Company Intranet Portal – All You Need To Know

Company intranet portal software has been a mainstay of organization’s toolkits for decades. However, the modern intranet has come a long way since the early days and is now mission-critical in 2024’s digital workplace.

Outdated, clunky, slow are some criticisms you hear from users of a traditional company intranet. Indeed, a 2012 study from Prescient Digital Media found that just 13 percent of workers used the intranet daily.

However, it’s an entirely different story with today’s user-friendly, dynamic, and flexible platforms. According to the latest data from Forbes, 74 percent of employees use the corporate intranet daily to communicate, collaborate, and find information.

Today’s post explores some of the long-standing myths about intranet software. We bring you up to speed with the latest company intranet developments, driving digital transformation in organizations worldwide. Here are some of the topics we’ll explore:

• What is a company intranet portal?
• What’s the difference between a portal and an intranet?
• Why does my company need a corporate intranet?
• 6 Ways Employees Benefit From A Company Intranet
• How do I create an employee intranet portal?
• How To Make ISO Quality Certification Accessible
• How To Achieve A Successful Launch
• How To Ensure Your Employees Use The Company Intranet
• Why An Intranet Steering Group Is A Must
• 6 Ways To Measure If Yours Is Working For You

What Is A Company Intranet Portal?

Think of your intranet site as a secure private network exclusively for employees.

It provides gateway access to the essential features and tools employees need to drive business operations. Everything from internal communications and knowledge management to company news is just a few clicks away.

The right intranet software also offers single sign-on integration to the enterprise apps your company uses daily. It could be CRM or HR platforms, even Microsoft Office, Microsoft Teams, and Google Workspace. An intranet portal means users access third-party software directly from the intranet homepage. No more multiple logins or switching between different screens and tabs.

In essence, a company intranet is your organization’s home base. It connects the entire company, including remote workers, ensuring everyone is on the same page.

What’s The Difference Between A Portal And An Intranet?

A traditional intranet is focused on internal communication and productivity. The aim is to improve productivity with self-service, centralized access to company information, document management, collaboration tools, and more.

A portal is different. This web-based tool also serves as a communication and content management hub. However, the crucial difference is that it integrates with external systems and platforms.

A company intranet portal offers the best of both worlds. It supports internal communications and productivity and also provides a gateway to external services and third-party tools.

Today’s intranet solution supercharges the digital employee experience, making it a must-have for the digital workplace.

What Are The Benefits Of Intranet Portals?

The comprehensive, flexible company intranet portal offers wide-ranging benefits that are just not possible with a traditional intranet. Even better, the modern intranet comes as a dedicated mobile app. Your workers have the company’s collective knowledge, expertise, and resources in their pockets.

Here are the headline advantages you need to know.

Streamlined Internal Communication

Company intranets are the perfect platform for sharing news, updates, and essential information. Use the intranet to simultaneously reach all employees across the entire organization, including frontline workers. You can also target content to specific teams with departmental pages and personalized notifications.

Improved Collaboration

Features like the company calendar, instant messaging, employee directory, and project management tools simplify collaboration. Teams can work efficiently and effectively together, regardless of their location.

Enhanced Knowledge Management

Nowadays, employees are bombarded with information, making it hard to source data when you need it. A user-friendly intranet offers the perfect platform for sharing and managing knowledge. Keep all your company knowledge in a searchable, central hub for easy anytime, anywhere access.

Increased Employee Engagement

Company intranets can take employee engagement to a new level. On the intranet site, share success stories, celebrate achievements, and recognize top-performing workers. Use the software to collect employee feedback and monitor progress with surveys and polls.

Use social intranet features to keep employees engaged. Your people will love using interactive employee profiles, # channels, @ mentions, likes, and shares. Furthermore, enabling employee content creation gives workers a voice within an organization. It could be an employee blog post or activity wall update.

Integration With Other Tools

Modern intranet software seamlessly integrates with external apps and enterprise systems, like Salesforce or Microsoft Power BI. Save time and resources by creating a unified platform for all your data and information needs.

Positive, Inclusive Company Culture

Corporate culture isn’t just an issue for large companies. Even small businesses with a handful of employees need to nurture the company culture.

Use the intranet to showcase your culture and get employees to buy into the company mission and values. Create a sense of belonging and community and level the communication playing field for all workers, including new employees and seasoned veterans.

Does My Company Need An Intranet Portal?

