SharePoint and the bigger pictureGlobal collaboration vs local maintenance in Aviva Europe

2008 – the global vision

• One intranet for everyone in Aviva by October 2008Almost – Group Centre by October, most of Aviva by Jan 2009

• All other intranets migrated and closed by mid-2009Many had gone by mid-2010 but the biggest is still running

• SharePoint 2007 Online, hosted by Microsoft OnlineSome challenges but great value

• A single information architecture for all usersSort of

• Publishing content in English plus eight languages using variationsVariations failed and took a year to get right

• SharePoint magic would allow a user to see Group and regional content side by sideA great idea which didn’t really work

2009 – the Europe vision

• One intranet for everyone in Aviva Europe by June 2010Single source for news and Europe-wide info (don’t mention the French)

• All other intranets and shared content moved into Aviva World Intranets, Notes dbs, shared drives...

• A single information architecture for all usersSome adaptations to allow for translation and local needs

• Publishing in English plus eight other languages using variationsEnglish, English for Ireland, Spanish, Polish, Italian, Hungarian, Turkish, Russian, Czech, plus some content in Romanian and Lithuanian (don’t mention the French)

• Regional news and info alongside market news and info“Topping up” variations with local content

What were the challenges?

One intranet for everyone in Aviva Europe by June 2010

• We were fortunate to align with a clear vision for One Europe

• We already knew SharePoint. Publishing sites were the focus – team sites just grew

• Two-day workshops to understand the needs of every market

• Different cultures, languages, history, products, sales approach

• In many markets one person was the contact for all HR and communications initiatives

o We managed to get funding for one dedicated communications person in each market

What were the challenges?

All other intranets and shared content moved into Aviva World

• Huge differences between markets – some had big intranets, some a few databases or shared drives

• Europe-wide content was not mature, so we had to future-proof

• Persuade markets it was worth publishing policies and processes

A single information architecture for all users

• When we started the IA wasn’t finalised

• Many markets just didn’t have content to fill the IA; for others mapping existing content to the IA was a huge challenge

• Translation is never as simple as it looks

• Some markets had specialist needs and different structures

What were the challenges?

• Technical challenge to get target variations propagated & working

• Started with English variation for Ireland – best decision we made

• Had to agree the translation process for standing content and dynamic content (e.g. news)

o Some markets brought in additional translation resource for standing content

o Dynamic items translated in-house

o Translation of news items is a continuing drain – concern that items which are not translated & published are not seen in markets

Publishing in English and seven other languages using variations

What were the challenges?

Regional news and info alongside market news and info

• Variation process creates a draft copy of each site or page in English

• Market can translate the site and Europe pages and “top up” with their own content

• Constant juggling between giving markets ownership and keeping the One Europe vision

• Sometimes better to publish in English – but then there is duplication

What it looks like

Homepage - English source site

What it looks like

Homepage - Spanish site

What it looks like

Homepage - Polish site

What it looks like

Homepage - Turkish site

What it looks like

Homepage - Russian site

What it looks like

Learning and development - English source site

What it looks like

Learning and development - topped up with content for Ireland

What it looks like

Learning and development - topped up with content for Russia

What it looks like

Learning and development - topped up with content for Poland

What it looks like

Learning and development – allowing for Universidad Aviva in Spain

...every site contains the core pages for L&D across Aviva Europe

Moving forward into 2011 and beyond

Upgrade to SharePoint 2010 due Q2 this year

• We haven’t got upgraded variations working properly yet

• New opportunities with multi-lingual features

• Understand and find the best governance for the new networking features – in multiple languages and multiple legal systems

• Multilingual metadata....

Cultural changes ahead

• New CEO for Europe

• Focus on business exploitation rather than pure communications

© Aviva plc 2011

Questions?