What Every Intranet Team Should Know
Important background info to note
6 phases of intranet evolution
2) Rapid organic growth (grow like coral, organic but unmanaged)
3) Repeated redesigns (same content, same functionality - just reshuffled)
4) intranet usability
5) useful, not just usable
6) business tool (clear strategy, roadmap)
4 purposes of the Intranet
Communication
Activity #
Content
Operational & BU/divisional information
Decentralised model (involves more staff)
Staff wants content that impact them #
establish clear ownership & management of col. tools
governance & support
overall strategy that positions collaboration tools alongside other platforms
developing business case for collaboration
giving access to collaboration tools from the intranet
E.g.communities of practice, senior leadership retreat - the internal communications team will contact key stakeholders to understand the agenda and activities
Convert manual forms to online forms
‼E.g. declaration of gifts, stationery requests, etc.
💥 Intranets must deliver business value
Collaboration: Display project delivery as a result of using tools
Activity: Streamlining key processes or simplifying activities
Intranet Design Process
1) Understand staff needs
Finding out staff needs
Don't ask staff what they want
"I don't know"
Use structured techniques
Surveys
Focus groups & requirements workshops
Staff interviews
Stakeholder interviews (e.g. agencies)
Workplace observation
Measure staff satisfaction
Gather evidence for business case
Get out into the field (talk to them!)
"I want XYZ "endless list
Response like will be based on current use - bad for innovative use
2) Determine project scope
3) Conduct best-practice redesign
4) Migrate content & launch
1) the intranet is born!
Delivering great content
Target efforts to highest value content (prevent burnt-out of the Intranet team)
Find the best publishing models
Fully centralised - published by the Intranet team
Decentralised publishing - business areas are responsible for publishing and managing their own content
Publishing with review - content produced by authors within business areas ;goes thru review before it is published on the Intranet
Federated publishing - a hybrid model - BU appoints a coordinator who takes responsibility of their own content
End-user contribution - Staff across org can contribute without having formal role as author
Focus on the people aspects
Understand the motivation of authors
Help authors to be effective
Build bridges between authors and the central intranet team
Encourage good practices rather than enforcement
Present a human face - some comms are more effective when they are done face-to-face. Ensure the intranet team deals in person with BU authors
Role of the Intranet team