Fresh is delighted to announce its partnership with I4-YOU, digital workspace specialists based in The Netherlands. Welcome to Fresh, I4-YOU.
With a clear focus on shaping the optimum digital workspace, I4-YOU works with businesses to create their ideal, user-friendly intranet using Fresh.
“We’re excited to be working together with the expert team at I4-YOU to deliver best-in-class, customised intranets for clients,” said Jarmo Kuusinen, Head of Partnerships at Fresh. “Together, we’ll make working lives easier, empowering people to communicate and collaborate effectively.”
The I4-YOU team is passionate about the successful delivery of client intranet projects. And their no-nonsense attitude, combined with in-depth technology expertise, produces great results!
We chatted to Peter de Graaf, Managing Director at I4-YOU, and Bo van der Linden, Business Consultant, about the exciting new partnership, and the benefits that come from working with Fresh Intranet.
Why did you choose to partner with Fresh Intranet?
Peter de Graaf: We have trust in the Fresh team, and that’s of great importance to us.
Previously we worked with Valo, an intranet based on SharePoint, just like Fresh. Unfortunately, Valo has reached its end-of-life, so we were looking for a new intranet partner.
Since some of the Valo team moved to Fresh, we knew Fresh would be a reliable choice because we have worked with them before and know they deliver good quality. That’s why we chose to partner with them.
What do your clients like about Fresh Intranet?
Bo van der Linden: A lot of our clients have been working with Valo and that’s ending in 2025, so they’re looking for a replacement.
Fresh has a strong, positive response to that. They’ve provided our Valo clients with lots of support, helping them to migrate from Valo to Fresh.
What our clients really like about Fresh is its look and feel. It looks, well…fresh! And it provides clients with lots of options to create an organisational look too.
It’s also low code so you don’t need to know CSS or about SharePoint to be able to edit it and make it look nice.
Plus, the Fresh product’s always evolving. The Fresh team are really forthcoming about the progress of the product and its upcoming roadmap, which clients find reassuring.
What does Fresh Intranet give you that SharePoint (out of the box) doesn’t?
Bo van der Linden: The people search on Fresh is really popular. It gives lots of options too, like being able to connect it to Viva Connections that a lot of our clients use and talk about. Fresh also has many more personalisation options which are good.
Clients find the analytics package in Fresh useful. They like seeing who’s clicked on what, and the traffic to each news post. Our clients find it helpful to see which pages are looked at and which aren’t, especially when they’re evolving their intranet and want to know what works.
With clients increasingly working remotely or hybrid, how have their intranet demands changed?
Bo van der Linden: The intranet has become really important for clients to communicate with their people. Not only do they need to be able to work together, but also respond to each other and share organisational news too.
They really want to share the smaller, more personal things like when someone’s had a baby or it’s a birthday. So, the intranet now has to be the ‘complete package’ – connecting people even if they’re in totally different locations.
I think that’s the biggest thing that’s changed. On the one hand it’s about sharing information, and the other is about keeping in contact with everyone and communicating. I think Fresh provides a lot of options for this.
What about the choice between buying a product like Fresh or customising SharePoint?
Bo van der Linden: A lot of our clients, right now, want to keep it easy. Most times, Microsoft SharePoint out of the box is perfect for that. But then we have the bigger companies who really want their own style. They want their own logo, their own look and feel and all those extra options that you get with Fresh.
How intuitive is Fresh to use?
Bo van der Linden: It’s very intuitive to use. When I compare it to Valo, where you use to have to do things in code, Fresh is way easier to use and to find things. Admin options and analytics are readily available. It’s definitely an intuitive intranet solution.
What are your first impressions of working with Fresh?
Peter de Graaf: It’s great working with Fresh. We’re confident in the partnership.
Bo van der Linden: I’m really happy. The Fresh team really listens. They’ve provided us with lots of documentation, especially to help Valo clients and take away some of their worries about transitioning to a new product.
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