The short answer is a definite yes. And here are some compelling reasons why:

• A portal offers a centralized hub and single point of access to all corporate information and data
• Employees can self-serve and access information without having to rely on others
• A company intranet portal streamlines business processes with automated workflows and approvals
• Intranets ensure your data is secure with robust security measures
• Intranet portals are easily scalable and can grow alongside your organization

The bottom line? An intranet portal will pay dividends in improved efficiencies and a more productive and engaged workforce.

6 Ways Employees Benefit From A Company Intranet

You’ve been charged with promoting the new company intranet to a skeptical workforce. Some employees have been with the company for several years and know pretty much everything there is to know about the business and its operations. They may be resistant to change generally and are not convinced that the intranet will make a difference to them. Does this scenario sound familiar? If you are grappling with these issues then read on as we look at how to present the concept of a company intranet to staff.

How To Convince Staff Of The Company Intranet Benefits

The most important point to remember is that presentation is the key. Focussing on the ways in which the intranet will directly benefit employees is the way to approach it. If staff can see how their daily working lives will be improved as a result of the intranet, they are more likely to be enthused about it.

With that in mind below we present six of the key benefits that an intranet will bring to your organization, which you can use in your presentations to staff members.

1. Improved Communication

The intranet offers the opportunity for a direct dialog between staff and management. By logging on everyday staff will be kept up to date with important announcements, any new company policies or initiatives or other industry relevant news and events. Staff will have the opportunity to feedback to management on their issues and concerns either through the option of commenting on the news feed, through blogs or even surveys and opinion polls.

Especially in larger companies, the whole process of communication can be time-consuming. While the intranet will not do away with the need for face-to-face communication, it will make it much easier and quicker to disseminate those key corporate messages throughout the company.

2. Streamlined Processes

The company intranet will be much more than just an information hub. It’s important that staff appreciate that it will contain the actual tools that employees need to use in order to complete their work. Many companies are using the intranet to automate and streamline work processes. These could be for simple processes like booking annual leave, claiming expenses or setting up a new supplier on the system. Or they can be more complex tasks like employee appraisals, product management and customer relationship management processes. In this way, the paper and email trails in the office are substantially reduced along with the amount of staff time that they involve.

3. Improved Employee Engagement

Engaged employees are happy and productive ones and finding ways to improve employee engagement is a constant challenge for companies. As well as increasing organizational communications, the company intranet will also promote connectedness. Think of it as a sort of organizational group hug!

Collaborative workspaces on the intranet will enable more joint working across the business and will help to break down any departmental silos. Staff can team up and work together on daily tasks or on long-term projects. These collaborative workspaces will enable staff to share files, conduct multiple conversations and reference pertinent data.

Blogs and discussion forums enable staff to share data and information across the business as well as best practice ideas and initiatives.  These tools can also be shared with management in vertical as well as horizontal information flows.

4. Increased Opportunities For Flexible Working

Remote working and flexible arrangements are no longer the exception. More and more staff are looking to achieve a better work-life balance. Cloud-based intranets can be accessed 24/7 from a tablet, PC or smartphone and so support the implementation of more flexible working arrangements. Staff no longer need to be tied to their desks as a mobile-friendly intranet means they can still be connected and productive whether they are working from home or on the road. Giving employees this freedom and allowing them to take control of their working lives is an important intranet benefit worth highlighting.

5. Improved Productivity

We all like to feel as though we are being productive and are achieving something at work. In a single platform, the company intranet will provide employees access to all the tools and information they need to get the job done more efficiently. So instead of using multiple platforms, email and paper systems, staff members can utilize the intranet for the following tasks amongst many others:

• Booking meeting rooms
• Checking diaries
• Consulting a company policy
• Locating a colleague in the staff directory
• Reading up on the latest company news
• Completing a survey on the new logo
• Voting on the location of the Christmas party in an opinion poll.

The possibilities are almost endless. But the end result is the same: improved productivity and a greater sense of achievement from staff members.

6. Knowledge Management

From being the central document management system for the organization to important corporate information, best practice data, customer intelligence and staff feedback, the intranet is the central tool for all knowledge management. There will, therefore, be just one voice of truth in the business. Staff will know that the most accurate and up to date information is only available on the intranet. This will eliminate the need for cross-checking with colleagues or sifting through email threads to obtain the latest update. In addition, an advanced search capability will mean that staff can quickly and easily locate the information they need to perform their tasks.

How Do I Create An Employee Intranet Portal?

