Special Mention awards for Digital Workplace of the Year 2018

October 3, 2018 Updated: July 29, 2022 by

In our Digital Workplace of the Year Awards 2018, well-deserved accolades went to the winner Liberty Mutual Insurance and the runner-up Cisco. The judges were seriously impressed by the quality of the entries and the fierceness of the competition – in fact, so impressed that they decided to call out some other organizations in “special mentions” to acknowledge achievements in a number of specific areas.

The Awards are produced by DWG in partnership with SMG/CMSWire, and celebrate organizations and practitioners who have excelled this year in creating well-executed, high-performing digital workplace environments. In 2019, we’ll be including “special mentions” again as a great way of acknowledging as much best practice as we can in this industry-wide celebration.

So, in no particular order, here are the judges’ “special mentions” for the 2018 Digital Workplace of the Year Awards:

American Express for User Engagement

This special mention from the judges acknowledges American Express’s strong focus on engaging users throughout the entire digital workplace lifecycle including, for example, use of personas, persona champions, a UX Center of Excellence, an Early Adopter Community – and more! The team has a clear focus on employees as customers and on creating an environment in which they can do their best work.

MetLife for Global Approach

The judges noted that MetLife is taking a truly global approach with its digital workplace journey – from bringing together multiple intranets on a global platform, to translation into 10 languages, which means reaching 98% of employees in their native language. As one of the judges commented: “This is a very large-scale, successful project and they have mastered the added complexity of a multilingual digital workplace and governance.”

Shire for Digital Workplace Progress


It was great to see one of our 2017 award entrants enter again in 2018 – especially when their overall score went up by nearly 10%! The judges therefore wished to acknowledge the progress that Shire has made over the last year, noting its achievements in creating a digital workplace for two merged companies, successfully managing the change, and delivering on time-saving and productivity goals. No surprise, perhaps, given the team’s approach of continually improving and adapting as the organization changes.

Te Wānanga o Aotearoa for User Engagement

Education provider, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, was acknowledged by the judges for the way in which it engages with digital workplace users, especially as this has been achieved by an internal team with limited spend for a large audience. This has included extensive use of personas and continuous feedback, with soft go-lives and opportunities to see and comment on updates on Yammer. The team at Te Wānanga o Aotearoa takes the approach: “Get your people involved early and regularly.”

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for Rationale/ Business Case


MHRA was acknowledged by the judges for its strong, compelling digital workplace rationale. Its far-reaching digital workplace agenda is driven by and clearly tied to the organizational imperative to protect and enhance the health of millions of people in the UK. The judges commented on how the programme of work is underpinned by this rationale and, along with strong governance and user engagement, this has led to “a huge advancement on their digital journey”.

The 2018 “special mentions” highlight some of the great work that is going on in our industry in key areas of practice: from strategy to user experience. With digital workplace programmes being complex, multidimensional endeavours, involving many stakeholders, it’s fantastic to see how organizations are grappling with, and in some cases winning at, delivering digital experiences that make a real difference.

In 2019, perhaps you will be a winner? Or maybe you will want to nominate a digital workplace leader who has inspired you? Look out on our website for entries opening early 2019.

Read these blogs to help you enter: Four things our judges loved and 7 reasons to enter.

Registration for Digital Workplace Experience 2019 is already open with big discounts for early booking.

Digital Workplace Experience 2019

June 17–19, 2019 in Chicago: register now.

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Categorised in: Digital workplace, Digital Workplace of the Year Awards

Elizabeth Marsh

Director of Research

Elizabeth Marsh is DWG’s Director of Research and author of its latest report ‘Digital workplace overload: How to reduce employee technostress’ (available free on our website). She’s worked as a practitioner, researcher and consultant in the digital workplace field for over 20 years and is a strong advocate for digital literacy and digital wellbeing at work. Elizabeth is currently doing a PhD at the University of Nottingham focusing on employee technostress and the potential of mindfulness to help reduce it. She also co-authored – with Paul Miller – the book ‘The Digital Renaissance of Work: Delivering digital workplaces fit for the future’.

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