The modern intranet from Heraeus that inspires 14,900 employees.

Heraeus revolutionized their internal communication with a modern mobile-first intranet - replacing an aging SharePoint solution and employee newspaper. For the first time, they are connecting not only office workers but also non-desk workers reliably and directly.

Man smiling in an office setting, with a smartphone screen displaying the Heraeus employee app interface on the right.

Headquarters:

Hanau, Germany

Founded:

1851

Company size:

14,900+

Industry:

Technology

Heraeus Holding GmbH

The Heraeus technology group is a leading global portfolio company with more than 100 locations in over 40 countries. The company is one of the top 10 family-owned companies in Germany and employs around 14,900 people. Heraeus bundles a variety of businesses in the fields of environment, electronics, health and industrial applications.

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The challenge

The group's broad portfolio and many businesses areas makes for a very complex internal structure. The communications department not only has to cater to many different languages at their global locations, but also take cultural differences into account. Employees who work in production, logistics or in the lab should be able to be reached just as well as those with their own computer workstations. But, that was easier said than done. The team comms was stuck wondering: How to reach the entire workforce with relevant and personalized communications?

Four professionals, including a woman and three men, converse outdoors near a brick building. One wears a lab coat, another holds a yellow hard hat.

The requirements for the new intranet, Heraeus touch.

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Relevance

Content must be relevant enough that all employees will want to use the company intranet regularly.

Target Hit, Spot-On Communication, or Message on Point, reaching the goal

Reach

The channel must reach ALL employees, from the office to the production floor.

Icon pen in square

Customization

The intranet should offer users a tailored experience and information based on their role.

Company size icon

Central access point

]Employees should find all important information centralized on a single platform.

The results exceed expectations

10,000

Active users on the platform

40,000

Likes and more than 5,000 comments

7.3 Mio

views of the home page in the first six months

Heraeus touch: A mobile-first intranet that connects everyone

The cutting-edge intranet is now the daily entry point for all Heraeus employees. The key to success: In addition to the desktop application, the intranet is also available as mobile app that all employees can install on their smartphones.

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The Communications Playbook for Manufacturing

An Eight-Step Process to Give a Voice to the Non-Desk Worker.

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A personalized digital hub saves time and creates relevance.

Heraeus touch puts a stop to endless searching! From the launchpad, employees can jump directly to all the tools and services they use every day - like the HR portal, security log, or MS 365. It’s also possible to set whether tools should be displayed only on the desktop launchpad, the mobile version, or from both.

A person wearing a mask sits at a table in a cafeteria. A notification shows a message about signing up, with 112 likes and 19 comments.

The return on investment of Heraeus touch: More than €125,000 saved!

The discontinuation of the employee newspaper alone saved the company €125,000 annually! In addition, thanks to the new intranet, Heraus was able to sunset their old SharePoint system, saving additional licensing and upkeep fees.But the ROI goes beyond just bottom line savings. The intranet also helped re-launch a new, more transparent culture of communication across the business. And the awards are rolling in! In addition to the internal Heraeus Award, the project also won the Inkometa Award for the best mobile intranet in the "Intranet & Digital Workspace" award category.

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The best thing is that we can now reach all of our colleagues, including the 50% of non-desk employees who never before had access to our corporate content. Now, for the first time, everyone has a digital communications platform right in their hands.

Heraeus logo
René Weiß
Head of Content & Editorial, Heraeus
Head of Content & Editorial, Heraeus. Smiling man with short dark hair and beard, wearing a white shirt and gray sweater, against a dark blue background.

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