Sodexho USA’s successful intranet is home grown – no portal solution, no content management platform. Despite the proliferation of expensive solutions, SodexhoNet (Sodexho’s home page) is a shining example of how intranet success can be delivered and measured without the benefit of an off-the-shelf solution.

SodexhoNet was the featured tour stop on today's Intranet Insider World Tour, presented by Communitelligence.com and hosted by myself and Sodexho's Angelo Ioffreda. Comments, questions and discussion are encouraged below...

Sodexho USA is one of the biggest companies you may not know. Sodexho USA (www.sodexhoUSA.com) is the leading provider of food and facilities management in North America, with $6 billion in annual revenues and 110,000+ employees. Sodexho runs cafeterias, housekeeping in the hospitality sector, grounds keeping, plant operations and maintenance and laundry services to more than 6,000 companies principally in health care, schools, and the military.

Headquartered in Gaithersburg, MD, Sodexho has employees spread out across and in all corners of the continent. An even greater challenge than the geographic disparity of its employees is the nature of their work. The vast majority of these employees are hourly workers who are not desktop workers with their own computers – they’re on the frontlines rather preparing and serving food, cleaning, and performing site operations. SodhexoNet is a tying bond that links most of the managers and management of this diverse and disparate group.

“The intranet is a perfect gathering place,” says Angelo Ioffreda, VP, internal communications, Sodexho USA. Companies with many thousands of employees dispersed across great regions and dozens of locations require an effective intranet. Today the intranet serves Sodexho’s managers across the world. Registered users have grown from 2,000 in April, 1999, to more than 14,500 users today.

To access the intranet, each manager pays $39.69 for annual intranet access. Surprisingly, this is not a bone of contention at Sodexho, but expected at an organization with a corporate philosophy for charging for costs incurred. The charge also benefits user managers as the onus is greater on the intranet team to deliver a winning product that is embraced. Finally, the charge also commits managers to use the intranet. If you’re paying, you better use it.

Like all effective systems, SodhexhoNet has a vision: SodexhoNet is a one-stop shop for all of our managers’ information needs and an indispensable part of a Sodexho work day.”

Accompanying the vision is some practical but key goals:

·         Essential business and communications tool

·         Robust, timely, relevant, accurate content

·         Intuitive navigation

·         Quick access

·         Easy to search

·         Feedback capacity

·         Cost-effectiveness

SodexhoNet’s greatest strength however is its management team, lead by corporate communications.

The corporate communications team has five people including an art designer, a communications specialist/writer, the e-communications manager , e-communications specialist , and the VP.  The e-communications manager and specialist are the only ones dedicated full-time to the intranet; the others contribute on a part-time basis. The eBusiness team from IT has a director, a project manager,  two art designers, three programmers, and a technical trainer. They also support other IT projects.