VisitAberdeenshire

Unleashing SharePoint's Potential: Optimising Efficiency through Cloud-Based Collaboration.

Overview

Customer

VisitAberdeenshire.

About

VisitAberdeenshire is the lead tourism agency for Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. It promotes fantastic visitor experiences in North-east Scotland to targeted audiences in the UK and overseas. It also works to develop the visitor economy through initiatives that help tourism businesses to understand and meet demand from an ever-changing market. Through this it strengthens the region’s position as a world-class tourism destination.

Sector

Tourism.

Org. Size

Service

Technology Consulting & Delivery.

Key Goals

Improved collaboration & productivity

Enhanced knowledge sharing

Streamlined information sharing

“From the initial discovery audit with Andy through to the delivery of the project with Betsy, the Appetite for Business team supported and guided us through the entire process. Betsy was able to see the bigger picture and understand our project objectives by becoming an integrated part of the VisitAberdeenshire team. She communicated regularly with the teams and explained processes in practical terms allowing for project milestones to be met. Thank you to Appetite for Business for creating an user friendly, interactive and collaborative intranet and file storage system which has enhanced our day-to-day work.”

HR & Business Services Manager

Challenges

VisitAberdeenshire faced connectivity challenges before engaging with AFB. Initially, it was using a fixed server that was approaching the end of its five-year warranty. While it could have continued with the same setup, it recognised the need for a more advanced and collaborative approach to support its business needs. With the rise of hybrid working and remote work, existing VPN links and server setup were posing challenges for seamless remote connectivity. VisitAberdeenshire needed a solution that allowed teams to work together more effectively and collaboratively.

The fixed server they were using was reaching the end of its warranty period, prompting the need for an upgrade.
The VPN links were causing problems for the staff when working remotely, leading to potential disruptions in accessing the server and data.
The existing setup impacted collaboration among teams, as only one person could work on a file at a time, causing inefficiencies.
Transitioning to SharePoint represented a significant change for most employees, requiring effective change management.
The on-site server restricted remote access to files, posing challenges during remote work or off-site engagements.

Solutions

To address the issues highlighted, AFB implemented Microsoft SharePoint, providing a more efficient and collaborative platform for remote work and information sharing. The goal was to enable seamless collaboration among teams, improve accessibility of files remotely, and create a visually appealing and user-friendly intranet site.

VisitAberdeenshire migrated from the traditional file server to SharePoint, providing a cloud-based platform for remote access and collaboration.
SharePoint allowed employees to work remotely without the need for VPN links, solving connectivity issues that could potentially impact on productivity.
SharePoint enabled simultaneous editing of documents improving team collaboration.
The intranet site served as a focal point for the company’s resources, streamlining information sharing, and making it easier for employees to find and access relevant content.
SharePoint’s flexibility allowed the company to create a vibrant and informative intranet site with company documents, news, event updates and links to relevant third-party sites.

Outcomes

After a year of using SharePoint, VisitAberdeenshire successfully achieved its initial goals and experienced additional benefits. It found the system to be more powerful and versatile than anticipated, leading to new opportunities for improvement.

SharePoint enhanced collaboration, information sharing, and streamlined business processes.
SharePoint’s real-time editing capabilities allowed multiple team members to work on the same document simultaneously, leading to enhanced collaboration and increased productivity.
The intranet site served as a centralised hub for resources, event updates, and news, making it easier for employees to access information and fostering better communication across teams.
SharePoint simplified certain business processes by providing direct links to third-party sites within the intranet, to improve the user experience.
Over time, the team realised the vast potential of SharePoint, leading to the exploration of additional integrations, and possibilities for further development.

Who We Help?

Whatever, your situation we can help you to de-risk and accelerate your M365 adoption.  

For Owners

Small team? At capacity? Don’t know where to start? Work with us and always be in the know with data at your fingertips. Save yourselves the stress so you can digitally transform your organisation and processes. Hold on to and develop talent. Identify areas for more efficiency. Stay secure and compliant and move the business forward.

For IT

Juggling with strategy and small in-house team? With a specialist partner like us we can help simplify management, achieve compliance and guide you on best practice governance and strategy, keeping data secure whilst giving people access to the insights they need.

For Finance

Overseeing a global business? Let us help you go from data to insight to action. Free up cash flow by identifying efficiencies, removing legacy systems and removing bottlenecks. Increasing real time visibility, measuring metrics, mitigating risk and achieving better compliance and transparency.

For HR

Worrying about upskilling or reskilling your talent pipeline to meet changing technology needs and digital skills shortage? Let us help you to boost productivity, knowledge sharing and wellbeing in remote workers. Deliver a best-in-class employee experience from onboarding to offboarding. Provide better access to employee voices to guide, transform and evolve.

Sectors We Have Worked In

With experience and clients across a wide range of sectors and industries, we understand the challenges you face.

Energy/Renewables 

We have core domain experience in this area, providing solutions that have transformed the way our customers manage their businesses and use their data to extract maximum value. 

Construction 

We know how important it is to support construction companies who want to rapidly digitize their processes to support off site workers and remove manual processes, avoid delays, and drive project efficiencies. 

Professional Services 

We have been trusted by customers to streamline and secure operations and develop bespoke responsive apps within Microsoft 365 to increase productivity and deliver differentiating services.

Transport & Travel 

We understand the pressure to streamline operations, reduce costs and increase efficiency. Appetite for Business provide M365 development and support services to improve efficiency and QHSE audit and compliance.

Pharmaceutical 

From regularly working with pharma organisations, we understand the challenges to support collaboration, productivity, and paper lite initiatives to streamline processes, increase visibility and comply with regulations. 

Public Sector  

We are on the UK Government G-Cloud framework. We can support you with process transformation, employee engagement and digital working practices with a variety of solutions.  

Healthcare 

From advisory and best practice around large digital transformation programmes to out of the box and bespoke digital solutions we can help you adopt modern working practices. 

Not for Profit 

Every penny counts.  So, we help you do more with less, from licensing to better information access, tracking data for metrics and creation of dashboards all to ensure regulatory compliance.