planning-and-deploying-a-successful-intranet by CWC Group

PLANNING AND DEPLOYING A SUCCESSFUL INTRANET EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PLANNING, DEVELOPING AND DEPLOYING A SUCCESSFUL, USER CENTRIC INTRANET

CONTENTS

Introduction

.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Part 1: The Business Case Business benefits

1.1

How quickly will ROI be achieved?

1.6

More than just a document store - moving to a portal

1.7

2.1

Identify Staff and business needs

2.2

Determine Intranet Goals Build versus Buy

1.3

How will an Intranet benefit different departments?

Part 2: Planning

1.0

What to Expect from an Intranet Supplier ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 2.4 Hosting versus In-house

Establishing an Intranet Project Team Top 7 Intranet Features Intranet Structure

2.6

2.7 2.8

Branding Your Intranet

Ongoing Training & Guidance Part 3: The Launch

2.4

2.10 2.10

3.1

Ideas for Launch: Making your Intranet a success from the very start ................................................................................................................................................................... 3.1 Creating Enthusiasm for your Intranet .................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 3.6 Part 4: Maintaining Effectiveness

4.1

Set targets for increasing efficiency .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 4.1 Phase the Intranet ................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 4.2 Re-launching your Intranet Summary

4.4

5.0

Intranet Planning Checklist ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ 6.0

INTRODUCTION

This report is intended to provide an overview of key considerations when planning your corporate intranet. These guidelines are equally appropriate for organisations that currently have an intranet (and may be looking to redevelop it) and for organisations that are implementing an intranet for the first time.

Intranets have been evolutionary over the past few

A useful Intranet requires an appealing, easy to use

decades. Now their ever increasing popularity in companies

interface, integrating applications with appropriate

worldwide can be attributed to the intranet's ability to bring

security features, the ability to integrate new applications

real bottom line benefits to all industries by increasing

easily, documentation that provides help for users and

efficiency and cutting costs. An intranet can be a valuable

applications that can be easily maintained and upgraded.

and effective business tool for an organisation. It can be a strategic asset that supports key business processes,

A well planned and thought out Intranet can really

improvements in efficiency as well as greater staff and

revolutionise the way your company does business. It can

customer satisfaction.

certainly change the way your employees interact and positively impact all your business processes resulting in

Defined simply:

measurable business savings and a range of other benefits.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;An Intranet allows employees to communicate, search and share company information via a web browserâ&#x20AC;?

Intranets give companies the power to manage in new ways. But taking advantage of the opportunities requires

However, nowadays, Intranets are far more than just a

shifting views from managing things to managing

communication tool. Today's solutions are increasingly seen

knowledge and information flows. Creating an Intranet

as broader productivity tools that include more process-

that achieves all of your company's objectives AND meets

specific business applications and management tools. It is

your business requirements is a complex task requiring a

important that when planning your intranet you aim to

wide range of skills.

develop a user centric intranet that not only provides employees with an indispensable tool to share information,

The following sections will help you plan, develop and

manage knowledge and disseminate news but also equips

deploy your corporate intranet.

them with access to business applications and management tools to further increase efficiency. Frequently, corporate intranets have difficult navigation schemes, unwieldy search results, are difficult to maintain and update resulting in information that is out of date. This confuses and frustrates users who soon lose confidence in the intranet and usage falls away.

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ÂŠ 2008 Odyssey Interactive

PLANNING AND DEPLOYING A SUCCESSFUL INTRANET PART 1: THE BUSINESS CASE

PART 1: THE BUSINESS CASE

In this section we look at some key areas where Return on Investment (ROI) can be measured and illustrate how a successful Intranet could pay you back in as little as ten months and how intranets can support the different areas within a business.

BUSINESS BENEFITS The most difficult part about trying to justify the existence of an intranet is that you're trying to get management to invest hard cash for mostly soft returns.

ARE YOU TRYING TO BUILD A BUSINESS CASE FOR YOUR INTRANET?

These soft returns come in the form of improved employee productivity and self-sufficiency, higher staff morale, a higher level of inter-departmental collaboration and communication, and easing the process of information

Planning an intranet can be a daunting task, but we can help.

gathering and dissemination. Among the many intranet benefits, the most obvious are: Replacing Hard Copies

Tap into our expertise by logging into our Knowledge Centre and gain free access to a wealth of information and resources:

Intranets replace the rolling and cumulative costs associated with the printing, maintaining, distribution, and storing of hardcopy documents - and this is money that you're never going to see again. In terms of financial returns, this is the most quantifiable benefit. Reducing Time Spent Searching The amount of time that's spent - more than 20 percent of workers' time (that's eight hours in a normal 40-hour work week) according to knowledge management professionals - searching for information within an organisation or on the Internet can be drastically reduced when employees have a central "onestop shop" for corporate content. This will allow employees to focus more on their jobs rather than digging for information Reducing Duplication of Effort Intranets can be used as an open collaborative tool to coordinate the efforts of various departments, workgroups, and project teams. This will have the potential of creating unified knowledge community - a central environment for knowledge sharing and management - and will minimize duplication of both effort and content. Promoting Employee Self-Sufficiency Intranets improve employee productivity by allowing users to quickly access content without the need for third-party intermediaries who may be unavailable to help you when you need it most. Intranets act like self-service stations and empower users with the ability to find the information they're after without having to rely too heavily on others. Page | 1.1

ÂŠ 2008 Odyssey Interactive

For more information, visit: www.interact-intranet.co.uk/ knowledge

PART 1: THE BUSINESS CASE

When employees leave, knowledge stays. Employees come and go - they may transfer departments or leave the company entirely - and when they do, they will be taking all that knowledge they have accumulated over the years with them. An intranet allows an organisation to collect and store the knowledge and

‘‘

AN INTRANET ALLOWS AN ORGANISATION TO COLLECT AND STORE THE KNOWLEDGE AND

expertise of its employees, and gives it more permanence within the

EXPERTISE OF ITS

organisation.

EMPLOYEES, AND GIVES IT MORE

Improving Staff morale

‘‘

Keeping Knowledge Within the Organisation

Staff morale is generally increased when employers are seen as good

PERMANENCE WITHIN

employers. Help your staff feel part of the team by using the intranet to keep

THE ORGANISATION.

them updated on a regular basis with company news etc. Create incentive schemes that run on your Intranet. If staff do something well reward them and promote it on the Intranet. • You could have an area on the Intranet that is full of images of the company events. Don't just use your Intranet as a corporate tool - ensure you use it as a social networking tool as well. • Social networks - organisations are rapidly creating internal social networks to give greater exposure to the profiles and backgrounds of colleagues. As we use social networks outside of work, they start to become a more natural aspect of our at-work behaviour. Employees are coming to work expecting the same types of social networking resources at their desktop that they have at home. There are a number of business benefits to implementing social networking facilities: - Increase productivity - Improve internal communication - Improve internal collaboration - Improve employee morale and retention • Discussion Boards - promote these on the home page and enable people to share ideas.

