The origins of the Styria Media Group date back to 1869. Founded in Graz, the company has grown into an international media organization with core markets in Austria, Croatia and Slovenia.

Today, STYRIA’s portfolio includes newspapers, magazines, book publishers, radio stations and digital marketplaces.

Around 2,500 people work for STYRIA across several locations in Austria, Slovenia and Croatia. The company also collaborates with a wide network of service partners worldwide.

In an organization spread across countries, languages and brands, keeping people connected and informed isn’t simple. But it matters, because when information flows well, people can focus on what they do best.

The challenge

Multiple languages and an intranet that had reached its limits

STYRIA’s guiding principle is “one spirit, unlimited ideas.”

The ambition was to reflect that same spirit in internal communication. But the existing intranet made that difficult.

Two main challenges stood out.

1. Multiple languages

The official company languages are German and English, but many employees also speak Slovenian or Croatian. Internal communication needed to work across languages — without adding complexity for editors or readers.

2. Usability

The old intranet had simply reached its limits. It was difficult to maintain, difficult to develop further and increasingly frustrating to use.

This made it harder to distribute information and communicate in a way that matched the pace of a modern media company.

What STYRIA needed was a new intranet that was:

• easy to use
• flexible and future-proof
• capable of supporting multiple languages
• simple for editors to manage and publish content
  

At the same time, internal teams wanted:

• a clear editorial workspace
• an intuitive administration area
• reliable system maintenance
  

But the goal wasn’t just a technical upgrade. STYRIA wanted to fundamentally improve how information flows across the company.

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“Our vision is to bring reliable information closer to employees.”‍

_{Philipp Lackner | Head of Corporate Communications & CSR Management, Styria Media Group}

What STYRIA wanted to achieve

With a modern intranet platform, the company aimed to:

• Increase the reach of news and editorial content
• Communicate with employees in a more modern, targeted way
• Boost interaction and engagement
• Connect colleagues through communities
• Make knowledge easier to access and manage
• Adapt the intranet to the company’s specific needs
• Integrate existing tools such as Microsoft 365
  

In short, build a platform that supports communication, collaboration and knowledge sharing across the entire organization.

Why STYRIA chose Haiilo

To find the right solution, STYRIA first defined clear goals and requirements.

Two criteria were especially important:

• Usability
• Cost-effectiveness
  

Several intranet platforms were evaluated during the selection process. The internal project team worked closely with intranet agency Kronsteg, which supported the evaluation and implementation planning.

In the end, the decision was clear.

Haiilo offered the strongest overall package to turn STYRIA’s vision for internal communication into reality.

“Haiilo covers everything we currently need in our day-to-day work — and, as far as we can see, everything we’ll need in the future as well.”

_{Philipp Lackner | Head of Corporate Communications & CSR Management}

Rolling out mySTYRIA

The new Haiilo intranet launched in July 2023 under the name mySTYRIA.

The rollout involved:

• the internal communications team
• several business units and brands across the group
• Kronsteg as the implementation partner
  

Together, they built a platform designed around STYRIA’s specific structure and needs.

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Building the new intranet

Once the software decision had been made and the governance model defined, the team began shaping the intranet.

Several steps were key.

Defining the structure

Together with Kronsteg, STYRIA developed a clear page structure for the platform and created templates for different page types.

This means new pages can now be created quickly and consistently by intranet editors.

Migrating existing content

Because STYRIA operates across several countries, the existing intranet content had to be adapted for locations in Croatia and Slovenia.

The goal was simple: everyone should feel at home in the new platform from day one.

Training administrators and editors

Workshops ensured that administrators and editorial teams had the tools and knowledge they needed to:

• create engaging content
• manage pages independently
• make technical adjustments when necessary
  

Finally, the employee user directory was imported into the system.

With that, the doors to mySTYRIA officially opened.

Launch communication: building excitement before go-live

Launching the platform was only part of the story. STYRIA also wanted employees to understand why the new intranet mattered.

To support the rollout, an internal partner agency developed a launch campaign that ran across both digital and physical channels.

Employees received information through:

• newsletters
• digital information screens
• posters across locations
  

The goal of the campaign was simple: highlight the value of the platform, build excitement and encourage employees to actively use the new intranet from the start.

How STYRIA uses the intranet today

Haiilo’s social intranet now supports daily work across the company in several ways.

Three areas are particularly important.

Communication: one place for information

mySTYRIA acts as the central communication hub for the organization.

Whether it’s leadership messages, company news or everyday updates, the platform brings employees and information together in one place.

The multilanguage add-on allows content to be published in different languages, ensuring employees across regions can access updates in the language they prefer.

To make sure employees can stay connected anywhere, STYRIA also uses Haiilo’s white-label mobile app.

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Collaboration: connecting people and tools

The integration with Microsoft 365 allows employees to access familiar collaboration tools directly through the intranet.

At the same time, the platform itself supports collaboration through:

• communities
• shared pages
• project spaces
  

For example, the company created a dedicated page documenting a new payroll and time-tracking system, giving employees one clear place to find guidance and updates.

A little entertainment never hurts

Engagement matters — and sometimes that means making things fun.

To keep the intranet lively, STYRIA also runs initiatives such as a competition community, where employees can take part in contests and interactive activities.

It’s a small detail, but it helps bring energy and participation to the platform.

Results

Reaching more people, more effectively

Since introducing Haiilo, internal communication at STYRIA has become significantly easier and more effective.

Employees are easier to reach — whether they work in Graz, Zagreb or Ljubljana.

The platform puts social interaction at the center and strengthens the sense of community across the organization.

Just nine months after launch, the impact was already visible.

• News reach increased by 74%
• Interaction rates rose by 41%
• 123 wiki articles were created in three languages
  

These numbers show something important: when information is easy to find and participate in, people engage.

Still just the beginning

The story of mySTYRIA is still unfolding.

By introducing Haiilo, STYRIA has laid the foundation for internal communication that is modern, scalable and ready for the future.

And there’s still plenty of potential left to explore.

“We inform, we connect, we entertain, we interact — Haiilo has taken the role of our internal digital communication to a new level. And we’ve only scratched the surface of what the system can do.”‍

_{Philipp Lackner | Head of Corporate Communications & CSR Management}