MetService, New Zealand’s official national weather authority – has successfully launched a modern intranet, elevating their internal digital workspace to a new level of performance. By migrating to Confluence Cloud and implementing Mantra Intranet, MetService has redefined how 300+ employees collaborate, ensuring that critical information flows as fast as the weather changes.
Winds of change
As a state-owned enterprise responsible for critical meteorological services, MetService relies on seamless internal data flow. However, their internal communication was hitting a cold front.
Confluence was originally adopted in 2009 as a documentation repository, but the usage quickly spread and Confluence became a “social” intranet for the organisation – a place where their distributed teams can create content, collaborate, and communicate.
In 2010 MetService called on TechTime – currently a Gold Atlassian Solution Partner in New Zealand and Australia, and a Silver Atlassian Marketplace Partner.
MetService wanted to streamline the flow of the “front-page” content, get more control over the presentation, and amplify the voices contributing to the company-wide topics.
TechTime engaged with the in-house designers and created the “Intranet Theme” to fit requirements. Under the shared development model, TechTime was allowed to retain ownership of the solution and in the subsequent years this theme and its derivatives were successfully deployed in several New Zealand government and commercial organisations.
However, roll 13 years forward and this legacy interface has become a bottleneck:
- Information Silos: Data was buried under layers of outdated structures.
- Engagement Drought: A cluttered, outdated UI discouraged employees from using the platform.
- Maintenance Heavy: Previous attempts to maintain the UI and retain compatibility with new versions of Confluence proved that solution was hard to maintain and impossible to scale.
To remain a digital frontrunner in meteorology, MetService needed a modern “system of work” that was both powerful and intuitive. However, they did not want to lose what they felt made their existing intranet special – the close connection it fostered between team members, the ease of use by the communications team, and the flow of company-wide information.
Focused on the horizon
Moving more than a decadeʼs worth of data to the Atlassian Cloud is no small feat. To ensure a smooth transition, MetService again partnered with TechTime, by now a veteran Atlassian Solution Partner known for their deep technical expertise and strategic guidance in cloud migrations.
While TechTime handled the heavy lifting of the technical migration, MetService was free to focus on delivering world-class weather forecasts.
The one obstacle that TechTime has identified early in the migration planning was the very “Intranet Theme” developed decade ago – being an Atlassian Marketplace vendor they were painfully aware how difficult skinning Confluence Cloud could be. As much as TechTime developers love coding and solving complex problems, the consulting arm of TechTime has been tasked with finding a fit-for-purpose alternative among existing Intranet solutions, looking not only for a more cost-efficient approach, but also a more complete solution that would serve MetService better.
Smooth sailing with Mantra Intranet
TechTime helped connect the team to Mantra, a solution that would let them keep writing the informal, employee-focused content they love, but in a tool built for a modern system of work.
Designed specifically for Confluence Cloud, the Mantra Intranet solution provided everything MetService wanted and more. Working alongside TechTime, MetService established a robust platform with Mantra that allowed their internal team to take the lead on design.
“The ease of use and the extent of customer’s ability to implement Mantra solution themselves was genuinely unexpected”
Eduard Letifov, Co-founder, TechTime Initiative Group
By leveraging Mantra Intranet, MetService was able to deliver:
- Self-Service Empowerment: The employees can now update the UI and structure independently – no developers required.
- Branded Experience: A modern, visually engaging intranet that feels like MetService, not just a database.
- Security from day one: Benefit from TechTimeʼs expert oversight, ensuring the cloud environment was optimized for performance and security.
Our prediction: a new standard in digital collaboration
The transformation has resulted in a vibrant, high-performance social intranet that has redefined how MetService connects its people. By moving beyond a static document repository, MetService has achieved a level of digital agility that serves as a benchmark for other New Zealand state-owned entities.
By leveraging the core strengths of Mantra Intranet, MetService realized several key benefits:
- Elevated User Experience (UX): Employees now enjoy using the platform, leading to a significant spike in daily active engagement.
- Enhanced Information Discovery: Streamlined navigation has drastically reduced the time spent searching for critical resources, boosting overall organizational efficiency.
- True Social Engagement: Beyond simple communication, Mantra fostered a more interactive environment, encouraging employee collaboration and real-time interaction across the organization’s 300+ users.
- Digital Agility: With Mantraʼs flexible design tools and TechTimeʼs robust cloud foundation, MetService is future-proofed for remote and hybrid work.
“Mantra has been a game changer for MetService. Setup was fast and didn’t require developer support to implement. The platform gives us lots of flexibility in how we present information and is very easy to update and refresh when required. Switching to Mantra has resulted in far more engagement and interaction between our teams around the country and the world, keeping our teams connected as we switched to more remote work. On the occasions there have been bugs or features that we’ve needed, Jan and the team at Appanvil have been super responsive and helpful, delivering solutions quickly and providing regular updates when needed.“
Joshua Coulon (He/Him), Senior Marketing Specialist Customer Engagement
Transform the way you work
MetServiceʼs journey proves that technical excellence and user-friendly design must go hand-in-hand. If your team is struggling with legacy silos, follow MetServiceʼs lead.
Ready to embrace the Cloud? Reach out to TechTime for expert migration guidance and explore Mantra on the Atlassian Marketplace to start your own digital transformation today.