Acorda intranet named among top 10 in the world

Singapore: Nielsen Norman, a leading expert in web usability, has named the intranet site of US-based Acorda Therapeutics and its partner Klick Health, as one-of-the-10 best in the world. Nielsen Norman annually recognizes the global top 10 intranet sites for their innovation and usability.

Prior to launching Acorda's intranet during late 2011, the internal development team and Klick Health conducted interviews throughout the company to determine what types of functionality and features would best allow employees to access and share information, improve efficiency across the organization, and help Acorda's associates stay connected to the company's mission and to one another.

The site launch was preceded by a company-wide contest to name the new intranet. The Acorda intranet development team selected 'Synapse', a specialized structure in the brain necessary for nerve conduction and communication, to tie the site's purpose and name back to Acorda's mission to develop therapies for people with neurological diseases.

Dr Ron Cohen, president and CEO, Acorda, said that, "We invested a lot of time, together with Klick, in learning how our employees wanted to use an intranet. Synapse now houses easily accessible information ranging from human resources forms to R&D updates; it's also a living site with social features that allow employees to communicate with company-wide updates and messages. And we're excited about the potential for new applications of Synapse as we continue to grow."

Mr Leerom Segal, president and CEO, Klick Health, said that, "Through our partnership with Acorda we've been able to accomplish some amazing things this year, earning a place atop the coveted Nielsen Norman Group global top 10 intranet list being chief among them. With similar cultures, growth rates, and company size, we were a natural partner to develop this tool to truly address Acorda's needs. Building off the success of our own intranet system, Genome, we were able to work with Acorda to provide its employees with a great opportunity to preserve their culture while optimizing the way they get things done."