Case Study: Delta Community CU
Delta's Inside Guy

Delta Community Credit Union, based out of Atlanta, Georgia felt it was important to get their 550 employees truly using their intranet in daily ways, which can sometimes be a challenge for some credit unions with an intranet system that they feel is under-utilized by their staff.



Delta Community's answer was branding their intranet with an internal spokesperson, Simon. They felt the service would be easier for employees to embrace by creating a personality, a trusted buddy and co-worker there for work and play. Inspired by the "Simon Says" game, Delta Community came to Third Degree with a direction for the character, but asked us to bring him to life by creating a look, feel and personality for Simon.



Employees can access a calendar of events, employee birthdays, HR suggestion box, training information, games, project fact sheets, time sheets, updates on charitable fund raising activities, HR policies and procedures and more on Simon.



Staff are directed to use Simon through email messages that prompt them to go to Simon to get the full story, plus they have to go to Simon to learn about fun events such as upcoming jean days and parties. And message content is scalable so only branches that need to know about certain events or happenings get those updates.



Simon is purely for employees, serving as an internal mascot and voice of the credit union. The mascot visits employee birthday and holiday parties and rallies participation in fund raisers for charitable causes like the Children's Miracle Network. And with 22 branches in four states, the virtual Simon also serves as an online water cooler where employees can share photos and even support peers in need, such as battling cancer.



RESULTS: Previously Delta Community's intranet just house a collection of emails and poster art for campaigns, not very functional and was not widely used. Now, Simon has increased the level of communications with Delta Community employees, with one central location keeping people in the know. The efficiency has also improved from an HR function. For example, updates to the employee manual must be read and approved through Simon. Employees use Simon every day to find out the latest news, and is the default home page on all employee computers.



Simon is not only a voice for the Delta Community staff, but a great example of the power of internal communication.