Case studies
Huddle in the real world.
Belgian FPS Social Security
Belgium supports the Presidency of the Council of the European Union with Huddle.
In December 2009, the Treaty of Lisbon came into power and the practice of a Trio Presidency was formalized. As a result of these institutional reforms, the Belgium Federal Public Service (FPS) Social Security found itself at the centre of an historic event. For the first time, three countries – Spain, Belgium and Hungary – had to work together to prepare for the Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) and co-operate to ensure the continuity of their policies. Until the end of June 2011, the Belgian FPS Social Security will be working with teams across Europe, from numerous administrations and organizations.
"Thanks to Huddle, our shared network drive for the presidency project is obsolete and, for some projects, Huddle has replaced email completely."
- Max Raets, Policy Officer
During Belgium's six month Presidency, which started on 1 July, the FPS Social Security's EU 2010 Presidency Team was responsible for all matters relating to social policy issues. This involved delivering input for the negotiations and organizing conferences and meetings to drive forward social protection in Europe. Faced with sharing a large amount of documentation and scheduling events with people from both inside and outside of the organization, the FPS Social Security recognized that its in-house network, shared drives and email system were simply not up to the job.
In the run up to the Council, extensive use of email was resulting in mailboxes being overloaded and exceeding their limits. As external experts and colleagues from different administrations could not access relevant documents stored on the FPS Social Security servers, it was becoming increasingly difficult to collaborate on projects. To break down the barriers of communication between organizations, administrations and geographically-dispersed teams, the Belgian FPS Social Security joined forces with Huddle.
Using Huddle, colleagues from national and local public institutions, non-governmental organizations (NGO), research centres and universities could work together on files, share discussions, manage approvals and schedule events.
"Huddle presented us with the ideal way to collaborate and share information with the outside world when organizing events such as our scientific conferences."
- Max Raets, Policy Officer
Max Raets, policy officer, FPS Social Security, explains: "We needed a system that was accessible to contributors from both inside and outside of the organization, while at the same time enabling us to limit the accessibility of sensitive documents to specific users. Huddle presented us with the ideal way to collaborate and share information with the outside world when organizing events such as our scientific conferences."
More than 100 participants in the presidency project could access all the information they required via Huddle. Documents and meeting details can be shared, changes can be tracked and everyone involved can be notified. The number of letters sent via post has also been significantly reduced.
Max continues: "Thanks to Huddle, our shared network drive for the presidency project is obsolete and, for some projects, Huddle has replaced email completely."
For Tom Auwers, General Director, FPS Social Security, Huddle illustrates the new culture of the administration. He states: "We work in a dynamic office where people can decide for themselves when and from where they work. People are also free to define how to organize and execute their work. They can work from home or when they are on the move and being able to share information with a team, project committee, or specific partners is crucial to make this a success."
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