Introduction:
A division of a global pharmaceutical client identified a lack of awareness among its staff regarding the available information assets, despite significant investments. The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated remote work, accelerating the need to provide staff – now working remotely as well as in laboratories - with ready access to the myriad of resources which the client has acquired. The client’s goal was to enhance Library Services, showcase more than 50 digital assets available to users globally, provide simplified access to research and content, and demonstrate value to scientists and researchers. The company asked Couranto to design, build, and maintain a cloud-based, customized resource hub. The resulting eLibrary platform was developed and launched in less than a year through effective collaboration between Couranto, the client’s Library Services team, library users, publishers and other vendors.
Development:
The primary objective was to provide quick and efficient access to content and resources while ensuring seamless communication with users. User-friendly functionality, adherence to the client’s brand integrity, and incorporation of IT and security requirements were prioritized. Curating the critical assets for inclusion in the hub was a labor-intensive task. Additional visual resources were incorporated to address the impact of remote work on materials access and scientific collaboration. Interactive features like a calendar and news section were added to promote new resources, trainings, meetings, and supplier demos. The portal also featured content search, tagging, linking to internal documents, and frequently asked questions.
Training:
Couranto provided comprehensive training and ongoing support to enable the library team to self-manage updates and changes. The platform allowed library administrators to easily make design changes, add features, edit content, and preview updates before publishing, without requiring IT involvement.
Deployment:
After completing testing, proofing content, identifying and correcting technical bugs, populating key features and training library administrators, the new portal was deployed. Due to remote work conditions, multiple online conferences were organized to showcase the resource hub across the division. The portal was promoted by the client through newsletters and training programs. Eight months into deployment, user adoption reached 80% and continues to grow.
Measuring Success:
The portal is accessed daily by hundreds of users globally. Metrics such as usage heat maps, jump tile deployments, failed search results, and identification of power users provide valuable insights. User feedback and metrics guide the evaluation of new content and services to better support users, with future plans to add semantic enrichment and searching across multiple assets.
Who is Couranto?
Headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with 35 team members in New York, New Jersey, Florida, Texas, London, Tokyo and the Philippines, and global alliance partners internationally, Couranto has been providing subscription, e-content, book, license, and data management services for clients throughout North America, EMEA and APAC since 1989.
Couranto specializes in the corporate and professional services markets. We are uniquely experienced at serving the needs of this complex, multi-divisional marketplace.
Couranto is a Woman-Owned Business certified by the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council and Disability:IN and Couranto has been named one of the INC 5000 Fastest Growing Companies for five years running.