Overview
Blackwoods is one of Australia’s largest suppliers of industrial and safety products, part of Wesfarmers Industrial and Safety. Through brands including Blackwoods and NZ Safety Blackwoods, it supports thousands of employees across Australia and New Zealand. As the business grew, its older intranet could not keep up. The technology was dated, content was scattered, and systems did not connect to each other, which made it hard for staff to find information, collaborate and stay aligned.
Blackwoods wanted a modern intranet that could grow with the business and bring its people closer together. It partnered with Antares Solutions to rebuild its digital workplace using #Space, Antares’ ready built modern intranet for SharePoint.
The result is a single, easy to use platform that connects every team, brand and location. It has made information easier to find across the organisation and strengthened employee connection, engagement and productivity. The partnership also set Blackwoods up for ongoing innovation, including how AI and digital tools can keep improving the way people work.
The Problem
Blackwoods depends on clear communication and collaboration to keep its nationwide workforce aligned. Its intranet, built on SharePoint 2013, had become a legacy system. It ran on old on premises technology, leaned heavily on IT to maintain, and was static and hard to update. Instead of supporting staff, it created daily friction, and what should have been a hub for culture and connection had become a barrier to productivity and engagement.
The setup was also fragmented. Blackwoods was maintaining four separate intranet sites with scattered content, a clunky user experience, and slow, resource heavy updates. The business wanted to consolidate these into three intranet domains across two Microsoft 365 environments, each with its own requirements and stakeholders.
Key challenges included:
- An ageing SharePoint 2013 intranet that was static and hard to maintain
- Four separate sites with scattered content and a clunky user experience
- Slow, resource heavy updates that pulled on IT
- A barrier to culture, connection and employee engagement
- The need to serve both desk based and frontline staff
- Consolidating into three intranets across two Microsoft 365 environments
The Solution
Blackwoods partnered with Antares Solutions to implement #Space, Antares’ proven SharePoint modern sites intranet accelerator. Rather than starting from scratch with a costly custom build, Antares used a minimum viable product approach, a clear, simplified path to launch that still met the different needs of each team. The result was three tailored intranets delivered across two Microsoft 365 environments in one seamless project.
Built around what staff actually need
The work began with hands on workshops to understand what employees needed from their digital workplace, with a design that worked equally well for desk based and frontline staff.
A complete set of intranet tools
#Space was configured with an enterprise grade staff directory, a centralised content hub, global alerts, personalised toolboxes and a scalable structure for organising information, all aimed at improving productivity, discoverability and engagement.
A smooth transition
Antares handled content migration, Microsoft 365 integration and staff training with care, so Blackwoods could keep running the business while the change happened behind the scenes.
A platform that grows with the business
Because #Space is user focused and built to evolve, Antares delivered more than an intranet. Blackwoods now has a flexible digital workplace foundation that can grow with its needs and keep strengthening collaboration across Australia and New Zealand.
The Outcome
Since launching #Space, Blackwoods and NZ Safety have a more connected, efficient and engaging digital workplace.
Blackwoods now operates with:
- A fresh, modern design that reflects the brand and engages employees
- Stronger search, so people can quickly find the information and colleagues they need
- Simpler administration, freeing IT and communications teams for more strategic work
- Useful analytics that show engagement and help improve content over time
- Clean, intuitive navigation that makes information easy to reach and lifts adoption
By meeting both employee and business needs, #Space has turned the intranet into a central hub that empowers staff, supports collaboration and strengthens connection across Australia and New Zealand.
What Blackwoods Says
“The upgrade to a modern SharePoint intranet has been a game changer for NZ Safety Blackwoods. We now have a platform that is visually engaging, easy to navigate, and regularly updated, making it the go to source for news, updates, and key documents. This has streamlined how team members access information and improved collaboration across the business. It has saved us time and reduced confusion because everyone knows where to find the latest, most accurate content. The feedback from the team has been overwhelmingly positive, and it is clear that the new intranet is helping us work smarter and stay connected.”
Sara SimpsonLearning and Development Specialist, NZ Safety Blackwoods
