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EKBO counts on open standards and the VNClagoon Collaboration Suite 

The Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg Silesian Upper Lusatia (EKBO) has chosen VNClagoon for the implementation of the church intranet for the federal state (LKI) and has successfully introduced the innovative product suite for secure communication and cooperation in all church related matters. EKBO deliberately chose VNClagoon over purely commercial and closed products of “typical” vendors. The reasons for this decision include:

  • open standards, transparent software
  • modern user interfaces (Web Clients and Apps)
  • technological advantages
  • comprehensive range of functionalities
  • security, auditability
  • operation in the EKBO data center (private cloud)
  • adaptability to future requirements
  • integration with other systems thanks to open interfaces
  • investment security for years
  • economic advantages over the competition (TCO)

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A special highlight within the LKI is the implementation of “EKBO Dialog” as a safe alternative to WhatsApp, Skype or similar messenger services, which shall not be used in the church for privacy reasons. EKBO Dialog allows confidential communication via chat, audio / video conferencing, screen sharing, file transfer and many other functions.

At the same time, EKBO is improving its carbon footprint. Firstly, many trips can be significantly reduced due to video conferencing and screen sharing, without giving up important conversations and confidential discussions of church affairs. Secondly, pure Linux-based server operating systems consume significantly less energy and therefore resources than comparable, closed operating systems.

IMPORTANT: The decisive difference to other messenger services is: EKBO Dialog – like all VNClagoon products – is operated in the EKBO data center. Thus, all data (including metadata!) are exclusively under the control of EKBO – and are therefore processed in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)!

Specifically, the implemented VNClagoon products include a complex start and (self-) registration page with extensive administrative functions, VNCmail (groupware functionalities), VNCsafe (file sync & share), VNCoffice, VNCproject (ITIL based support portal for users) and VNCtalk (“EKBO Dialog”).

The planned number of users for the LKI are the 10,000 full-time employees and the chairpersons of the parish councils within the EKBO.In the future, many more users, including volunteers and church members, shall be able to use the various applications. With VNClagoon, EKBO has a technologically and economically interesting solution at their disposal that allows any scaling.

„The federal state church intranet should strengthen communication and cooperation within the state church. The basic aim is to provide all full-time employees and volunteers of the regional church with access to an innovative, modern and unified communication and collaboration infrastructure. The VNClagoon products are particularly well suited for this, because they allow us as a state church – in addition to the many functionalities provided – the possibility of customization options to individual needs within our church. “

„At EKBO (Evangelical Church of Berlin-Brandenburg-Silesian Upper Lusatia), we are in a process to implement a state-wide intranet for all our employees and volunteers based upon VNClagoon. Zimbra is an important part of this intranet as it offers the best functionality and value-for-money solution for email based communication available on the market today.“

Tabea Langguth, Project Manager Landeskirchenweites Intranet

„For internal cooperation, VNCsafe and VNCoffice offer the great possibility to collaboratively edit and store files on a project-and-task-related basis. The LKI is intended to help to overcome the geographical distances in order to enable real collaboration.“

Dr. Martin Richter, Head of Department 1 (General Law, Canon Law, Knowledge Management)

„”For us, a collective mail environment is essential today so that the state church can, on the one hand, represent itself professionally to the outside, and on the other hand, internal mail communication can also be used to send sensitive data. With VNCmail, the employees of the church have access to a modern web interface that is easy to use and can even be linked to external mail programs. The
calendar, contact and task management products complement the e-mail inbox and therefore complete an important and indispensable work tool. In particular, the use of shared calendars reduces the coordination effort regarding appointments.
As part of this project, it was also very important for the representatives of the church that a WhatsApp
alternative could be found. Short message services are commonly used, therefore EKBO Dialog was
very welcome. “

Fabian Kraetschmer, Head of Unit 1.3 – IT

The state church intranet can be reached at this address: www.gemeinsam.ekbo.de.
General information about the project can be found at: https://intranetprojekt.ekbo.de/startseite.html

Please download the Case Study here:

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