Leadership-Led Migration: Driving 96% Adoption with Healthcare's New Digital Pulse

Background

In the fast-paced and highly regulated world of healthcare, seamless communication and access to information are not just operational necessities—they are critical to patient care and organizational efficiency. A large healthcare organization, with over 20,000 employees spread across multiple departments and facilities, recognized the need to modernize its internal communication infrastructure. Their legacy intranet was outdated, fragmented, and underutilized, leading to inefficiencies, duplicated efforts, and disengaged staff.

The organization embarked on a bold initiative to implement a modern, Microsoft-powered intranet solution. But what set this migration apart wasn’t just the technology, it was the unwavering support from executive leadership that turned a complex digital transformation into a resounding success.

The Challenge

Before the migration, the organization faced several pressing challenges:

• Fragmented Communication: Departments operated in silos, with inconsistent messaging and limited visibility into cross-functional initiatives. Informal communication was siloed in departmental chat threads, leaving frontline staff disconnected from the broader organizational conversation.
• Low Engagement: The existing intranet was clunky and unintuitive, leading to poor adoption and minimal employee interaction. The absence of built-in recognition tools meant that achievements and peer kudos went unshared, missing an opportunity to reinforce a positive culture.
• Change Fatigue: Staff were wary of yet another digital overhaul, especially after previous technology rollouts had failed to deliver promised benefits.  
• Lack of Trust in IT Initiatives: Without visible leadership support, past projects had struggled to gain traction, often perceived as top-down mandates with little user input.

The stakes were high. A failed migration could further erode trust and widen the communication gap across the organization.

The Solution

To address these challenges, the organization partnered with Microsoft experts to design and implement a modern intranet experience built on Microsoft 365, leveraging SharePoint Online, Viva Engage, Viva Learning, and Microsoft Teams. This combination offered:

• Leadership publishing spaces on SharePoint communication sites for formal announcements, policy updates, and strategy roadmaps—ensuring a single source of truth. 
• Viva Engage communities integrated within Teams, enabling informal, social-style interactions where executives could drop into Q&A threads, share photos from hospital visits, or simply comment on frontline initiatives. 

• Praise in Viva Insights for peer-to-peer recognition, complete with custom profile badges to spotlight individual and team achievements.
• Viva Learning, curating and surfacing relevant training modules—such as new compliance courses and clinical skills refreshers—directly within the flow of work. 

Implementation Strategy

But the real differentiator was the strategic approach to change management, anchored by executive sponsorship and user-centric design.

Executive Sponsorship

From the outset, the CEO and senior leadership team positioned the intranet migration as a strategic priority. They didn’t just approve the project—they owned it. Executives:

• Communicated the Vision: Through town halls, video messages, and internal newsletters, leaders articulated the “why” behind the change, emphasizing how the new intranet would empower employees and improve patient outcomes.
• Modeled the Behavior: Leaders actively used the new platform, posting updates, recognizing staff achievements, and engaging in discussions via Viva Engage.
• Removed Barriers: By allocating resources, clearing roadblocks, and holding teams accountable, executives ensured the project stayed on track.

User-Centered Design

A cross-departmental team of end users was assembled to guide the migration. This group:

• Participated in design workshops to ensure the new intranet reflected real-world workflows.
• Tested early prototypes and provided feedback.
• Served as champions within their departments, helping to build grassroots support.

Phased Content Consolidation

• Legacy sites were inventoried and categorized (e.g., policies, reference libraries, team spaces).
• Content owners participated in “cleanup days", archiving obsolete files and standardizing metadata.

Training and Communication

To prepare employees for the transition:

• Training sessions were conducted across all departments, tailored to different roles and digital skill levels.
• Regular updates were shared via email and the legacy intranet, setting clear expectations and timelines.
• Interactive demos and “Ask Me Anything” sessions helped demystify the new tools and build confidence.

The Outcome

The results were nothing short of remarkable:

• Adoption Rate: Within weeks of launch, the new intranet achieved near-universal adoption across the organization. 96% user adoption was measured by unique user logins per week.
• Engagement Metrics: Page views, content contributions, and employee interactions on Viva Engage surged by over 70% compared to the legacy system.
• Leadership Visibility: Executive posts received high engagement, with comments and reactions indicating increased trust and transparency.
• Operational Efficiency: Teams reported faster access to critical documents, streamlined workflows, and improved collaboration across departments. Average time to locate critical documents dropped by 70%, from six minutes to under two minutes.

A post-implementation survey showed that 89% of staff rated the new intranet as “very helpful” or “extremely helpful” in streamlining daily tasks. Comments frequently cited the ease of accessing up-to-date policies, the sense of community in Viva Engage, and the motivation boost from public recognition.

“This wasn’t just an IT project, it was a cultural shift for us. Having our CEO and leadership team so visibly involved made all the difference. Employees felt heard, supported, and excited about the change. The comprehensive training and regular updates kept everyone on board, and we saw adoption skyrocket faster than we ever imagined. Our teams save hours each week, and the culture uplift from using Praise in Viva Insights has been incredible. The new intranet has transformed how we connect and collaborate.”

— Project Lead, Digital Transformation Office

Conclusion

This case study underscores a powerful truth: technology alone doesn’t drive transformation—people do. By aligning executive vision with user needs and leveraging Microsoft’s modern workplace tools, this healthcare organization turned a daunting intranet migration into a model of digital success.

The lesson is clear: when leaders lead from the front and employees are empowered through thoughtful change management, even the most complex migrations can exceed expectations.