Fluxys is a natural gas infrastructure company that manages the infrastructure for the transport and storage of natural gas in Belgium.

As a modern company, Fluxys invests in hardware and software to boost the productivity of its employees. The company is increasingly evolving into a digital workplace, going beyond the pure implementation of solutions like Microsoft 365.

Jérôme Van Der Meerschen, Digital Workplace Manager at Fluxys, wants to prepare the organization for entirely new ways of working. Ultimately, the success of these efforts and investments will depend on the end users. They need to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills. And that's where the Xylos Digital Coaches can lend a hand.

Fluxys employees are in daily contact with their Digital Coaches. They have several touchpoints: email, chat messages via Teams, and personal interactions. Regular check-ins have proven to be a useful habit. Questions are no longer limited to classic software tools like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint, but have evolved to applications like Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive. These latter tools have proven to be pillars of an effective, modern way of working. Fluxys people are highly motivated to use the tools correctly.

Thanks to an awareness campaign, the threshold for Fluxys employees to reach out to the coaches was very low. "Our people have already made a habit of contacting the Digital Coaches whenever they want to know something," says Jérôme.

The Digital Coaches hold weekly Inspiration sessions in French, Dutch, and English, since Fluxys also has offices in Germany, Switzerland, France, and the United Kingdom. During these short sessions, they engage their audience and show them new techniques and tools in Microsoft 365. For example, they've taught Fluxys employees how to best collaborate in SharePoint files, keep their inbox under control, export data from Excel and transform it with Power Query, and how to make the best use of the latest features and mobile apps.

The coaches get participants thinking about how they approach their daily tasks and how they can improve their way of working. We often notice that session participants are 'stuck' in their old way of working and don't realize how much time they could save by using new techniques. After an inspiration session, participants can reach out to the Digital Coach for a one-on-one session on how to integrate these techniques into their individual work routines.

The video platform OASE is another powerful tool in Fluxys's User Adoption plan. Employees use our video learning platform to quickly find an answer to their questions through short, clear tutorials in their own language, without interrupting their workflow.

With a return on investment of about 100%, Digital Coaching delivers far better results than standard training. "Of course, we haven't completely scrapped our usual training," explains Jérôme Van Der Meerschen, "but the coaches can now advise us on which trainings in our portfolio are useful for specific end users." A personalized needs assessment and help in putting new information into practice also improves the efficiency of the company's regular training sessions.

When most Fluxys employees had to work from home during the lockdown, demand for collaboration tools skyrocketed and the value of the Digital Coaches became even clearer. The coaches proactively reached out personally to all employees and offered help and advice on remote working. Through webinars and custom-made videos on OASE, they made sure everyone was on board with the new way of working.

The number of employees seeking advice from the Xylos Digital Coaches keeps growing. Most of the time, they're looking for an alternative to overflowing mailboxes or a way to easily share and use files across multiple devices. The Digital Coaches propose a solution that meets their needs and create a connection between technical teams and end users. The Microsoft 365 suite contains all the applications people need to communicate and collaborate efficiently. Digital Coaching ensures employees choose the right tools and learn to use them. To Jérôme Van Der Meerschen's great delight, the use of Teams for communication and collaboration has grown exponentially.

"I have access to the team's reporting tools and can track all their activities," says Jérôme. "The statistics are useful for seeing which applications people have questions about, or which Inspire sessions our employees are most interested in."