Global Communication Hub
Designing a centralized platform to connect 370,000+ employees across the world
Challenge
Hitachi lacked a single source of truth for company-wide communication across 370,000+ employees in various sectors. Critical information was scattered across multiple disconnected intranets and communication tools, making it difficult to advance the "One Hitachi" initiative. Important company announcements could take weeks to reach all employees, undermining organizational alignment and operational efficiency.
Impact
We delivered a comprehensive design vision and implementation roadmap for Hitachi's Group-wide communication platform. The Hitachi Group Shared Communication Portal launched in April 2025, providing unified access to company news, policies, and resources across the entire organization. The platform enables global and interactive communication, with plans for continued enhancement including community functions, surveys, and personalization features.
Client
Hitachi Ltd.
Timing
2023
Role
Senior Experience Designer
Contribution
Research, strategy, information architecture, workshop facilitation, mobile-first UX design
Core Team
2 Experience Designers, 1 Product Strategist, Solution Architect, Business Analyst, Program Manager
Building Alignment Across the Organization
Enterprise platforms require more than good design - they demand organizational alignment. We conducted employee interviews across regions and departments, analyzed existing communication systems, and held technical feasibility sessions with Hitachi's IT teams to prepare for our pivotal stakeholder workshop in Tokyo. The goal: unite leadership, IT, and business stakeholders to navigate technical constraints, business goals, and user needs. Through structured exercises and collaborative prioritization, we achieved consensus on MVP functionalities, high-priority features, and a phased implementation roadmap that balanced ambition with realistic delivery.
Design Decisions
Mobile-first for universal access
Many Hitachi employees - particularly factory and field workers - don't have company laptops, but all have phones. We designed mobile-first to ensure every employee could access critical information regardless of role or location, prioritizing essential patterns on smaller screens while scaling to desktop.
Designing For Real-world Conditions
Enterprise platforms must function with imperfect content. We stress-tested designs with varying content quality - low-resolution images, inconsistent copy lengths, outdated photos - providing guidelines and ensuring the system maintained professionalism and usability regardless of what content creators provided across the organization.
Launch & Impact
The Hitachi Group Shared Communication Portal launched in April 2025 across the entire Hitachi Group. The platform achieves the vision we designed: enabling cross-functional communication that transcends organizational boundaries, creating a consistent One Hitachi brand experience, and fostering two-way employee engagement.
Hitachi continues to enhance the platform with community functions, survey capabilities, and personalization features to support business growth and group synergy.
