Strengthening cultural adoption to successfully deploy Office 365

Fortum began its Office 365 deployment with a system‑driven, tool‑focused approach that did not take into account the company’s diverse cultures, languages, or work practices. Employees across multiple countries were expected to adopt new tools with minimal guidance, supported only by English‑language online training. 
By 2020, it became clear that introducing tools alone would not change behaviour. Usage statistics were low, and the lack of change management affected the value of the investment. The company recognised the need for a cultural shift, structured change management, and leadership involvement. 

Fortum and Context& introduced a new approach centred on communication, culture and structured change management. A playbook was created to guide modern work practices and support deployment.

An Office Training Portal provided access to playbooks, recorded training sessions, and guidance materials. A Yammer group, Smart Work 365, was launched as an informal communication channel. 

Experts and volunteers across Fortum were organised into a Champions group to support end users, backed by tailored guidance. Continuous communication and training were prioritised to embed new ways of working. 

Training sessions became highly popular, with more than 3,100 registrations and over 900 additional recording views. The average Net Promoter Score exceeded 80.

Daily active usage increased across key tools: Teams by 78%, OneDrive by more than 100%, and Yammer by more than 300%. Both the quantity and quality of internal communications improved. 

Fortum continues to focus on cultural and change management, shifting from project‑based work to continuous development and aiming to expand the effective use of Office 365.