By Adam Hickman, Microsoft 365 consultant lead
Powered by Lightspeed365. Implemented by Braemar's transformation lead, with flexible consultancy from our team at Content Formula, the consultancy behind Lightspeed365.
Summary
Braemar's SharePoint intranet already held a reasonable amount of departmental content across HR, IT, Legal, Compliance and more, but it had grown without a shared structure, so different areas ended up with inconsistent layouts, components and navigation. Rather than rebuild from scratch, Braemar's transformation lead used Lightspeed365's templates, components and tutorial content to restructure the site themselves, backed by ad-hoc consultancy sessions for the questions a tutorial could not answer. The result is a more consistent, better governed intranet: clearer departmental pages, a more prominent set of everyday tools on the homepage, and a framework for keeping new content in line going forward. The rebuild was largely delivered by one person, and adoption was already strong within a few months of launch.
The challenge
Braemar already had a reasonable amount of departmental content sitting in SharePoint: HR, IT, Legal, Compliance and more. The problem was never a shortage of content. It was that the environment had grown without a shared structure to hold it together, so different areas of the site ended up using different layouts, components and navigation patterns.
That kind of inconsistency does not stay contained. Policies and documents become harder to locate. The intranet loses any sense of standardisation across pages and sections. And without a clear framework for how new content should be structured, every future addition makes the underlying problem slightly worse, not better.
The question for Braemar was how to fix this without starting again. Rebuilding an intranet from scratch is rarely the right answer when the underlying content is fine and the problem is structural. What Braemar needed was a way to improve what was already there: more consistency, a clearer information architecture, and a framework their transformation lead could use to manage the platform with confidence going forward.
Does this sound familiar? Speak to our team to see how we can support your intranet challenges.
The approach
Why did the rebuild move so quickly?
We worked with Braemar across two phases. The first was the installation and onboarding of Lightspeed365, which gave Braemar's transformation lead a more flexible set of components and page-building tools within the environment they already had. The second was an implementation phase carried out by Braemar's transformation lead using Lightspeed365's own tutorial pages, backed up by a series of ad-hoc consultancy sessions we ran alongside them, rather than a heavy programme of formal workshops.
That combination is what made the difference. The tutorial pages meant Braemar's transformation lead could get hands-on with the platform straight away, rather than waiting for a delivery team to build things on their behalf. The consultancy sessions we ran filled in the gaps the tutorials could not cover or provided more specific detail: navigation setup, module behaviour, page templates, branding, people directory configuration and how to get more out of Microsoft 365 across the wider tenant. That is the part of the engagement I was closest to, and it is usually what separates someone who can follow a tutorial from someone who can actually finish the job: knowing which questions to ask when the tutorial does not quite match their environment. We later received feedback from Braemar that the support service was excellent, which confirmed that a flexible, tutorial-led approach was the right one for a project like this.
A UX review ran alongside this, providing practical suggestions, such as moving key apps higher on the home page and tidying up some inconsistent component patterns, which Braemar's transformation lead folded into the rebuild as they went rather than treating it as a separate phase of work.
What was delivered
The result was a more structured, more consistent intranet built on Lightspeed365 and SharePoint Online, delivered quickly and largely by Braemar's transformation lead working alone. In practice, that meant:
- governance over templates, components and content layout tightened, giving them a single place to manage how new content gets built, so the standardisation holds instead of drifting apart the way the original site did
- departmental pages for HR, IT, Finance, Legal and Compliance reorganised and improved, so each department now has a clearer, more consistent page to work from
- Lightspeed365's App launcher, used to make key apps and links more prominent on the homepage, giving people a personalised, quick-access menu for daily tools while letting them pin the highest-priority apps centrally so nothing important gets missed
- The People directory, developed so staff can browse or filter colleagues by department or team, making it easier for people, including new starters, to find the right person instead of hitting a dead end
- onboarding pages redesigned with more attention to how new starters actually navigate them, giving them a clearer route into the information they need early on
- FAQ content reorganised using the Accordion component, presenting guidance in expandable, space-efficient tiles rather than long scrolling pages
- news and events sections configured to support regular internal communications, with the News feed giving comms content a more prominent, carousel-style presence on the homepage, so Braemar's comms team has a reliable home for updates
Feedback gathered since launch reflects that shift: the person driving the rebuild describes content publishing as easier across teams, and less time now goes into simply managing the site.
Curious what else Lightspeed365 can do? Explore the full feature set.
Explore Lightspeed365 features
Why it mattered
For Braemar, the intranet was already doing a job. It just was not doing it consistently enough to roll out with confidence. What mattered most in this engagement was not a lengthy diagnostic process. It was a fast, practical route to a better-structured platform that Braemar's transformation lead could deliver alone.
Tutorial pages backed by ad-hoc consultancy suit that kind of project well, especially when it comes down to one person driving it. Braemar's transformation lead was able to make real progress from day one, then get a quick answer from us when something in their specific environment did not quite match the guide, rather than waiting weeks for a workshop slot or a delivery milestone. That meant less time spent planning the rebuild and more time actually doing it.
Left unaddressed, this kind of inconsistency tends not to stay still. Every new department, every new page and every new person managing content adds another layout or pattern that does not quite match what is already there, and each one makes the next person's job harder. Braemar avoided that by moving quickly rather than treating the fix as a long-term project.
The part that sticks with me is who did the rebuilding, and how fast they did it. The page-building tools and tutorial content are designed to be used without technical expertise, and Braemar's transformation lead proved that out single-handedly: applying the recommendations, restructuring pages and standardising components themselves, with us on hand for the specific questions a tutorial cannot answer. The launch landed well: adoption was already good within a few months of go live, they told us they were very satisfied with the setup and implementation support throughout, and the early employee feedback described to us was really positive.
Working with Lightspeed365
If your SharePoint intranet has grown the way Braemar's had, structure and governance are usually the more valuable fix, not a rebuild. We'd be glad to talk through whether Lightspeed365's tutorials and some ad-hoc consultancy could get you there just as quickly. Browse more SharePoint intranet examples to see what a similarly restructured intranet can look like.
Get in touch to talk through what a similar approach could look like for you.
Read more Lightspeed365 case studies to see how other organisations have rebuilt their SharePoint intranets.