FCO Services are part of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO), operating commercially as a Trading Fund who provide a range of integrated services such as security services worldwide to the FCDO and other UK government departments, supporting the delivery of government agendas. FCO Services operate and deliver worldwide, working with over 250 embassies, high commissions, and other critical government facilities across 168 countries.

Konsolute carried out the design, development, and implementation of a collaborative platform programme for FCO Services which included the successful delivery of their modern Intranet solution.

The FCOS organisation involves collaboration between both internal and external workers based in offices all over the world. Furthermore, the staff working in these locations operate in various languages, making FCOS a multicultural and multilingual organisation. FCOS therefore required an Intranet solution capable of connecting employees across locations worldwide, opening communication channels and enabling ease of access to essential information by members across the organisation. The FCOS Intranet fundamentally needed to connect members of the organisation to key information, people, and services across locational, cultural, and linguistic barriers, supplying a free flow of information to the workforce in its entirety. This information should be presented to individual employees based on their specific job roles and requirements, allowing each member of the workforce to prioritise the information that they care about the most.

The solution needed to be easily customised to reflect the branding and vision of FCOS as an organisation in order to foster a cohesive company culture across its multiple locations. It also had the role of ensuring transparency across the organisation, enabling all employees to access a central hub of information and putting transparency at the very heart of the company culture.

As part of a wider SharePoint-hosted system, FCOS’s Intranet needed to be capable of integrating fully with Microsoft 365, giving employees access to an important line-of-business applications through one centralised system. This included the building out of business-critical applications, using the Microsoft Power Platform.

Konsolute set up a detailed implementation plan according to the client’s key requirements through conducting a comprehensive Discovery Phase. During the Discovery Phase we conducted workshops and discussions with stakeholders and users across the company to identify key personas and User Stories, helping us to build a picture of the individual requirements of FCOS users. The Discovery Phase better informed our implementation plan for the specificities of the client.

Konsolute used their proprietary product known as ‘Kolumbus’ to infer an Information Architecture from their existing data repositories which included SharePoint and Lotus Notes databases. This process classified data into categories and sub-categories, creating taxonomies and giving a holistic view of the data created across the organisation. Kolumbus’ centralised dashboard gave a comprehensive view of the organisational data from which unstructured data could be queried and information architecture could be established.

A phased rollout was then introduced. This involved rolling-out the Intranet to various departments within the organisation to facilitate discussion and feedback on the solution. This feedback was noted and used to inform changes and updates to the solution, concluding in an organisation-wide rollout of the final solution.

Finally, employee training sessions for the new Intranet solution were hosted, enabling end-users to utilise the new solution to its maximum potential and in the best way to benefit the specific needs of their job role.

The Intranet enabled FCOS employees across various office locations and speaking various languages to communicate effectively. The Intranet’s inbuilt enterprise social networking capabilities, using tools such as Microsoft Yammer, enabled employees to stay connected via the corporate Yammer feed. Employees were enabled to connect across social media channels and create blogs and surveys, opening communication channels and fostering connectivity across the organisation’s departments and locations. The ability of the Intranet to work across all devices, without impacting the effect on the end user, ensured that all users could remain connected even when out of the office or travelling.

Using the targeted audience capabilities of SharePoint and Konsolute’s range of SharePoint Online components, the Intranet provided users with an employee centralised view. Feeding them with information connected to their projects or departments based on the sites and teams they participate in. The site structure encouraged the breakdown of silos across the organisation, allowing projects and interest groups to be found. Tailored information was made available to each user through a personalised Intranet home screen, engaging and immediately presenting users with relevant and interesting information. This resulted in reduced search time for daily activities and an overall more up-to-date workforce.
The fully tailorable Intranet design also enabled FCOS to maintain brand integrity and to present organisational values to their workforce. With a completely customisable design and features, the new Intranet was successfully tailored to reflect the key aims and vision of FCOS.

The SharePoint Online-based Intranet solution integrated seamlessly with the organisation’s existing Microsoft 365 tenancy, meaning employees could access familiar business applications via one centralised location. The structured and intuitive design reduced the confusion of working cross-platform, therefore simplifying the end-user experience.