ISS and Business Joensuu Modernize Cleaner Onboarding with ThingLink

Kyla Ball April 16, 2026

Challenge

The CMS unit of ISS Palvelut is responsible for cleaning, property maintenance and technical services in the Joensuu region. Business Joensuu manages the premises of Joensuu Science Park, which hosts a wide range of companies and events.

The core challenge was to improve cleaner onboarding, increase service quality, and streamline day-to-day collaboration with Business Joensuu. In particular, ISS wanted to ensure that cleaners could work independently, without the customer’s staff having to step in to correct or finish rooms before meetings.

Previously, work instructions were scattered across different documents and systems, and not clearly tied to the specific rooms where the work actually takes place. This made onboarding especially challenging for substitutes, cleaners working at multiple sites, and employees with an immigrant background. At the same time, ISS needed to ensure consistent quality across spaces, reduce errors and complaints, and support key service management KPIs such as onboarding time and SLA compliance.

The pilot was carried out as part of the ISS CMS unit’s local theme for 2025–2026, “You are important”, which focuses on strengthening customer collaboration.

The main goals of the pilot were to:

• speed up onboarding and improve work quality
• reduce overlapping work between ISS and the customer
• provide better support for substitutes and staff rotating between workstations
• provide better support for employees with an immigrant background through multilingual content
• improve the consistency of work outcomes.

In addition, ISS wanted to leverage digitalization so that the right people can do the right tasks in the right place at the right time. The digital, room-based onboarding model was also designed to support ISS’s self-delivered service model and make it easier to maintain common service standards across different locations.

Solution

In the pilot, ISS created a room-specific training package for cleaners using the ThingLink platform for the Joensuu Science Park facilities. The most important meeting rooms and shared spaces were captured as 360° images, which were then enriched with visual instructions, photos and text. This way, the instructions are visually anchored to the real environment, and cleaners can immediately see how each space should be set up and cleaned.

ISS’s official ASIO room cards were also embedded into the content, so that all information needed for the work can be accessed in one place. The information is no longer scattered across separate documents and systems, but available directly in the context where work is carried out. The ThingLink-based approach turned onboarding into a practical, everyday tool: the instructions are visual, room-specific and always up to date.

Step-by-Step Implementation

The pilot started with a joint decision and kick-off meeting with Business Joensuu, where the parties agreed on the spaces, timeline and shooting days.

The Science Park facilities were then photographed, and interactive ThingLink experiences were created based on the 360° images. Content creation was a fast process: the photo shoots and content production together took around two working days. ISS reviewed and edited the materials, after which cleaners received a short 30-minute training session.

The rollout took four months, after which ISS collected feedback from cleaners and held a closing discussion to agree on next steps and further development. Access to the training was made easy through QR codes: cleaners carry QR codes with them, so instructions are always available on their mobile device without separate logins. The instructions are intentionally not displayed in the rooms themselves, as they are not public information.

Benefits

The ThingLink-based solution turned onboarding into a part of daily work. Previously, instructions were fragmented and difficult to access, but now they are visual, room-specific and easy to update. This is particularly valuable for new employees, substitutes and cleaners working at multiple sites, and helps ensure consistent service quality.

The main benefits of the new model are:

• faster updates to materials
• multilingual content
• easy access to work instructions via QR codes
• faster work and improved planning
• more consistent quality of work outcomes.

Because cleaners can explore the rooms in advance, they know exactly which tools and materials to bring before arriving on site. This reduces last-minute corrective actions, lowers the risk of SLA breaches and improves predictability and resource efficiency in daily operations.

Feedback from Cleaners and the Customer

ISS collected feedback from cleaners on usability, visual clarity, content clarity and usefulness. The ratings were excellent across the board, with an average score of 5/5 on all dimensions.

Cleaners highlighted in particular:

• ease of use and visual design
• the importance of multilingual versions
• increased sense of security and confidence among substitutes.

From Business Joensuu’s perspective, the impact is visible in day-to-day operations: rooms are now cleaner and better prepared, and their staff no longer need to check the condition of spaces before meetings. This reduces the workload for the customer’s own staff and allows them to focus on their core business.

Future Opportunities and Development

Based on the pilot, several development paths have been identified. With ThingLink’s Landing Page solution, all room instructions could be grouped behind a single QR code, making access even more convenient. The model can also be extended to more demanding environments such as industrial sites or high-hygiene facilities.

Going forward, ISS aims to further improve quality and create a shared understanding of what “good work” means, and potentially scale the solution to wider use. The materials can also support recruitment by providing a realistic preview of the work environment. At the same time, there is an opportunity to measure impact more precisely, for example on onboarding time, number of complaints and substitute performance, as part of continuous service improvement.