Best Practices for Implementing an Enterprise Intranet
An intranet is a computer network that is implemented within an organization. Organizations use intranets to share information, resources and services with the help of this internal network. An organizational intranet is mostly composed of a number of websites and collaboration tools. It may also be used to host the legacy information system and data.
In order to implement an intranet within your organization, you should know the specific purpose of this network within your organization. You should also analyze the scope of future growth of this internal network and plan things accordingly. Careful planning of the corporate intranet is important for its success.
In this article, I will go over some of the best practices to help you in implementing a successful enterprise intranet within your organization:
Buy vs. Build:
First of all, you will need to decide if you want to build your intranet internally or use the services of third party developers. Generally, it is much less expensive to use the services of third party service providers. However, if you have a skilled IT team and other resources, then you can use the services of the internal employees.
Involve Your Staff:
Intranet is for the benefit of the employees of your organization. Therefore, you must involve your staff in the process of implementing an intranet. This can help you make the intranet popular among the employees. You can also make a small committee of staff that can guide in the making of your enterprise intranet. Invite and welcome suggestion from everybody, but let the core committee take final decisions.
Choose the right intranet software product:
It is also important to choose the right software for your intranet as it will have a big impact on the functioning of the network in the future. Consider the product that is within your budgets. Also, go over the licensing and other costs associated with using a particular product. Your core committee can analyze this information and make the final decision.
Make the intranet informative and user friendly:
If your intranet is informative and user friendly, it will be used by your employees regularly. Make the categories and sites simple and appealing for the users. You can keep commonly used information like telephone directories, email addresses, help desk information, organization forms, user manuals, organization charts, announcement site, event photos etc. to make your intranet attractive. It is also better to make the intranet less restrictive. Give everybody a chance to publish content on the intranet. This will instill a sense of ownership among the users.
Once your intranet is up and running, you will need to maintain it properly. Make sure that your intranet does not become stale and boring with the passage of time. Publish new content regularly to ensure that your intranet is serving its purpose and is being used by employees across all departments. Intranet is a very useful tool in organizations. If it is implemented properly, it can help employees connect with the organization.
Bjorn O'Connor is a passionate technology fan who loves life, coffee and drums.
Category Article Enterprise, Implementing, Intranet, Practices
