How Slite helps Karhu Helsinki bring team and clients on the same page

Meet Karhu Helsinki

Karhu Helsinki is not just another agency churning out websites; they're architects of digital experiences for mid-sized to large industries. Using WordPress and Drupal as their foundation, Karhu Helsinki builds complex, custom websites that go beyond the ordinary.

But what sets them apart? Their commitment to long-term client relationships.

As Inari Lepistö, Team Lead of Customer Care at Karhu Helsinki, puts it, "We're not the type of company who just builds it[website] and then leave the customer should be on their own. We aim to strengthen client relationships all the time when the website is being developed."

This approach means:

• Thinking about every customer touchpoint.
• Making agency-client collaboration great instead of being pass-able.
• Constantly improving the client’s needs and pain points.

The result is happy customers with beautiful websites. But it comes at a cost.

We sat down with Inari to ask her how Slite fit into Karhu Helsinki's documentation process, both internally and with clients.

Karhu Helsinki’s Challenge?

As Karhu Helsinki's client base expanded and their projects grew more complex, they found themselves facing a set of interconnected challenges:

1. Scattered info was causing misalignment

"We had a lot of changing technology," Inari explains. Critical project details were scattered across various platforms - emails, PowerPoint presentations, and an assortment of note-taking apps. This fragmentation made it difficult to maintain a coherent overview of each project.

And what happens when information is scattered for teams? It causes confusion for both the client and the internal team.

With information spread thin, clients often struggled to find the latest project updates or key information. This not only led to miscommunication but also risked undermining the long-term relationships Karhu Helsinki worked so hard to build.

The external misalignment was a direct by-product of another challenge - being internally misaligned. Their team of about 40 people is divided into 6-7 different departments, including Customer Care, Design, and multiple Development teams.

“We're 40 people here and we have 6 to 7 different teams. We have our customer care team with five people. Then there is the design team, and then we have three different technology teams which include both developers and a project manager. So we have three developing teams who develop their own websites and do projects and all these three teams have both project managers and developers working in them. So of course, these teams have their own documentation, then the developers have their own documentation that's more based on the technology, for example, for WordPress. Each team, whether they are developers or project managers, has their own documentation, which is layered.”

And rightly so. When there are too many stakeholders - with all equal levels of contribution throughout the customer servicing cycle, this is an inevitable agency issue.

2. Documentation Inconsistency

Because of the wide number of project managers and different teams - documentation in Karhu Helsinki used to happen differently for everyone.

There was no unified nomenclature, structure, or a shared understanding of how to document and where.

Solution - Slite gets a promotion!

While Inari looked for solutions, they were already using Slite within the company, but only for a specific use case.

"When we started using Slite, it was meant to be only our customer database," Inari recalls. But something unexpected happened. As team members started using Slite, they discovered its intuitive interface and user-friendly features. Suddenly, Slite wasn't just for their databases.

This organic adoption spoke volumes about Slite's user experience to their team. Team members, unprompted, began migrating their internal documents to the platform. The ease of use, speed, and accessibility across devices made Slite an attractive alternative to their existing tools.

"Now we have both internal and client data in the same Slite, which is starting to become quite big," Inari notes. The platform's flexibility allowed it to adapt to their needs, accommodating both client-facing and internal documentation.

What's more, Slite began to cannibalize Karhu Helsinki's old internal website. "People are tending to move data more from that to Slite because Slite is faster to use," Inari observes.

Each team found a way to leverage Slite that suited their specific needs, all while maintaining a cohesive, company-wide information structure.

Slite in Action: The Heartbeat of Karhu's Operations

When Inari opens her laptop each morning, Slite is the first tab she clicks. It's become the nerve centre of Karhu Helsinki's daily operations, a digital hub where ideas flow and projects come to life.

All documentation in Slite, organised across channels

As a new client signs on, their journey with Karhu Helsinki begins in Slite.

“Basically every website or customer has their own channel.”

With a few clicks, a new project space springs to life, which they populate with their internal subdocs. From kickoff meetings to technical specifications, every crucial detail is accounted for, ensuring no ball is dropped as the project gains momentum.

And because every project has its own neat little space, knowledge flows like water across the team:

• SEO insights inform web development strategies,
• Customer care experiences shape design decisions.

It's a virtuous cycle of shared learning and growth, all facilitated by the ease with which teams can access and contribute to each other's knowledge bases.

Even if the CEO randomly decides to see how a project is doing, they wouldn’t have to Slack the Project Manager, “Hey, what’s the status on this?” In fact, not just the CEO but the entire team, anyone can go to one channel and get all the info related to the project.

Clients have direct access to all their work docs

Slite has also revolutionised client interactions.

Gone are the days of lengthy email chains and misplaced attachments. Now, every decision, update, and milestone is documented and easily accessible to both the Karhu Helsinki team and their clients.

The Results: Slite's Impact on Karhu Helsinki's Operations

After fully integrating Slite into their workflow, Karhu Helsinki observed several noteworthy changes in their operations:

Simple Client Onboarding

The standardised documentation structure in Slite has significantly shortened the client onboarding process. New clients now have a clearer understanding of Karhu Helsinki's processes from the start, reducing the initial back-and-forth and allowing projects to kick off more quickly.

No time wasted in Project Handovers

With all project information centralised in Slite, handovers between team members have become smoother. This has been particularly beneficial when team members are on leave or when bringing new staff into ongoing projects.

Reduction in Internal Emails

Quick updates and project-related queries now happen within Slite, reducing inbox clutter and keeping conversations contextual to the project at hand.

More Informed Decision Making

With easy access to historical project data and client information, their team can make more informed decisions. This data-driven approach has begun to influence everything from resource allocation to project timelines.

As they continue to adapt and grow with Slite, they're discovering new possibilities for streamlining their operations and enhancing their service delivery. We, for one, couldn’t be more excited on how they can possibly improve their already excellent documentation flow!

The Future: What Karhu Helsinki’s onto Next

Karhu Helsinki isn't content with the status quo. They've mapped out a new direction for their use of Slite, centered around a key change: separating internal and client documentation.

The goal is straightforward: make it easier to find what they need, collaborate across teams, and work more efficiently.

This transition won't be without its challenges. There will likely be an adjustment period as the team adapts to the new structure. However, Karhu Helsinki believes the long-term benefits - improved functionality, better security, and a more tailored experience for both staff and clients - will be worth the effort. And we couldn’t agree more.

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If you’re struggling with a similar agency-client power struggle, try Slite. We hope it turns into something amazing for your team, like it did for our talented friends at Karhu Helsinki.

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