The team at Ben & Jerry's love making ice cream, but using their business to make the world a better place is what gives their work meaning.

With a diverse retail network across Australia and New Zealand, including franchise stores, company-owned locations, and partner sites in cinemas and surf clubs, communicating and engaging deskless workers is an ongoing focus.

Bruce Lambert, Head of Retail for Ben & Jerry’s ANZ, is a people-focused leader tasked with overseeing 44 Scoop Shops and managing communication with 300-400 frontline staff (called ‘Scoopers’). 

Bruce recognises the strategic importance of engaging deskless workers: “My top priority is listening & getting feedback from our teams. [We need to] understand what customers are saying, what’s happening in the marketplace with competitors, and also understand what [Scoopers’] needs are and how they’re coping.”

Deskless workers are the face of Ben & Jerry’s. They deliver the brand experience directly to customers. For Bruce, connecting these teams isn’t just operationally smart, it’s essential to bringing the brand's social and product mission to life.

After learning Meta was planning to sunset its Workplace app, Bruce and his team needed a replacement that would fuel connection, empower culture, and engage deskless workers. 

“We’d put a lot of work into…changing behaviour within the teams - getting them off Whatsapp groups and [other siloed comms channels]. We didn’t want to lose that momentum.”

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A streamlined comms channel had become central to Ben & Jerry’s retail operations—so with Workplace sunsetting, they needed a trusted guide to help find the right alternative.

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As with all Enablo customers, Bruce and his team were assured early on: Enablo’s got your back. 

A Ground-Up Approach: Listening First

Before implementing a new tool, Enablo facilitated an Innovation Workshop to build a deep understanding of the needs and wants of two critical audiences: Scoopers (store staff) and Managers & Franchisees. 

This human-centred design process surfaced key insights about the complexity of the digital experience for frontline teams—ranging from onboarding, shifts, and training to policies, store audits, events, social mission and team comms.

Enablo’s Innovation Workshop for Ben & Jerry’s covered 3 key objectives

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The workshop highlighted just how many different digital workflows and apps Scoopers juggle each day, and informed a rollout approach that made Flip both intuitive and indispensable.

An overview of the digital experiences for deskless workers at Ben & Jerry’s

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Rolling Out Flip, Smoothly and Seamlessly

With a clear picture of the digital experience for the frontline, Enablo set out to find a solution Ben & Jerry’s could grow into. More than a comms platform, Enablo wanted to find an extensible solution that improves workflows and reduces friction everyday.

Flip emerged as the preferred solution: one intuitive app that actually makes work easier, for everyone.

“The partnership with Enablo was really useful—they did all the legwork of finding a suitable replacement [for Workplace from Meta].”

"The transition to Flip with Enablo's help [was] really smooth," said Claudia Bannister, Retail Operations Lead at Ben & Jerry’s. Enablo worked closely with Bruce and his team across every step of onboarding, including biweekly check-ins, migration planning, and phased rollouts.

"We had a 70% adoption rate within three days," said Antonio Khant, Ben & Jerry’s Retail Operations Manager. A few weeks after launch, adoption climbed to 93% across the network—with 9 stores at 100% and 6 more above 90%.

Simplified, Centralised, and Scalable

Flip became a one-stop shop for Ben & Jerry's teams. "Everything is in one place. Chat, posts, notifications—it's all right there and not overloading the phone," said Alyssa Reynolds, Ben & Jerry’s Manly Store Manager and Social Mission Manager.

"We can post something to our whole network and all Scoopers can see it live. It takes workload off the franchisees and allows better operations for our Scoop Shops," added Claudia.

Bruce noted that this efficiency was key. "The franchisees wear multiple hats and are time poor. So if we can take one thing off their plate and make it easier for them to focus on the store and the team, that’s a win for everyone."

Making Culture Tangible

With Flip, social mission efforts now resonate deeper across teams. "Flip [helps] uphold our mission statement. Stores can post photos of community initiatives and inspire others to do the same," said Alyssa.

The brand's unique tone and look were preserved too. "The branding piece was super important. It just makes it feel that little bit more special," said Claudia.

Empowering the Deskless, Redefining Communication

"Flip really empowers the team to find information on their own and stay up to date with what's going on in store," said Romy Wilson, Shift Leader at the Ben & Jerry’s Manly Store

"Flip makes my life a lot easier as a shift leader. No relaying messages to 40 different staff—I can just say, 'Look it up on Flip.'"

Recognition and Results That Matter

Flip is transforming employee recognition. Before, Bruce explains, “recognition would be almost impossible except for when you're physically in store. [Now,] if someone's done a great job, that recognition is far simpler than when we were relying on in-person experience,” said Bruce.

The results speak for themselves with 82% engagement across all channels. 

“It’s hard to imagine not having [Flip] now,” Bruce added.

Trusted Partnership, Real Impact

Enablo’s innovation-led approach helped align employee and business needs through one scalable platform:

"[Enablo] are always there and hearing all the feedback we have—they’re constantly making the platform better," said Antonio.

Bruce summed up the value of the relationship: “What I like most about [working with] Enablo is the people themselves. They listen, they care. They’re fully invested in the success of our business. It feels like a true partnership rather than just vendor supply.”

And when it comes to the Return On Investment? “The ROI is so clear in terms of the time saving and the resource saving. I would never have considered launching [a new employee comms platform] without Enablo.”

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Ready to empower your deskless workers to thrive wherever they are? Let's talk.

Book a chat and we’ll show you what that could look like.