A Modern Intranet Defined

What is a modern intranet? Success in today’s competitive marketplace is often measured on how quickly a company adapts to market conditions, industry trends, competitive threats, and an ever-changing workforce.

The speed at which a company’s information can flow through its internal network is a crucial factor in its ability to act quickly on major business decisions. When the flow of information is stalled or derailed, the results can be detrimental to a company’s bottom line:

• Time is wasted looking for information or expertise, and duplicating or re-creating work • Knowledge and expertise is locked inside the minds and memory of your employees• Projects stall because teams spend more time talking about work than actually doing it• Trust in leadership wanes due to a lack of direction and accountability• Employees become disengaged and less productive at work

Knowing that these effects can have a negative and lasting impact on the future of their business, many companies are urgently turning to a modern intranet solution to solve these challenges.

What makes it modern? Until now, an intranet has typically served one of two purposes (or a combination of both):

1. An IT-sanctioned online repository of information that required ongoing support from over-stretched resources who were more concerned with the time it took than the value it added.

2. A highly-moderated company news channel used by corporate communications to disseminate updates on corporate strategy and operations, with little or no audience participation.

A modern intranet creates three vital connections inside an organization:

As you can see, at the core of each of these connections is your company’s most valuable asset: people. And when people have what they need to do their best work, they are happier and more productive at work – and you become more productive, innovative, and competitive as a company.

‘Modern’, in this sense, represents a departure from the traditional, archaic, and stale state of intranets we’ve come to know. It’s no longer a platform for static information; it’s a conduit for delivering information in a meaningful and contextual way.

People to information

People to processes

People to people

Characteristics of a Modern Intranet

#1

It’s about people

A modern intranet connects people to the tools and information they need to do their best work. And, when people have quick access to experts and knowledge within an organization, they can get more work done.

It’s your culture, online. An intranet is a representation of your company and your brand, so it should look like you, not like the vendor you bought it from. And, it should act as a channel for telling stories and highlighting moments that show why it’s a great place to work.

It’s where people gather. A modern intranet connects people across project teams and business units. It provides a robust view of information that’s relevant to everyone: individuals, teams, and the entire company.

It’s where experts live. A modern intranet makes it easy to connect with experts across your organization. Where anyone and everyone is a possible connection, it’s about who can help you get your job done and how to find them quickly.

It gives everyone a voice. A modern intranet allows people to create, publish, and consume content in an open and dynamic way – giving them more control over their experience at work. It turns the intranet from a static news source into a hub of conversation and new ideas.

It’s engaging. An intranet shouldn’t feel forced or mandatory – it should be something you want to use. It should feel like a necessary part of your work day – both as a tool to help you get your work done, and a comfortable place to interact with your colleagues.

Companies that communicate effectively are 3.5X more likely to outperform their industry peers – Towers Watson

Logging on to your intranet should feel like walking into work. You greet your colleagues, chime in on the latest office chatter, and settle into your workspace to start your daily tasks.

It’s a destination. It’s not just a technology investment, or yet another site or program to log on to. It’s where you log on in the morning and it’s where you spend your day.

It tackles business challenges. A modern intranet is backed by a team of experts who understand the common challenges facing growing companies: corporate communications, collaboration, knowledge management, and workflow.

It’s your corporate hub.A modern intranet doesn’t promise to replace existing solutions or third party applications inside an organization. Instead, it’s a portal through which people can view and access all the apps, tools, and information they need to do their jobs.

It works for everyone. A modern intranet isn’t restricted to one business unit or team. Whether you’re in sales or supply chain, ownership can be dispersed so sub-communities can be managed by individual teams or knowledge managers.

It helps you work better. A modern intranet shouldn’t wipe out your current way of doing things. Instead, it should offer ways to automate your existing processes to help save you time, money, and headaches.

#2

It’s where you work

The average employee wastes 2.5 hours per day duplicating work. This costs companies an average of $5000 per employee per year – IDC

#3

It’s built for business

A modern intranet is 100% hosted in the cloud, which means it’s fast to deploy, easy to manage, and cost-effective. It’s straightforward and pain free — there’s nothing to install, patch, or update. It’s all done for you.

It’s cost-effective. By implementing a modern intranet, you can eliminate costs associated with traditional on-premises solutions, like hosting, hardware maintenance, and unforeseen implementation or consulting support.

It’s agile. A modern intranet evolves with your business; it is never static or prescribed. Through configurations, customizations, and integrations, it adapts and scales according to your current business needs.

It’s easy to brand and configure. A modern intranet is uniquely yours, and it should adapt and evolve just as fast as your company does. Whether it’s architectural or aesthetic changes, you have free reign to implement quick enhancements or big overhauls – as often as you like.

