Igloo → Appspace: Why now is the moment to reassess your intranet strategy

On the 11th September, it was announced that workplace experience platform Appspace will acquire Igloo; the move will see Igloo’s entire customer base move over to the newly-unified solution.

As with all M&As, this marks a period of uncertainty for customers as the two solutions unify their products, commercial terms and account management – but it also offers a moment of opportunity, to take stock and reevaluate your current intranet strategy in order to align it with your organizations aims and drive the ROI metrics that matter.

Igloo and Appspace Background: Key Pros and Cons

First, some background. What are the two solutions that have merged and what do they offer?

What is Igloo?

Igloo calls itself a ‘digital workplace solution,’ claiming to foster connection and collaboration between both desk-based and frontline employees. Headquartered in Ontario, Canada, its customer base is almost entirely North American firms who have a need for a simple, social-first tool which is rapid to implement.

Igloo Pros

• Good social tools for employee-generated content
• Relatively simple and clean UI
• Rapid to implement
• Effective mobile experience

Igloo Cons

• Noticeably lagging in AI and automation
• Limited integrations with commonly-used enterprise software, including MS365
• Struggles with content targeting and personalization, especially in complex orgs
• Search and content findability not as strong as many other solutions

What is Appspace?

Appspace is headquartered in Tampa, Florida, and serves a number of large organizations with a mix of both desk-based and frontline employees – such as manufacturers, retailers, and FMCG firms. Appspace is slightly different from Unily, targeting facilities management use cases such as space reservation and visitor management, as much as employee comms. In fact, the acquisition of Igloo is a clear and definite move to bolster its engagement and internal comms features.

Appspace Pros

• Addresses facilities management use cases
• Strong digital signage solution
• Good at omnichannel alerts on Teams, Slack and Email
• Features are relatively intuitive once set up

Appspace Cons

• Setting up all features can be quite complex, with a longer than standard implementation cycle
• Missing some key intranet features, such as knowledge discovery tools
• Combination of physical and digital features means navigation can be more confusing than some other solutions
• Can be quite expensive, depending on the combination of modules

What does the acquisition mean for the market?

Appspace + Igloo is the latest in a flurry of recent M&A activity in the intranet and employee experience platform space. Just as Analysts have commented on the convergence of Intranets and ECAs (Employee Communication Apps), we’re also seeing adjacent solutions, aimed at different parts of the employee experience, coming together.

The market is increasingly seeing Learning Management Solutions, wellbeing tools, HRIS software, enterprise social networks, room booking tools, email solutions and a whole other raft of software converging together under the name of single vendors. Clearly, the race is on to address all enterprise needs, in one place.

Appspace acquiring Igloo is a move to bolster the intranet part of their offering – more proof that employee engagement, alignment, and productivity is at the very heart of a strong digital workspace experience.

Moments of change are moments of choice

This vendor consolidation isn’t new, and it isn’t inherently bad. But any shift in ownership or platform direction typically ushers in new roadmaps, commercial models, and integration patterns. Even if day‑to‑day service remains stable, change introduces decision points: migrate, coexist, or modernize.

The question isn’t “Is there disruption?” so much as “What’s the smartest path for our business?”

A short, practical checklist for Igloo customers

The questions below can help to determine what the smartest path for your intranet strategy may be, and will be useful to pressure‑test your next step:

1. Roadmap & fit. Does the combined platform’s near‑term roadmap align with your priorities (comms, frontline enablement, content governance, analytics, AI)? Is feature parity guaranteed—or will you re‑implement?
2. Migration effort. What’s the concrete plan for content, permissions, metadata, and URLs? How will you preserve search relevance, redirects, and analytics history? What’s the expected freeze window and rollback plan?
3. Security & compliance. Will your current identity model (MFA/SSO/Just‑in‑Time provisioning), data residency, and audit trails carry forward unchanged? What certifications and controls apply post‑transition?
4. Total cost of ownership. Beyond licenses: what about re‑integration, re‑training, change management, and ongoing admin time?
5. Scalability & resilience. Can the target platform meet your performance profile (global audiences, mobile, edge), with clear SLAs and observability?
6. AI governance. How will you safely operationalize AI for content, search, and assistance—controlling prompts, protected terms, and data boundaries?
7. Extensibility. What is the pattern for custom components, integrations, and automations without brittle workarounds?

What “enterprise‑grade” should mean in 2025

Governed AI by design. Fine‑grained controls (policies, prompts, protected terms), auditable usage, and role‑aware personalization.

Security you can evidence. SSO/MFA, least‑privilege administration, detailed audit logs, and compliance with your industry requirements.

Performance at global scale. Low‑latency delivery for dispersed workforces, including frontline and low‑bandwidth locales.

Composable integrations. A proven connector ecosystem, patterns for line‑of‑business apps, and reliable search across systems.

Analytics that drive action. Benchmarking, campaign attribution, and insight-to‑improvement loops—not just vanity metrics.

Migration without drama. Repeatable playbooks for content mapping, redirects, and coexistence phases to keep employees productive.

If you choose to reassess: Why Unily

Unily is built for large, complex organizations that need certainty. Our approach focuses on fast time‑to‑value and low risk:

• Proven migration playbooks. Content, permissions, and URL mapping with automated checks, redirects, and phased rollouts to avoid breaking user journeys.
• Governed AI, safely operationalized. Enterprise controls for translation, summarization, and assistance, with protected terms and policy enforcement.
• Comms + intranet, truly unified. Campaign‑grade publishing, advanced targeting, and analytics that connect activity to outcomes across channels.
• Open by default. A rich integration model and federated search to surface the right task, not just the right page.
• Value from day one. A Value Advisory approach that frames ROI up front and iterates with you—so improvements are continuous, not one‑off.

Three sensible paths—and how we help

1. Migrate. If you’re moving off Igloo, we’ll blueprint content/integration mapping, run a coexistence phase, protect SEO and search, and land with a tight feedback loop.
2. Coexist (for now). Keep core experiences live while standing up Unily for priority use cases (e.g. frontline comms). De‑risk change and prove value fast.
3. Strategic replace. If your intranet needs a step‑change, use this inflection to modernize the experience, governance, and analytics in one move.

Bottom line: Ownership changes are a natural time to validate fit, reduce risk, and upgrade capability. Whether you migrate, coexist, or replace, do it on your terms—and make it the last intranet rebuild you need for a long time.

Let’s talk about your specific scenario

Every environment is different. If you’d like a no‑obligation EX Strategy Check‑Up, we’ll review your current estate, map options (including staying put), and provide a clear, risk‑balanced recommendation with timelines and effort. Respect to the teams at Igloo and Appspace - both have advanced this market. If you decide it’s time to shift strategy, Unily is here to make it safe, fast, and worthwhile for your employees.

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