The following article by Microsoft was originally published on Microsoft's blog, and can be found here

Established in 2008 and powered in the Microsoft Cloud, Igloo Software (www.igloosoftware.com) is a SaaS company helping to redefine the modern digital workplace. Recognized in 2017 by Deloitte as one of the fastest-growing companies in North America for the third consecutive year in a row, the Igloo platform leverages the cloud to empower organizations across North America to design and develop inspiring digital destinations.

The way people work changes every day. New technologies and modern approaches emerging from a real need in market have challenged the traditional desktop workstation. For the average North American employee, the disconnect between how their work is helping achieve the objectives of the business, the inefficiencies of communicating and collaborating, and a feeling of being underappreciated compel them to change jobs. The moment for digital workplace innovation is now.

Work is increasingly mobile and remote, and that’s likely to increase significantly in the foreseeable future. Trends like bring-your-own-device (BYOD), cloud migration, and digital transformation, fuel the demand for virtual workplaces tailored to the way each business operates, communicates, administrates, and integrates their processes.

Employee engagement

Of all the challenges a business might face, employee engagement ranks among the toughest to solve. When employees lack passion and excitement for their job, they quit—and, usually, at the most inconvenient moment possible! And that rule seems twice as true for millennials, who have little patience for established employers that cling to traditional, archaic, and stale technology systems.

“Digital transformation is a journey. Igloo’s Digital Workplace Solutions can be as disruptive and comprehensive as our customers desire in order to match the pace of change required to transform their organizations. We like to think of it as think big, start small, scale fast.“—Dan Latendre, Founder & CEO

Unlocking innovation

While not every industry, role, or task can prove exciting nor glamorous, modern tech can at least help make it more palatable. In fact, it can help organizations unlock the potential of their people and enable new heights of productivity. The right platform can help improve how teams work and help them collaborate more socially in an increasingly digital world. It can unite, not divide, multiple generations of workers, young and mature alike.

“Boomers aren’t retiring at age 50 or 60, which means companies now have up to four or five generations working together at once. That’s a big collaboration challenge.”

Enter Igloo

Igloo helps companies build inspiring digital destinations for a more productive and engaged workforce. Offering an integrated and robust portfolio of digital workplace solutions, Igloo partners with customers to solve business challenges related to communication, collaboration, knowledge management, culture, and engagement.

“The desktop is dead. People can move anywhere they want on their phone, on their tablet, or on anybody else’s machine, securely. Our work lives are in our digital workplaces, not an object.”

The digital destination

Igloo is a next-generation intranet, referred to as a digital workplace. It’s a digital destination, for employees, and a shared place to start their day and do their work. Ingeniously, Igloo integrates all the tools and apps employees already know and use (such as Office 365) in one place. Users can access a collection of out-of-the-box digital workplace solutions. They pair these solutions with complete digital workplace plan and innovative playbooks to improve communication, collaboration, knowledge sharing, culture, and engagement.

“We give each customer an industry-leading playbook, full of real-world best practices designed by a community of workplace experts. These playbooks help them implement and manage change successfully and securely.”

Safe & sound

What about security? The good news is that Microsoft enables Igloo to satisfy both the data residency and compliance laws through its global network of state-of-the-art datacentres. Igloo empowers over a million people worldwide to work smarter, across highly-regulated compliance-driven environments, including the EU. Regardless of the industry or size of business, there’s simply no room for anything short of airtight compliance, privacy, and security.

“What’s great is that Microsoft has datacentres all over the world that we can leverage—not just for performance, but also to give us options for where the data resides, which is really important for GDPR.”

Behind the scenes

Igloo relies on several technology services to meet the needs of its customers securely and reliably. They develop in ASP.NET and recently migrated Igloo to the Azure platform after testing its third-party integration capabilities with impressive results. Plus, the Igloo team now has access to the latest technologies-as-services. They’re exploring how artificial intelligence/machine learning, search, analytics, and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies can shape the next generation of the modern workplace.

“We evaluated AWS vs Azure and tested both for many months before going with Azure. From an enterprise perspective, it aligned much better to our business strategy and the needs of the digital workplace.”

Good for growth

Replacing your defunct intranet may not be a top priority for you, but it should be. In today’s evolving economy, your ability to scale quickly and effortlessly is a competitive advantage you should latch on to in a major way. Why? The short answer is productivity and employee engagement. Together, they result in higher sales, better margins, and lower turnover. All of this and more can be achieved by proactively modernizing your digital workplace.

Meet the founder

Dan Latendre founded Igloo Software in 2008, at the height of the social media revolution. It has been growing ever since. He recognized the convergence of social, mobile, and cloud technologies and the impact they promised to make in our personal and professional lives. Igloo today provides, not just the technology, but business solutions. They offer an industry-leading portfolio of services to support customers throughout their digital transformation journey.

“The whole Microsoft for Startups program was huge for us when we started in 2008. It helped us fund our infrastructure and grow.”

A Microsoft for Startups project

Like many Canadian innovators, Igloo software received initial support from Microsoft for Startups. At Microsoft, we know it can be challenging to win strategic customer deals and how important they are to a company’s revenue growth and funding potential. This program helps address those needs by providing promising companies with software, support, marketing expertise, and cloud services to help set them up for success. Check out other real stories of entrepreneurs who received assistance from Microsoft.

Do you run a startup?

Learn how Microsoft for Startups works. This program provides qualified privately held startups with development and testing software; training; phone support; Azure services, plus go-to-market business networking opportunities. To qualify, your startup must be less than five years old and earn less than US $1 million annually.