Robert Thieme, Boehringer Ingelheim (Germany)

INSITE: A digital transformation journey

Boehringer Ingelheim took a deeply user-centric approach to modernising their global intranet. With an audience of 54,000 employees across hundreds of roles and locations, this is personalisation on a massive scale. Robert will talk us through his journey of overseeing the transformation, from the initial vision statement to the deployment of a dynamic, integrated, and task-based platform that empowers employees worldwide.

Robert will cover:

• insights from the UX research
• developing the value proposition and integration approach
• challenges and solutions
• technical implementation
• what’s next on the continuous improvement roadmap

Robert Thieme is a passionate digital leader and IT Director of the Corporate Affairs & Search team at Boehringer Ingelheim. With over a decade of experience in digital transformation, Robert thrives at the intersection of technology, communication, and user experience. His proudest achievement to date has been the complete transformation of the company’s global intranet.

Robert led the renewal of the entire IT application portfolio for Corporate Affairs, introduced Copilot and AI translation capabilities, and played a pivotal role in the digital enablement of Boehringer Ingelheim’s evolved corporate brand in 2023. He brings a deeply human approach to digital strategy, always advocating for solutions that simplify complexity and elevate the employee experience. Driven by curiosity and a love for innovation, Robert is committed to shaping digital employee experiences that are not only functional but inspiring.

Rachel Miller, All Things IC (UK)

Succeeding as an internal communications team in the current digital environment

You’ll learn how to:

• make your channels work harder for you
• create consistency, clarity, certainty, and connection through your internal communication
• influence upwards and demonstrate the impact of your efforts.

With practical frameworks and actionable takeaways, Rachel’s talk will help you shift from busy to strategic—and ensure your communication informs, involves, and inspires in the moments that matter.

Rachel Miller is an internationally recognised authority on Internal Communication (IC) and is based in London, UK. A former journalist, with more than 20 years’ IC experience she advises many of the world’s best-known companies through her consulting business, All Things IC. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Internal Communication, Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and Centre for Strategic Communication Excellence. She was awarded CIPR’s President’s Medal in 2020 for distinguished service to PR.

Rachel is a keynote speaker, Candid Comms podcast host and industry thought leader in the University of Florida’s IC Research Hub. Her first book, Internal Communication Strategy was published by Kogan Page in 2024. Rachel’s next book, Successful Change Communication, will be published by Kogan Page in 2026.

Rachel Miller Chart.PR, FCIPR, FCSCE, FIIC, PG (Dip)

Visit the All Things IC website or connect with Rachel on LinkedIn.

Peta Vigor, NEXTDC (Australia)

Optimising MS Teams: boosting collaboration with digital skills and custom design

Many organisations describe the Microsoft Teams collaboration landscape as the wild wild west with proliferation of thousands of Team uncontrolled workspaces. NEXTDC were in a unique position to roll out Microsoft Teams for collaboration in a mindful way with a focus on business and user needs driving the design, up-skilling, and overall adoption approach.

Peta will cover:

• NEXTDC’s structured approach to driving process, change and adoption
• the use of a digital skills self-assessment to shape training and support
• how templates, governance and structured provisioning support ongoing management and consistency

Peta Vigor is a seasoned project delivery manager with over 20 years experience including change management, implementation, process re-design, and transformation projects. She has led digital workplace projects at NEXTDC and has a deep passion for digital innovation and change management. Her focus is to ensure projects are successfully adopted and significantly enhance the user experience.

Michael Silverman, Formerly Wells Fargo (USA)

The ‘business’ of digital governance: powered by people, process, and partnership

With the ever rapidly-evolving digital landscape, strong business governance continues to be more important than ever. This session will explore a journey of strategy, accountability, and structure through a holistic model approach designed to elevate user experience that effectively manages rules, regulations, and risks.

