10 Indicators that It’s Time for a New Intranet

It may be time to consider shopping for a new intranet. If you are unsure if you need an internal communication platform, these 10 common indicators can help you make the decision whether a change is necessary for your digital workplace.

Companies introduce intranets to enable urgent communication, bond their workforce, foster cooperation, and offer employees the information, resources, and tools they need. When managed and regularly updated, these intranets can produce powerful results, as seen in our ebook about victorious intranets.

Nevertheless, since an intranet is an ecosystem that combines technical aspects and human input, its performance depends on a wide range of variables. Whether you’re utilizing ready-to-use software like Creative Social Intranet or a customized platform developed internally or by a third party, periodically reviewing the features, operations, and usefulness it offers to the company is wise.

Accepting that the solution you’ve invested in is not functioning properly is not easy. This phenomenon can be elucidated by psychological theories such as the sunk cost fallacy and commitment bias. Steering clear of this snare is key if you are to reap rewards from your intranet.

Here are ten tell-tale signs that it’s time to retire your current intranet and replace it with one that will assist your organization in achieving its goals.

Ten reasons why you require a new intranet

1. Your company is still divided into silos.

If departments within an organization are failing to communicate and cooperate effectively due to a rigid system of departmental siloes, the organization’s intranet is not living up to its potential. Such circumstances can lead to a lack of cohesion in purpose and processes. The best approach for breaking down these siloes and fostering connection and teamwork between individuals is to invest in an effective intranet.

An intranet capable of promoting cooperation should possess features such as displaying user profiles that list areas of expertise, recommending dynamic content based on an individual’s interests, providing simple and user-friendly options for content publication and dissemination, and providing individuals with content tailored to their interests via the most effective channels

2. Your existing intranet does not serve as a productivity tool.

An intranet isn’t just for communication and sharing knowledge. It can be an incredibly useful tool for streamlining productivity and creating a smooth digital employee experience. In the digital workspace, employees are constantly switching between different apps and resources, leading to tedious processes and an uninspiring atmosphere.

Two elements that will contribute to a successful digital employee experience include:

• Integrating third-party applications such as Slack, Salesforce, Microsoft 365, and Google Workspace
• Single sign-on (SSO) authentication lets staff access their integrated applications without needing to sign in every time they open the intranet. This saves time and enhances security.

3. Employees are being turned off by a lack of personalization.

For any communications professional, the success of an intranet depends heavily on the relevance of the content provided. Therefore, when crafting the homepage, fresh news and content should be the priority. But with a variety of users present, it’s not possible to ensure that all content is suitable for everyone. A solution with personalized content capabilities is needed to ensure every employee receives a tailored experience.

To achieve this, the following features can be utilized:

• Dynamic User Groups (known as Personas) that allow targeting of specific communications to select employee groups
• Tailored intranet homepages based on factors like department, brand, and location
• Automated content recommendations push out content according to user interests.

4. Your company’s morale is low.

A new intranet can provide an invaluable resource for organizations seeking to enhance the morale of their employees. From broadcasting inspiring stories about the impact of the organization to highlighting noteworthy accomplishments of employees, intranet software offers many possibilities for building morale. Three particular methods include utilizing rewards and recognition, social features like comment sections and forums, and providing an outlet for employee voices.

At Creative Social Intranet, for instance, employees are given the opportunity to gamify recognition of each other by trading digital donuts that can then be accumulated and converted into tangible rewards. Social intranet features like a homepage feed where blogs and updates can be shared, liked, and commented on also make it easier for leaders and senior management to communicate and foster a two-way dialogue with employees.

Finally, discussion groups can serve as a space to further encourage community and give employees the chance to converse on work-related and non-work-related topics in an appropriate way.

5. Your existing intranet does not accurately represent your internal branding.

For maximum adoption and engagement, an intranet design should reflect the branding and identity of the organization, something our friends at Nielsen Norman emphasize. When working with a vendor to make that happen, it’s important to ensure that they have:

• In-house design specialists with a knowledge and appreciation of your values, enabling them to create an ideal look and feel.
• The ability to make customizations necessary to reflect any alterations to the brand.
• A facility for thematic customization, allowing you to inject fun, such as makeovers to mark occasions like Pride, Black History Month, and Women’s History Month.

