Credit unions operate multiple locations, making a collaborative environment essential. However, Coast Central struggled with an outdated intranet that no longer met modern communication and documentation needs. Learn how ThoughtFarmer helped them overcome these challenges. Background Coast Central Credit Union is a $2 billion California-based financial cooperative with approximately 300 employees working in 11 different Member Services Branches as well as departments throughout multiple cities. For a long time, they relied on an outdated intranet to distribute news across their teams. As they expanded, the limitations of their intranet, named Coastnet, became very obvious. Because it was solely used for news, Coast Central wasn’t receiving the usual benefits of intranets—like improved culture, document storage, and organization charts. As a result, internal communication suffered, inefficiencies multiplied, and the workforce became disengaged. In 2021, after the Marketing Department had researched several vendors and made recommendations to Senior Management, Kandis Basinger, then the organization’s Training Manager, spearheaded the initiative to adopt a new intranet to improve their workplace. It was essential to the Senior team that its intranet serve as a single source of information—a one-stop shop for important news, policies, and documentation, as well as employee events and activities. Most importantly, what was severely lacking previously was a more dedicated support team, for immediate technical support and assistance. ThoughtFarmer was chosen above other competing solutions due to its quick and knowledgeable response to critical issues, ease of use, customization capabilities, simple navigation, and overall look and feel. Outcome Using ThoughtFarmer has greatly improved Coast Central’s internal communication and workplace culture. Ensuring employees adopted the platform was a primary priority for the organization. To ensure this went smoothly, Coastnet was configured on employees’ home screens at the start of each day and Kandis conducted introductory training for all employees. As new employees joined the credit union, they were introduced to a 30-minute tour to help them become acquainted with Coastnet from their first days on the job. Some of the most noticeable benefits include: Single source of information Coast Central’s intranet, named Coastnet, is now their primary and sought-after source for all employee information and news. “Employees have no excuse for not knowing what’s happening, and they understand that if they don’t look at Coastnet, they’re gonna miss stuff” To ensure news and information doesn’t get buried or lost, Senior Marketing Coordinator Cathryn Noel-Veatch relies on the auto-archiving feature within ThoughtFarmer. Automatic archiving allows them to plan ahead and remove content automatically, before it becomes stale. This has also improved the search functionality, making information retrieval even easier. Fostering Community and Connection Coastnet has allowed Coast Central to bridge the culture gap. Cathryn explained, “Even though I don’t talk with every team, I can open up their page and see who’s part of that team in seconds. I can see job titles and extensions, which helps keep those lines of communication open.” CEO announcements no longer go unnoticed, as they are posted to the daily news and pinned to the top, helping employees at all levels feel included and informed. “Everybody has a page—every Member Services Branch and department is included,” Cathryn added. When a long-term employee recently retired, the team posted pictures from the party onto Coastnet. “Even if people weren’t able to attend they could see that it was happening and leave well wishes in the comments. That’s one of the best things about Coastnet: everyone gets to see what’s going on with employees all over the organization,” said Cathryn. ThoughtFarmer has also helped Coast Central’s community and volunteer spirit. The “Coast Central Perk” page (like Friends’ Central Perk) is a place for employees to chat, sell items, take polls, share recipes, and post event photos. This creates a feeling of belonging and keeps employees connected across different branches. A Theme for Everything Coast Central is a huge fan of themes within ThoughtFarmer. Themes allow users to customize the look and feel of their intranet site, including logos, icons, images, colors, and fonts. For Kandis, having this level of customization allows her to keep Coastnet fresh and creative. “I lean on themes every single month, and use a different theme and background. I think it just brings a little bit of fun to our employees, especially if it’s a challenging day.” Adios paper forms One of the strongest benefits has been the automation of forms and elimination of paper. “We don’t have to have hard copies of things, not to mention there is less margin for error with electronic forms,” noted Cathryn, who relies on forms for various items including business cards, or vacation requests. Now that all forms are on Coastnet, notifications help keep her alerted as to when to order more items. She also enjoys the reduction of paper. “The California girl in me loves the environmental benefits,” said Cathryn. Local and responsive support The team, as well as its Technology Department, have been extremely impressed with the customer support from the ThoughtFarmer team. “I’ve contacted Jasper (Customer Support Manager) and he often replies within 30 minutes. Usually, with third-party vendors, you send a message and hope for a response within a few days,” Kandis said. Thanks to the usability of the ThoughtFarmer platform, the team at Coast Central doesn’t have to reach out to support often. “I love the ease with which we can just create a page on the fly really quickly and change things up,” said Kandis, adding, “I like the layout, and how easy it is to use.” Conclusion Changing Coast Central’s intranet from an outdated system to ThoughtFarmer’s easy-to-use platform has brought great benefits. The switch fixed support and communication problems and also improved the company’s culture and employee engagement. As Cathryn noted, ThoughtFarmer achieved the perfect intranet trifecta: maintaining open communication, being user-friendly, and having an attractive design.