Case Study: MI Connect

Mobile user interface of the MI Connect platform. 

Murrumbidgee Irrigation (MI), a long-term Sauce client and one of the largest private irrigation companies in Australia requested support from Sauce to develop a communications program introducing new software to replace their existing water ordering platform. It was critical that the upgrade was effectively communicated to the 2,300+ shareholder customers to facilitate buy-in and seamless adoption.

In partnership with MI, Sauce proposed a comprehensive multi-channel communications schedule which included key milestones before launch, at launch and post launch.

Given the project included the introduction of an entirely new interface, stakeholders included both internal and external parties. The goal for customer audiences was to minimise friction and create a seamless transition to the new software. Internally, it was necessary to inform, train and support the customer service team to ensure they correctly understood the platform and could provide assistance to landholders as necessary.

In addition to a rolling program of communications across social media, the newsletter, internal intranet, email and direct SMS, Sauce created a suite of over 29 videos and written tutorials that are available online.

Ben Elwin, Acting Water Delivery Manager and project lead reflected, “working with Sauce on this project has been great. They left no stone unturned, and ensured the transition to MI Connect was as seamless as possible for our customers.”

An early adopter group was also established to trial the product prior to launching to the collective. Custom communications were created for this group, including a series of follow ups in the form of phone calls and an online survey.

MI Connect was launched on 27 July 2024, and within the first month 30% of customers successfully logged in. As it was launched in winter when water orders are consistently low, this adoption rate was positive.