Unily

Unily is designed for quick deployment, with the platform ready to go in weeks for core functionality, rather than months or years. For many large enterprises, the stated implementation timeframe is often as little as 6 to 8 weeks for initial launch. The process follows a structured methodology to ensure the new platform aligns perfectly with strategic business goals and achieves high employee adoption from day one.

• Assessment and Planning: This initial phase involves auditing your existing digital landscape, defining clear project objectives, mapping pain points, and aligning the new intranet's goals with the overall business strategy.
• Stakeholder Engagement and Governance: A critical step is securing buy-in and participation from key leaders in IT, HR, and Internal Communications, and establishing a project steering committee to guide the rollout.
• Design and Experience Prototyping: The team focuses on User Experience (UX), accessibility, and personalization. This includes configuring the platform's look and feel, and prototyping user journeys to test the design before a full rollout.
• Configuration, Data Preparation, and Testing: The core platform features are configured to your specifications, data from legacy systems is prepared for migration, and thorough testing is conducted to ensure all integrations and features function correctly.
• Launch and Adoption Drive: This phase involves the official "Go Live," supported by a bold, multi-channel communication campaign, targeted employee training, and the use of champions and leadership endorsement to ensure rapid and high user adoption.
• Optimization and Evolution: Post-launch, the focus shifts to continuous improvement by analyzing performance through built-in analytics, gathering user feedback, and planning for the incremental deployment of new features.

Unily is marketed as a platform built on a market-leading extensibility framework, allowing organizations to shape the platform to meet unique use cases and fit seamlessly into existing digital ecosystems. This balance between a ready-to-go solution and flexibility is key for enterprise adoption, allowing companies to start fast and then build out complex, personalized experiences over time. The platform’s extensibility is one of its core features, ensuring it can grow and adapt with evolving business demands.

• Platform Extensibility Framework: The software features a robust framework that allows for integration and the development of custom experiences, ensuring the platform can adapt to almost every unique business need.
• Branding and Interface Tailoring: Companies can easily customize the homepage design, branding, and user interface using the Drag and Drop Page Designer to create an experience that feels natively part of their organization.
• Deep Integrations: Unily supports deep integrations with key enterprise systems like Microsoft 365, Salesforce, ServiceNow, and SAP Concur, transforming the intranet into a central digital hub.
• Content and Audience Targeting: Content can be precisely targeted based on an employee's role, location, or department, ensuring every user sees personalized, hyper-relevant information, which is a key form of functional customization.
• Optional Feature Store: Additional features and experiences, such as an Ideation Portal or custom Knowledge Bases, can be added to extend the platform's functionality beyond the standard offering.

Unily does not offer a free plan or standardized public pricing. Instead, the final cost is calculated based on factors such as the number of users, the specific features required, and the level of implementation and support services purchased. Potential customers are required to engage in a sales process to receive a personalized quote, often factoring in multiple line items beyond the base license fee.

• License Fee: This is the primary charge, calculated based on the total number of users and the specific feature tiers or modules they require. This cost is generally quote-based for enterprise-scale deployments.
• Setup Fees (Implementation Costs): While one source suggests "No setup fee" for an entry-level scenario, this can be misleading. For large, complex enterprises, the implementation process often involves significant charges for professional services, configuration, data migration, and technical consulting to ensure a smooth launch.
• Maintenance and Core Support: The subscription typically includes 24/7 access to the customer community portal (Universe), along with standard support for platform issues and product updates via an evergreen roadmap.
• Premium/Advanced Support Charges: An enhanced level of customer service, referred to as Premium Support, is frequently listed as an optional extra/add-on service, which would involve an additional, recurring charge.
• Optional Extras: Additional costs may be incurred for supplementary features and security enhancements, such as a Branded Mobile App (a white-labeled version of the app), specialized security features (e.g., IP Allow Listing), or dedicated hardware integrations.

Training and support for new users are heavily integrated into the platform's features, especially through its Enterprise Onboarding Software and Employee Journeys functionality. This allows for a personalized, continuous learning experience starting even before a new employee's first day. Support is maintained through centralized resources, a customer success portal, and dedicated support teams, all aimed at reducing user friction and enabling immediate productivity.

