Amplexor delivers ambitious news portal for Tessenderlo Group
The Wire improves communication between branches around the world
Leuven, May 2010 - Tessenderlo Group recently launched a brand-new internal website known as The Wire. This internal communication tool allows some 1000 senior and middle managers at the international group to stay in touch with each other. Amplexor, which is now a trusted partner of Tessenderlo, took care of technical implementation, based on Tridion, and completed this in the space of just three months.
Although it was launched only a few weeks ago, The Wire, which connects all of Tessenderlo Group's branches around the world, is already well-known within the organisation. The group’s new communication platform is ambitious to say the least and was constructed using a Tridion web content management system. Authorised employees can log on to the innovative news portal from all over the world, from offices or from hotel rooms, for instance. In addition to supporting communication at management level, The Wire also supports the HR, IT, Legal, Finance and Communications Departments, as well as the Project Management Office. The platform can be used for sharing confidential and non-confidential information and documents, and the tool is also used to keep employees up-to-date on the group's global business news. “The Wire was a major challenge for us,” explained Joris Janssens, the webmaster of Tessenderlo Chemie. “We used to use e-mail clusters for internal communication, but the system we had wasn’t very user-friendly. So we looked for a modern, flexible communication tool that was easy to use. That’s exactly what we’ve got with The Wire.”
More than just a news portal
“The Wire is pretty versatile,” Joris Janssens said. “And we wanted to integrate this new tool into the existing IT infrastructure as much as possible. Tridion was already used as a basis for our website and our CMS system, and we picked the same technology for The Wire. A Tridion add-on was also installed in the internet tool. This add-on is an outbound e-mail system that enables us to distribute internal and external newsletters. And Tridion Target Groups technology has been used to personalise some of the information on The Wire, so that it can only be accessed by a limited number of users.”
Delivered on time thanks to Amplexor’s knowhow
One problem that had to be contended with was the tight deadline: The Wire had to be delivered within a couple of months. Joris Janssens: “Fortunately we could count on the expertise of Amplexor’s staff. They had previously constructed five Tridion-based websites for us and also implemented a content management system. We held progress meetings with people from Amplexor every two weeks, and working with them proved to be an excellent experience. Their expertise, no-nonsense mentality and constant efforts ensured that The Wire could be launched on schedule.” This teamwork led to tremendous results, and the new communication tool has been well-received.
The chemical giant and the content management specialist will continue to work together. The project will be followed up as part of a maintenance contract, and when additional functionalities are required Tessenderlo Group can always turn to Amplexor’s experts.