Michael will share his insights and experiences including:

• defining digital business governance components and the importance of their connection points
• breaking down the sectors of governance, including distinct roles and responsibilities of each
• outlining key objectives, partners, processes, and tools for success
• providing foundational considerations and best practices for building and evolving a model

After a distinguished 36-year career, Michael Silverman retired from Wells Fargo Bank in 2023. He dedicated the last 11 years of his career to lead DEX governance strategy and oversight, as well as DEX business delivery functions (ie. product owners, user testing, business release management, and analytics). During this time, Michael designed and implemented the first-of-its-kind holistic business governance strategy, model, and approach for Wells Fargo’s enterprise employee portal. This governance model was benchmarked with best-in-class distinction receiving highest total scores amongst peer organizations by the Digital Workplace Group (DWG). His long-spanning career at the bank additionally focused on areas of product management, policies and procedures, risk management, compliance, and audit.

Tori Sanderson, Avian (Australia)

The death of the user: UX, AI and the employee experience

In their personal lives, employees increasingly expect AI to tailor experiences just for them—personalized feeds, custom interfaces, on-demand content. But at work? They still get one-size-fits-all intranets and generic workflows designed for “the average employee.”

This talk explores how consumer AI is dissolving the idea of shared user experiences—and what that means for workplace technology. When every interface can be unique, every workflow generated on-demand, and every employee gets entirely different digital tools, what happens to traditional workplace design?

Tori will cover:

• the ethical and strategic implications of hyper-personalized employee experiences
• how to reframe your role when AI can generate interfaces faster than you can design them
• practical approaches for managing intranets, planning digital transformations, and adapting to AI-driven change

Whether you’re managing intranets, planning digital transformations, or wondering what comes next, this talk will help you navigate the coming shifts that AI and changing employee expectations bring.

Tori Sanderson GAICD is Managing Director & CEO of Avian, a boutique consultancy specialising in bringing HCD thinking to products, environments and teams. Tori is a sought‑after product and leadership strategist, with 20 + years’ experience spanning government, tech, retail, healthcare and NFP sectors. She’s steered award‑winning digital programmes and guided major brands and organisations through complex transformation and capability‑building. A regular speaker at Web Directions and Women in ICT events, Tori delivers clear, practical insights on digital strategy, service design, and building high‑performing teams.

Kash Walker, Rockhampton Regional Council (Australia)

Establishing a trusted and reliable home base for employees

In this session, Kash will explore how Rockhampton Regional Council designed and built an intranet that truly puts the employee first. Kash will provide an honest reflection on project success stories and lessons learned and provide the inside scoop on the findings from user research. Discover how the Council created a trusted and reliable ‘front door’ to the digital workplace, and a familiar home base that employees come back to time and time again.

Kash will share:

• how user research was critical in shaping key decisions
• the power and potential of a truly employee-focused intranet
• where to from here

Kash Walker is a Project Manager and Business Analyst working at Rockhampton Regional Council. Kash works in the IT Projects and Digital Transformation team at Council and has a Bachelor of Digital Media (hons). He has experience in several industries including website design, programming, natural resource management, IT consulting, business systems analysis and IT project management.

Marisa Dellaca, Ashurst (Australia)

Doubling down on GenAI at a global law firm

The global law firm, Ashurst, is recognised among its peers as one of the earliest and most successful adopters of GenAI. In the space of just one day, Ashurst deployed Harvey.AI – a GenAI solution for the legal profession – to a workforce of 4,500 located across 31 offices. As part of the global and multi-disciplinary roll out project team, Marisa will talk us through Ashurst’s innovative, scientific, and employee-centric approach to deployment and adoption.

Marisa will cover:

• evidence-based decision making
• utilising ‘continual insights’ to guide change and adoption
• establishing a global champions network
• working with a rapidly evolving roadmap and pace of change
• the challenges and the opportunities ahead

Marisa Dellaca quickly realised she had a love for the law when starting out as a research librarian at Ashurst (then Blake Dawson Waldron). Marisa became the inaugural Global Head of Research and Business Intelligence following the 2013 merger of Ashurst with Blake Dawson, and spearheaded the global transformation of the firm’s research services and competitive intelligence capability development.

