Streamlining Communications Across a Network of Local Employment Agencies: The ARML-IdF Story

How do you streamline communications across a network of 68 local employment agencies, while cutting internal email traffic? That’s the challenge that led the Association Régionale des Missions Locales d’Île de France (ARML-IdF) to deploy Talkspirit.

The ARML-IdF is a state- and regional-council-funded association responsible for supporting and coordinating a network of local employment agencies (missions locales) across the Île-de-France region. Created in 1981, these independent organisations assist young people aged 16 to 25 who face barriers to professional and social integration, working across areas such as training, employment, housing and health.

Key figures:

• 68 local employment agencies 
• 1 700 employees
• 233 reception sites 
• 174 404 young people welcomed in 2020

Hervé Manfrini, Data Protection Officer, led the Talkspirit deployment and now co-manages the platform on a daily basis with his colleague Philippe Crest, Digital Usage Officer. In this article, the two colleagues share how they use the enterprise social network Talkspirit and the benefits it has brought.

Three Core Needs: Streamline Exchanges, Build Connections and Reduce Internal Emails

“Before Talkspirit, we communicated mainly via a WordPress intranet and mailing lists. Email was the central entry point for sharing information, which created silos and scattered information across the network. This communication model also lacked interactivity, because it didn’t allow staff to react to shared information and issues”, says Philippe Crest. 

“One of our main goals was to break down these silos, to improve the flow of information up and down the network, encourage peer support, and build connections among colleagues.

We also needed a place to centralise our resources and keep a record of our exchanges, to ease — among other things — the onboarding of new team members.” All without relying on email every step of the way.

Read also: Eliminating internal emails with Talkspirit: the story of IM du Biterrois

A Choice Driven by Rich Features and Ease of Use 

After reviewing various solutions on the Solidatech platform — including Talkspirit, Wimi and Jamespot — the association chose Talkspirit for several reasons.

“We found the solution very easy to use, and the pricing was attractive. The all-in-one aspect also won us over, as we wanted to use as few collaborative tools as possible. And the features matched our needs very well — particularly the guest function, which lets us invite colleagues onto the platform and explore together which thematic groups align with their roles”, says Hervé Manfrini.

A Phased Rollout

“The rollout happened in stages. In June 2020, we deployed the platform to around twenty people. We named it Odysée, like our old intranet, to help staff find their bearings. Then, gradually, we sent invitations to everyone we needed to communicate with, or who asked to join Odysée.

The platform now has 180 members, and usage statistics show that 80 % of them log in every day”, says Hervé Manfrini.

Initiatives to Drive Adoption

“At the launch of Odysée, we sent an official communication by email and on the platform. We also uploaded the information and documents everyone needed to the drive” to encourage staff to log in.

“Our strategy is to communicate on Odysée first. And if some people still send us emails, we reply directly on the Odysée chat. So if staff want access to information, they have no choice but to use the platform”, explains Philippe Crest.

“To support the rollout, we also dedicated our last ‘jeudi des usages numériques’ (a monthly digital tools event) to our Odysée platform. We used it to highlight our different use cases, share best practices and answer staff questions about the tool.”

Read also: How to drive adoption of your new collaborative tools?

Varied Uses

On a daily basis, Philippe Crest and Hervé Manfrini use Odysée to manage two communities:

• a community of data protection officers (DPOs),
• and another bringing together IT managers.

Read also: Running a scientific student community with Talkspirit: the CNES experience

Across both communities, the platform is used to address five main needs:

Sending and Receiving Alerts 

“In the event of an incident, the platform lets us alert the entire network quickly. For example, when we experienced a cyberattack, we were able to notify IT managers and data protection officers directly on Odysée, which allowed us to mobilise everyone in record time”, says Hervé Manfrini.

Seeking Peer Support

It’s also a dedicated space where everyone can share experience, ask questions and seek help from other members.

“For example, if someone wants feedback on a quote, they can create a post or send a message on the chat to get input from colleagues.”

Staying Informed

Odysée also allows staff to follow network news in real time and easily retrieve the history of discussions on any given topic. 

“On the news feed, we highlight important information by pinning posts or saving them as favourites. To make information easier to find, we add tags to each post — for instance to indicate the type of information (alert, event, etc.) or the topic (managed services, cybersecurity, hardware, etc.).

The home page lets us surface network news and events. For example, we use it to promote our ‘jeudis des usages numériques’, new features available on Odysée, and news specific to the local employment agencies”, says Philippe Crest.

Read also: Streamlining information flow with Talkspirit: the Gîtes de France experience

Sharing with Others

With Odysée, everyone can share information, documents and knowledge with ease. The drive plays a key role in this knowledge management, bringing together all of the network’s important documents and making them accessible asynchronously.

“We store best practice documents on IT system management, managed services guides, experience reports and video recordings of our working meetings, which we then share in dedicated posts. Members can share their views in comments or via a poll included directly in the post, which helps encourage interaction among network members”, adds Philippe Crest.

Since the launch of the new shared calendar module, ARML-IdF staff also use the platform to “share their availability and schedule meetings”. Since the Talkspirit calendar syncs with Google and Outlook calendars, everyone can find all their meetings in one place and manage their schedule more easily.

Building Community

More than just an information-sharing tool, “Odysée helps staff stay connected with their colleagues, and strengthen their sense of belonging to the community.”

The feeling of isolation associated with remote work : each team member can now communicate in real time with peers by posting a message in their group(s) or in a private chat room.

Fewer Emails and Greater Responsiveness

For Hervé Manfrini and Philippe Crest, the benefits of Talkspirit are clear.

First and foremost, the platform speeds up exchanges across the network, enabling everyone to be more responsive — whether reporting incidents or replying to colleagues.

Philippe Crest also notes “a marked drop in internal emails”, replaced by chat and posts on Odysée. No more time lost searching for information across multiple email threads — a simple search on Odysée is enough to retrieve all exchanges and documents related to any event or project.

Read also: How Agence Bergamote cut its emails by 95% and boosted productivity with Talkspirit

Talkspirit’s Take on ARML-IdF

While the French-made aspect played a key role in choosing Talkspirit, what ultimately won over Hervé Manfrini, Data Protection Officer, was the platform’s ability to meet the association’s communication and community management needs.

Now used by 180 members, Odysée enables the network to foster knowledge sharing and best practices, bring teams together and streamline information flow across the local employment agencies. Everyone can interact and share their views on topics that concern them, contributing to community life.

“Ultimately, we’d like to roll out Odysée to all 1,700 Île-de-France employees”, adds Philippe Crest. “The goal is for the platform to become our dedicated communication tool for internal exchanges, but also to improve our knowledge management.”

Going Further

Want to learn more about the value Talkspirit brings to associations ? Contact us or book a demo to discover how the platform can help you streamline communications and reduce internal emails across your organisation.

Want to discover more client stories on community and network management with Talkspirit? Download our practical guide:

Access the Practical Guide

In our practical guide “10 Client Initiatives to Manage Their Communities”, you’ll find: 10 examples of organisations using Talkspirit to manage their communities, along with tips and best practices for engaging all members and building lasting involvement.

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