Developing company intranets has never been easier. Intranet software like MyHub uses customizable pre-built templates. The basic intranet design has already been created, and all you need to do is insert your own content and branding.

Here’s how to create a business intranet in five simple steps.

5 Steps To Creating A Company Intranet Portal

• Plan for success
• Select the right company intranet software
• Configure your site and create intranet pages
• Launch with a bang!
• Measure your success

Let’s take a deep dive into each step of the process.

1. Plan For Success

As with most business projects, thorough planning is the foundation for success. Set clear objectives, a budget, and a time frame for delivery.

For most companies, there’s a driving force behind the company intranet. It could be internal communications, collaboration, or productivity. Make sure you clearly understand what you want to achieve with your intranet. This will shape its organization, structure, and focus.

Remember to involve employees across the entire company in this critical stage. And collect feedback from workers on the must-have features.

2. Select The Right Company Intranet Software

Next, it’s time to select an intranet software provider that can meet your objectives. There is no shortage of options, so spend time researching the contenders.

Here are some tips to help with your search:

• Take advantage of free demos or trial offers
• Check out customer testimonials and independent review sites
• Ask about file storage and how many users are allowed under each pricing option
• Encourage employees’ input when evaluating the options. You want a user-friendly platform that will engage employees and meet their needs

At the end of the day, you want a responsive, cost-effective provider with whom you can build a long-lasting relationship.

3. Configure Your Site And Create Intranet Pages

Nowadays, most intranet portals come with a basic structure and pre-set user interface. However, the intranet design is also flexible, with lots of customizable options.

Decide on the number of pages and the essential tools and features needed to meet your objectives. You may want to go for a department-based approach or a project one. Ultimately, the choice depends on your intranet goals and objectives.

The intranet homepage is critical as the window into your entire site. First impressions matter, so keep it visual and easy to navigate to encourage adoption. Furthermore, employees should be able to access the must-haves directly from the homepage.

Using drag-and-drop page-building tools, create the content. You might upload content from other sources, rewrite existing systems, or start afresh with entirely new material. Remember, bite-sized chunks are best. You can always give users the option to click for additional information. And don’t forget those all-important visuals.

The final step in the page creation stage is to set your intranet website permissions. Think about which employees are responsible for editing and updating content. Your intranet must have the latest information to be successful. Therefore, assigning responsibility to an individual employee or departmental team is vital.

Furthermore, not all employees need access to every page. You will want to safeguard sensitive information with access controls.

4. Launch With A Bang!

Creating a bit of hoopla around launch day generates excited anticipation. It also helps ensure your company intranet gets off to a flying start.

Here are some launch ideas to inspire you:

• Have a countdown clock prominently on display in the workplace
• Boost employee engagement and set up a naming competition for the new intranet
• Encourage adoption with an intranet training program
• Offer company swag or host a launch party
• Recognize and reward super users.

5. Measure Your Success

Launch day is just the start of the journey. Your company intranet software needs to keep on delivering. And the only way to guarantee that is to set some performance measures.

Employee surveys, polls, and focus groups are excellent ways to harvest direct feedback from as many employees as possible. Find out what employees really think of the intranet and ask them how you can continue improving.

Furthermore, keep an eye on what your intranet analytics are telling you. The data provides a wealth of insights into which content is working and which pages could be improved.

Company Intranet: How To Make ISO Quality Certification Accessible

Your vice president has charged you with researching ISO 9001 accreditation for the company. It’s the international standard for quality management and certification demonstrates that you are an efficient and well-run organization that takes quality seriously. Achieving ISO accreditation is a key target for your company. As a first step, you go to the ISO website. Your initial enthusiasm starts to wane as you’re presented with a large choice of standards covering a range of industries. It soon turns to frustration as there are a number of explanatory manuals to choose from but they’re all very long and make pretty dull reading. After a couple of hours wading through all the information, you’re totally exhausted and completely bamboozled. It’s a veritable minefield. How on earth do you make sense of it all? Well, it’s certainly true that the ISO don’t do themselves any favors. Their website is confusing and hard to navigate, the language used is stilted and unengaging, and there’s just way too much information on there. It’s no wonder then that many an organization has put ISO certification in the too hard basket. And yet the ISO 9001 standard, in itself, is a relatively simple concept once you cut out all the waffle and distill it to down to the critical elements. It’s also an important thing for every organization to achieve. Not only will it help you to ensure that customers get consistent, good quality products and services, it’s the independent mark of quality that the certification provides that’s really valuable. It sends an important message to both customers and competitors that you really are a quality outfit. And so ISO certification is well worth pursuing even if initially, it seems like a hard road to follow. It doesn’t have to be quite so hard though. And the company intranet is the perfect tool to make ISO certification a more accessible process for all staff members involved. The key to success is breaking it down into smaller steps along with careful and methodical documentation of every process. Let’s examine in detail the areas in which a company intranet can make a difference.

