Knowledge platform for a financial consulting firm
Sector: Financial consulting · Scale: ~1,200 people · Platform: Microsoft 365 / SharePoint Online · Services: Discovery, IA, design, build
Brief
A financial consulting firm needed customer-facing teams to find approved methodologies, templates, and client-ready resources quickly. Content existed but was scattered across team sites, file shares, and legacy locations. Financial advisors lost time searching - or reused outdated material.
Challenge
No single place where advisors trusted they would find client-service resources
Inconsistent metadata and naming - search failed for non-expert users
Financial advisors have low patience for internal tools; if search fails, they ask colleagues or skip the process
IT owned the platform; comms and practice leads owned the content - no shared IA
Pressure to prepare for Copilot and AI search, with no organized, owned content for those tools to draw on
Approach
Discovery and research
Stakeholder interviews with team leads and financial advisors. Content audit across high-traffic libraries. Task-based scenarios such as “Prepare for a client meeting in 15 minutes.” Success measures agreed upfront.
Information architecture
Hubs organized by topic as well as by team. Clear content types: methodology, template, example, policy. Metadata simple enough for authors, precise enough for search. Governance for publish, approve, and retirement.
Design, build, and rollout
Search and browsing designed for advisors who are not SharePoint experts. SharePoint Online hub and spoke in the client tenant. Phased rollout with champions. Author training focused on templates and metadata.
Impact
Financial advisors access approved resources in one place before client conversations
Advisors rely less on asking colleagues and on duplicate files shared in team chats
Content is organized and owned, ready for Copilot and AI search
Authors publish with clear templates, so fewer one-off pages appear
Quantified metrics available under NDA on sales calls; public case uses role-based outcomes.
FAQ
Was this a custom product or SharePoint?
SharePoint Online and Microsoft 365, designed and structured so people can find things. There is no third-party intranet license.
How long did discovery take?
Several weeks of interviews and IA work before build - exact duration depended on stakeholder availability.
Could a smaller organization do something similar?
Yes at smaller scale. Fixed-price packages, scaled to your size. We confirm the package and the fee on a short scoping call, before work starts.
Ready to improve the employee experience?
Tell us about your Microsoft 365 setup: who your users are, what needs to be easier to find or do, and the next milestone you are working toward. We aim to reply the same day during business hours.