Building a Successful Intranet
Launching a Successful Intranet
• Key #1: Balance Competing Needs
• Key #2: Focus Your Efforts
• Key #3: Keep it Simple
• Key #4: Commit to the Cause
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Key #1Balancing Competing Needs
User Experience: Don’t forget the humans!•Who are your users? What are their needs? •What features or functionality sets assist the most or the most important segments?
Content is King•Who will own the creation, management and maintenance of content? •What content gaps exist now? How does your content support KPIs and goals?
Technology: Take the Long View•As you build the platform for the Intranet, will it accommodate future iterations or needs? How will technology prevent one-off websites or solutions? •How can we strike a balance between automating processes without overcomplicating them?
Key #1 Balance Competing Needs
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Key #2Focus Your Efforts
Productivity
Community
Self-Service
Maintenance
• Find and leverage resources that support employee task completion• Provide access to enterprise applications• Assist in cross-departmental knowledge sharing and management
• Help new employees navigate the organization and how it works• Communicate across departments and business units• Share knowledge and leverage the expertise of colleagues
• Help employees identify and obtain relevant training• Learn and follow official processes and procedures• Manage their relationship with the organization
• Keep abreast of current initiatives• Find out about events, promote one’s own events• Access company news, alerts, deadlines and announcements
• Update and evolve the site• Maintain consistency in look, feel and language• Better accommodate new functionality without creating “one off” systems
Internal Communications
Key #2 Focus your Efforts
Personalization or Customization
• Use Active Directory or other mechanism to detect users. Differ content based on role, geography, hierarchy, department
• Allow users to explicitly personalize their experience
Key #2 Focus your Efforts – Productivity Examples
Bundling Data/Content Across Platforms
• With many “home grown” content management systems in place or ad hoc sites and platforms, bundle content logically and display it in one place
Key #2 Focus your Efforts – Productivity Examples
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Key #3Keep it Simple
Key #3 Keep it Simple
Search & Guided Navigation• #1 issue with intranets
• Mega Menus
• Faceted Search
• Renewed emphasis on taxonomy and filter search
Clean Layout• Avoid overwhelming users with
content.
• Don’t worry about being “above the fold”
• Personalization/customization can help prioritize content by user group
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Key #4Commit to the Cause
Intranet teams are growing. Still only 1.4% of an organization’s entire employee pool, it’s double from last year
Key #4 Commit to the Cause
Key #4 Commit to the Cause
Communicate• Intranet teams should not be “behind the curtain”
• Communicate with internal divisions and departments about upcoming enhancements, features
• Ask users for feedback regularly
Govern• Create rules for where content “lives” and ownership
• Regularly review analytics and search metrics
• Review taxonomy for enhancements
• Create content style guide to set tone and educate users on best practices
• Set expiration alerts on content to ensure it is accurate, relevant for users
In Conclusion
• Key #1: Focus Your Efforts
• Key #2: Weigh the Impact
• Key #3: Keep it Simple
• Key #4: Commit to the Cause
Contact Information:
Meghan Glasgow7901 Jones Branch Drive, Suite 400McLean, VA [email protected]
www.navigationarts.com
Enhanced Search Functionality
• Federated search• Introduce or enhance
faceted search capability
• Improve employee profile or skills expertise search capability
• List most commonly searched terms
Key #1 Focus your Efforts – Productivity Examples
Faceted Search Personalization Aggregation