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PART 1: THE BUSINESS CASE

HOW QUICKLY WILL ROI BE ACHIEVED? An Intranet will provide a business with many benefits across a wide spectrum, and not all of these can be evaluated with simple 'bottom line accounting' as

HOW MUCH WILL AN INTRANET SAVE YOUR ORGANISATION?

sometimes the positive impact can be secondary, causing improved performance that is difficult to directly measure. The main driving point for managers today is the need to ensure significant cost benefits. Intranets today are more commonly implemented for their real ability to increase efficiency and promote tremendous cost savings by making common forms and tasks available centrally and online. So, if you intend to increase efficiency, whilst driving down costs and at the same time considerably improving communication and collaboration among employees, then it seems that investment in an Intranet is the only way forward. With an Intranet companies can cut down the time that employees spend on routine communication tasks. By putting information on an Intranet employees can quickly and easily access documents, saving time. In addition an Intranet can help save costs. Starting with simple solutions such as a company directory (company phonebook) companies can cut down those costly printing and time consuming distribution costs. Measuring value and return on investment for internal business systems has always been important, but now organisations want to be assured that the systems they're spending money on offer a significant return. ROI has never been more vital than it is now. You need to be able to prove the business system is actually helping people do their jobs more efficiently.

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ÂŠ 2008 Odyssey Interactive

Use our interactive ROI calculator: For more information, visit: www.interact-intranet.co.uk/ knowledge

PART 1: THE BUSINESS CASE

The following worked example should help you see the benefits and key areas where ROI can be measured. The example is based on the following assumptions: 200 staff / Average Salary: £20K / 37.5 Hrs per week

REDUCING THE IT BURDEN Resulting in the decentralisation of content management enabling intranet users with varying IT abilities to update content, thus reducing the burden on the IT Team. Total time saved for IT is 3 hours per week x 52=156 man hrs per year = 20.8 man days/year.

TOTAL SAVING PER YEAR: £1.5K

DECREASE STAFF TURNOVER More loyal, committed staff, because they feel that they are being kept informed of important developments. If a company can retain one member of staff per year we can estimate a saving of 15% of a salary in recruitment costs alone. Based on an average £20,000 salary this equates to a £3,000 saving plus an estimated £2,000 in training and administration costs.

TOTAL SAVING PER YEAR: £5.0K

MAKING DOCUMENTS MORE ACCESSIBLE Our studies show that if you could save 20% of the workforce only 5 mins per day searching for information such as staff phone numbers, recent policies, forms (such as absence, expenses, PO requisitions) this equates to a saving of 114 man days per year

TOTAL SAVING PER YEAR: £9.6K

EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF POLICIES AND PROCEDURES Policies and Procedures are stored on the intranet and profiled for quick search via the Google style search engine. On average the personnel manager would be asked a similar question every day regarding a policy e.g. maternity. If it takes an average 30 minutes per day to answer these questions and the Intranet reduced these by half the personnel manager will save 75 minutes per week equalling a saving of 8.5 man days per year.

TOTAL SAVING PER YEAR: £1.0K

STREAMLINE THE ABSENCE BOOKING PROCESS Manually it takes 1/2 a man hr to fully process an employee's holiday. Each employee takes around 5 holidays per year. Total time per year to process holidays is 1/2 x 5 x 200=500 man hrs = 66.7 man days. After implementing Interact each holiday now only takes 5 minutes (0.0833 man hrs) to process. Total time per year to process holidays is 0.0833x5x200 = 83.3 man/hrs = 11.1 man days. This is a saving of 55.6 man days

TOTAL SAVING PER YEAR: £4.6K

A well implemented Intranet can therefore save this organisation £21.7K. The typical cost of implementing a system that could achieve these time saving benefits would be £18K. This shows a successful intranet can achieve return on investment in as little as 10 months.

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PART 1: THE BUSINESS CASE

• Without a centralised Intranet portal it can take up to three times longer to perform the same tasks. • An intranet can maintain a good culture built on information exchange and

‘‘

AN INTRANET CAN MAINTAIN A GOOD CULTURE BUILT ON INFORMATION

‘‘

Some additional points for consideration when calculating ROI:

collaboration. Intranets make it easier to move information within the

EXCHANGE AND

organisation. Departments that once rarely interacted are now collaborating

COLLABORATION.

on big projects. The cost of winning and maintaining good client relationships will increase sales and bottom line profits. • The Intranet enhances employee retention. A recent HR Poll (Louis Harris and Associate Poll) says that among employees who say their company offers poor or no communication, 31% plan to leave within a year. Of those that say their company offers excellent communication, only 12% say they plan to leave. • Studies show that in-house Intranet development costs 43% more than an outsourced Intranet solution. • Just a 2% increase in productivity has been shown to net a 100% return on investment. Return on Investment of an Intranet is based not just on the time saving but the overall increase in performance that the Intranet will provide the company, by making it more efficient, increasing staff morale and improving communication flow. A successful intranet contains many factors such as reliability, expandability, ease of use, business integration and scalability. All these factors are reliant on the product; however, to achieve this success the product has to be backed by a

“Interact is making a big difference to the way we work at ADT. It helps us share information, news and knowledge and is helping to further develop our 'one ADT' culture. The Workflow and Forms Manager is an extremely sophisticated and powerful module that is simple and intuitive to use and will dramatically reduce our process times.”

superior supplier offering dedicated support, project teams, enterprise development resources, experience and future innovation.

Megan Simmons Internal Communications Manager UKI ADT Fire and Security

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PART 1: THE BUSINESS CASE

CUSTOMER SERVICE AND SUPPORT

HOW WILL AN INTRANET BENEFIT DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS?

SALES AND MARKETING

HUMAN RESOURCES

Different areas of a business have different requirements and time should be spent considering the different departments and functions of the business when bearing in mind the ways in which to make the best use of an Intranet. Although not all companies have the same structure this section highlights some typical applications that will provide 'food for thought' on how intranets can help support the different areas of a business.

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

MANAGEMENT AND EXECUTIVE FINANCE AND ACCOUNTS

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) • Software and Applications development • User Documentation • Technical Support - Help Desk Area • Network Management • Technical/Security Policies and Procedures HUMAN RESOURCES (HR) HR departments have been some of the most eager developers of Intranet applications by trying to find ways in which to aid their practices, working at ways in which to break down the large amounts of paper-based processes and documentation. • Staff Directory • Useful Links • Employee Handbook • Health and Safety Procedures • Recruitment and Job listings • Organisational structure charts • Tax Rules • Training Handbooks

• Order entry and tracking • Enable customer service personnel to resolve queries quickly and efficiently using knowledge base of frequently asked questions and issues • Achieve consistent service by providing call scripts to deal with different caller profiles • Speed up customer issue resolutions by matching customers to products, services and suppliers SALES AND MARKETING Fast access to the latest up to date information can be crucial for Sales and Marketing departments. It can make the difference between making and breaking a sale. Importantly it allows users to have fast and easy access to all marketing material and documentation. • Maintain consistent corporate identity by adding presentations, promotional materials and brochures • Give consistent pricing to customers and potential customers with an online price book

• Holiday Booking • Career Development and Training

• Keep staff informed by publishing internal news on the Intranet

CUSTOMER SERVICE AND SUPPORT • Assign and track support cases

• Gain an overall view of sales performance using the homepage

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manager module to ensure these are the on the Intranet homepage • Increase staff motivation by publishing success stories and customer testimonials MANAGEMENT AND EXECUTIVE • Internal Departmental Information • External Partnering Information • Meeting Minutes • Private Newsgroups to share ideas and discuss plans • KPIs • On line calendars • Provide instant access to stock market information, business news sites using RSS newsfeeds FINANCE AND ACCOUNTS • Accounts Payable/Receivable Support • Policies and Procedures • Budgeting • Expense Reports • Reporting and Forecasting • Asset Management As Accounting and Finance departments have some of the most crucial data it is critical that some of this information remains secure.

