We were proud to host the very first in a series of quarterly Fresh Perspectives events at our HQ in London last week.
Employee communication professionals, intranet managers and digital workplace specialists, from a cross section of industries including financial services, tech, fashion and telecommunications gathered together, from as far afield as Canada, to share insights and swap best practice.
In a relaxed and friendly setting, the group of like-mind practitioners grappled with topics ranging from how to use generative AI in an intranet setting, whether intranets reduce reliance on email and how to deliver comms in a regulatory environment.
There was a buzz about Copilot and how to use Viva Connections as part of the employee experience in Microsoft 365.
Plus, Fresh clients, global risk management company Ethixbase360 and one of the top five Canadian banks TD Bank, shared their Microsoft 365 intranet transformation journeys in with the group.
Ethixbase360’s Chief Content Curator, Lee Bush said that after several mergers and acquisitions the company needed a solution that would unify its communication channels, streamline its information flow and foster a culture of collaboration, which they’ve found in Fresh. 
Introducing an intranet that was highly commended in the recent Simplys’ awards, TD Bank’s Senior Product Group Manager, Abby Webster shared how they replaced both their internal social media platform and dated and clunky intranet with a single, modern, consolidated digital workplace, built on SharePoint, powered by Fresh.
Employee Experience Lead Amy Gordon and Solutions Consultant Shannon Ford from Advania UK, delivered a session on how to use the Viva Connections Dashboard with a SharePoint intranet. She advocated for taking a “dashboard-first approach” to streamline the employee experience within Microsoft 365.
Her top tip was to spend time working with your staff to understand what key user groups and journeys you will take people through using the dashboard. This will ensure everyone gets the best out of the experience and apps you have available.
“Fresh perspectives is my favourite type of event as it brings together like minded communications experts, intranet managers and general enthusiasts. The presentations were very informative, and I loved seeing different company’s talking through their own journeys so that we can all learn from each other. We often don’t get to see the inside workings of what makes an intranet roll-out successful. I’m very much looking forward to the next one so I can see more success stories.”
Amy Gordon, Employee Experience Lead, Advania UK
Copilot or Microsoft 365 Copilot? That was the question that Product Director for Fresh, David Bowman helped to solve in his session on generative AI. Whether you choose to use the free or paid for services, both will add value. Yet, in an intranet setting the best way to use generative AI is have it infused right within the product.
Fresh’s Partner Success Manager, Leon Bent introduced FreshMind, the generative AI capabilities in Fresh’s product released for all customers at the beginning of this year. Designed for rapid adoption, FreshMind addresses real-world intranet scenarios, making AI practical and accessible for every user. Think bulk metadata updates and enhanced People search as two instant examples of it in action. 
He ran through the Fresh roadmap and gave us a sneak peek into the upcoming features in the solution including the new Viva Connections Dashboard cards for documents, events, communities and news right insight the Viva Connections home experience.
Enhanced governance tools, new breadcrumb navigation and conversational people search are all set to be part of Fresh’s next release, due later this month.
How you can get involved
Join us and our growing community of intranet experts and internal comms practitioners at our next quarterly cross-industry networking session in London on June 26th.
Sign up to share your insights and experiences on how to create the most engaging and effective employee communications within Microsoft 365 and SharePoint.
Register now for your place. We can’t wait to meet you!
