Voka - KvK Mechelen-Kempen chooses SharePoint Online

Streamlining the internal operation after the merger Voka - KvK Mechelen-Kempen

In January 2018, the regions of Mechelen and Kempen merged to form a single operating area; until then, both regions had their own local servers for storing documents; because the operational operation of course does not stop with a merger, VPN connections were used to provide access to the necessary data; it goes without saying that not everyone was immediately at home in the folder structures of the other region; while the unified organisation took shape, it soon became clear that the underlying IT infrastructure had to be adapted accordingly.

SharePoint Online reflects the organizational structure

Evi Heylen, administrative assistant and Kim Kerkhofs, executive assistant, explained their challenges to Koen Van Loon, account manager. Koen immediately saw the advantages of migrating to SharePoint Online for Voka - KvK Mechelen-Kempen could mean. The existing folder structure was abandoned and metadata was used in the new SharePoint.

Evi Heylen, administrative assistant: "The new way of working is much more efficient than in the past. Looking up data on SharePoint Online is intuitive, and a user does not need any prior knowledge. It is even the case that new employees get away with it faster than people who have worked in the old way, even if it's a piece of cake for them.

It was decided not to pollute the new SharePoint Online with data that might not be used anymore. The old servers are still available but they are no longer actively used. Only Evi and Kim have access to them, but since the migration they haven't received any requests to retrieve specific data from them.

With numerous ongoing initiatives such as Plato and the Learning Networks, Voka - KvK Mechelen-Kempen has a great deal of project work, which has also been placed under the SharePoint Online in the form of project sites. Every employee starts the working day from a SharePoint Online intranet and has access to all the necessary information.

OneDrive as a work environment

In the wake of SharePoint Online, the employees of Voka - KvK Mechelen-Kempen were also introduced to a number of useful office 365 OneDrive is probably the most widely used of these. In order to keep all documents in a safe place at all times and to be able to share them easily, it was agreed that no files would be kept locally on your own computers. When a document is being worked on, this is done consistently on OneDrive. Once the work has been completed, it is immediately uploaded to the SharePoint Online.

Proximity of expertise

Evi and Kim can talk a lot when it comes to SharePoint Online. They are the key users and internally the first point of contact for the employees. For very specific questions, technical follow-up and software updates, they can use a clear SLA always quick to contact the experts at VanRoey.be.

Kim Kerkhofs, executive assistant: "We are very satisfied with the collaboration with VanRoey.be. Their people have extensive knowledge and are able to communicate it in an understandable way. From day one, their expertise was immediately apparent from the relevance of their proposals: they were clearly not ready for their sample, perfectly understood our needs and applied the right solutions for them.