PART 1: THE BUSINESS CASE

MORE THAN JUST A DOCUMENT STORE MOVING TO A PORTAL

‘‘

YOUR INTRANET NEEDS TO BECOME THE STARTING POINT FOR

Nowadays, Intranets are far more than just a communication tool and document store. Today's solutions are increasingly seen as broader productivity tools that include more process-specific business applications and management tools.

ALL USERS TO FIND THE INFORMATION THEY NEED AND TO

centric, single source portal that not only provides employees with an indispensable tool to share information, manage knowledge and disseminate management tools to further increase efficiency. Your intranet needs to become the starting point for all users to find the information they need and to perform tasks that make their jobs easier. Your intranet can be the starting point to access network files and management tools. Also, paper processes, such as expenses and absence booking, can be automated on you intranet. Users can access specific information that is published on the intranet. E.g. your Finance Department could publish key accounts information, such as profit and loss figures, monthly management accounts etc., which can be accessed securely via the Intranet.

Staff Knowledge

Highlight Best Practice

Intranet Portal Social Networking

Business Management Systems

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Secure Documents

KPIs

PERFORM TASKS THAT MAKE THEIR JOBS EASIER.

news but also equips them with access to business applications and

Paper Processes

‘‘

It is important that when planning your intranet you aim to develop a user

Network Files, Policies & Procedures

PLANNING AND DEPLOYING A SUCCESSFUL INTRANET PART 2: PLANNING AND SELECTION

PART 2: PLANNING AND SELECTION

This section will help you make the best possible decisions to set you up with a framework for the future and help you avoid spending money on an embarrassing ineffectual white elephant.

It's important to make the right decision when selecting an intranet. Many expensive and avoidable mistakes can be made that can cost tens, if not thousands, of pounds. The key error is the failure to realise that an Intranet is not a short term system but something that your entire organisation is going to invest thousands of man hours into so your initial investment in the software is most likely a very small investment in the whole scale of things. This section will help you make the best possible decisions to set you up with a framework for the future and help you avoid spending money on an embarrassing ineffectual white elephant. This section takes you through the planning process from deciding whether to develop an in-house solution or to buy an 'off the shelf' package. Areas covered include: • Identify staff and business needs • Determine Intranet goals • Build versus Buy • A word about Microsoft Sharepoint • Typical Intranet Structure • Hosting versus in-house • Establishing an Intranet Project Team

“We were looking for a solution that would galvanise Calor's intranet, give site owners freedom to update their sites and at the same time take the IT Department out of the maintenance loop. The Odyssey Interact package looks modern and professional and we were able to quickly prove that it delivers to all of our requirements. The package itself and the benefits it can bring proved very easy to sell to our business users and board of directors. As supplier, Odyssey has been proactive, helpful and accommodating throughout our dealing so far”

• What to expect from an Intranet Supplier • What are the key features any Intranet should have?

Simon Went

• Ongoing support, Training and Guidance

Systems Development Manager

• Branding your intranet

Calor

• Linking to other systems Making the wrong decision and choosing the wrong approach or product for your intranet will cost you tens of thousand of pounds. Take advice and look at what similar companies are using. There are pros and cons to all of the approaches outlined but if you keep your eyes open and one eye on your future requirements you will make good decisions. Remember an Intranet is a long term system, and the smallest investment you will make in the whole system is the software. Choose wisely! Page | 2.1

PART 2: PLANNING AND SELECTION

IDENTIFY STAFF AND BUSINESS NEEDS An intranet must be useful for staff if it is to be successful. The information and services it provides must match staff and business needs. Techniques that can

SURVEY YOUR STAFF WITH OUR UNIQUE INTRANET SURVEY TOOL

be used to identify staff needs include: • Stakeholder interviews • Surveys • Focus groups • Workplace observation • Usability testing

Gain access to your own survey that is branded with your logo. Our Intranet Survey Tool allows you to gain a better understanding of how your current intranet is working and better plan your intranet relaunch.

• Usage statistics and search engine logs of intranets to be redeveloped.

DETERMINE INTRANET GOALS Based on the needs of users, a set of intranet goals can be identified and documented. These may underpin the structure and development of the intranet, form the basis for the internal marketing and communications activities and outline the strategic direction for the intranet into the future. Effective goals generally focus on business outcomes, instead of objectives such as 'efficiently disseminate accurate information throughout the organisation', or on other activity-based measures. Business focused goals will help ensure that the intranet is valuable to the organisation and may be easier to measure and track. Goals may include: • The survey tool is free • Increasing staff efficiency, productivity and satisfaction • Improving decision making • Improving customer service, providing accurate and consistent advice • Supporting internal communications and collations • Reducing duplication of effort and costs • Building corporate identity • Improving corporate governance

BUILD VERSUS BUY An Intranet is not a website The first thing to remember is not to get the purchase of your Intranet confused with your website. Many web design companies advertise that they also provide corporate intranets, but very few have the experience and expertise to understand and advise on building a successful Intranet.

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• Includes a graphical analysis of staff responses • Comes with 20 pre-built questions on intranet usage • Allows you to tailor the survey to for your company • You can set up a survey prize to encourage usage • You can allow anonymous surveys Log in to our knowledge Centre to access this free survey tool www.interactintranet.co.uk/knowledge

PART 2: PLANNING AND SELECTION

Although a website and an Intranet work off the same technology, your intranet is closer to your 'business management system' than it is to your website. When looking to procure an Intranet always find a specialist provider or an individual with significant experience in the Intranet field. This will maximise the return

‘‘

WHEN LOOKING TO PROCURE AN INTRANET ALWAYS

you will get from your intranet as they will use their experience to advise you on

FIND A SPECIALIST

the areas to invest your efforts and finance for maximum return.

PROVIDER OR AN INDIVIDUAL WITH

‘‘

Many companies believe the cheap and easy option is to build an intranet inhouse. This is normally promoted by an individual within an organisation who is

SIGNIFICANT

keen to develop the intranet. The great advantage of this is that you will develop

EXPERIENCE IN THE

a solution that is an exact fit to your business requirements. However

INTRANET FIELD.

developing an Intranet in-house is only for those companies that have an experienced development and IT project management team. These companies are normally larger businesses with dedicated development departments. It is very rare indeed to find an intranet that is seen as a long term solution that has been developed in-house. Many companies end up replacing an in-house developed system with an off-the-peg solution from a specialist provider and this normally proves very expensive and disruptive. Unless you have the development personnel, development standards and project management skills in-house an internally developed intranet will expose you to significant business risk. Intranets that have started to make significant positive impact in a business only to have the only in-house developer resign for a new job leaving the company high and dry. Lone developers also often develop poor software, because they are less familiar with coding and documentation standards and thus this exposes the business again to significant risk as to scale up an intranet often involves throwing everything away and starting again.

Interact 4.0 is the only out-ofthe-box intranet offering full ‘AA’ compliance - it goes beyond the standard Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) guidelines for web accessibility.

