DUCA

Here’s how DUCA revamped their internal communications by moving from SharePoint to ThoughtFarmer, boosting efficiency, employee engagement, and building a stronger company culture.

DUCA company background

DUCA Financial Services Credit Union, a leading financial institution in Ontario, Canada, is dedicated to delivering top-tier financial services to its members. Established in 1954, DUCA has grown from a single branch credit union in Toronto to an organization with 19 branches across Southern Ontario, serving over 93,000 members. With a commitment to excellence in member service and deep-rooted community involvement, DUCA continually strives to enhance its operations and overall member experience.

As the complexity of DUCA’s internal communications grew, with employees spread across branches and a hybrid workforce of both in-office and remote workers, maintaining cohesive and efficient communications became increasingly difficult.

DUCA’s growth revealed increasing challenges with SharePoint

Before ThoughtFarmer, DUCA was using SharePoint for their intranet and internal communications.

The SharePoint intranet was plagued by a siloed and complex upload process, making content sharing time-consuming and resource heavy. The communications team was constantly bogged down with requests to make department updates, slowing overall productivity and efficiency. Its cumbersome interface and lack of interactivity, such as commenting, liking, and recognition, also hindered the creation of a connected culture.

We found our previous intranet solution to be a real thorn in our side. It was difficult to use and manage. We had to do everything individually for each team leading to a lot of inefficiencies and frustration.”

Katrina Ferro-Longo

Manager of Employee Communications and Events

DUCA

Guided by their strong focus on company culture, community involvement, and member satisfaction, DUCA sought to improve internal communications and boost employee engagement with a more engaging and user-friendly intranet solution. Their journey to replace SharePoint led DUCA to ThoughtFarmer, an intranet platform known for its intuitive design and robust feature set that’s built to centralize knowledge, streamline communications, and build company culture.

ThoughtFarmer’s Professional Services makes implementation easy

Ensuring a thorough and collaborative implementation partnership was key to a successful launch of ThoughtFarmer at DUCA, setting the stage for improved efficiency, enhanced internal communication, and a growing company culture.

DUCA worked closely with the Professional Services team to carefully plan and seamlessly execute the transition from SharePoint to ThoughtFarmer.

Here’s how:

Customized setup
The Professional Services team worked closely with DUCA to tailor the platform to their unique needs, ensuring alignment with DUCA’s organizational structure, workflows, and strategic goals. 

Comprehensive training
ThoughtFarmer hosted detailed training sessions tailored to different roles within DUCA, including live demonstrations, tutorials, and workshops, ensuring that all employees were well-prepared to use the new platform.

Ongoing support
After the initial rollout, ThoughtFarmer continued to deliver exceptional support to the DUCA team. This included periodic refresher sessions, updates on new features, continuous technical support, and ongoing strategic input to ensure the new intranet remained effective, engaging, and up-to-date.

The ThoughtFarmer team was incredibly patient and professional. They guided us through each step of the process and made sure we were comfortable with each step before moving on.”

Katrina Ferro-Longo

Manager of Employee Communications and Events

DUCA

DUCA’s culture-boosting results with ThoughtFarmer

The impact of DUCA’s switch to ThoughtFarmer was immediate, marking a significant shift in how they managed, maintained, and interacted with their intranet.

Improved efficiency

Before ThoughtFarmer
The DUCA team often struggled with SharePoint’s usability. Uploading documents, managing updates, and finding specific information took too long, particularly for branch employees who needed quick access to serve members effectively. 

After ThoughtFarmer
A user-friendly interface and powerful search capabilities have drastically improved efficiency. Employees can now manage content on their own and find the information they need almost instantly.

Enhanced engagement and culture

Before ThoughtFarmer
DUCA’s team couldn’t interact with content on their intranet. Content was static and lacked dynamic engagement.

After ThoughtFarmer
DUCA has modernized the way teams interact with each other and with the company’s content. The ability to like, comment, reply, and share posts has created a more interactive and engaging environment. 

For example, when the CEO posts an update, employees can now engage directly by leaving comments, replying to others, and receiving responses, creating a more open and transparent culture. 

Effective employee recognition

Before ThoughtFarmer
DUCA’s dispersed team lacked a unified, visible way to recognize team members on a company-wide scale. Recognition was private and limited.

After ThoughtFarmer
Employee recognition through ThoughtFarmer represented a significant shift in DUCA’s employee recognition program. With the new ability to publicly acknowledge colleagues at the forefront, everyone is encouraged to recognize their peers for embodying the company’s values. 

This recognition is visible for everyone to see and celebrate, creating a culture of appreciation and positivity, boosting individual morale, and promoting the values and culture that DUCA strives for.

Empowered employees

Before ThoughtFarmer
With SharePoint, the communications team was often inundated with requests to upload and manage content.

After ThoughtFarmer
By moving to a user-friendly and easy to manage intranet, DUCA has empowered their team and removed previous bottlenecks. Now, individual teams have the autonomy to handle their own content. This has freed up the communications team to focus on more strategic initiatives while giving employees a sense of ownership over their contributions.

Better communication

Before ThoughtFarmer
Good communication is key for any organization, especially in financial services where information changes rapidly. DUCA’s old solution made it difficult to disseminate information in real-time.

After ThoughtFarmer
DUCA stepped up their game and delivered noticeable results. Employee communication, like important news and updates, is now provided in real-time and notifications ensure no one misses critical information.

An end-of-week newsletter, linking back to articles on the intranet, has replaced the overwhelming number of emails that used to clutter employees’ inboxes. This new streamlined approach ensures that information is centralized and easily accessible across the organization.

Building culture and collaboration with ThoughtFarmer

DUCA’s move to ThoughtFarmer has been a game changer, enhancing internal communications, employee engagement, and culture. 

The user-friendly platform has given all team members the ability to create and share timely content, improved workflows, and created a more connected and collaborative environment. With ThoughtFarmer’s fully integrated and intuitive search, DUCA has restored their team’s faith in search results and drastically reduced the time team members spend managing and searching for information.

As DUCA continues to grow and evolve, ThoughtFarmer has quickly become a critical tool in supporting their strategic goals and maintaining a strong, unified company culture.

Discover more success stories of banks and credit unions partnering with ThoughtFarmer.

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