[CASE STUDY]
Stanford Children’s Hospital – Unifying
the Digital Workplace Across the Hospital Network
From a fragmented, on-premises intranet to a modern, connected platform accessible anywhere.
The Situation
Stanford Children’s Hospital was working with an outdated, on-premises intranet environment that had become fragmented over time. Content was spread across multiple systems, the user experience was inconsistent, and it was difficult for staff to quickly find the information they needed.
At the same time, the organization was already investing in Office 365 for email, but had not yet extended that investment to its intranet platform. They needed a better way to connect the hospital network, improve usability, and create a more modern digital workplace.
The Turning Point
What started as a branding and intranet initiative quickly became something much bigger.
As we engaged with Stanford Children’s, it became clear that this was not just about improving the look and feel of the intranet. It was an opportunity to unify the platform, modernize the user experience, and create a more scalable foundation for communication and collaboration across the hospital.
There was also an important strategic question: could Stanford Children’s move from on-premises SharePoint to Office 365 without losing the custom functionality they depended on? That question became a major part of the engagement—and ultimately one of its biggest successes.
Our Approach
We partnered with Stanford Children’s to design and implement a modern intranet platform called Connect Anywhere—a centralized digital workplace built to support communications, HR resources, news, events, and collaboration across divisions and departments.
The solution combined thoughtful information architecture, responsive design, and custom development to create a better experience for end users while also giving the organization a more manageable and scalable platform behind the scenes.
In addition to building the new experience, we also helped define the governance, structure, and ownership model needed to support long-term success.
Moving to Office 365
Initially, Stanford Children’s was hesitant to move SharePoint to Office 365. Their concern was understandable: they wanted to preserve the custom branding and functionality they envisioned, and there was uncertainty about whether those experiences could be delivered effectively in the cloud.
We helped them see that modern client-side development could support both their design goals and their technical requirements in Office 365. By proving that the cloud could support the level of customization they needed, we helped the organization move forward with confidence.
The result was more than a migration. It was a strategic modernization effort that reduced infrastructure dependence, improved flexibility, and positioned the hospital for long-term growth.
Migration
We didn’t just launch a new intranet—we brought Stanford Children’s existing environments with it.
The engagement included the migration of legacy SharePoint environments, older department and division sites, and file-based content into a more cohesive and modern structure. This required careful planning to align legacy content with the new navigation model, preserve continuity for users, and create a seamless transition across the organization.
By unifying previously disconnected systems into a single experience, Stanford Children’s was able to simplify access, improve consistency, and reduce the complexity of maintaining multiple platforms.
Results
The final solution gave Stanford Children’s a modern, responsive, and cloud-based intranet platform that better supported the needs of its staff and the broader hospital network.
Beyond the technical upgrade, the project improved how information was shared, how teams connected, and how the organization managed its digital workplace. It also validated that Stanford Children’s could move to Office 365 without compromising on design, usability, or functionality.
What began as an intranet initiative ultimately became a broader platform modernization effort—one that delivered both immediate operational value and long-term strategic benefit.
- Consolidate systems into one platform
- Modernize user experience
- Move to Office 365 safely
- Maintain custom capabilities
- Reduce infrastructure overhead
- Create a unified digital workplace
- Deliver a modern, responsive intranet
- Connect teams across the hospital network
- Establish governance and ownership
- Improved navigation and information architecture
- Centralized news and communication rollups
- Tailored department and division sites
- User training and adoption support
- SharePoint 2010 to Office 365 migration
- SharePoint 2013 to Office 365 migration
- File server content migration
- Custom developed WebParts
- Site restructuring and navigation alignment
- Seamless transition for end users
- Validated custom development in Office 365
- Eliminated on-prem infrastructure dependency
- Improved scalability and flexibility
- Delivered immediate operational ROI
- Unified hospital-wide intranet platform
- Modern, responsive user experience
- Successful Office 365 migration and rollout
- Decommissioned on-premise infrastructure
- Award-winning digital experience
- Fully cloud-based platform
- Accessible across desktop, tablet, and mobile
- Improved communication across the organization
- Scalable foundation for future growth
Winner — Best Intranet