There are several specialist Intranet solution providers and consultants across the UK and each of these can provide you with a wealth of very valuable

AAA

experience learned from many other clients; this may initially look more expensive but is normally the most cost effective medium to long term solution. Considering an Off-the-Peg Intranet For a standard business with up to 2000 users an out-the-box solution is probably the best option. Most of the solutions provide you with a large array of

INTERACT INTRANET

AA OTHER INTRANET PROVIDERS

features, but be careful to check in detail the features and compare them between suppliers, one intranet providers 'Online Forms' can be very different to another's despite having the same name. A sensible approach is to compile a list of the core functions that you require now and give some consideration as to the likely direction of the intranet in the future. For example, typically companies initially require a staff directory, security system and means to publish policies and procedures in a very simple to use way. Very often they will look towards phase two being the introduction of other HR related features such as Absence Booking, Resource Management, Training Management or Expenses logging.

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NO COMPLIANCY

PART 2: PLANNING AND SELECTION

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM AN INTRANET SUPPLIER

‘‘

USE A SUPPLIER WHO OFFERS A COMPLETE PACKAGE OF SERVICES

Use a supplier who offers a complete package of services such as initial consultation, project management, ongoing support, training and help with

SUCH AS INITIAL CONSULTATION,

maintaining the success of your intranet.

PROJECT There's no better way to determine the quality of consultants' work than by

MANAGEMENT,

reviewing what they have previously accomplished. By speaking with your potential consultants' existing clients, you get an unbiased opinion of their

ONGOING SUPPORT, TRAINING AND HELP

‘‘

services.

WITH MAINTAINING Some of the questions you need to ask are:

THE SUCCESS OF YOUR

• Did they have a firm understanding of the core aspects of the company's business processes? • Did they produce project deliverables and meet milestones on schedule? • Was there a steady stream of communication between the internal team and the consultants? • Did they provide adequate technical support and training? • Look for a long-term relationship - Find a supplier that will grow as you grow. Find a supplier that has the same commitments that you do whether that is in technology or philosophy. Make sure that the vendor will be around in six months and can support your long-term needs.

HOSTING VERSUS IN-HOUSE Security Speed of Access Convenience of access Link to in house systems Reliablity Cost

Hosted

In-House

***

An intranet is typically stored on a computer called a webserver, which all intranet users have access to. Intranet servers are typically either stored Inhouse (on a server that resides within your organisation's Local Area Network) or hosted (on a server that is outside the building, with access to it being via the internet). When it comes to deciding which option is right for your intranet, you need to consider the advantages and disadvantages of both.

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INTRANET.

PART 2: PLANNING AND SELECTION

In-house intranets are the obvious choice, and they are typically the most popular method of delivering the software. The advantages of this option are

SHAREPOINT COMPARISON TABLE

primarily to do with security and control. With the intranet hosted on a webserver within your company network, you can be assured that any data stored on it is on your own machines, and stays within the organisation. That's not to say that an Intranet hosted on a webserver is necessarily insecure - firewall, SSL and VPN software can ensure that only specific computers at one of your office locations can access the site, and that the data is sent as an encrypted stream of data between the two points so it cannot be intercepted. There is, however, an additional cost involved to implement these additional layers of security that is not required if the site is not accessible to the internet in the first place. In cost terms, over the lifecycle of the Intranet an in-house solution is likely to be the cheaper option. Server hardware and storage is cheap nowadays, and intranets typically have very modest server requirements. A hosted solution will typically be charged on a monthly rate - offering you zero or low initial cost, but tying you to a hosting and maintenance contract for the long term. For some companies - particularly smaller operations with a limited number of IT staff this is a very attractive proposition, with little up-front outlay and the reassurance that they will never need to see or maintain the machine their intranet lives on. For medium to large companies with dedicated IT staff, an in-house server is a simple addition to the existing services they offer. The other downside of hosting your intranet on the web is the fact that all traffic will go through your company's internet connections. This has three points of impact. Most importantly, the speed of accessing the intranet will invariably be lower than if it were stored on a local machine. The difference will not be huge, but it will be perceptible and can prove annoying over time. Secondly, the ability to access your intranet will be vulnerable to network problems. Internet connections now are many times more reliable than they were just a few years ago, but connectivity issues are still known to happen, for example in freak weather conditions. Finally, there may be a cost factor in the bandwidth you use, whereas files transferred across internal networks have no associated costs. To summarise, the default method of providing an Intranet is to store it on an internal server, as there are more advantages and a lower cost across the project lifetime. However, if you are a small company, are looking to lower the initial outlay for your intranet, or have no IT staff, a hosted solution may be ideal for your situation. You should make sure that the Intranet platform you select is compatible with the hosting location that's right for you.

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ÂŠ 2008 Odyssey Interactive

Contact us for a Sharepoint and Interact comparison table. For more information, visit: www.interact-intranet.co.uk/ knowledge

PART 2: PLANNING AND SELECTION

ESTABLISHING AN INTRANET PROJECT TEAM It is important to define within your organisation where leadership will come from and form a cohesive team to take on the day-to-day management of the intranet. Sponsors Having the right senior sponsorship is vital and often one of the trickiest things to acquire. Once an intranet is up and running many senior decision makers may well not be daily users of the Intranet. The Intranet is often one step away, with their teams accessing the information for them. However, an Intranet is often a truly cross functional tool and needs sponsorship from a level which can solve cross functional disputes and set priorities across departments. Ideally these should be a single owner of the Intranet working with a Steering Group which can ensure the wider organisational needs are reflected. This group typically includes Communications, IT and HR, plus other leading functions specific to your organisation. This group needs to own the intranet strategy. Intranet Management or Governance Roles This area of responsibility is at the heart of maintaining an effective Intranet. Whether the Intranet is managed by a lone Intranet Manager, a central team or a dispersed team, the same skills are required. The Intranet management element needs to manage all the day to day tasks, highlighting small change requirements, ensuring the Intranet is making sense for its users from a content perspective, that it's performing well technically, supporting Intranet authors and general Intranet marketing. There should also be some usability skills around, preferably an onsite usability specialist to ensure continuous improvement. They can keep in touch with users, test new sites against guidelines or standards, advise on improvements and really understand how the intranet is being used and how it could work better. Training skills are needed too. Authors will need to be trained and have some sort of helpdesk or expert support. The Intranet also needs to be marketed, new sites promoted, maybe competitions to raise awareness of content. The intranet management function also needs to be good at communicating to keep in touch with authors, content owners and users about any changes, plus keep the senior sponsors in the loop. They also need to link to any new Intranet change projects or application developments to make sure everything to do with the intranet is joined up and focused on delivering a consistent user experience.

