Fresh Perspectives: Living in the reality of SharePoint intranets

Jarbas Horst and David Bowman from Fresh Intranet welcome Andy Hall, Knowledge Transformation Manager at Forvis Mazars, for a deep dive into managing SharePoint intranets through major organizational change. Andy shares his journey from the company's rebrand from RSM to joining the global Forvis network, including a complex tenant migration that affected 3,500 employees across multiple countries. 
Andy reveals how the Hive intranet became central to change management during the acquisition, supporting everything from document rebranding to employee communications. He discusses practical strategies including using SharePoint web parts for governance oversight, creating centralized FAQ pages with curated search, and implementing taxonomy tags to track rebranding progress across 250 content editors. The conversation covers the challenges of maintaining content quality during rapid organizational change and how proper governance creates a foundation for AI implementation. 
Andy's experience demonstrates how SharePoint intranets can effectively support organizations through acquisitions, rebrands, and complex migrations when backed by solid governance frameworks.

SharePoint just celebrated its 25th anniversary with Microsoft's biggest announcement in years. The new SharePoint experience introduces a refreshed navigation bar that follows you everywhere, featuring discover, publish, and build capabilities that transform how teams work with content and AI. 
Jarbas Horst and David Bowman break down the major changes including the rebranded SharePoint AI, new skills functionality, and how the E7 license makes AI more accessible. They explore what this means for organizations considering building their own intranet solutions versus using third-party products. 
The conversation covers whether AI automation will eventually replace the need for specialized SharePoint vendors, the importance of ongoing maintenance and ownership, and why creating something once is very different from sustaining it long-term.

David Bowman and Jarbas Horst from Fresh Intranet share their bold predictions for workplace technology in 2026. The conversation reveals three major shifts that will reshape how organizations operate and communicate internally.

The duo explores the growing threat of AI generated content flooding workplaces and social media platforms, creating what they call AI slop that risks losing employee attention entirely. They discuss how Microsoft 365 organizations will drive software consolidation as Copilot becomes central to workplace AI strategy, forcing companies to evaluate whether external systems can justify their costs when they lack AI integration. David and Jarbas also examine how internal communications roles will become heavily AI augmented, with agents handling sentiment analysis, content prioritization, and even autonomous task execution.

David Bowman and Jarbas Horst from Fresh Intranet sit down with Christiaan Lustig, intranet and digital workplace consultant and author, to explore what digital employee experience really means. Christiaan explains why his definition puts employee needs first, arguing that great digital employee experience is the sum total of all digital interactions where the needs and expectations of employees come first. 

The conversation covers how intranets serve as horizontal platforms that bridge organizational silos, the importance of talking directly to employees before implementing new tools, and why resistance to digital tools often signals the wrong tool or wrong implementation approach. Christiaan shares practical advice on using personas to make employee insights tangible and discusses how AI will change digital workplace interactions through conversational interfaces while exposing poor content management practices. 

Key topics covered: 
[00:00] Intro 
[01:29] Writing a book on digital employee experience 
[04:04] Defining digital employee experience beyond technology 
[05:15] Business benefits of employee-focused design 
[08:43] Organizations actively pursuing DEX improvements 
[12:28] Internet's role as horizontal platform 
[16:07] Organization size boundaries for DEX 
[17:56] Formal recognition of digital employee experience 
[21:45] Integration strategies based on employee journeys 
[25:06] Handling resistance to new digital tools 
[29:35] Listening to employee needs effectively 
[31:54] AI's impact on digital employee experience 
[36:33] Future of DEX in next 5 years 
[41:01] First steps for improving employee experience 
 
A must-listen for anyone working to improve their organization's digital workplace through employee-centered design.

Jarbas and David from Fresh Perspectives sit down with Suzie Robinson from ClearBox Consulting to explore the comprehensive process behind the 900-page ClearBox Report. Suzie explains how her team conducts 3.5-hour product demos, scores vendors across 8 business scenarios, and maintains the delicate balance between honest reviews and vendor relationships while keeping this valuable resource free for organizations. 
The conversation covers ClearBox's rigorous fact-checking process, the evolution from analytics as a standalone scenario to integrated workflow assessments, and how customer service has become increasingly crucial in vendor selection. Suzie shares insights on AI trends in the digital employee experience space, discussing how platforms are moving beyond basic generative features toward more supportive governance and lifecycle management tools that truly benefit organizations.