Detailed Bullet Points

• Employee Onboarding Software: Dedicated functionality to streamline the new hire experience, helping them get up to speed quickly and confidently.
  • Pre-boarding: Functionality to give new hires access to relevant information, administrative checklists, and a glimpse into the company before their first official day.
  • Advanced Employee Journeys: Map out the entire onboarding experience with dynamic enrollment that tailors resources, training, and communications based on the user's role, location, and department.

• Centralized Resources and Training Materials: The platform acts as a single, intuitive hub for all essential documentation, training, and HR materials, minimizing the need for new users to search through multiple systems.
  • Video Content: Support for digestible and engaging video content that can be captioned and translated for a global workforce.
  • Microlearning: Encourages continual learning by breaking down training into short, focused bursts for consumption during breaks or downtime, which is especially useful for frontline employees.
  • Just-in-Time Learning: Provides access to training materials and knowledge hubs in real-time and within the workflow (e.g., through a searchable knowledge hub).

• Customer Success and Support: Customers receive ongoing support to maximize their investment.
  • Customer Success Manager: A dedicated resource for ongoing support and strategic guidance.
  • Customer Success Portal (Universe): Provided to all customers for knowledge sharing and client collaboration.
  • Written and Recorded Training: Written documentation, such as a content guide, is provided. Additional, recorded video tutorials and training can be created for clients, often for an additional cost.
• Feedback Mechanisms: Tools like personal or anonymous forms, polls, and quizzes are available to gather feedback from new employees on the training protocols, enabling continuous improvement.

Unily places a high priority on data security, with its entire information security program built on the globally recognized ISO 27001 framework. The platform adheres to internationally recognized best practices, including SOC 2 Type II standards, and operates within the secure environment of Microsoft Azure data centers. Security protocols encompass everything from personnel training and physical access controls to data encryption, rigorous testing, and defined data recovery procedures.

Detailed Bullet Points

• Industry Certifications and Compliance: The platform maintains several industry-recognized third-party security and privacy certifications.
  • ISO 27001: Globally recognized standard for an Information Security Management System (ISMS); re-certification and surveillance audits are completed annually.
  • SOC 1 & SOC 2 Type II: Attestation that controls are in place to protect the security, confidentiality, integrity, and availability of customer data.
  • Cloud Security Alliance STAR Program: A cloud-specific assurance framework verifying the security posture and commitment to industry best practices.
  • Cyber Essentials: A UK Government-backed scheme that establishes a baseline for protection against cyber attacks.

• Data Protection and Infrastructure: Utilizing a highly secure and compliant environment.
  • Microsoft Azure: The platform is built on Azure data centers, which themselves adhere to high standards of security, resiliency, and availability.
  • Encryption: Customer data is encrypted when transmitted over public networks and protected when in media leaving the facilities.
  • Controlled Access: Maintains strict access policies for personnel to customer data and logs events to ensure adherence to standards.

• Testing and Auditing: Proactive measures to identify and mitigate vulnerabilities.
  • Penetration Testing: Performed at least every six months by a qualified, independent provider.
  • Access Restriction Testing: Frequency of testing on management and support access restrictions is at least every six months.

• Operational Security Measures: Internal policies and procedures to enforce security.
  • Personnel Training: Personnel with access to customer data are subject to confidentiality obligations and informed about relevant security procedures and consequences of breaches.
  • Risk Management Program: A formal program is in place to identify, assess, and address risks related to data processing.
  • Data Recovery: Specific data recovery procedures are in place and reviewed annually to enable the recovery of customer data.

Unily operates with a focus on continuous innovation, and as a fully-managed, "as-a-service" platform built on the highly scalable Azure infrastructure, updates are managed by the company's expert team. This approach reduces the burden on customer IT teams and ensures the platform consistently benefits from the latest advancements, including new features, performance optimizations, and security enhancements. The update management process is highly automated to reduce deployment time and risk.

