About the client
Mott MacDonald is a global engineering, management and development consultancy that guides its clients through many of the world’s most complex challenges.
A global collaboration network needs expert support to succeed
Mott MacDonald specialises in helping its clients solve complex challenges on a global scale. It relies on a global network of experts and consultants, bringing them together in different ways on different projects. In keeping with its passionate focus on digital innovation, Mott MacDonald decided to invest in a new global collaboration platform, replacing ageing conference facilities, expensive face-to-face meetings, and inefficient conference calls and emails.
With 16,000 people in 150 countries in scope for the project, it was clear that Mott MacDonald couldn’t simply launch the tool and sit back. Mott MacDonald knew it needed expert help to get as many employees as possible to adopt the platform, to maximise its benefits and the return on investment.
A proven plan from The Inform Team
Mott MacDonald chose The Inform Team to support them on the rollout. Our change and technology experts understood, just as Mott MacDonald did, that a people-first approach to change was essential for the rollout to be a success. This greatly influenced our approach to the project.
To increase the chances of success, The Inform Team implemented their trademarked 4E’s methodology, splitting the project into 4 phases: Establish, Excite, Equip, Embed.
The project in numbers
Saved in travel costs per year
Saved in call costs per year
Saved in conferencing costs per year
Increased likelihood of employees using online meetings due to Inform Team training
Increase in confidence for employees who attended training
Saved per employee per day due to more efficient collaboration tools
The project began with a pilot in a key UK office, which identified the messages that would work best with employees to get them to embrace new ways of working and the platform itself. Success would rely on making it plain to every employee how the collaboration tools made their lives easier – not just the benefits for the company.
What can our collaboration platform do for project team members?
Our new platform makes it possible for team members to instantly share plans and drawings with customers and suppliers instead of waiting for project meetings.
This means:
- Less downtime
- Less rework
- Better customer satisfaction
Inform’s communication experts developed these messages into a communications plan that was carefully timed to coincide with the office-by-office rollout of the platform. Teams of change and people experts also produced short videos explaining how the range of collaboration tools would benefit everyone.
The next step was to equip all Mott MacDonald employees with the knowledge to make the most of the platform and the new ways of working it brought. Inform’s qualified change practitioners devised a training programme tailored to the different needs of staff, including specialist training for switchboard operators.
Of course, these courses were delivered over the platform itself, and easily accessible to Mott MacDonald’s global workforce. Better still, the courses were delivered by our expert training consultants, making the training as interactive, engaging and hands-on as possible.
To help embed the platform, The Inform Team trained a global network of digital champions from among Mott MacDonald’s employees. This reduced reliance on the central service desk during the early days. Shortly after the rollout, the team also surveyed users to understand how well-adopted the collaboration platform was.
This step was crucial as it uncovered some surprising misconceptions that were standing in the way of full adoption. We devised a custom communications plan and rolled out to battle these misconceptions and drive adoption forward. And finally, to keep adoption high in the future, a cadre of seasoned experts from Inform continues to run a virtual induction for new starters covering all the technologies in place at Mott MacDonald, including the collaboration platform.
Tangible cost savings, handy time savings
Surveys showed that employees who engaged with the training sessions were 92% more likely to use online meetings instead of conferencing facilities or travelling. And employees were also on average 59% more confident using the platform compared to those who didn’t engage with the training. The efforts of Inform’s multi-disciplinary project teams meant that as well as the rollout going smoothly, the IT team at Mott MacDonald could retire their alternative conferencing and collaboration tools, streamlining operations and reducing costs.
The impact on the business itself has been enormous. Mott MacDonald has made significant savings as employees move away from expensive phone calls, conference meetings, and travel. Better still, the workforce is finding that work is moving faster as it’s easier to get everyone together to collaborate.