It’s under lock and key. No matter where work takes you, your corporate data needs to be restricted. A modern intranet can live inside or outside your firewall – either way, your data is secure.

It goes where you go. Work doesn’t have to stop when you step out of the office. A modern intranet is accessible in any web browser on any device, so you can keep projects moving from wherever you are.

Cloud applications deliver 2.1 times more return on investment than on-premises ones – Nucleus Research

A modern intranet has built-in features that are dynamic, familiar, and easy to use. Plus, it integrates with leading cloud apps so you can keep all your work in once place.

#4

It has all the features you need

BlogsShare news, updates, and reports with your employees or customers.

CalendarsPost events, coordinate schedules, and keep track of who’s in or out of the office.

File SharingShare files, preview documents, and manage permissions in context.

ForumsHave discussions, propose ideas, ask questions, and solve problems. Together.

GamificationBuild a points and badges system to encourage participation on the intranet.

NewsfeedsGive quick status updates, share links, and more. It’s a quick way to connect with your colleagues.

People DirectoryLocate experts inside your organi-zation with knowledge, skills, and abilities to help you do your job.

SearchFind anything in your intranet. All files, content, and personal profiles are searchable.

SocialEnable conversations by adding the ability to like, rate, and comment on any type of content.

SpacesCreate public or private spaces for teams, departments, or committees to collaborate.

TasksTrack to-do’s from a meeting, request changes on a document, or create a reminder to pick up cake for the office.

WikisDocument processes, policies, and other indexed bits of information that change over time.

+App IntegrationsAccess your file sharing, mess-aging, and other business apps from right inside your intranet.

A modern intranet can increase productivity and collaboration in any organization, but what’s more difficult to measure is its impact on a company’s bottom line. In fact, looking for the net present value of an intranet is often a waste of time. A better way to measure its value is by looking at what problems it solves.

Your measure of success depends on what business problems you’re trying to solve. It becomes a measure of Return on Objectives (ROO), rather than Return on Investment (ROI). Whether it’s reducing the number of emails sent, aligning your team around a specific vision, or sharing knowledge more efficiently, setting objectives at the outset is critical to being able to measure the effectiveness of your intranet.

Revisiting your objectives on a regular basis will help you track progress, focus your efforts, and be in a position to illustrate the positive change you’re making across your business.

Are your employees more productive?

Are your teams more innovative?

Is your company more competitive?

Does your intranet help you work better, faster, or smarter?

A modern intranet is your destination for work. Your journey starts here.

01Ask yourself:1. Is your intranet a place where

people want to be?2. Is it the place where they go to

communicate and collaborate with peers?

3. Does it represent your corporate culture and brand?

4. Is it easy to use and navigate?5. Is it interactive and does it

enable conversations?

02Developing a more effective and efficient workforce starts with creating connections between people, information, and processes.

03Determine what business challenge you’re trying to solve:1. Corporate Communications2. Collaboration3. Knowledge Management

4. Workflow

04Identify your goals: Do you want to improve productivity, drive innovation, or create competitive advantage?1. Do you get products or services to

market faster?2. Are you reducing costs by improving

processes and communications?3. Have you improved the way your

company shares knowledge and surfaces ideas?

4. Are you better connected to your customers?

05Define what success looks like and how you’ll measure it.Understanding ROI is not about not about measuring dollars and cents. It’s about measuring the incremental value the intranet brings to your business by addressing the challenges you’re trying to solve.

06Arrive at your destination: a place where content and conversations can finally live together.

Conclusion

Work used to be a place – now it’s just what you do. Your intranet technology should reflect that. More importantly, it should empower your workforce to do more than they’ve ever done before.

By removing roadblocks that prevent employees from being productive, engaged, and happy at work, a modern intranet clears the way for more meaningful work, and innovation that’s driven from the ground up – ultimately creating a healthy and active discourse at work. After all, the richer the conversations, the richer the company.

Igloo is a modern intranet. With thousands of successful deployments under our belt, we’ve learned one important lesson: every organization is different and your intranet should be too. Our team of experts work with you to ensure you get the right intranet solution for your company, while taking into consideration your timelines, budget, available resources, and specific business requirements. Regardless of how involved you want us to be in building your intranet, you have a say throughout the entire process. That way, you end up with an intranet that looks and works the way you want it to.

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About IglooIgloo is a modern intranet, connecting your people with the information they need to do their best work. We help fast-growing businesses and large enterprises succeed by improving the way people communicate and share knowledge. Put simply, Igloo is an intranet you’ll actually like.

Learn more at: igloosoftware.com info@igloosoftware.com 1 877 664 4566