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Hot Banana’s CMS Intranet Solution Goes Live at Barrie Hydro
Hot Banana Software Inc., a North American Web Content Management System (CMS) company, has successfully implemented an Intranet CMS at Barrie Hydro, the twelfth-largest electrical distribution company in Ontario serving more than 62,000 customers in four service areas.
In September 2003, in order to improve internal communications throughout a dispersed network of shared resources, Barrie Hydro initiated a search for an Intranet solution. Based upon solid objectives and the requirement for a Return on Investment, Hot Banana software was chosen as the preferred Web Content Management System for the project ahead of several competitors, and cgk Technologies, a Barrie-based professional Internet services company and a reseller of Hot Banana software, was chosen as the system integrator and solution provider.
By using Hot Banana, cgk Technologies was able to develop and implement an Intranet solution for Barrie Hydro that was tailored to suit the company’s specific needs. The product offered an exceptional level of ‘fit’ in terms of ease-of-use, ongoing maintenance, control and functionality. As a result, Barrie Hydro’s IT department didn’t assume any content management responsibilities, so content developers from other Barrie Hydro departments had total control of the Intranet.
"cgk Technologies was able to prove to us that they had excellent demonstrable capabilities and that they had real experience in implementing Intranet solutions," says Kim Taylor, Manager of Information and Telecom Systems at Barrie Hydro. "Hot Banana was stable and viable and we could see it had longevity in the market. We were very impressed with the team, the implementation and our relationship. Hot Banana turned out to be an incredible Intranet solution. We particularly liked the decentralized nature of Hot Banana. Because the product is very secure, approvals and changes can all be put into a work flow process for proper quality control and sign-offs."
The Barrie Hydro Intranet was configured so that it could share key environmental, personnel, and safety data with remote workers across the whole of Simcoe County. Additional resources were established on the Intranet to allow employees access to training programs, human resources, events, and corporate announcements and notices. It was planned so that all this information would be centralized, thus reducing internal support time.
Barrie Hydro implemented Remote Access with a secure VPN infrastructure in place. Hosting for Hot Banana’s ColdFusion server was done internally by the Barrie Hydro IT department and was a plug-and-play implementation.
"There’s a noticeable improvement in communications and productivity which has led to direct improvements in customer service," says Kim Taylor. "The project has exceeded expectations, addressed all security concerns and delivered on the objectives. The project went very well. If we had to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing!"
The Barrie Hydro Intranet project was completed with 95 PC users up-and-running, on time and on budget. Barrie Hydro employees are now embracing more efficient and effective ways of working with each other and accessing information. This has ultimately improved Barrie Hydro’s ability to deliver services to customers across the region.
"We’re very happy with the Barrie Hydro implementation," says Krista Lariviere, President, cgk Technologies Group Inc. "Hot Banana has directly reduced Barrie Hydro’s reliance on employees or internal support staff, and is saving the company money. They’re now able to directly access information such as human resources data, training programs and environmental and safety codes, centrally or remotely through a secure network." 17.08.2004, Hot Banana Software Inc.
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