Case Study - MEC Global

It takes time to find the information you need. And in a company like MEC Global – where the pace can be manic, according to Martin Yuill, Analytics and Insight Director in the company's Global Solutions department – there is no time to spare.

MEC Global is an international media agency of 4000 highly talented and motivated employees located in 84 countries worldwide. With the mandate of managing media for high-profile clients, MEC is operating in "an ever increasingly complex landscape," says Yuill. Its outside landscape is unlikely to change any time soon, but at least MEC's internal landscape has been simplified with Klipfolio Dashboard. Without spending time looking for it, the information employees need is sifted from the noise of cyberspace and flows automatically to a simple, clear dashboard on their computer desktop.

Looking for better corporate communications

The Global Solutions department is demanding when it looks for application software. Yuill wanted a way to emphasize the new digital media focus and improve awareness of timely communications. "We wanted to be able to disseminate knowledge throughout the disciplines more effectively," says Yuill, "so we started looking for an information solution to manage the flow of communications through the team. At the same time, we realized that it can be difficult to get people to use a tool if it's not visually compelling."

Finding and evaluating Klipfolio Dashboard, Yuill knew he had his problem solved. For one thing, compared to some of the amateur-looking tools he had seen, the dashboard was attractive and could be branded and customized. It was clear that Klipfolio Dashboard could handle MEC's main objective – to inform, align, and focus the workforce – and it helped that information could be communicated in ways that reflected the organization's own corporate culture.

Another important factor was that there would be no learning curve for users – not even an application to launch, as Klipfolio Dashboard is always on. "Our users love it. They say Klipfolio Dashboard is a really cool tool," says Yuill. With this sort of reaction from the users, there's no problem getting people to use the application.

In addition to its pedigree as a dashboard that makes enterprise KPIs unavoidable, Klipfolio Dashboard lets organizations get their messages in front of their employees using a single, clear and persistent channel. Most importantly for the Global Solutions team, Klipfolio Dashboard is also easily customized. Some of the information solutions MEC considered weren't flexible. They were 'one size fits all' applications, essentially forcing subscription to data that MEC had no interest in. In contrast, Klipfolio Dashboard offered bespoke tailoring. The Klipfolio application could be adjusted easily to bring different dashboard content to each discipline – and also let each employee customize parts of their individual dashboards for their own needs and interests.

A snap to deploy

Another consideration for Global Solutions was ease of deployment. The introduction of a new software application can be tricky to pass through the scrutiny of the IT department, but in the case of Klipfolio Dashboard, MEC's IT group evaluated it carefully and approved it whole-heartedly. The IT group was happy with Klipfolio Dashboard in terms of compatibility with its other systems and its minimal impact on the corporate network. "After the IT evaluation, Klipfolio helped us with the initial setup of the dashboards, and the rollout to 100 users went smoothly," says Yuill.

Improving the internal landscape

The media experts find Klipfolio Dashboard easy and fun to use. The dashboard requires very little desktop real estate and includes visual and audio alerts that ensure important announcements aren't missed. Users also like their ability to move Klipfolio Dashboard around: some like to hide the dashboard and rely on the alerts; others keep the dashboard as a top bar or sidebar on their desktop.

Yuill explains, "Each discipline in the department has different needs. With Klipfolio Dashboard, we can customize content for each group and each user, while still getting our main messages across." This capability proved important in encouraging user adoption. It meant employees could tailor their dashboards to their discipline and clients, as well as monitor their favorite Facebook and LinkedIn sites and blogs.

One of the most important features for users is that they can set up RSS alerts that save them from having to check individual feeds. "The big thing with Klipfolio Dashboard is the time saved," says Yuill. "I don't have to look at multiple sites any more." Instead, all the information Yuill and his colleagues need, arrives effortlessly in Klipfolio Dashboard on their desktops.

In addition to the time and cost savings, there's an atmosphere of greater connection and focus among the media analysts in the department.

Happy as he is with Klipfolio Dashboard, Yuill still keeps an eye on Klipfolio developments. As new abilities come along – like Klipfolio Publisher – Yuill examines them to see if they may help to further improve the Global Solution group's internal communications landscape.