Specifications
Igloo software enables clients to build and run intranets and external communities. The software is served via a Web browser so it’s accessible on mobile devices. The platform integrates with other tools, including SharePoint and Salesforce.
Intranet features include public and private team spaces, file sharing, document storage, activity streams, unlimited blogs, microblogs, forums, calendars and wikis, task management, member directories, and profiles.
Intranet users can follow, like, and share content, people, or pages. External community features include built-in social tools, engagement analytics, and more.
Igloo also offers custom design, architecture, implementation, and training services.
Cost
With an annual contract, the intranet product starts at $132 per month for 11 users. Each additional user is $12 per month. The external community product is $3 per person per month. Enterprise pricing is available for both products.
Custom services start at $5,000 for up to 25 hours of work.
Danielle DeForge, director of corporate communications for inVentiv Health, has been using Igloo for about a year and half.
How do you use it?
InFuse, which is our intranet, is powered by Igloo. When you buy the software, you get strategic support from the team. We started from scratch and Igloo helped us create and launch inFuse.
Because it’s cloud-based, customizable software we’re able to run the day-to-day operations ourselves. This is important for us, as we are communicators – not the IT team.
Every day we log on to the backend of the software to upload new content, such as graphics, photos, or videos, look at analytics, update the system with new employees, and push out training materials.
It’s very user friendly – the platform feels familiar because it’s modeled on popular social channels such as Facebook. We give employees about 45 minutes of training on how to operate the platform, and then they are off building and updating pages on the intranet on their own.
When we built the intranet, the Igloo team armed us with troubleshooting skills. If there’s a major problem – which there hasn’t been so far – we have a 24-hour dedicated support team we can call or email for help.
How does it serve your business needs?
We use inFuse every day to share corporate communications content with our employees.
Our staffers play a role in it as well because they manage most pages within the intranet. For example, different pages within inFuse represent different specialties and departments within inVentiv. Because the platform is so user friendly, we’ve been able to empower our employees to own those pages so it’s not just our corporate communications team making all the updates.
Because Igloo is scalable, we were able to quickly launch an intranet. Of course, it’s ever changing, but it’s easy for us to maintain and update.
InFuse has become a global town hall for us. Because it is cloud-based and has multiple language capabilities, it is the first place where all of our 12,000 global employees come together on a regular basis.
In the past, operating an intranet could be technical, so employees didn’t have a share of voice. Because Igloo’s software is easy to use, we’re able to give them a voice in the community and a sense of shared purpose and goals. It has helped create a sense of unity and strengthened our corporate culture.
It’s also facilitating collaboration and knowledge sharing across our commercial and clinical businesses. For example, Igloo allows us to bring together employees from clinical and commercial divisions who work on oncology to share their knowledge to benefit clients.
It has also improved productivity. Our company is made up of many businesses, and Igloo has provided a common space to share resources, such as templates and presentations, which were previously siloed. Now they’re all in one location so employees can more quickly find what they need, and they can also access tools they previously might not have known existed because they were saved somewhere else.
How does it integrate with your existing infrastructure from an IT standpoint?
It is cloud-based software. Where possible, we try to integrate it with IT applications being used at the employee level.
What are the main benefits?
It’s user friendly and scalable, which is great because employee bases change over time. We can easily add more people to the system as necessary.
It’s customizable, which was really important to us. It also has a strong general structure, which allowed us to launch it quickly.
Having access to Igloo’s strategists has helped us build a successful intranet. Finally, it also has multi-lingual capabilities so all of our employees worldwide can use it.
What are the main drawbacks?
In order for larger companies to create a successful intranet, it’s important to spend the time to customize it to meet your business needs. This isn’t a drawback to the software – it’s just something to be aware of.
What would you like to see improved/added?
We would like to see easier integration with various productivity apps that our employees are already using on a daily basis, such as Dropbox or Salesforce, so they can seamlessly stay within the intranet platform and still access these other tools they use to do their job.
Competitors
Microsoft SharePoint: A platform for various programs, including team sites; apps; work, content, and record management; and more.
Jive: Provides enterprise social platforms for internal and external communities.
