The intranet holds the power to change the way you have been operating your business to date. It not only proves to be helpful in connecting the employees at your workstation but also those that are working at far-flung locations from the office.
Besides connecting people and making it easy for them to carry out different tasks and complete projects on time, it never fails to amaze you by revolutionizing your business. All in all, an intranet fulfills many purposes, with its primary job, which is to satisfy employees.
I hope that if you are reading this post, then you for sure know what an intranet is, but making sure that we are all on the same page, allow me to talk a bit about it.
Well, in simple words, an intranet is a network that unifies employees in an organization and supports them to work in the best interest of the organization.
Some of the benefits of using a business intranet include:
- Smooth flow of communication,
- Easy sharing of information, data, documents, etc.,
- Improves collaboration and feedback,
- Enhances employee productivity,
- Builds transparency and trust,
- And many more
Now that we’ve had a brief talk about what an intranet is and its benefits let’s move forward and talk about redesigning your intranet.
When it comes to redesigning an intranet, you might need to work on more than just a new front-end look. Well, there is no such thing as one-size-fits-all intranets because each one is unique based on your organizational needs and objectives. So when it comes to redesigning an intranet, the task can be quite daunting, and it often is.
You must know that your intranet maintains a three-way balance between technology, people, and business. In this balance, your people play the most crucial role, and they deserve the most attention as they hold power to make or break both your processes and technology.
So, in the first place, you must ensure that all three aspects of the intranet are aligned well- starting with people. Thus, before you embark on a journey to redesign yourintranet, begin with keeping people on top, besides making sure that you have executive support and sponsorship.
Now, let’s talk about what to consider when redesigning your intranet.
Your People
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Many people work in an organization, and all of them have different needs. This means that a person working while being in Queenstown will require various resources than the one working from Delhi. Similarly, an associate of the sales department will need multiple tools than a person working in the accounts department.
So, analyzing the needs of your people is a fantastic way to start your journey of redesigning the intranet.
Step 1: Understand the need of your audience
The very first step in your journey of redesigning an intranet is to define and understand the needs of your audience, based on their size and structure. Break down your organization based on the existing hierarchy. You can do this by region, offices, departments, etc.
See if there are people in your organization who do not rely on the intranet. On the other end, you must consider the employees who need intranet to carry out their tasks effectively. These may include different kinds of applications, communication, tools, and even separate tools.
Once you define your audience, you may consider looking into different teams and groups using several methods. Some of the ways you can use include interviewing the management, users polling, etc. One important thing to take care of while engaging with various audiences is that you develop an understanding of what is important to them, what tools they need to use, etc.
Ask them about what tools they use, how they feel that the intranet is lacking, which mode of communication is valuable for them, the future needs which intranet can address, etc. You have no idea about how much you may be surprised by the things you will learn while digging the needs of different departments in the context of technology and intranet.
This step will help you in understanding the faults in your current intranet and the critical requirement for the new intranet.
Your People and Process
The best thing about developing an understanding of the needs of people in your organization is that it provides you a clear idea of where your intranet stands currently and where it needs to be in the future.
Well, of course, you need to set priorities when determining the requirements for future intranet like should marketing have more say than the accounts department. More importantly, when your new intranet is set up and running, who is going to work towards keeping it smooth and afloat. Of course, the IT department will be taking care of it, but what about the processes like Payroll, Training, etc., that will be intertwined with the other companies?
Thus, understanding the needs of people will help you realize where and how your intranet is going to support your organization.
Step 2: Define what the intranet will do and who will be involved
This is an important step and must never be overlooked unless you want your intranet to fail in a short period of time. In short, your intranet should have a strategy because it is one thing that will tie your intranet to the organization’s success and performance.
You must understand how well your intranet is aligned with the directives of your organization. If the priority of your organization is to build a brand image, then you must see how the intranet is going to support that directive. This is vital because this way, you will be able to measure its success.
Aligning the intranet with your organization’s directives also makes it easy for you to decide what features will be of most value in your new intranet. You may then work towards investing in the resources that will focus on the features you need in the intranet.
Your People, Process, and Technology
Beyond the technology, you will have to go through the complicated process of setting it up in a manner that works in your best interest, as well as in the interest of the entire organization. Now that you have people and processes in place, you must select the right platform, tools, etc. to ensure a thriving digital ecosystem throughout the organization.
Step 3- Prioritizing and organizing the information
Here, you have to focus on prioritizing and categorizing your content in different ways like a policy, form, announcement, video, article, etc. Ensuring that the appropriate content is categorized and tagged works much more than just improving the user experience.
The more thorough your content audit is, the better will be the content migration on your intranet.
Step 4- Set standards (creative standards)
It is crucial to gain feedback from your people before you decide to move forward in the process of implementing the concept. Obtaining input from people doesn’t mean that you have to ask every person in the organization but only managers and upper management.
Once the concept gets approved, you may implement it. During the implementation phase, be sure you take care of design guidelines which you will use throughout the intranet. This may include font size, logo, the color of the palette, page templated, and other things. This is essential to ensure a unique and modern look within your intranet.
A Successful Intranet = People + Process + Technology
Now that you have gone through this article, I hope that you have gained an insight into what makes an intranet, a successful intranet.
So, the next time you work on redesigning your intranet, consider the tips and steps discussed above to ensure a seamless experience for your people and see your organization growing.
We appreciate hearing from you, so if you have any experiences in the field, feel free to share your valuable insights with our determined community of readers in the comment box below.