Embrace Workspace has been extensively researched and highlighted by British consultancy ClearBox Consulting, an expert in the field of social intranet and the digital workplace.
In the report Independent Intranets: The buyer’s guide to ready-made platforms, Embrace, together with 22 other leading intranet providers – including Canadian ThoughtFarmer, British Unily and Colibo from Denmark – is assessed on, among other things, user-friendliness, social interaction, accessibility of information and integrations with, for example, Microsoft 365.
The report helps digital workplace executives, intranet managers and IT professionals evaluate the market, weigh products against the necessary requirements and make a shortlist of possible intranet solutions. Each solution is assessed by at least 3 people. Hundreds of hours of research have been invested in the preparation of the report.
The report extends a number of solutions (in-depth review) and briefly highlights a number (product overviews). We are therefore proud that the choice was made to fully review Embrace, becoming the only Dutch solution with a full review.
In the Netherlands, Clearbox Consulting is best known for the keynotes of intranet specialist Sam Marshall (CEO) at events like Congress Intranet & Digital Workplace
“Our view in one tweet: Embrace Workspace offers flexible ways to present and interact with information trough a well-designed user-friendly interface.”
Benefits
ClearBox calls Embrace easy and fun to use, both for end users and administrators. In addition, the degree of personality is praised: both in the customer-specific designs and the many possibilities for configuration in order to be suitable for every organization.
The functionalities add value, especially for organizations that want to stimulate collaboration and social interaction between colleagues. The best compliment, we find, is the following beautifully written sentence: “Embrace demonstrates a comprehensive and leading understanding of user-oriented design.” We develop all our software with the end user in mind – the fact that this is then recognized by the experts at ClearBox fills us with pride.
Points of improvement
Of course, not everything can be perfect: ClearBox found it unfortunate that the integrations of Embrace are mainly limited to applications relevant in The Netherlands. It currently is limited to international integrations like Microsoft 365, Liquit and HelloID. In addition, ClearBox noted that all data currently is hosted in Europe, which might not be ideal for originations active overseas.
User experience and visual appeal
ClearBox praised the well-thought-out interface with quick and clear menus, handy sidebar and beautifully displayed profiles, notifications and search function. Pages are beautifully designed and each user has their own personal home page with selectable widgets, relevant news and personal timeline. ClearBox was impressed with the degree of flexibility in design, configuration and capabilities for environment managers. The layout of the mobile Embrace App was also praised.
News and content management
The people at ClearBox said they were impressed with how easy it is to display news in various ways using templates. The ability to add widgets (with documents, relevant people or links within these widgets) to news and pages was seen as an unique advantage. The Content Management System was also experienced as very user-friendly and very extensive at the same time.
“Embrace demonstrates a comprehensive and leading understanding of user centred design.”
Social interaction and collaboration
Social interaction and collaboration are accelerated in Embrace through the timeline and groups. Here employees can share updates and ask questions. ClearBox experiences these functionalities as user-friendly and value-enhancing, especially for organizations that want to stimulate collaboration, internal connectivity and social interaction between colleagues.
Finding information
Embrace’s search engine was experienced as well designed, functional and user-friendly. Proposed results and the ease with which various filters can be applied resulted in information being found quickly. The profile finder, where the most important information from colleagues can be found very quickly, was also appreciated. Finally, the way in which top-down information can be presented, for example in a knowledge base (A-Z), was experienced as clear and intuitive.
Independent Intranets: The buyer’s guide to ready-made platforms
With this report, Clearbox promises to save time in the search for a safe and fair, transparent score to be awarded by offering several hours of research in an orderly manner. Curious? The full report is available for purchase on the Clearbox website. The report consists of reviews of the 23 most popular intranet solutions worldwide. 16 of these are full reviews. Every in-depth review consists of about twenty pages, screenshots, multiple experts opinions and more.
The value of the Clearbox report related to Embrace and her international partners
Embrace has recently been getting more and more attention outside the borders of The Netherlands. With the help of our international partners, we are increasingly making non-Dutch organizations happy with our software. For example in Germany, Belgium and England. For more information about Embrace and its international partners, click here.
