The New Digital Workplace: IGLOO

A modern intranet solution that connects the people, processes, information, and apps you need to get work done, wherever you are.’

Igloo Software is a leading provider of modern intranet solutions that enable organizations to create inspiring digital destinations where employees can access the information, tools, and expertise they need to do their jobs, from wherever they are and whatever device they’re using. The result is an improvedsense of community across the organization, better alignment to company objectives and greater speed and consistency of execution through a seamless work experience that weaves together all of the users’ digital tools.

Offering a suite of features and solutions for today’s digital workplace, Igloo partners with customers to address challenges related to communication, collaboration, knowledge management, and workflow. Igloo Software is a leading provider of modern intranet solutions, offering a suite of features that help organizations improve communication, collaboration, knowledge management, and workflow. In addition to its core features, Igloo offers the ability to integrate with leading enterprise and cloud apps like Office 365, Google Drive, Salesforce, Zendesk, Dropbox, and Slack. Founded in 2008, Igloo is based in Ontario, Canada.

In Conversation with the Key Executive

What is your firm’s overall mission and what steps do you take to achieve this?
At Igloo, we believe that re-wiring your workplace is just as much about the people as it is the technology. It’s about modernizing a company’s brand, values, and ways of working. A digital workplace is not one solution – it’s the sum of all your tools and technologies, designed for people and backed by people. Our goal is to help our customers capture the collective wisdom in their organizations so they can drive productivity, promote innovation and help their business succeed.

Please give us a brief overview of the technology industry in your region currently. Are there any specific challenges or outside influences affecting it?
The traditional workplace was born before the intranet, so it’s not wired for it. That’s why many companies are adopting digital workplace strategies as a way of retrofitting modern tools and technology into their current infrastructures, while bracing for the next wave of challenges:

Mobile – Connect and motivate a workforce that isn’t in one place.

Today’s workforce is becoming more and more distributed – work is no longer a place, it’s just what you do. In fact, Global Workplace Analytics reports that approximately 20-25% of the global workforce teleworks at some frequency, and employees are not at their desk 50-60% of the time. With the ability to work remotely, with flexible hours, from whichever device they choose, employees can be scattered across geographies and time zones and still get work done.

The Generation Gap – Find solutions that create a comfortable common ground.

The majority of today’s workforce is comprised of two generations that entered the workforce during two very different times. The way Generation X and Millennials process information and the rules they each align to causes friction, and with a widening gap in digital fluency, there’s an urgent need for companies to find digital solutions that ensure everyone is productive.

Bring Your Own App (BYOA) – Cater to employees’ preferences while serving the entire organization.

As work and personal lives continue to overlap, people are opting to use their personal productivity applications like Google Docs or Dropbox to communicate and collaborate at work. Why? Because they’re fast and familiar – and most importantly, they don’t require any involvement from IT. But accommodating for every employee’s app of choice can counteract communication and knowledge-sharing practices across an organization, not to mention the security implications involved.

The Talent Wars – Create a digital space that attracts and retains your people.

People no longer stay at companies for life. This can pose a challenge for companies that haven’t devoted significant resources to attracting, developing, and retaining talent. Gone are the days of top-down management where executives rule from the top floor. Today’s most innovative companies are adopting a ground-up approach that focuses on building a strong corporate culture that protects their most valuable asset: their people. Just as these companies build world-class websites for their customers, they’ve realized a need to create a virtual space to engage their employees.

Working within the fast paced technology industry, what techniques do you employ to stay ahead of emerging developments?
Our strategy is founded in our understanding of our successful customers’ use cases. This is why we endeavor to make the people and teams of our customers more knowledgeable, more engaged, and more productive, regardless of where they physically or digitally spend their day.

Today, companies struggle to get the right information to their knowledge workers, anywhere and everywhere they may be. It may seem simple, foundational, even. But what happens naturally when a small group of people sit together physically, becomes immensely more challenging as you scale and add organizational complexity. That’s where Igloo comes in.

Some of our most successful customers use Igloo to create alignment around vision, objectives, and culture with our structured communication tools. They encourage a connected engaged workforce by enabling and fostering cross-team collaboration. And they foster a digital community where knowledge sharing and self-service is a natural extension to everyone’s daily routine.

While Igloo offers native tools to help companies solve their business challenges, we are also responding to a growing need for a more integrated and contextual digital workplace. Admins and users alike are seeking access to the third-party platforms they frequent throughout their day, directly from within their intranet. The Igloo platform enables this truly curated digital workplace – by offering both native features and integrations – to help everyone get more work done.

What does the future hold for your firm? Do you have any future plans or projects you would like to share with us?
Looking ahead, we are enhancing our solutions offerings, exploring new technology partnerships, improving the self-service experience, and building out our Customer Success program. We are also rapidly adding new partnerships and we have a special team in place to build and nurture them.

 Meet the Master

Dan Latendre, CEO: Dan Latendre is CEO of Igloo Software and a technology innovator. For more than 20 years, he has played significant roles in the development and marketing of leading edge internet-based technologies and applications for such pioneering Canadian companies as MKS, Delrina and OpenText Corporation.

“We don’t just provide the technology; we offer solutions and support to solve your unique business challenges.”