ISO Certification Requirements

Division Of Labour

Setting clear expectations for staff about where their responsibilities lie and what’s expected of them is the essential first step to gaining accreditation. It’s likely that a whole team of staff will be involved in getting the organization ready for certification. Most of those staff members will, however, be involved in one aspect or part of the process. The first step in getting ready for certification is to break down the requirements into smaller parts. The relevant ISO quality management sections can be embedded in the intranet with some explanatory text to help staff navigate their way through the requirements. What’s more, use your intranet to document the organization’s quality processes so that the bigger picture is crystal clear along with the individual staff member’s place within it.

Dissemination Of Information

The intranet is the perfect vehicle for keeping all relevant staff members involved and informed. Set up a special ISO certification project space in your intranet that allows staff to collaborate, share ideas and insights as well as the latest news and updates. And use the intranet as the central repository for all documentation relating to ISO certification.  What’s more, the forms builder function or embedded Google Forms app means that you can easily create forms to capture that manuals and policies have been read by all the relevant personnel.

Management Of Documentation

This is a fundamental aspect of successful ISO certification. All staff will need to clearly document every process taken within your quality management system using the correct documentation. Therefore, controlling the use of documents to ensure the latest version is being used is an important part of ISO 9001. And this is where the intranet can make a significant difference. Microsoft Office 365 or Google Apps documents and spreadsheets can be embedded directly in your intranet. Staff members will be able to simultaneously work on or edit the same document in real time and all the changes are automatically saved to the cloud. Your intranet is, therefore, guaranteed to hold the very latest version of that document. There’s no need for a manual system to ensure that old versions are removed and new versions distributed to the various internal departments as the intranet will automatically take care of it all for you.

Corrective And Preventative Measures

Inevitably things will go wrong from time to time. The important thing though with a quality management system and ISO certification is how you manage those glitches. Use the intranet’s forms function to track quality issues and their resolution. You can also use forms to remove errors and make sure that the correct data is stored. What’s more, utilize the intranet to keep a log of any actions you have taken to rectify a problem and publicize this to staff using the intranet’s company and team news pages. Whenever possible, you should try and identify potential problem areas and set up a system on the intranet to prevent or minimize their effects before they become big issues.

Ongoing Support And Training

Achieving ISO certification is likely to be a sharp learning curve for many staff members. They will need to be properly trained to ensure they are capable of meeting the challenge. And the intranet is the perfect vehicle for doing so. The intranet makes it possible to use a variety of media that suits all learning styles. From how-to videos, webinars and wikis through to checklists and surveys, there are many ways to ensure staff are equipped with the right knowledge and skills. In addition, for auditing and recordkeeping purposes, the intranet can automatically keep track of when staff members complete training.

Facilitating The Involvement Of Customers

Any process that aims to improve the quality of services or products for customers must include the involvement and input of those customers. The intranet can also help to facilitate this process.  A customer portal can be developed within the intranet that allows customers to log any problems, comment on quality issues or complete a survey to improve quality. It will enable you to have two-way conversations with customers and allows you to feedback on improvements and innovations that have been made as a result.

Making ISO Certification Accessible

There’s no doubt about it, achieving ISO certification is a considerable challenge for any organization, not least because it’s such an involved and well, let’s face it, pretty dull topic. And the information the ISO publishes does little to dispel this image. That’s not to say it’s an incredibly valuable exercise for businesses to go through. The rewards at the end in terms of improved customer service and quality, together with that independent seal of approval make it all worthwhile. Be sure though to use your company intranet to make it as accessible and smooth a process as possible. Interested in finding out more? Get in touch with the knowledgeable team at MyHub for a discussion on how a cloud intranet could assist your business to achieve ISO certification.

