If your organization has struggled to support an intranet, you may question whether or not you even need one.
With a shift to hybrid work (where there is a mix of both in office and work from home), there are many reasons that organizations should consider investing in an intranet that is useful, contains relevant and up-to-date information and can connect users.
Common challenges with an Intranet
The most common issues we see with intranets is related to not being able to find information when you need it. Users also become frustrated with widgets that are never updated or news features that never share anything current or relevant. Usability and the user experience will determine whether users rely on your intranet or despise of it.
Some organizations are overwhelmed when they weigh what might need to happen to get users back to using (and supporting) an intranet. Some see that the damage is already done and that without content contributors, governance, and solid information architecture, the intranet will fail to gain traction.
Hybrid work is here to stay
Hybrid work is more acceptable today than it was pre-pandemic. There was a time where many organizations would require all employees to work on site, that is no longer the case. With employees being dispersed, an intranet is key to connecting users to the organization. It is just not practical for users to rely on one-to-one communications to get commonly used forms or gain access trusted published content. Users will also expect that critical information will be easily accessible and accurate. An internet can help facilitate this.
Many organizations saw the pandemic as a catalyst to improve their intranet and enable employees to stay connected to the organization, regardless of where they may be working from. We recommend that organizations start small, have a vision, and develop an online portal that users will find valuable.
Digital transformation and modernizing the workplace
Best-in-class organizations succeed in doing even more with their intranet that simply communicating and sharing information. Organizations that have made a commitment to digital transformation should have an intranet that reflects that shift. The intranet should be a dynamic portal that features rich content, branded promotion of the company’s vision, mission and values, and offers greater visibility into the organization.
A place for onboarding
When organizations that have embraced hybrid work bring on new employees, some (if not all) of the employee’s onboarding will be completed away from the office. The intranet can be the one place that employees can find all that they need to acquaint themselves with the organization.
At Kiefer, we have included features into our intranet experience that will support the onboarding process. We have moved all HR forms to our intranet and built sites that have videos and training materials that we use when bringing on a new employee. Through the onboarding process, new employees become more familiar with the company and the intranet becomes a trusted source for enterprise content.
A place for senior level communications
Hybrid workplaces adds complexity to a challenge that often exists even in organizations where employees work on-site, leadership visibility. Intranets give leaders a platform to communicate policies, vision, and success. Effective intranets even enable users to interact in a more social way with leadership.
Intranets can be used to publish short blogs by executives that have immediate visibility across the entire organization. The ability for leadership to effectively share information helps in building company culture and improves senior level visibility.
Modern intranet experiences are important in supporting organizations with remote and distributed workers. Kiefer has a team of experts and a proven methodology that can help you in building your organization’s intranet. Contact us to learn more about how Kiefer might assist you in deploying an intranet your employees can appreciate.