Detailed Bullet Points

• Update Cadence: The platform receives frequent, regular updates to ensure continuous improvement.
  • Continuous Innovation: The commitment to regular updates ensures organizations benefit from the latest technological advancements and new features.
  • Product Updates/Releases: Updates, such as new versions, are released periodically throughout the year (e.g., product update announcements are typically provided on a regular basis).
• Management and Deployment: Updates are handled by the software provider's specialist team.
  • Expert Management: The intranet is 100% managed by Unily's expert team of specialists as part of the "as-a-service" model.
  • Automated Deployment: The company uses automated deployment pipelines to manage updates, which significantly reduces the average downtime associated with deployment.
  • Risk Reduction: The automated and consistent deployment process aims to reduce the deployment failure rate and the mean time to recovery.
• Content and Support Documentation: New features and changes are communicated and supported.
  • Product Updates Documentation: Information on new features and improvements is typically published, with release notes provided to customers.
  • Customer Success Manager: A dedicated Customer Success Manager works with clients on an ongoing basis to ensure they maximize their technology investment, which includes guidance on new updates and features.
• Security and Performance Focus: Updates are not just for features but also for core functionality.
  • Security Patches: Updates include critical security patches to address known vulnerabilities and maintain robust security against evolving threats.
  • Performance Optimization: Regular maintenance updates are scheduled to optimize performance and functionality.

The customer (the organization) is recognized as the data controller and retains ownership of the data stored within the platform. The software acts as the data processor, handling the data to deliver the service. Portability is supported both by the platform's features, which enable authorized users to export certain data, and by its compliance with international data protection laws like GDPR, which grants data subjects the Right to Data Portability. The platform facilitates the transfer of personal data in a usable format and protects the data throughout its lifecycle.

Detailed Bullet Points

• Data Ownership:
  • Customer as Data Controller: The customer retains ultimate control and ownership over the personal data they submit to and collect using the platform.
  • Software as Data Processor: The software processes this data (enabling user profiles, communication, analytics, etc.) solely on behalf of the customer to deliver and support the service.
• Data Portability for the Organization:
  • Data Export Capabilities: Users with the appropriate permissions (e.g., for analytics, content, or security audits) can extract a variety of data from the solution in different formats, depending on client requirements.
  • Extensibility and Integration: Built on a highly scalable infrastructure, the platform can integrate seamlessly with other solutions that provide an industry-standard API, which inherently supports data flow and portability between systems.
• Data Portability for Individuals (as Data Subjects):
  • GDPR Compliance: The software's compliance with regulations like the GDPR affirms the individual's Right to Data Portability.
  • Structured, Machine-Readable Format: This right mandates that personal data must be made available to the data subject in a structured, commonly used, and machine-readable format for transfer to another controller, where processing is automated and based on consent or a contract.
• Data Handling and Protection:
  • Controlled Processing: The software maintains strict procedures for data handling, limiting storage or remote access of customer data outside of contractually approved locations.
  • Anonymization: Data within the platform's analytics is subject to aggregation, encryption, and pseudonymization techniques to prevent direct attribution to individual data subjects.

The software is designed as a highly scalable solution built on the Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure, allowing it to easily accommodate growth in user count and increased service usage without disruption. The licensing structure is flexible, often involving subscription-based models tied to user count, which facilitates both scaling up (adding more users) and scaling down (reducing user count) as required by the organization. The concept of "extensibility" is a key term, meaning the platform can be continually shaped and integrated with other systems to meet new business needs without having to change the core solution.

Detailed Bullet Points

• Scalable Architecture:
  • Built on Azure: The platform's use of a highly scalable infrastructure like Microsoft Azure ensures it can efficiently handle a growing number of users, from hundreds to millions, with high availability (often a guaranteed uptime SLA of 99.95%).
  • Flexible Platform: The solution is designed to evolve with the organization's strategy and can be customized to meet specific needs through its Pages, Grids, and Widgets structure.
• Licensing and Service Model:
  • Subscription Model: As a cloud-based, "as-a-service" (SaaS) platform, the pricing is typically based on a subscription that aligns with the number of users or employees, making it adaptable to workforce fluctuations.
  • Scaling Up: Scaling up is handled by adjusting the subscription license to accommodate an increasing number of users and the potential addition of premium features or service extensions.
  • Scaling Down: Terms for scaling down (reducing licenses) are governed by the specific subscription agreement or contract negotiated with the company, and are a standard part of modern cloud licensing.
• Extensibility for Functionality:
  • API Integration: The solution is designed for extensibility, meaning it can integrate seamlessly with virtually any other line-of-business (LOB) application that provides an industry-standard API. This allows the organization to scale functionality and integrate new tools as its needs change, rather than being limited to the platform's core features.
  • Flexible Licensing Options: The existence of multiple licensing options (e.g., a Microsoft 365-integrated option and a non-Office licensing option) provides flexibility to organizations with diverse tech stacks or employees with varying levels of access.