How To Achieve A Successful Launch

If you are planning to launch a company intranet then congratulations! You are joining a growing number of businesses in realizing the many great benefits company intranets have to offer. From improved internal communications, increased levels of employee engagement, and easier sharing of information, through to streamlined and more efficient business processes, a company intranet will undoubtedly make a big difference to your bottom line. Having made that all-important decision to go ahead with an intranet, you will want to make sure that it hits the ground running with a successful launch. So if you want your intranet to come to life with a hiss and a roar rather than a whimper and a murmur then read on for some ideas on how to achieve a successful launch.

Set A Launch Date

Sounds obvious but setting an actual date and counting down to do it is an important first step towards getting staff anticipating the intranet’s arrival. Why not try and tie it in with another important company event such as the national sales conference or annual staff away day. Whatever you do aim to make the launch day special and memorable in some way – supplying cupcakes at morning tea or a pizza lunch as a celebration will have staff looking forward to the event.

Create A Buzz

In the run up to the launch generate a feeling of excitement and anticipation around the office. Put out some teasers about what’s in store with an advertising campaign using as many mediums as possible: posters, videos, emails and blog posts. Put as much effort into the marketing of your intranet as you would to a product launch or new store opening. You’ll find that the investment of time and resources reaps rewards in staff members’ wholescale adoption of the intranet.

Have A Competition To Name The Intranet

Having a name for the intranet gives it an identity and a strong brand presence. A catchy name can be the perfect vehicle for conveying that sense of dynamism and all-round buzz that you want to create. And if you are finding it hard to come up with some ideas why not involve your staff members in a competition? It’s a great way to get staff interested in and thinking about the intranet and the difference it will make. It also gives them more of a stake in the intranet’s success from the get go.

Appoint Company Intranet Champions

Ideally, the champions will have intimate knowledge of the intranet product. They may well be members of the intranet steering group or were part of the needs assessment process that identified the intranet software you have implemented. Their job is to advocate for the intranet on the shop floor. As well as extolling the capabilities of the intranet in advance to their colleagues, come launch day they will also be the chief supporters and troubleshooters in the office. If a staff member wants to know how to set up a customized business form for example, then the intranet champion will talk them through the steps. Perhaps a colleague wants to know how to upload and edit content or add new users. The intranet champion will be the go-to person for all those sorts of queries. What’s more, appointing intranet champions from within the ranks is likely to be better received by employees. Rather than management performing the same sort of advocacy role, staff members will have a better connection with their colleagues who, in any case, have a more thorough grasp of their everyday needs.

Set Up A Comprehensive Training Program

For any launch to be successful, it must be accompanied by a comprehensive staff training program. There needs to be a certain amount of hand-holding while employees become familiar with all the functions and features of the company intranet. What’s more, use a variety of training mediums as well as the traditional classroom-type environment so that you appeal to the whole range of learning styles. Be imaginative. How about how-to videos, shared screen tours, wikis or webinars? Training is fundamental to staff quickly adopting the intranet and using it on a daily basis and so it’s critical that you spend time on this important step.

Walk The Talk

It’s important that managers and senior executives are seen to walk the talk from day one. So if one of the main reasons behind the implementation of the intranet was to improve internal communications, then managers need to be actively using the intranet themselves to communicate. All-staff emails should be replaced by the intranet’s news feed. Maybe the chief executive officer could start up an intranet blog page with motivational pieces or best practice insights from across the organization with the opportunity for staff comments and interaction. A very visible senior management presence on the intranet sends a clear message to staff that it is important and is here to stay.

Set The Intranet As The Default Web Page

If all staff members are forced to view the intranet to access the web, then it’s amazing how quickly they will get used to using the intranet. It’s a fail-safe way of raising awareness. Having a how-to video on the home page or a daily special feature button is another great option for enticing people to take a closer look at what’s on offer in the intranet. Having a summary of the latest company news on your intranet’s home page is also a great idea.

How To Ensure Your Employees Use The Company Intranet

You’ve spent several months behind the scenes designing and devising the content on your flash company intranet. It was launched with much hype and fanfare three months ago, and yet the statistics say that staff members have not adopted it in the wholesale fashion that you were expecting. If this is the scenario facing your organization, then read on for some ideas as to how you can motivate employees to really engage with the intranet portal. We also offer some tips on what to include in an adoption strategy as part of the intranet planning process.

Adoption Strategy

Coming up with an adoption strategy is almost as important as the needs assessment and design stages in an intranet implementation project and ideally, should be addressed at the earliest opportunity.

The adoption strategy should encompass the following elements:

• Design options that will enable adoption
• Engaging content and interactive features
• Staff training and induction
• A go-live date.

Let’s look in more detail at each of these elements.