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ÂŠ 2008 Odyssey Interactive

PART 2: PLANNING AND SELECTION

TOP 7 FEATURES EVERY INTRANET SHOULD HAVE Easy to use, manage and control by non technical users Some solutions are highly dependent on a few key staff for managing site content and user activity. Choose a solution with decentralised administration to relieve pressure on one or two key members of your IT team. Also ensure that it is easy for non technical users to add and edit content e.g. does it have an easy WYSIWYG content management system and features such as easy add content templates. Intelligent search Frequently, poor search is a source of great frustration for intranet users. If staff can’t find what they need when they need it they will lose confidence in the intranet and usage will diminish. Search is a critical business tool on intranets – it’s more than just a way to find documents, intranet search can directly support staff in their day to day work. Choose an intranet solution that searches ALL content, including the staff directory, intranet categories and managed documents. In the new generation of intranets each item of information is not isolated, but is part of a greater whole. All data is interconnected and users will be presented with links to other relevant content (like Amazon) helping them navigate through the data without having to search of each part themselves. Usage statistics and user feedback It’s important for you to be able to know what and what isn’t working on your intranet. Usage statistics help you learn how users interact with your intranet and enable you to see how effective your content is. By analysing what your users expect from the intranet you can make intelligent and informed decisions about how to finetune the organisation and content of your intranet. You’ll be able to confidently identify missing content, improve inadequate content and get rid of useless content. Also look for a system that enables and encourages users to give content feedback i.e. out of date content notifications and content ratings. This will ensure that intranet content is always kept up to date and relevant. Staff Directory with networking capabilities The ‘next generation’ of employee directories incorporate elements of the popular social networking sites and incorporate collaborative tools such as communities and blogs. This means that the staff directory will then act as an interactive ‘hub’ which becomes a key social and business tool, enabling employees to build an internal network. Security and content control You need to be able to define access control levels and protect confidential content by enabling or restricting access by groups, departments and individuals.

Page | 2.7

INTERACT FEATURES Interact has 100s of features as standard. For more information, visit: www.interact-intranet.co.uk/ features

PART 2: PLANNING AND SELECTION

As well as static and formal employee information include more personal and diverse information and multimedia. Facilities such as multi-faceted search means that people can be found by a variety of criteria (e.g. - skill, location) Getting the basics right is a huge win in itself for this ‘killer application’ and then provides the perfect springboard for some creative and useful advanced features that can help connect people together in a more fluid and dynamic manner. Workflow and Transactional Messaging Ensure you can select a system that allows you to control the information flow through your business and ensure that content is published through proper channels of authorisation. You need to be able to issue personalised alerts to users based on their logon details to notify them of important information, documents for sign off and actions that need to be taken by them.

INTRANET STRUCTURE When structuring your Intranet consideration should be given to the Intranet Architecture that underpins and supports the content. Whilst the maxim ‘Content is king’ remains true the accessibility of content can be helped or hindered by an ill-conceived or an ineffective structure. When deciding on a structure time should be spent on considering the pros and cons between developing a task based configuration and a departmental arrangement. Many intranets will develop a blend of the two. A good intranet will be user-centric and designed with the end user in mind, it will allow them find what they are looking for with speed and accuracy. An effective intranet will take this a stage further and recognise a user’s habits and promote content to them. It does not rely solely on a user finding content, it will seek out relevant content and actively promote it to them. This happens every day on some very popular websites, consider a visit to Amazon, it welcomes you back and it recommends things to you... why, because it wants you to spend money and how, because it has identified previous behaviour and has an intelligence to recommend something it thinks you will like. The same happens on iTunes; you purchase a song and based on your choice it will recommend the top 5 songs by the same artist and based on the genre - via the “Listeners Also Bought” function it will suggest five other artists and tracks you might like. You follow any of these suggestions and five more suggestions are made. The BBC follows similar principles; its “See Also” links will suggest news items on a similar topic. Blogs link to discussions boards and have mutual return links.

Page | 2.8

‘‘

A GOOD INTRANET WILL BE USERCENTRIC AND

‘‘

Integrated Business Tools Look for a solution which provides users with a range of business tools, such as expenses management, resource booking, holiday booking etc. These features pull people into the intranet driving usage. It’s worth taking the time to research the level of functionality offered in these tools, as levels of sophistication can vary enormously from very basic to highly advanced.

DESIGNED WITH THE END USER IN MIND

PART 2: PLANNING AND SELECTION

Intranet content is an all encompassing body of information and knowledge that has some very specific elements. It is a collection of information; of articles, best practice and events, a communication database for a who’s who, discussions and blogs. Whilst these are separate items they are not isolated. Connections exist between each and everyone. These connections should be identified, created and promoted.

‘‘

AN EFFECTIVE INTRANET WILL GO BEYOND THE FUNCTIONAL AND CREATE AND PROMOTE LINKS

Events

People

Articles

Best Practice

Discussions

For example, a user viewing a news article can move seamlessly to: • The profile of the user who created it • Papers they have published • Discussions the author has taken part in • Events in the organisation in the near future Information is easier and faster to locate, and can be understood in the context of the rest of the intranet’s content.

A functional intranet will have a simple and consistent navigation system. There will be clearly understandable and visible links between where a user is and where a user can go. There should also be an easily accessible and understandable site map to further aid orientation. A search function is a must, as many users make this their first port of call and will actively avoid any of the navigational structure and hints offered to them. If they don’t find what they are looking for from the search they may well give up. An effective intranet will go beyond the functional and create and promote links between all aspects of its content; between articles and authors, between authors and the content they are responsible for, between articles and similar articles, between comments and relevant blogs, between users and users. It won’t rely on the traditional navigational structure to guide a user round the intranet with signposts, it won’t react solely to a user’s mouse clicks; instead it will be proactive and will promote to the user what it believes to be relevant and interesting. It will use its intelligence to push content at users and then pull them into the intranet. In doing this it transforms the use of the intranet from passive task to active involvement. An intranet that can recognise the content it has and actively and successful promote this content to a user will encourage a users engagement and interest in the intranet.

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BETWEEN ALL

ASPECTS OF ITS CONTENT

All data is interconnected, and the intranet will present these links to the user - helping them to navigate through the data without having to search for each part themselves.

‘‘

Blogs

Each item of information is not isolated, but is part of a greater whole - the Intranet Information Store.

PART 2: PLANNING AND SELECTION

BRANDING YOUR INTRANET

SOME OF THE NAMES USED BY INTERACT USERS

Many organisations who replace a failed or outdated intranet with a new system find it difficult to motivate and re-engage staff with the new tool. No matter how different the software is, it can easily be 'tarred with the same brush'. A great way to help people differentiate is to use the tried and tested marketing strategy of branding. If you give your Intranet a brand - a name which uniquely identifies it - and only refer to it as that, you will find that people stop thinking of all intranets as being equal. Some of the names that have been used by our clients include Connect, Pitstop, Hub, Discovery and Grapevine although the award for the most… unique… name has to go to the company who have named their intranet “Trevor”. To make this a real success, and increase enthusiasm for the Intranet project from the start, some clients ran a competition among staff. Each employee can suggest a name for the forthcoming intranet, and the one that is chosen wins a prize. It might sound like a gimmick, but if you ask a colleague “Where do I find that policy?” and they answer “On the Grapevine” it's immediately more memorable than “On the intranet”. Try it - it works.

ONGOING TRAINING & GUIDANCE Well trained staff can turn a useful intranet into an absolutely invaluable tool for your business. Ensure your Intranet is a success by making certain that the people administering it are up to date with the latest knowledge, tips and tricks.

