Building an AI-Powered Employee Experience Portal for WS Audiology
How we delivered an employee engagement portal with AI-powered search and real-time analytics in 8 weeks for a global hearing technology leader with 10,000+ employees across 30+ countries.
The Employee Experience Challenge
WS Audiology (formerly Sivantos), a global leader in hearing aid technology, needed to connect and engage 10,000+ employees across 30+ countries. Their static intranet had become a digital dead end with minimal adoption and no insight into employee needs.
Global workforce of 10,000+ employees across 30+ countries with fragmented internal communications
No centralized platform for company news, HR policies, learning resources, and team collaboration
Employees relied on email chains and shared drives to find critical information
Low engagement with existing static intranet resulting in poor adoption of company initiatives
No analytics to understand what content employees needed or how they navigated internal resources
Large consultancies quoted $500K+ with 6-12 month timelines for a comparable solution
Four Pillars of the Employee Experience Portal
Not just an intranet redesign. A purpose-built employee experience platform combining AI search, engagement tools, and real-time analytics.
AI-Powered Intelligent Search
Natural language search across all internal content with context-aware results
Employee Engagement Hub
Personalized content feeds and social features driving daily active usage
Analytics and Insights Dashboard
Real-time visibility into employee engagement, content performance, and portal health
Personalized Employee Experience
AI-driven personalization ensuring every employee sees relevant content first
Platform Architecture
Three integrated layers delivering a seamless employee experience with intelligent search and real-time analytics.
Experience Layer
Intelligence Layer
Data and Analytics Layer
AI Search Transformation
The single biggest driver of adoption was replacing keyword search with AI-powered semantic search that actually understands what employees are looking for.
Before: Keyword Search
After: AI-Powered Search
8-Week Delivery Timeline
Weeks 1-2: Assessment and Strategy
Weeks 3-4: Design and Prototyping
Weeks 5-6: Build and Integration
Weeks 7-8: Launch and Adoption
Measurable Impact
Engagement
Productivity
Business Value
Key Lessons for Employee Experience Platforms
Employee engagement is a product, not a project
Treating the portal as a living product with ongoing iteration based on analytics drove sustained engagement. Static intranets fail because they stop evolving after launch.
AI search transforms the employee experience
Replacing keyword search with semantic, context-aware search was the single biggest driver of adoption. Employees returned daily because they could actually find what they needed.
Analytics close the feedback loop
Real-time engagement analytics allowed the team to identify underperforming content, discover unmet needs through search patterns, and continuously improve the experience.
Mobile access is essential for manufacturing workforces
Over 40% of WS Audiology employees work on manufacturing floors or in field roles. Mobile-first design ensured equal access regardless of work location.
8 weeks is achievable with the right methodology
Focused 2-week sprints with clear deliverables at each milestone eliminated the scope creep that typically extends enterprise portal projects to 6-12 months.
Complete Tech Stack
Frontend
Search and AI
Analytics
Integration
Collaboration
Infrastructure
Client Perspective
“We thought enterprise AI consulting was out of reach for a company our size. QueryNow delivered in 8 weeks what large consultancies quoted 6-12 months for. The AI-powered search alone transformed how our teams find and share knowledge across 30 countries.”
CTO, WS Audiology
Ready to Transform Your Employee Experience?
Start with a 2-week assessment. We will evaluate your current employee experience, design an engagement strategy, and deliver a production portal in weeks, not months.