Intranet Design Options

When considering the overall look and feel of the intranet, be mindful of incorporating features that will aid adoption. For example, a clean, uncluttered look with intuitive menu navigation and design will make it easier for staff members to use the intranet. Furthermore, staff need to be quickly and easily able to find information, and an advanced search capability is an important part of this.

Engaging Content And Interactive Features

Again these will enhance the overall experience for end users. Content that is straightforward, direct and appealing to staff members will make the intranet more useful and relevant. Long-winded or stilted content is likely to be perceived as being boring and irrelevant by staff, so it’s worthwhile spending time on getting the content right. And content is not just about the written word either. Including visual elements with graphics, videos and photos will enhance the overall appeal of your intranet. Also, make sure you have mechanisms in place to regularly review and refresh the content and visuals.

Bring a fun element to the intranet experience by including interactive features such as quizzes, blogs, and discussion forums or more social features including messaging and activity walls. This will also reinforce the idea that the intranet is a two-way channel of communication. Staff can feed their views up to management and the board as well as be receivers of corporate information.

Staff training and induction is a critical part of the implementation process. Making sure that staff understand how to use the intranet and fully appreciate what it can do is fundamental to ensuring it is widely adopted. Careful thought and consideration, therefore, needs to go into this process.

An excellent way to introduce the concept of the intranet portal is through interactive tutorials. Instead of passively watching a how-to video, interactive tutorials guide a user through completing an actual task on a step-by-step basis. So, for example, the tutorial could take a staff member through the process of setting up a new supplier, processing a new order or submitting a claim for expenses. It’s a great way to introduce staff to the capabilities of the intranet and can subsequently be used for induction purposes when new members join the team.

Intranet Go-Live Date

the go-live date is not just about the launch of the intranet, it’s also about setting a date from when key documents and processes will only be available on the intranet. Making the intranet indispensable to staff in this way is one technique to guarantee its early adoption. Furthermore, senior managers should model the same expectations, and there should be no more all staff emails sent around the organization from the go-live date. The intranet should be the indisputable source of company news or key announcements going forward.

Post-Implementation Adoption Tips

If, however, you neglected to fully consider an adoption strategy at the outset, there are still steps that you can take to ensure that the intranet portal is fully utilized by staff and achieves its total potential.

Email Digest

This is particularly useful for those organizations were the usage of the intranet might have slipped and where staff need to be reminded of its value. A personalized weekly digest of the most popular or relevant content on the intranet is a great way to entice staff into exploring the portal.

Once staff have logged on to the intranet again, seeing a customized news feed with all the updates relevant to them, their team or job function will make the intranet experience meaningful and relevant. Make sure that news feeds are refreshed on a daily basis so that staff want to keep logging on.

Personalized Company Intranet

While you’re at it, why not allow staff more options to customize their intranet experience. This could involve user alerts and subscriptions, personal bookmarks, employee status updates or customizable staff member profiles. Allowing staff to take control of the intranet increases their sense of ownership. Staff members that feel as though they have a stake in the company intranet are more likely to want to continue using it.

Company Intranet Competitions

Never underestimate the inducement that a good old-fashioned competition offers! Perhaps you could invite staff views on a catchy name for your relaunched intranet? All participants could be entered into a prize draw and the winner publicized on the intranet news feed.

Reset The Go-live Date

A moratorium on paper-based forms and systems is guaranteed to get employees using the intranet again. And so if all else fails, reset the go-live date from when key documents and business processes will only be available online. Staff that have to book their annual leave through the intranet will quickly start to log on again!

And once they’ve had the experience of the personalized news feeds and maybe an interactive tutorial or two, employees will be reminded of the inherent value of the intranet and how it makes their working lives easier.

Company Intranet: Why An Intranet Steering Group Is A Must

You launched your company intranet over a year ago and office life has been wonderful ever since. The company intranet has lived up to its promise: staff members are more engaged and productive, internal communications have improved and business processes have been streamlined. If that’s the case with your company intranet then well done. The challenge now though is to sustain that great result and ensure that your intranet continues to deliver even after the initial wave of enthusiasm has waned. The key to doing just that is to set up a company intranet steering group. In this post, we look at how an intranet steering group will help to ensure your company intranet remains relevant, dynamic and fit for purpose.

What Is A Company Intranet Steering Group?