‘‘

AS YOUR INTRANET MATURES IT IS

As well as product training, look for a supplier that offers consultancy to help you get the most out of the Intranet. As your Intranet matures it is important to

IMPORTANT TO KEEP

keep it fresh and user centric so users keep coming back to it. Some

IT FRESH AND USER

organisations offer consultancy covering:

CENTRIC SO USERS

• Creative ways of getting people to use

KEEP COMING BACK

• Pulling people into your Intranet by adding killer applications • Re-launching your Intranet • Hints and Tips for a successful Intranet

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‘‘

your Intranet

TO IT.

PLANNING AND DEPLOYING A SUCCESSFUL INTRANET PART 3: THE LAUNCH

PART 3: THE LAUNCH

In this section we look at some ideas for the launch of your intranet as well as creating ongoing enthusiasm for your Intranet once it has been launched.

IDEAS FOR LAUNCH: MAKING YOUR INTRANET A SUCCESS FROM THE START

‘‘

THE BEST TIME TO RAISE THE PROFILE OF THE INTRANET IS

The key to success is in the promotion of the intranet - an intranet must be constantly advertised to staff. Without this, many staff will remain unaware that

RIGHT AT THE OUTSET.

the intranet even exists. Others won't recognise the full value of the intranet, or

AN INTRANET LAUNCH

use anything but a tiny corner of the site.

CAN TAKE MANY

‘‘

FORMS, BOTH LARGEThe best time to raise the profile of the intranet is right at the outset. An intranet launch can take many forms, both large-scale or small. Many of the ideas outlined here can be used in a coordinated fashion during the intranet launch. This 'big bang' approach works best when the intranet is able to deliver on the high level of expectation generated. Even a small launch can be effective in making staff aware that a new method of finding answers is now available. Giving presentations The visibility of the intranet must be maintained at every level of the organisation. For management and executive, presentations are typically the most effective way of communicating messages. These may cover the intranet at a high level, explain specific initiatives, or new functionality. Ensure these presentations are well-prepared and to the point. Keep talking about the intranet, as often as you can, to as many people as possible. E-mail links to intranet A very effective marketing method is to replace e-mail attachments in global emails with links to the relevant page on the intranet. In this way, the e-mails act as 'push' marketing of intranet resources. It also reduces the load on the e-mail systems. This works well, for example, with news items and other announcements. Some education is required to encourage e-mail senders to reduce their reliance on attachments.

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SCALE OR SMALL.

PART 3: THE LAUNCH

Using the communications team The staff of internal communications or internal marketing teams are professionals who specialise in conveying targeted messages to the organisation. Use this group as a resource to promote the intranet, and to further increase usage.

‘‘

THROUGHOUT THE ORGANISATION, EVERY BROWSER SHOULD HAVE ITS HOMEPAGE SET TO

Brochures Every intranet should be supported with a simple brochure outlining the key

THE INTRANET. THAT WAY, WHEN THE

features and benefits, along with screenshots and URLs. Beyond this, there are benefits to professionally producing a full-colour brochure. This presents a more

BROWSER IS OPENED

compelling image, and is more likely to be noticed by staff. Many organisations

BY THE USER, THE

have an internal graphic arts department who can prepare such materials.

INTRANET IS

Throughout the organisation, every browser should have its homepage set to the intranet. That way, when the browser is opened by the user, the intranet is immediately presented. Beyond this, some organisations have chosen to automatically launch the browser on login. This puts the intranet in front of users at the beginning of every day. Many of these organisations have found this approach to be very successful, particularly when the intranet homepage changes frequently (such as presenting news, etc). Displays in foyer Posters or other displays in the main foyer of offices can attract the attention of staff arriving each morning. These should feature high-impact designs that can be easily read from a distance. Large-format colour posters can be a practical way of achieving this. Football Predictions In those cultures where sport is an important institution, competitions such as 'football predictions' are commonplace. Implementing such competitions on the intranet have been listed as 'killer applications' by some intranet teams. Once staff access the intranet, they are more likely to browse to other areas. Some of the most unusual 'killer apps' turn out to be the most effective Letterhead and business cards The intranet should be listed on all internal stationery, newsletters, in fact any internal printed material that provides information. In this way, the intranet is promoted as the primary source of information in the organisation. This 'everpresent' advertising can be quite effective over time.

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‘‘

Automatically loading homepage

IMMEDIATELY PRESENTED.

PART 3: THE LAUNCH

A wide range of promotional products have been used to increase awareness of the intranet. These include: • T-shirts • Stickers • Balloons • Masks • Lollies and other confectionery • Mouse mats Whilst these can be effective, make sure you understand the culture of the organisation. Not all staff may be keen to be bombarded with such gimmicks. Migrating key applications By migrating key applications, staff can be forced to access the intranet. Examples often include holiday or sickness forms and other HR functions. Always ensure that the replacement web-based application is at least as capable and usable as the system it replaces. Otherwise, considerable staff frustration will be generated. Killer apps Many successful intranets have a few key 'killer applications' that drive overall interest and usage. What these are depends entirely on the organisation and its staff. While some possible killer apps have been listed in this article, many others are possible. Keep a look out for opportunities to develop these plug-in applications. It may be possible to meet a widespread need in the organisation, with only a few hours of development. (Killer apps don't have to be large, in fact, many are small systems that target a very specific requirement.) Promoting via the business The business owners of specific sections can be co-opted to launch and promote their content. As the advertising comes from within the business, it can be more effective than that conducted by the central intranet team. It also shares the burden of intranet marketing more widely. Quote of the day Any daily-changing information on the intranet that is of general interest is a good way of promoting the intranet. One organisation uses a humourous or controversial 'quote of the day' feature on the intranet to generate increased usage. XML/RSS feeds are an easy way to automate this process. Page | 3.3

‘‘

BY MIGRATING KEY APPLICATIONS, STAFF

‘‘

Gimmicks and novelties

CAN BE FORCED TO ACCESS THE INTRANET.

PART 3: THE LAUNCH

Each week, some intranet teams post a profile of a staff member, selected from across the organisation. This may be a senior executive, down to a junior staff person. This increases the sense of community within the organisation, and is an interesting talking point.

‘‘

INCREASING THE INTERACTIVE ASPECTS OF AN INTRANET CAN

‘‘

Staff profiles

CONSIDERABLY

INCREASE USAGE AND As variation on this, one organisation provides a number of hints, and runs a competition to guess who the staff member is. With the unusual nature of many of the hints, this generates wide interest. Bulletin boards, discussion groups Increasing the interactive aspects of an intranet can considerably increase usage and visibility. Discussion groups, bulletin boards and other collaboration tools provide staff with a new mechanism for keeping in touch. Whilst the majority of these online forums are likely to be devoted to serious work issues, less formal areas, such as a 'buy and sell' area often prove to be very popular. These collaborative tools also have the benefit of reducing the over-reliance on e-mails. Staff induction New starters are unfamiliar with the way the organisation works, and where to go for answers. By including a meaningful section on the intranet in staff induction materials and activities, new staff can be trained to see the intranet as the primary information source in the organisation. Sending a welcome message: Related to the previous idea, one intranet team automatically sends a 'welcome' message to all new staff, introducing them to the intranet. Fixing browser settings Depending on the state of the IT infrastructure, some users may not be able to access the intranet, due to incorrect proxy or other network settings. Without a bookmark to the intranet, or having it set as the homepage, users are also likely to have difficulty. While this is strictly the domain of the IT support desk, some intranet groups have found it valuable to spend time fixing the settings on individual workstations. Over time, this considerably increases the potential audience for the intranet.