Marisa is currently the Global Head of Knowledge at Ashurst where she is responsible for advancing the firm’s knowledge management systems, technology, and processes. With a passion for digital transformation, AI and user-centred design, Marisa plays a key role in implementing the firm’s global Knowledge & Expertise strategy, supporting Ashurst’s firmwide strategy and commitment to “outpace change”.

Brad Elborough, Department of Education, Western Australia

From chaos to clarity: the Ikon intranet transformation journey

Ikon is the intranet for the Department of Education, Western Australia, designed to support more than 70,000 staff spread across one of the world’s most remote jurisdictions.

But it’s relatively new – the result of a major intranet transformation project that replaced 68 legacy sites, plus a few systems, which made finding information difficult, and understanding it even harder.

Today, Ikon simplifies complexity, and puts users first, enabling staff to focus on what matters most: educating WA students.

Brad was the product owner and content lead for the transformation project. In this session he will cover:

• the challenges posed by the legacy systems and how they were tackled
• the critical role of endorsed governance and content principles
• the impact of Ikon across schools and central services, and key lessons learned

Brad Elborough has always been a storyteller. Like many in government communications, he began as a journalist, covering two of the most tedious topics imaginable: sport and travel. He still occasionally enjoys writing about both.

These days, his storytelling is focused on making sure content on the Department of Education’s intranet and websites is easy to find and even easier to understand.

As technical lead, Brad works with stakeholders to shape requirements for new and improved functionality. As content lead, he manages a team dedicated to delivering consistent, plain-English content across multiple digital platforms.

Rachel Jepson, Uniting NSW.ACT (Australia)

Breaking through change roadblocks to drive digital adoption

Uniting has an ambitious strategy to digitise critical people processes and create a seamless and connected experience for employees and clients. But, driving adoption with 6,000+ frontline employees has felt like a constant roadblock, with central teams falling back on a range of assumptions about why driving change is difficult.

In this session, Rachel will share how:

• connecting with people on an individual level has helped Uniting take a big step forward in their digital strategy.
• a high effort, high touch change approach has helped break through the roadblock.
• assumptions were challenged about people’s digital capability and willingness to connect with systems such as Teams and Viva Connections.
• Uniting is now taking a bold step forward with a new AI driven digital assistant.

Rachel Jepson is Head of Organisational Communications for Uniting NSW.ACT. Rachel has been with Uniting since 2018 and is responsible for communications to 12,000+ employees who work across Uniting’s diverse range of community services and programs.

Rachel started her career in external communications and spent 15 years working in the UK. She was Director of Communications for London Tourist Board and a Communications Consultant to Visit Britain. Rachel made the switch to internal communications when she returned to Australia. Prior to joining Uniting, she was General Manager, Employee Communications at Vodafone Australia.

James Robertson, Step Two (Australia)

AI approaches for pragmatic intranet teams

While AI isn’t on track to replace intranets or other key business platforms, there’s no question that it’s a big thing in our digital workplaces. Amara’s Law says that we tend to “overestimate technology change in the short term, but underestimate it in the long term”. With this in mind, James will provide pragmatic guidance on AI for intranet and digital workplace teams.

Topics covered:

• using Step Two’s AI Framework for the Digital Workplace to put meaning around “AI” s a term
• examining where AI will sit alongside current platforms and practices
• looking at how intranet and comms teams can utilise AI
• exploring what governance and management practices will be required

James Robertson is the founder and managing director of Step Two. He’s been in the intranet space for over twenty years, and is the author of the books Essential intranets and Designing intranets. Drawing on his work with a wide variety of clients, James has been pivotal in the definition of intranet best practices that are used by teams around the world. In recent years, he’s been the driving force behind the digital employee experience (DEX) movement.