An intranet is a must-have tool for any business that wants to keep their employees connected and productive. However, not all solutions are created equal.
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1. Collaboration
Collaboration is vital in a digital workplace, and your intranet should support the tools your team uses. For example, look for an intranet that integrates seamlessly with chat systems, allowing your employees to talk in real time and work together regardless of where they are physically located.
Many systems also provide document collaboration features, where an individual can edit and share key documents within the platform. In addition, an intranet should allow workers to find colleagues through a dynamic company directory that lets them search by name, location, or department. It’s also helpful to have Q&A forums where employees can ask questions of managers or peers.
Many organizations create an intranet request list that lists the features they want to see in a new system. This can be helpful, but it’s important to think of the end goals that your intranet will address rather than simply listing capabilities. This will help you avoid implementing a feature set that is not useful for your organization. It will also help you identify potential alternatives that can address those end goals.
2. Communication
An intranet is a powerful internal communications tool that can connect everyone from leadership to frontline workers. However, if the platform is not updated regularly or if employees don’t know how to use it, the benefits will be limited.
Having a company intranet that is both user-friendly and easy to navigate will help to reduce the time it takes to find information. A clean design, clear information hierarchy, and mobile apps that are fully-featured will make the process of using the intranet much easier.
A good intranet will also eliminate siloes by allowing subject matter experts to share their knowledge with the company, and it should have tools such as an auto governance engine that manages data effectively. This will ensure that the right information is always available and stale content is removed.
If you are looking to upgrade or replace your company intranet, make sure to do your research. Consider employee recommendations, look at the solutions other companies are using, and check out reviews. Firstup can help you select the best platform to reach, engage, and communicate with your workforce to work as one.
3. Employee Engagement
A modern intranet must provide a platform for employees to share and discuss business ideas. This includes discussion forums, idea submissions, and a comment system. Ideally, it should also include gamification features like scoreboards, levels, and achievement badges to engage employees. These tools turn the intranet into a virtual water cooler and foster employee engagement.
It’s also important to have an interactive company calendar and employee directory, as well as a way for users to share documents with one another. This is especially helpful for businesses with remote teams. The intranet should also be accessible via mobile so workers can check it on the go.
Identify and encourage the intranet’s power users by making them community leaders. They are the ones who will be “talking up” the platform over coffee and lunch, and they should be rewarded for their enthusiasm. You should also consider conducting a survey or other means of gathering feedback about the intranet. This helps companies know whether or not it is meeting the needs of the workforce. It can also be used to find out how the solution could be improved to boost employee engagement and adoption.
4. Company Culture
A company intranet can help create a cohesive work culture by offering tools that facilitate transparent communication between workers and leadership. In addition to broadcasting organizational news and announcements, it can also host employee blogs and stories, fostering engagement and creating a sense of community within the organization.
A modern intranet can provide a centralized repository of information that is easy to navigate and provides an efficient way for employees to find the answers they need. It can include information on corporate policies and benefits, employee directories, a news feed and other resources that can improve internal communications and increase productivity.
While an intranet can be an essential tool for boosting company culture, it is important to understand that it must be part of a holistic solution to workplace engagement challenges. As workers become more distributed, intranets must be able to reach them where they are—and avoid adding to the information overload that contributes to low worker engagement. While an intranet refresh is a great idea, it should be paired with a chat and collaboration application that connects workers to each other and their goals.
5. Organizational Change
The best intranet portals provide tools that encourage worker participation, helping employees feel more involved and connected to their company. This can be done by providing forums, surveys and other tools that allow for transparency between the company and its workers.
By bringing everything together in one central location, the intranet allows companies to streamline communication by eliminating email chains and allowing all workers to easily find information they need. This also provides a single source of truth for key company processes like HR open enrollment and IT help desk requests, decreasing confusion and wasteful delays that result from emails.
With the right solution, it’s possible to create an intranet that helps to foster employee engagement and drives measurable business success. Start by asking your people what they want from their intranet and then find the right solution to achieve that. With a quick implementation and a user-friendly interface, an enterprise intranet will become an integral part of your company’s work culture. This will give you a clear advantage when it comes to boosting your organization’s performance and productivity.