Hg Creates a Hive of Collaboration and Innovation with Verint
Results
Enables real-time, peer-to-peer collaboration and knowledge sharing.
Allows Hg to create a new community in 10 minutes.
Streamlines and accelerates community customization and integration.
Opportunity
Hg is a leading private equity investor with deep sector specialization and approximately £10 billion in funds under management. The company has led more than 100 investments in the software and services sector during the past 25 years and, on an aggregated basis, the Hg portfolio would represent the forth largest, and fastest growing, software business in Europe.
Hg has a unique approach and strategy, with a focus on achieving scale in tightly defined ‘clusters’ of expertise. As a result, the company has assembled a large portfolio of companies and business models that share similar characteristics but differ in size and maturity.
This creates a natural environment for knowledge sharing, generating a network effect to drive best practices and value creation initiatives. Indeed, Hg is a great believer in collaboration and the “power of the portfolio.”
Until recently, Hg relied on traditional means of collaborative engagement with its portfolio, comprised of more than 100 institutional investors and 170 employees. This included regular in-person portfolio meetings, roundtable sessions, and the annual Hg Summit.
According to Jess Greenhalgh, community manager at Hg, these everyday forms of communication limited the scope of collaboration. “Hg is always innovating, always looking over the horizon for modern ways to help our businesses benefit from being part of one larger organization, whilst retaining their own identity,” she says. “A secure online community platform would enable everyone to connect socially, share best practices and advice, ask questions, and get answers.”
Solution
Hg explored two alternative community platform solutions, including Verint Community*. Key to the decision process was the ability to maximize the out-of-the-box potential of any chosen platform.
“We didn’t want to waste time or resources customizing the user experience or the under interface; and upgrades needed to be seamless,” Greenhalgh explains. “Verint Community met all our stakeholder requirements for functionality, usability, and scalability. The Verint team is a great partner as well, always putting our business and technical goals first. For them, nothing is impossible.”
The outcome is “Hive,” Hg’s online trusted environment, exclusive to executives and employees from within the Hg portfolio. With live communities across 12 different business disciplines and more than 1,000 members, Hive—powered by Verint Community—enables real-time, peer-to-peer collaboration. The community works alongside existing physical networks, maintaining digital collaboration all year round and across all geographies.
*Formerly known as Telligent Community
Hive creates a natural environment for knowledge sharing among the Hg portfolio community. Among many services, users can:
- Connect and ask questions of peers in a supportive environment.
- Contribute personal experiences.
- Collaborate on projects.
- Explore best practices.
- Learn more from real-world customer case studies.
- Search for recommended suppliers.
- Find an expert to support a new challenge.
- Keep up to date with Hg news and forums.
Recent Hive communities range from Marketing, HR, and Technology to Women in Leadership, Legal & Compliance, and CEO & Chair. “Hive is Hg’s network for success, empowering people to collaborate and achieve more as a stronger collective,” notes Greenhalgh.
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“This innovative digital community enables members, together with our investment partners and employees, to collaborate, learn, and succeed. For Hg, Verint Community is a game-changer.”
Benefits
Hive is helping to transform engagement and position Hg as a business partner, not a peer. Moreover, senior executives across the Hg portfolio use Hive to discuss best practices across disciplines important to the success of their businesses and have access to best practice playbooks from world-class experts. This enables them to create clear differentiators in their markets.
One recent community highlights the innovative steps Greenhalgh and her team are taking with Verint Community to drive agile, informative collaboration. “In the Hot Seat” is a live podcast during which functional experts and operators in the field debate topics and share their experiences when growing a business in the tech space. For example, Aaron Ross, entrepreneur and author, recently debated how a predictable revenue strategy can help portfolio organizations triple their growth rate.
Verint Community is adaptive and flexible. The underlying platform is built to make it easy for users to add content and functionality. “Verint Community is incredibly user friendly,” says Greenhalgh. “I can spin up a new community in 10 minutes.”
Another advantage of the community is the fact that when members meet physically at events, they frequently already know one another. This helps further accelerate learning and engagement.
Hg will continue to nurture Hive, adding members and developing new communities to broaden the scope of knowledge sharing. For example, two recent community groups have been added: Hg Alumni and Hg External Experts. Greenhalgh and her team also plan to add updated reporting functionality over time, providing valuable insight into which content is being viewed and by whom.
“Verint Community is the ideal platform for our portfolio to collaborate,” Greenhalgh concludes. “Our portfolio members—software and service businesses—share similar values, challenges, and opportunities. This innovative digital community enables these members, together with our investment partners and employees, to collaborate, learn, and succeed. For Hg, Verint Community is a game-changer.”
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