The software is provided under a subscription model, typically with a fixed initial term and provisions for automatic renewal to ensure continuous service unless the customer explicitly cancels. Cancellation is not typically a simple self-service option for enterprise contracts; it generally requires the customer to provide a formal, written notice within a specific notice period (e.g., 60-90 days) before the end of the current subscription term. Failure to provide timely notice will usually result in the contract automatically renewing for another term under the existing conditions. Details regarding access termination and data retrieval post-cancellation are also outlined in the individual contract.

Detailed Bullet Points

• Contract Renewal:
  • Automatic Renewal: Contracts are generally structured to include an auto-renewal clause, meaning the subscription will automatically extend for another fixed term (e.g., 12 months) unless action is taken by the customer.
  • Renewal Review: Customers are typically advised to review the terms well in advance of the renewal date, as this is the opportunity to renegotiate user counts, pricing, or service scope for the upcoming term.
• Contract Cancellation:
  • Required Notice Period: To prevent an automatic renewal, the customer must provide a formal, written notice of non-renewal or cancellation. This notice must be submitted within a specified time frame (the notice period) which is detailed in the MSA.
  • Timeliness is Critical: If the cancellation notice is not received by the provider before the specified deadline (e.g., 60 or 90 days before the renewal date), the contract will automatically renew, and the customer will be liable for the fees for the entire new term.
  • Mid-Term Cancellation: Canceling an enterprise subscription mid-term is typically not allowed under standard terms, and the customer would remain responsible for paying the full subscription fees for the remainder of the agreed-upon term.
• Post-Cancellation:
  • Data Access: Upon termination or expiration of the contract, the customer’s access to the service and their stored data will eventually be terminated. The contract specifies a grace period during which the customer must retrieve all data before it is securely deleted by the software provider.

The software meets several top-tier international compliance standards, which demonstrates its commitment to protecting customer data (confidentiality, integrity, and availability). The core of its compliance framework is built on globally recognized security and privacy attestations, most notably the ISO 27001 standard for information security management and the SOC 2 framework, which assesses controls relevant to cloud services. This rigorous approach is designed to meet the high security and regulatory demands of large global enterprises.

Detailed Bullet Points

• Information Security Management:
  • ISO/IEC 27001: The software is certified to this globally recognized standard for establishing, implementing, maintaining, and continually improving an Information Security Management System (ISMS). This certification is often subject to annual re-certification and surveillance audits.
• Service Organization Controls and Trust:
  • SOC 1 & SOC 2 Type II: The software adheres to the Service Organization Control framework. SOC 2 Type II is particularly critical, as it attests to the effectiveness of the operational controls over a period of time, specifically covering the principles of security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy of customer data. SOC 1 focuses on controls relevant to user entities’ internal control over financial reporting.
  • CSA STAR (Security, Trust, Assurance, and Risk): The software is registered with the Cloud Security Alliance’s STAR program, which is a public registry that documents the security and compliance posture of cloud service providers.
• Privacy and Cloud-Specific Security:
  • ISO/IEC 27018: A specific standard for protecting Personally Identifiable Information (PII) processed by public cloud service providers, ensuring compliance with privacy principles.
  • GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation): While not a formal certification, compliance with GDPR principles is a key commitment, dictating strict handling, processing, and protection of the personal data of EU residents.
• UK Government Standards:
  • Cyber Essentials: The software holds this UK Government-backed certification, which mandates a baseline of technical controls to protect against common cyber threats, making it eligible to work with UK government and public sector organizations.