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VISIBILITY.

PART 3: THE LAUNCH

Management support If senior management see the intranet as a strategic asset, they will naturally promote its use. A number of studies have shown that lack of management support and sponsorship is one the largest causes of project failure. Conversely, if the intranet does have the required support, this will have a huge impact upon levels of usage, and long-term viability. Spend time ‘selling’ the intranet to management, and ensuring that they understand its role within the organisation. Training managers' PAs Many senior staff rely entirely on their personal assistants (PAs) to look up information, and to use computing equipment. For these key staff, training the PAs in how to make use of the intranet is the best way of having an impact. Maximising the value of the homepage The intranet homepage is the most valuable 'real-estate' on the entire site. Use this to present the most recent, and most useful, information on the intranet. By maximising the value of the homepage, overall intranet usage can be increased. Coordinated marketing plan

These two stories are instructive: One intranet client sent round a box containing a fun-sized Kit Kat and a message saying “take a break”. Everybody got this and were given authority by management to take half an hour out just to familiarise themselves with the new site, and have their Kit Kat. Apparently it was very successful.

Finally, all of these activities should be integrated as part of a single marketing plan. This spells out what the message is, who it is being targeted at, and how it will be delivered. Bring all your ideas together into a single coordinated marketing plan. The role of organisational culture As a final note, it is important to recognise the role of your organisation's culture in the success of any promotional initiative. See examples in the right hand column. While in one organisation, novelty value was used very effectively, the level of

Compare this to another experience: “Part of our launch was that we didn't launch. We just rolled it out, and did not create any expectation that it was coming. That was actually part of its success, because we had so many things roll out that didn't meet expectations, and didn't meet the deadline that they were supposed to be rolled out on.”

cynicism of similar projects in the other organisation demanded a more low-key approach. As these stories show, it is vitally important to gain an understanding of the organisational culture, and to adjust the promotional activities to match. • Define a roll-out strategy that suits your organisation, to make sure your Intranet is a success from day one. Remember that the intranet is not a one-hit wonder - it needs continuous advertising to ensure it becomes a vital business tool.

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While they both came from companies with very similar organisational structure, there are clearly big differences in the culture.

PART 3: THE LAUNCH

CREATING ENTHUSIASM FOR YOUR INTRANET It's easy to make mistakes when implementing an Intranet if you don't have the proper support from your team, which can ultimately reduce the effectiveness of your Intranet. Generating enthusiasm for the Intranet project is important. It is obvious that having the buy-in from management is vital to getting the project launched, but at what other levels should you look for input and enthusiasm? If you don't get that excitement for the intranet, how can you generate it? If you can't create the right culture for information sharing, no software will help your project succeed. With the right culture in an organisation an atmosphere will be created where an intranet can thrive. Enthusiasm is a big contributor in many aspects of life, and a level of excitement can do wonders for your intranet strategy. Staff who have made an emotional investment in a project will care more about its continued success, they will feel proud and have a sense of importance. There are two main phases where you need to generate enthusiasm as a project leader. The first as discussed earlier is getting the buy-in of the management team for the project. This is the passion to get a system installed, and to see it through to the go-live date. Most projects need this in order to get off the ground, but interestingly this alone will not make your intranet succeed. The most important people to get excited are the staff - the content managers, department heads and administrative staff who will be responsible for making the system a continuing success. The key to this is making a difference to their jobs by identifying common bottlenecks and daily irritations, and including these in your key objectives.

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ÂŠ 2008 Odyssey Interactive

PART 3: THE LAUNCH

Regularly update content / functionality You've heard the saying “familiarity breeds contempt”? Well it applies to

‘‘

BY GRADUALLY ADDING TOOLS TO THE INTRANET OVER

‘‘

Here are some ideas for creating enthusiasm among staff…

intranets too. If you don't update or add to your intranet then users will often

TIME, YOU CAN KEEP

assume it is going stale and momentum can be lost. This is the reason we often

USERS COMING BACK

suggest a phased approach to the intranet - start with the basics and keep

TO IT.

adding functionality every month or two. By gradually adding tools to the intranet over time, you can keep users coming back to it. Appoint Intranet Champions Another technique is to look for those who will take on the task of helping to keep the intranet updated, and promoting their new responsibility in the company. It is vital that your content managers see this as a way for them to contribute to the company directly, and make a difference to their colleagues, rather than as 'yet another hoop to jump through'. The culture of the company will often determine how the intranet is used, how often it is used, and whether it is still in use 18 months after installation. Organisations with little or no culture of information and knowledge management face many more hurdles to success. Promote a knowledge sharing culture In old-style business, knowledge equals power. If an employee had a vital set of information, the tendency was to keep it to themselves in order to make their position in the company invaluable. In modern business, knowledge is still powerful, but the truly enlightened are those who know where to find the information they need at any given time. Nobody is expected to “know it all” any more - the real skill is knowing where to find the information. Ensuring this change in your staff's mindset has occurred will reap huge rewards. So, what is a 'good' culture? Your staff should form a “trust relationship” with the intranet, which means that: • Users trust that the information they need is available on the intranet • They trust that the information on the intranet is correct and accurate • They also trust that the information is the most up-to-date version available If your staff have this relationship then they will be far more likely to remain enthusiastic, excited and active on the company intranet.

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PART 3: THE LAUNCH

its success as much as the software itself. It's far easier to keep people enthusiastic about the intranet by ensuring it is kept fresh and exciting than it is to get staff excited all over again after letting the intranet go stale. Also, making sure the intranet contains information that is both accurate and up to date will

‘‘

MAKING SURE THE INTRANET CONTAINS INFORMATION THAT IS BOTH ACCURATE AND

reward you with a culture of trust and responsibility. This will lead to greater

UP TO DATE WILL

usage of the Intranet which will positively impact companies' efficiency and

REWARD YOU WITH A

profitability.

CULTURE OF TRUST AND RESPONSIBILITY.

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‘‘

As we have seen, internal marketing and promotion of your intranet will affect

PLANNING AND DEPLOYING A SUCCESSFUL INTRANET PART 4: MAINTAINING EFFECTIVENESS

PART 4: MAINTAINING EFFECTIVENESS

In this section we look at ways you can keep users coming back to your intranet.

participation. In our experience there is a novelty effect which helps raise the profile of your Intranet for the first few months, leading to high usage, increased awareness and productivity as staff find new information and online tools. However after a few months, staff often creep back into old habits and the Intranet usage falls as shown in the diagram below:

‘‘

YOUR INTRANET IS NOT LIKE YOUR WEBSITE AND YOU SHOULD NOT JUDGE ITS SUCCESS PURELY

‘‘

After you first launch your Intranet you will notice a great deal of interest and

ON THE NUMBER OF INTRANET USAGE GRAPH LAUNCH AND FORGET APPROACH

HITS THAT IT ACHIEVES.

100

% Daily Usage

0 0

Time (Months) Set targets for increasing efficiency Your Intranet is not like your website and you should not judge its success purely on the number of hits that it achieves. As a far more complex business tool, you must set out what your judgement of success is. For example, rather then simply looking at hits, you should set targets such as saving each person in the company 5 minutes per day by using the Intranet. Although this is more difficult to assess and measure than “hits”, it provides a direct return to the business. Consider if you could save just 5 minutes per day, the whole company would be 1.1% more efficient immediately. To many companies, that will be worth many tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds on their bottom line. Put another way, save just 5 minutes per day in a company of 500 people and it would be the equivalent of having an extra 5_ people working, for free, everyday!

