ERM’s Path to Employee Communication Analytics Success

About ERM

ERM is the largest consultancy that offers end-to-end services across the sustainability spectrum. It has 5,000 employees in over 140 offices, across 40 countries and territories. Internal Communications is a team of five, with three managing global internal communications and two overseeing the organization’s intranet.

Employee communications elevated within the organization

Neil Griffiths, Senior Manager, Global Communication at ERM says two significant developments at ERM shifted Internal Communications focus in delivering the company’s business goals: a move to the Strategy department, and a strong directive from the new CEO for better employee communications.

The team built a communication strategy aligned to the refreshed business priorities. The next step was to measure and provide actionable insights and prove increased engagement – justifying investment made in employee communications.

The Challenge

The 2018 Gatehouse survey found 66% of internal communicators find measurement is difficult, and Neil understands that. “Yes, we found measurement was difficult. We knew planning is an essential part of IC getting it right – getting and using meaningful measurement to show the impact of that planning was our challenge.”

Before Poppulo Analytics sourcing and gathering data was difficult, it was fairly flat, and it wasn’t particularly timely. That’s how it used to be!

— Neil Griffiths, Senior Manager, Global Communication,ERM

As with many practitioners, ERM’s annual employee survey was the primary tool for gauging engagement; but, Neil says, this yearly insight provides only a snapshot in time. ERM’s other sources of measurement had to be pulled from siloed sources. “It was labor intensive getting the data, let alone doing anything with it. Plus, the one-dimensional metrics we did obtain – volume of traffic and clicks – didn’t give us much to work with even after analysis.”

The team needed metrics giving them accurate and meaningful insight across their organization’s digital channels, bringing together data points across these channels and showing where in the business content related to business priorities and strategic issues was resonating most effectively.

Selecting Poppulo Analytics

ERM was looking for a measurement solution that would simplify the IC reporting process, save time and help them show the impact of IC on their employees. ERM chose Poppulo Analytics, because it delivers on all their team’s measurement objectives.

Partnering with Poppulo

When a company signs up to Poppulo Analytics, it becomes a partnership between Poppulo and the customer to set the base for collating the right metrics, reports and insight specific to that company’s needs. Here’s how Poppulo and ERM worked together:

• Build a business case: Neil says, “Initially, in order to get budget for the analytics solution, Poppulo gave us materials and the language that helped us build the business case to get it approved.”
• Customer action plan: “Poppulo provided us with a Customer Action Plan, and working from that, they summarized the objectives we had and how the tool could support these objectives.”
• Workshop to define success: “Reports are only as good as the data that goes into them. Poppulo ran a workshop that helped us define the cross-channel reports that would help us measure success. In this case it was for our email, SharePoint, Yammer and Vimeo. Based on that, the Analytics tool generates our custom reports automatically.”

Poppulo helped us tailor Poppulo Analytics to our reporting needs. Our partnership with Poppulo went beyond what I was expecting and the experience was incredibly positive.

The Solution

Measuring outcomes not outputs

Prior to having Poppulo Analytics, Neil says his team had access to only tactical, activity-based reporting and measurement, such as opens, visits and clicks. “Now, as well as tactical and activity levels, our team has reports that track against the business priority and employee engagement goals. We’ve gone from one dimensional measurement to having three dimensions of reporting”.

We were exhausted by measurement because we spent time retrieving and collating data from different places. Poppulo Analytics tracks email, SharePoint, Vimeo and Yammer in one place, in real time.

— Neil Griffiths, Senior Manager, Global Communication,ERM

“To have one dashboard with all measurement in one place in real time from multiple channels has literally transformed how we measure. Our time is now spent on analysis. The time savings alone has transformed the measurement practice”.

Managing active campaigns

“Because we now monitor engagement in real-time throughout campaigns, we can have informed conversations with business leaders, refocus on areas where engagement is lower – and make changes mid-campaign. This helps us ensure the success of the our IC activities”.

Downloadable dashboards

“We have a selection of well-packaged measurement dashboards to download and use in presentations”.

Tailored reporting

Rather than producing one report, Neil says the team now tailor presentations to the audience; e.g. senior stakeholders, team leaders, or their own team. “For example, I was able to provide a strategic business priority report to the Director of Strategy. She immediately saw the value in how communication content was contributing to the business priorities set by the CEO. It’s powerful to provide insight that supports conversations she is having with the CEO and others”.

Elevating IC to a strategic role

“With Poppulo Analytics we have a new level of reporting, helping us have strategic conversations with business leaders, and prove our business value to the organization”.

Poppulo Analytics has transformed how we measure.

— Neil Griffiths, Senior Manager, Global Communication,ERM