Digital Transformation: No, the Public Sector Isn't Falling Behind!

Whether you call it an internal social network, an enterprise social network (ESN) or a collaborative platform, this new type of tool might seem reserved for startups or tech and web companies. Think again! As an instrument of digital transformation, an ESN is useful to any type of organisation — whether a small business, a large corporation, a non-profit or a public-service body.

Need convincing? The example of CPAM Bas-Rhin, which used Talkspirit until 2024 for its 985 employees, says it all. Here are the combined feedback from four of them.

An enterprise social network in a health insurance fund?

Reducing a Primary Health Insurance Fund to processing healthcare claim forms would be a mistake. Its mission is to protect everyone against illness, guarantee access to care, act on prevention, and ensure the proper use of the healthcare system… The missions are varied, as are the job roles; CPAM Bas-Rhin has 985 employees spread across four sites and several public-facing reception points. Internal communication is, as in any organisation, a necessity: intranet, emails, internal newsletter… The classic solutions had shown their limits. "The very decentralised structure [Ed: the organisation is spread across 4 geographical sites] required us to think about communication somewhat differently," admits Sylvie Mansion, Director General. Rethinking communication was the starting point of the path that led CPAM Bas-Rhin to an enterprise social network.

A context that required rethinking internal communication and collaboration tools

At the time, information flowed essentially top-down, following the hierarchical chain. The pattern was simple: "Someone speaks, you don't know exactly who, and it filters down," explains Cédric Jean, Head of Communications. The information was also impersonal, losing some of its ability to engage — and therefore to be absorbed. It was almost as if it were useless… Beyond this pyramidal structure, CPAM was organised in "silos" that struggled to communicate with one another. Add to that a significant proportion of staff on remote work (as the organisation had evolved its working models)… The need for an ergonomic, purpose-built communication tool seemed obvious, and urgent!

Read also: Internal communication: the programmed death of the newsletter

An ESN gradually emerged as the obvious choice

A reflection that began in 2016 brought several key concepts to the fore: cross-functionality, sharing, exchange… And the idea of an ESN quickly gained traction.

The Talkspirit platform now gives everyone a voice, and shares information with a variable geometry (in the interest of relevance!), targeting communities relevant to each piece of content. Joining a number of groups is each employee's own choice. With the ESN, information is no longer overwhelming: it is personal, identified and tailored, since filtered and targeted. Personalisation as a guarantee of uptake? Quite possibly.

Another benefit is the time savings.

Gathering information, processing it and then redistributing it "was quite time-consuming and ultimately some information could get lost. Now, it's 360-degree communication." — a kind of self-management, says Aurélie Wipff, Unit Manager.

Read also: Internal social network: why it boosts your team's efficiency

How do you roll out an enterprise social network?

CPAM began with a broad survey of employees to assess everyone's digital maturity. Many were social media users in their personal lives (the Director General excepted, by her own admission), which made rolling out the ESN easier for some and raised concerns for others. The intuitive ergonomics of Talkspirit allowed those who thought they couldn't master the tool to take ownership of it easily, sometimes with a little support for the first steps.

400 employees out of nearly 1,000 were part of a first pilot wave, then 300 more joined them, quickly reaching the full headcount. The main challenge was in any case not technical, but rather about usage: the task was to encourage participation, posting, and keep the platform alive via collaboration. A cultural challenge, since not everyone is used to communicating, contributing and sharing. Management also invested considerable effort in reassuring and explaining, to prevent suspicion and mistrust: was Talkspirit a surveillance tool, a means of evaluating each person's relevance or usefulness? Trust came quickly with use. Creating groups focused not on work but on company life undoubtedly also played a part. Everyone quickly discovered the concrete usefulness of such a tool, whatever the domain.

Read also: Deployment: the key step that will determine the adoption of your internal social network

The benefits of a collaborative network

Everyone has interesting information to share in the context of their work, observes Cédric Jean. Talkspirit facilitates circulation and "promotes cross-team awareness": who works in which team, what they do precisely, their contacts and actions (internally and externally to CPAM). It also means getting to know colleagues you don't necessarily get the chance to interact with — a new awareness of others within the organisation.

"Beyond the way we communicate and exchange, beyond the interactivity, there is also a personal dimension," notes the Director General. The network makes everyone proactive with information. And since everyone shares it, each person becomes more engaged in what they do and what others are doing.

Collaborative platform: the risk of saturation?

The platform has enabled a different, more collaborative way of working. Starting with a healthier use of internal email. "My inbox is much cleaner," laughs Sarah Richard, Communications Officer. Talkspirit's group-based structure is itself a way of organising information for easy retrieval. The tool makes the (so often) endless email threads unnecessary.

90% of CPAM employees log in daily. A success that could have its downside. There was a concern that it might open the door to unprofessional posts, but no such drift has been observed. "In a professional context, the social network self-regulates — people don't forget they're at work," noted Sarah Richard.

Another possible pitfall is information overload — the equivalent of mass emails and "reply all" that everyone could do without. Yet Talkspirit eliminates this risk through its group structure. Each person belongs to a group because it relates to their activity, because they are interested in the group's topic, or because it relates to a project they contribute to. Information is no longer a stack so large you can't see what actually matters. It's a choice. This also helps everyone avoid compulsive posting. You are aware that at the other end of a post, someone will spend a little time reading it.

Social network and personalised uses

Sarah, the communications officer, particularly appreciates the feature that lets you consult employees: polls. She uses them to test a visual, the title of an article she is considering, or to gather contributions to feed the internal magazine.

Sylvie Mansion, Director General, used Talkspirit for political purposes — in the best sense, of course! During a negotiation on working time arrangements (a highly sensitive topic!), she systematically shared progress updates from the negotiations. The posts were read by all staff, daily, for about ten days. This made it possible to neutralise corridor rumours and false information, which are counterproductive for everyone. Because an ESN is also a tool for creating harmony and transparency.

Finally, Aurélie Wipff, Unit Manager, found in the collaboration platform the ideal way to stay in touch with her team, half of whom work remotely. "I use Talkspirit in particular to manage my projects, send alerts and share best practices with my team," she says.

Read also: Agence Bergamote case study

Why use an enterprise social network?

The proof of effectiveness in terms of internal communication and collaboration — especially at a distance — is clear. The additional virtuous effect of an enterprise social network is that this cross-functionality generates involvement and engagement. Cédric Jean stops short of the term "participatory democracy", but it is certainly a participatory and collaborative DNA that is at play here. Everyone can speak up, and even if not everyone does so every day, access to information is guaranteed for all: you can comment, "like"… A permanent referendum and thermometer.

The choice of which groups to belong to on the collaborative platform is also a guarantee of democracy: choosing the information that is useful and interesting to you, with the freedom not to be burdened by what does not concern you.

Finally, Talkspirit, through the horizontal nature of the collaborative network, has also been an opportunity to shift perspective in the vision of management. A window open onto a new governance?

The adventure is just beginning!

Read also: Internal communication: interactivity or nothing!