Intranets have traditionally been thought of as static repositories for internal communication and document storage, but they are no exception to our digital world. The intranet has transformed from a one-way communication channel into a dynamic, collaborative space, enabling seamless interaction and knowledge exchange.
Have you got the best intranet solution for your workplace? Are you thinking about modernising? This blog will provide a step-by-step plan to guide you towards finding the best product.
Step 1: Intranet Strategy
The first step towards modernising the intranet for your workplace is to develop your long-term intranet strategy document. You need clarity on the goals of your company and the role that your intranet will play in its digital landscape. Decide what you want your intranet to achieve.
An intranet strategy document doesn’t need to be long and should not become a platform specification or be too technology-driven. Instead, the focus should be on the intranet as a service to your business. There is no fixed way to write an intranet strategy, but there are some specific questions it should answer.
PURPOSE
What is your intranet for?
- Typically, an intranet is a platform for internal communication, access to employee services and information sharing.
- Include more specific information about the needs of your individual workplace. Think about whether the intranet will be the primary internal communication channel, or the main way employees will access self-service systems.
- Link it explicitly to your overall business strategy. It can be useful to do this through creating a “benefits map”.
- However, many businesses find that alignment with business strategy can be hard to pinpoint in this format. Intranet platforms are likely to benefit your business in countless small ways rather than one grand one.
SCOPE
How does the intranet fit within your digital workplace?
- The terms intranet and digital workspace are often used interchangeably but in creating your strategy it is important to be very clear that your intranet cannot be a digital workspace on its own. It can, however, be a significant component of one.
- Be explicit about what your intranet will do and where they will be interfaces or dependencies.
- Be equally explicit about what it WON’T do. For example, with a SharePoint intranet your collaboration needs will likely be met by Microsoft Teams within the digital workplace.
MEASURES
What is it that indicates that the purpose is being met?
- Make sure your strategy includes a plan to measure both inputs to the process (such as how many salespeople use the information on the intranet) and outputs that matter (such as how often the intranet was part of improving customer satisfaction).
- Highlight KPIs that demonstrate that your intranet is fulfilling its purpose as set out in Section 1.
- Rather than aiming for an external benchmark, instead, measure the level of performance in delivering purpose. The baseline should come from within your company rather than from an industry average.
IMPLEMENTATION
What will change in the next 1-3 years?
- This sets out how you will get from where you are to where you want to be - how far ahead you look is dependent on your company’s planning horizons, but it should be regularly reviewed.
- Include a high-level road map or summary of phases in this section.
- A rolling programme of improvements often works best.
OPTIONAL EXTRAS
Costs, resources and governance
- Costs The key to setting out a budget within the strategy is to include non-tangible elements such as adoption, governance and content maintenance as well as the more obvious software licences.
- Resources Your employees need to engage with the content for your intranet to be a success. If you’re planning an overhaul, it makes sense to include a model for roles and responsibilities within your strategy document.
- Governance Rather than detailing your intranet governance and diluting the impact of your strategy document, focus on how your strategy will be governed.
AUDIENCE
Who are your users and what will they use it for?
- Thinking about exactly what your users will use the intranet for is key to creating a platform that meets their requirements.
- Not everyone within your organisation will use it in the same way, so it is useful to establish the types of people who will use your intranet. Group them by job roles, seniority, or role requirements.
- Look at how each group will use the intranet to help you decide how it will meet its needs.
- Focus your research on who needs to connect, why they need to connect and what they need to do with that connection.
- Begin to build your structure around the answers to these questions.
Step 2: Intranet Requirements
Meeting your goals
Having produced your strategy, you now need to focus on the requirements your intranet needs to meet your goals. Here are just a few examples of some features to think about:
- Making it easy for employees to find each other increases opportunities for connection and collaboration and improves productivity.
- Making it easy to access knowledge means that employees can quickly find and use the information they need, increasing autonomy and efficiency.
- Integrating other communication tools will make your intranet the central point for your employees to connect and collaborate from a single platform.
- Including company branding creates an immersive experience and increases engagement with your company’s purpose.