6. Your existing intranet does not accurately represent your internal branding.

Measuring your ROI can be a challenge. Organizations typically expect improved efficiency, engagement, company culture, well-being, and advocacy from their intranet. If any of these aspects are not being addressed, then the intranet is not delivering on its ROI.

Our ROI calculator provides a simple way for you to calculate how Creative Social Intranet can be customizable to an out-of-the-box solution that could help you optimize your investment.

7. The IT Team is put under pressure to maintain and update your intranet.

If frequent modifications to your internal system need to be made, and your IT personnel are already swamped with work, you know how burdensome that can be. If the intranet has been built by the company, it can be a continuing strain for IT. Here are the qualities that the IT and Communications teams should look for on an intranet:

• Robust security measures and the latest compliance certificates from the vendor.
• An outline of software upgrades and new functions for the platform.
• Low-code or no-code technology allows non-tech professionals to create and adjust pages quickly through simple drag-and-drop techniques, instead of relying on IT personnel to do time-consuming coding.
• A virtual spot that stores IT knowledge and enables self-service.
• Direct vendor support when IT is needed.

8. Your intranet isn’t truly an intranet.

Many organizations turn to Creative Social Intranet when looking for an alternative to a Microsoft SharePoint intranet, as the latter is not designed to function as a comprehensive internal communications platform. To find out more about the options available, take a look at our webinar on the subject. Despite Microsoft’s recent modifications to SharePoint in an attempt to repurpose it as a workable intranet, it remains essentially a file storage solution. Without offering multichannel communications for dispersed workplaces, it does not meet the basic expectations of internal communicators.

SharePoint may appear to be an intranet, but in reality, it presents some notable restrictions. For instance, customizing the system can be quite challenging, as finding and hiring SharePoint developers may prove costly. Moreover, the platform’s personalization features cannot compare to those found in purpose-built intranet software. Content updating and transferring are also less simple than with tailored solutions, and new features may be imposed on the platform, thus denying users any decision-making capabilities. Conversely, Interact offers users the possibility to choose whether or not to use any newly introduced features.

9. Your existing intranet is not receiving enough usage.

To generate meaningful engagement within an organization, the platform used must have the capability to facilitate balanced dialogue between employees and the executive board. Furthermore, if employees are bombarded with an excess of content, it can become difficult to decipher what is important.
In order to optimize engagement, an intranet should offer:

• A forum for two-way communication on the homepage that features posts and discussions generated by employees.
• Social capabilities such as the ability to comment on posts or ‘like’ posts created by other employees.
• A set of enhanced permissions would grant internal influencers and brand advocates the ability to produce captivating content that contributes to the betterment of corporate culture.

10. Your intranet is excluding employees.

Your organization should ensure everyone, regardless of location, has access to an intranet they love. Those who cannot access it, such as diskless workers, may feel alienated, reducing their willingness to engage with the intranet. While many organizations have yet to extend access to those who do not have the luxury of a computer, modern intranet solutions such as Creative Social Intranet have revolutionized the “intranet everywhere” approach.

What should you be looking for? Firstly, a mobile-responsive design so the intranet looks great on all smartphones and tablets. Secondly, a simple and intuitive employee app to provide effortless access. Finally, digital signage for displaying intranet content to employees who may not have any devices available.

Are you ready for a modern intranet?

Intranets have gone through many evolutions, from the clunky document storage systems that only the older among us will remember, to the company notice board-style solutions that had document storage bolted on but were noticeably lean when it came to features. The latter is still surprisingly common today, but there really is no excuse for a no-frills intranet that fails to communicate company missions and values, struggles to generate engagement, creates headaches for both IT and IC teams, and doesn’t give your employees a voice.

With the insights we’ve provided into what an intranet can and should do for your organization, we hope you can make an informed decision about whether or not it’s time to upgrade to modern intranet software.