Case Study: Southern Company Gas achieves a 45% increase in employee engagement and $3.9M productivity gain with Firstup

Innovating the digital employee experience with Southern Company Gas

Southern Company Gas, a natural-gas utility with about 60% of its workforce in the field and a growing Millennial/Gen Z population, faced a failing digital employee experience: email and the corporate intranet weren’t reaching frontline workers, firewall and login barriers drove a 63% decline in intranet logins, and the company urgently needed a way to keep essential teams informed and safe during 2020. Leadership recognized that modernizing how employees receive critical information was business-critical.

The company launched FUEL, a branded Firstup platform, to deliver the same experience across mobile and SharePoint with push notifications, targeted and automated messaging, and easy frontline posting—backed by CEO endorsement that drove 85% adoption. The solution preserved operations during the pandemic, improved safety communication and customer service, and delivered measurable gains: 45% increase in engagement, 91,000 employee hours saved, $3.9M in productivity, a 90% monthly active user rate, and multiple industry awards.

Southern Company Gas

J.P. Salman

Director of Communications