PURPOSE:
With their existing solution slowly worsening, INPACT needed an affordable, feature-rich secure intranet software that could function for members across 3 regions.
CUSTOMER PROFILE:
INPACT is a global alliance of independent accounting firms that organizes its members to overcome the challenges of global business. INPACT assists hundreds of member companies with operations in the Americas, Asia Pacific, and the EMEA region.
SOLUTION:
INPACT needed a secure intranet software that could let them maintain communication and document sharing between member organizations. IC’s intranet solution delivered a complex set of permissions that siloed each company’s confidential information.
I feel very secure in the levels of protection and the way they are set.
A Network of Networks
The INPACT global accounting alliance needed a way to keep its members organized, but each member was itself an organization with numerous employees of their own.
For years, INPACT had kept its members organized with a desktop application called Groove, but then Microsoft acquired the company in 2005. Soon, INPACT found that features began changing while support became far harder to track down. Worst of all, these changes coincided with lowered affordability, which affected each member through the need to purchase the application themselves. INPACT was looking to grow into the behemoth it is today, with hundreds of members in over 60 countries. It needed something better.
IC provided the secure intranet software they needed. Not only were they able to maintain all the features and crucial organizational processes on which they’d come to rely, but they could do it more affordably and with zero additional cost to members. The platform was able to meet the unique needs of a global consortium of discreet businesses, each with a need to both collaborate and protect certain types of information.
Easy To Use Systems Actually Get Used
Whether it’s an alliance-wide news bulletin or a simple suggestion box, features in a software platform are only used if they are easy to use. For a group like INPACT, that’s crucial to how they deliver their service to members. Whether it’s working out the details of a new educational conference or simply allowing inter-member communication, their value is based on their ability to help members collaborate.
More than that, IC’s secure intranet software provided the level of personalized support they needed, so any difficulties that did arise were quick and painless to address. This has all led INPACT to remain a loyal customer of IC for over a decade.
One of the biggest reasons we have stayed with IC over the years is the support team. From the very beginning, they’ve just bent over backward. I haven’t worked with anybody who hasn’t been knowledgeable, professional, pleasant to work with and just so helpful.
– Mara Ambrose, Executive Director
An Intricate System of Permissions
One of the chief difficulties of INPACT’s use case was also one of the most imperative: providing secure online housing for member information and other sensitive documents while still facilitating as much inter-member communication as possible. The intranet can grant Individual users the right to view certain areas based on their firm, their division within that firm, and their level of seniority within that division.
That was absolutely crucial to maintaining member trust while still delivering the features that INPACT had felt it was losing at its previous intranet service. Members of INPACT often operate within the same regions, meaning they are nominally competitors as well as co-members of an industry alliance — reliable discretion is key in such a situation.
Tagging Lets Members Reach Out
Many IC clients find that they use the employee directory feature more than any other — especially large, sprawling organizations where individuals often do not directly meet. INPACT needed a way for key members at one firm to be accessible to those at another, despite totally different organizational structures. IC provided the tools to tag users and whole firms with their general aptitudes and areas of more niche expertise. For an industry as varied as accounting, which often encounters new challenges based on the specifics of a client company, that ability to pool knowledge is a huge value addition that INPACT can then pass on to its members.
TOP 4 BENEFITS
Support Staff – that are always happy and able to help
Highly Permissioned Database – so competitors can collaborate with peace of mind
Comprehensive People Directory – with tagging for areas of knowledge and expertise
Free Web-based Interface – that requires no additional purchase from members