approximately one half of the employees work in the field. The new Verstas has been designed to serve all of them.

The new cloud-based intranet can be accessed where and whenever, on any device regardless of the role of the user. Now all employees from engine drivers to managers have all the information they need for their work at their disposal, and keeping in contact with colleagues is possible for everyone. A large portion of users use Verstas through multiple devices.

The cloud-based solution allows Verstas to be used in any place and through any device. All employees have licenses that enable the use of the solution, and most already have mobile devices provided by the employer. The employees may also use Verstas through their own PCs and mobile devices. The process, which began as a simple revamp of the intranet, has led VR Group to adopt a new operational culture in terms of both intranet management and development and the everyday work of the intranet-using employees. The intranet has grown into a tool that allows all employees to work together and be heard. Through Verstas, all employees have the possibility of accessing the information they need in their work or find otherwise interesting and participating in the work.

The design of VR Group's Verstas has not been dictated by technological factors; instead, its primary function is to work as a set of tools that can be developed and used on the terms of different business divisions and user groups. The tools available can be applied according to needs, and if the default functions are not enough, new ones will be developed. Other Office365 applications, such as Skype for Business and OneDrive, can also be seamlessly linked to Verstas. Verstas is a service package with the goal of offering each group of employees a functional way to collaborate, either in smaller teams or larger units, even development work covering the entire group.

• Communication: news, descriptions of internal services, employee contact information, as well as instructions and videos
• Tools for flexible collaboration: workspaces, Yammer, OneDrive for Business
• Applications to support business, such as the internal notification board and rule book for engine drivers
• Mobile first: the solution has been built to work on mobile devices, following the modern ideology Mobile First, Cloud First.

'Verstas is based on continuous development. Verstas breaks down the barriers of traditional intranet models. The solution offers us all at VR the opportunity to participate in the development of the 154-year-old VR as a company and a workplace, improving its ability to respond to today's challenges in terms of customer service and employee needs alike', says Sanna Keränen, editor-in-chief of Verstas. 'Throughout the project, we have paid particular attention to introducing and adopting new models of operation. The development of a community-based operational culture has been adopted as a central theme when developing the social intranet at the heart of cloud services', Keränen continues.

'We are happy to know that our client won the Best Intranet of the Year competition. At VR Group, research and development mean constant close collaboration among business divisions, communications, IT services, Innofactor and Microsoft, with a culture of brave experimentations and continuous learning playing a significant role. The business divisions took an active and constant role in the redesign of the intranet right from the start, which has been key to the development and implementation of such a successful solution', says Sami Ensio, CEO at Innofactor.

Further information:
Sami Ensio, CEO
Innofactor Plc
Tel. +358 50 584 2029

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Innofactor is one of the leading Nordic IT solution providers focused on Microsoft platforms. Innofactor delivers business-critical solutions and maintenance services as a system integrator and develops its own software products and services. The focus area in Innofactor's own product development is Microsoft's cloud solutions. Innofactor's customers include over 1,200 private and public sector organizations in the Nordic Countries. The company has over 500 motivated and skilled employees in a number of locations in Finland, Sweden and Denmark. In 2011-2015, the annual growth of Innofactor's net sales has been approximately 35%. The Innofactor Plc share is listed in the technology section of the main list of NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Oy. www.innofactor.com