In essence, an intranet steering group is responsible for managing and monitoring the company intranet on an ongoing basis. The group should be tasked with ensuring the intranet continues to meet the original aims and objectives assigned. And the group can also revise these goals in the light of changing circumstances and business needs.

Who Should Be Represented On The Group?

It’s important that the steering group is chaired by a senior manager. This gives the group the necessary organizational authority and ensures that the members can get things done. Each business is different, but as well as senior management representation your intranet steering group should also include a broad range of end users. The input of those staff who use the intranet every day is fundamental to the steering group’s monitoring and development role. What’s more, being inclusive will allow you to more easily assess the overall impact of the intranet at all levels. Depending on the intranet software selected (Note from Ed: with MyHub you don’t need help from IT in most cases) it’s also a good idea to have a representative from the IT department or a staff member with technical know-how to deal with any technological queries and provide guidance as to what’s achievable with the company intranet. Ideally, your intranet steering group should be large enough to easily get things done and have adequate representation, but not so big that it becomes unwieldy and hard to manage.

What Are The Steering Group’s Terms Of Reference?

The specific terms of reference will vary from organization to organization but are likely to include some or all of the following elements:

• Monitoring the progress of the company intranet against its aims and objectives.
• Revising the aims and objectives in the light of changing business needs.
• Keeping up to date with technological developments that could impact on the company intranet.
• Requesting new intranet functionality to meet the ongoing needs of users.
• Ensuring adequate staff training and onboarding for new team members.
• Managing the company intranet budget and authorizing expenditure.

In essence, the key purpose of the steering group is to maintain organizational oversight of the intranet and provide a direct link between management and end users.

What Difference Will A Steering Group Make?

If you’re still unconvinced about the need for an intranet steering group in your organization, then here are some reasons as to why you may want to think again.

The intranet steering group will continually develop the company intranet. Having made the investment of time and resources in getting your intranet off the ground in the first place, it would be foolish not to ensure that it continues to meet your business needs. The intranet steering group will be charged with making sure the intranet grows and develops along with your business and that its functionality is still relevant. Without such a group it will be difficult to have the same level of oversight, co-ordination and sense of common purpose on an organization-wide basis. And you also run the risk of your company intranet becoming irrelevant and redundant to end users.

The intranet steering group will ensure your intranet is the best it can be. Here at MyHub, we find that businesses which allow their intranets to operate in an organizational vacuum without any central oversight often are not getting the best out them. The company intranet should be seen almost as a living organism that is constantly evolving rather than a one-off that you install and forget about. With an intranet steering group, your business is continually evaluating the intranet’s performance as well as suggesting improvements as a result of feedback from end users or changing business needs. In fact, maximizing your return on investment and ensuring that the company intranet is the best it can be are easily achieved with an intranet steering group.

The intranet steering group promotes staff engagement and inclusivity. The group is a great way to ensure that when it comes to the intranet, everyone within the organization has a contribution to make and a formal mechanism for getting their voice heard. With representation from across the business, the reach of the steering group is extensive and inclusive. Any staff member with a good idea should be encouraged to put it forward to the steering group for consideration. What’s more, in its monitoring role the steering group will be in regular contact with end users to make sure that the intranet is still meeting their needs and is continuing to achieve its goals. In short, the intranet steering group is a great vehicle for staying in touch with end users and engaging with staff generally.

The intranet steering group will monitor ongoing training and development needs. Another key task of the steering group is to have oversight of the training needs of staff members in relation to the intranet. So if for example, new functionality is introduced in response to changing business needs then the steering group will have the responsibility for ensuring all staff members are trained in how to use it so that they continue to get the most out of the intranet. Likewise, the steering group will be responsible for the onboarding of new employees in how to operate the intranet.

Get The Most Out Of The Intranet

All in all, an intranet steering group will tick a number of important boxes for your business:

• improved monitoring of the effectiveness of the company intranet
• increased return on investment
• enhanced employee engagement.

And it will make sure that your company intranet grows with your business and continues to be fit for purpose.

6 Ways To Measure If Yours Is Working For You

A successful company intranet implementation doesn’t just stop on the launch day. No, all the best intranets have made mechanisms for ongoing monitoring and review integral to their success. How else can you keep track of how your company intranet is performing and whether or not it is still fit for purpose? And so if you are about to launch a company intranet – whether it be a WordPress intranet or a cloud-based intranet template – then this article is essential reading. Here we share six ways to help you ensure your company intranets continue to work for you long after the launch day.