- Having a search function will encourage employees to use your intranet in the same way as they use the web. Making your intranet the go-to hub increases employee engagement and empowers them to find answers for themselves.
Meeting your people
Having identified your audience base as part of your strategy, you need to consider their needs and requirements. For example:
- If many of your frontline employees are not desk based, incorporating mobile accessibility will improve their ability to connect to your organisation.
- Hybrid workplaces should consider that their employees may need to connect from different locations or different time zones and will need to focus on integrating specific communication tools to enable this.
- Be aware of the technical experience and confidence in your organisation - a user-first solution might be a good solution.
It is essential to prioritise your requirements and to determine what is “essential” and what is “nice to have” for your organisation. Having clarity on this will prevent you from being swayed into buying products with impressive features but which your organisation will not use. A simple “MoSCoW” (Must, Should, Could, Won’t) is a useful tool for this.
Step 3: Assess your current tools
Look at what you already have in terms of your infrastructure to decide what you’ll need to support a new intranet. We suggest assessing:
- The hardware or software you’ll need.
- The right experts and IT staff to make installation possible.
- The support of the relevant stakeholders.
- The budget for deployment, support and maintenance.
- Other internal communication tools that would enhance or be enhanced by your intranet.
- Any pre-existing tools or licences that would make choosing your intranet easier.
As part of this process, identify any gaps or limitations that will need to be addressed before deployment as well as those that may slow deployment down. These may include:
- Relevant hardware or software.
- Understanding the work processes in place.
Step 4: Selecting a platform
About the provider
While the focus should be primarily on product features, your relationship with your vendor is really important too. Here are some things to consider:
- Location - sometimes compromising on features so that you can work with someone in the same time-zone is the right decision. Don’t underestimate the value of a relationship with a local supplier.
- How long they’ve been around - some have had products around for several years, others are new and evolving quickly. The important thing here is how well the vendor has shifted from a project mindset to a product support one.
- Look at the reviews - they include details of update processes, company background and support arrangements. There will be an overview of their services in the product tables, but also look at the ‘Voice of the customer’ section to get a real idea of what it’s like to be a client.
We would always recommend building a dialogue with vendors rather than going straight into the formal procurement process. It’s also often useful to have an informal demonstration so you get to know both the company and the product.
Asking the right questions is the best way to help with the selection process and to assess the long-term fit with your organisation.
What to consider?
Here are five questions to ask to get you on the right track:
- Are you a mobile-first platform? This is an important one - some platforms require heavy usage from the desktop, and this may not suit the audience identified in your strategy document.
- Does your platform offer customer feedback development so that we can offer enhancement ideas to be considered for future releases? Ask for a development roadmap and get an understanding of the role your users can play in shaping the future of the platform.
- Where will your platform be in 5 years from now? Communications software is moving at a rapid pace, and you need to know you’ve got a future-forward solution. Remember, the roadmap they provide must align with your organisation’s vision for the future.
- Can you introduce us to some similar customers with whom we can discuss their success with your platform? Case studies are brilliant, but what’s even more valuable is a meeting with a current customer.
- What is your support process for any product issues? You need to align their support model with your internal support processes, and you need to know how to escalate issues with the core product.
Other things to consider:
- Non-functional requirements: technical and operational constraints matter too. Be as stringent with non-functional requirements as you are with the functional ones and don’t second-guess implementation details too much.
- Customisations and bespoke builds: You may want as much control as possible over the customisation of the intranet, or even to have a bespoke-built site by the vendor. Look at how ready-made or bespoke the product is.
Why Cocentric?
At Cocentric, we work with some of the world’s fastest-growing businesses to help them overcome their internal communication challenges and integrate digital systems through tailored strategies, cutting-edge technology and ongoing support. Our award-winning approach can help you implement new processes effectively across your organisation.
If you would like to find out more, get in touch with our team.
Our E-Books ‘Planning and Deploying a Successful Intranet’ and ‘10 Reasons to Opt for a SharePoint Intranet’ can help you get started.