1. Set Up A Company Intranet Steering Group

It’s a good idea to have some form of cross-departmental steering group that is responsible for all things relating to the intranet, including monitoring and reviewing performance. Representation from across the organization means that all teams, offices or departments have a voice and also have ownership of the company intranet. Make the chair of the group a senior manager or executive team member and this will give the group sufficient authority and the necessary means to get the job done. What’s more, assigning the responsibility for intranet performance to the steering group ensures that there is some organizational accountability.

2. Revisit The Original Aims And Objectives

The business environment in which every company operates is constantly changing and evolving. New markets, products or innovations can change the face of your operations and the way in which you conduct business. The aims and objectives you set for your company intranet may have been perfect for that particular point in time. However, eighteen months or five years down the track and it may be that the intranet isn’t the perfect fit that it once was. All the best company intranets regularly review their aims and objectives to make sure that they are still relevant and that the intranet continues to reach its full potential.

3. Obtain User Feedback

Ultimately it’s users that are in the best position to give you feedback as to the functionality and usefulness of the company intranet. They are after all the ones using it on a daily basis. You can engage with users in a variety of ways – from surveys on the company intranet to focus groups or stakeholder interviews for a more detailed analysis. Whatever option you select, the important thing is to regularly check with staff members that the company intranet is continuing to perform as it should. What’s more, users can also offer some great suggestions on improvements or innovations that might help your intranet to perform better. And while you’re undertaking all this consultation with staff members, you’ll also be ticking the increased employee engagement box which is a welcome bonus!

4. Review Your Company Intranet User Statistics

It’s important to have a handle on which staff members are regularly using the intranet and which are not. Take the time to regularly review intranet usage statistics as it can highlight any blockages that might need to be addressed. For instance, if your usage statistics are showing that the finance team is using the company intranet only 50% of the time, then clearly there’s an issue that needs to be addressed. Perhaps the finance department need to automate more of their business processes on the company intranet or maybe there’s a staff training issue at play.  Usage statistics are, therefore, a useful tool in obtaining a comprehensive picture of the intranet’s performance.

5. Undertake Regular Content Audits

An often overlooked but very important aspect of company intranet performance is checking that the content is up to date and relevant. You know yourself there’s nothing more irritating than accessing a website that clearly hasn’t been updated for several years. So it is with intranet users. If the content remains static or worse still is hopelessly out of date, then users will simply log off. Undertaking an annual audit of the content is a good way to highlight any obsolete information as well as identifying any broken links, and disconnected or duplicated pieces of content. Keeping the content engaging and pertinent will go a long way to securing the intranet’s continued relevance.

6. Consult With Your Company Intranets Supplier

If you utilize a cloud-based intranet template then it’s a good idea to consult with your intranet supplier on a regular basis. It’s likely that your supplier will be constantly reviewing and updating their product and they may well have insights that you haven’t even considered. Fresh or improved functionality could have a positive impact on your intranet’s performance in new and innovative ways.

If you are using a WordPress intranet then it’s trickier as there is no supplier as such that you can consult with. There is, however, a great online community of WordPress intranet users that you can use as a resource and as a means of keeping up to date with the latest plugins or WordPress themes. But there is more of an onus on you to undertake the research and to educate yourself than there is with the cloud intranet template option.

Ensure An Adequate Return On Investment

As with any company investment whether it be hardware, software or equipment, it’s essential to be able to demonstrate an adequate return on the investment. Regular monitoring and review of the company intranet’s performance is an important aspect of this. Having made the original investment, it makes sense to ensure that the company intranet grows and develops alongside your business and continues to address your organizational needs.  These tips, together with a strong and focussed intranet steering group, will ensure your company intranet stays on track.

The Modern Company Intranet: Main Takeaways

Today’s intranets are a world away from earlier versions. Under one virtual roof, employees have all the tools they need to connect, communicate, collaborate, and much more.

Even better, they provide seamless access to the external enterprise systems that also power your business.

So, if you are looking for a new intranet or want to revamp an existing one, the modern version has much to offer. Improved communication, enhanced productivity, and streamlined processes are within reach with a company intranet digital HQ.

About MyHub

We are a leading provider of intranet portals. Our beautifully designed, easy-to-use platforms power the digital workplace in organizations worldwide. Packed full of the daily essential tools, MyHub integrates seamlessly with popular third-party apps and productivity suites. Our company intranet is also available as a dedicated mobile app.

Find out why we are rated highly on independent review sites with a free demo or 14-day trial.