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PART 4: MAINTAINING EFFECTIVENESS

Setting and achieving these goals is not as hard as you may think; the beauty of an Intranet is that you can add facilities which benefit everyone by just a very small amount, but the cumulative effect of that across the entire organisation is massive. Making the Intranet the hub of communication and information is key. Then you can keep it moving with new information and features, so that your staff come to expect everything to happen first on the Intranet. Phase the Intranet We often classify ideas as 'A', 'B' or 'C'. An 'A' idea is a feature that is so good people immediately want to use it as it makes their life easier or better. A 'B' feature is something that is useful and is used occasionally and C features are useful if that's the feature you are looking for. Intranets work well with a combination of all of A, B's and C's, but if you have just B's and C's then it can be a struggle. Most companies start by putting policies and procedures on their Intranet, which is great for the company but the staff aren't going to be bowled over by the fact that the Health and Safety Policy is now more accessible. These sort of content related features are rarely 'A' ideas, so once the novelty of the new Intranet has worn off usage amongst some staff may fall. If you phase these features over time then you will ensure that the Intranet is a success and starts to positively affect your bottom line as well as improving communication and efficiency, i.e. instead of just launching the Intranet and leaving it, you launch a new feature every 2-3 months. You will then find that the general usage of the Intranet increases with every feature as shown below: INTRANET USAGE GRAPH LAUNCH AND THEN ADD NEW FEATURES REGULARLY

Intranet Launch

‘A’ Feature Launches

% Daily Utilisation

100

0 0

Time (Months)

Page | 4.2

PART 4: MAINTAINING EFFECTIVENESS

In our experience, there is not a magic solution as each business is different, some ideas are complicated and some are incredibly simple. Here are some real world examples. Some are simple ideas and some are additional functionality (all of which can be achieved with Interact) Staff perks booking One company that we work with allows their staff to book a certain number of free tickets each month, all through the Intranet Customer Relationship Management One company put a web front end using the Intranet on their CRM / customer database system so that customers, suppliers and contacts could be looked up by everyone Access to flexitime reports A lot of the NHS and public body organisations give users of the Intranet access to personal HR information through the Intranet such as flexitime reports. This is a big hit and a real reason for employees to come back to the Intranet week after week. Holiday booking Numerous companies use this and it quickly becomes a key system, making everyone's life easier. Staff regularly check holiday calendars and how many free holidays they have left. Expenses management Again, used widely, for those that submit regular expenses, making the intranet a mission critical tool. Live graphs of sales One organisation charts their latest sales figure using the Home Page Module (linking through to excel), another shows their membership targets. Key Performance Indicators These maybe key targets, customer feedback results, latest share prices or lead time on support issues and could all come from different systems - collated on one page in the Intranet for ease of viewing. A number of companies may have 'scorecard data' that they can share on the Intranet. Many companies find the staff directory the 'A' feature. Some have even extended it to include extra search facilities such as staff skills search. Several other companies use the SMS module to send messages to staff.

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‘‘

MAKE THE INTRANET

‘‘

So what are these 'A' features?

A MISSION CRITICAL TOOL FOR YOUR STAFF.

PART 4: MAINTAINING EFFECTIVENESS

Other simple things include: Database of products, other in-house data, Collection of useful links, employee of the month, automatic links to Multimap on addresses.

‘‘

CELEBRATING THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE INITIAL INTRANET

These are just a few ideas, each organisation or business is different and you

LAUNCH PROVIDES AN

need to find that 'A' feature that is right for your organisation. Once you have

IDEAL OPPORTUNITY

found it, you will find that the effectiveness of all your other content will

FOR A CONCERTED

more widespread. When a member of staff goes to book their holidays on the Intranet, they may well notice a new company announcement on the home page, which otherwise they would never have read.

RE-LAUNCHING YOUR INTRANET Birthday celebrations Celebrating the anniversary of the initial intranet launch provides an ideal opportunity for a concerted promotional campaign. There are many ways of holding birthday celebrations. Some organisations chose to hold a big meeting, in which an actual cake is cut, and all the key stakeholders are invited. Others update their intranets to reflect a birthday theme, or send out promotional materials. One organisation, for example, scattered 20 birthday cake icons throughout the intranet, and the first ten people to find them all won a t-shirt. While humourous, this did expose people to sections of the intranet they had not previously visited. Whatever the approach, the intranet's birthday provides a once-a-year story opportunity that shouldn't be missed. Another way of reinvigorating your Intranet would be to re-launch using some of the ideas detailed in Section 4 of this report.

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‘‘

increase as well as usage and the skills to find specific information will become

PROMOTIONAL CAMPAIGN.

SUMMARY

database applications and putting them on a network. A useful Intranet requires an appealing, easy to use interface, integrating applications with appropriate security features, the ability to integrate new applications easily, documentation that provides help for users, and applications that can be easily maintained and upgraded.

‘‘

A WELL PLANNED AND THOUGHT OUT INTRANET CAN REALLY

‘‘

Embarking on an Intranet project requires more than just writing a couple of

REVOLUTIONISE THE

WAY YOUR COMPANY DOES BUSINESS.

In fact, a well planned and thought out Intranet can really revolutionise the way your company does business. It can certainly change the way your employees interact and positively impact all your business processes. Intranets give companies the power to manage in new ways. But taking advantage of the opportunities requires shifting views from managing things to managing knowledge and information flows. The guidelines in this report will help you to ensure that your intranet provides you with a strategic asset that supports key business processes, improvements in efficiency as well as greater staff and customer satisfaction.

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INTRANET PLANNING CHECKLIST

The following checklist brings together a range of considerations for establishing and maintaining an effective and sustainable intranet.

Building a business case for your intranet Consider the potential of the intranet to enhance the operation of the organisation • What business benefits will your intranet achieve? • How quickly will ROI be achieved? • How can an intranet benefit the different departments / areas of your organisation? Consider the specific needs of the organisation • Key features • Branding your intranet • Linking to other systems • Identify user needs Determine intranet goals Effective intranet goals generally focus on business outcomes and benefits such as: • Increase staff efficiency, productivity and satisfaction • Improve decision making • Improve customer service by providing accurate and consistent advice • Support internal communications and collaboration • Reduce duplication of effort and costs • Build corporate identity Establish an intranet project team The planning and on-going development of an intranet requires a diverse skill set as well as the consideration of issues from different viewpoints: • Appoint Intranet sponsor/s - senior intranet sponsors can drive the adoption and growth of the intranet • Intranet Management - a single manager or team to manage the intranet on a day to day basis and market it to users • Content authors - usually representatives from different areas of the business who take responsibility over managing the content of particular intranet sections

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INTRANET PLANNING CHECKLIST

Design and Content • Build or buy? Consider the pros and cons of building your own solution or purchasing an out-of-the-box solution • Your intranet should be easy and efficient to use for all users, regardless of their IT literacy • Carry out regular evaluation and usage monitoring to ensure that the site remains effective • Incorporate 'killer applications' and make the intranet a place for 'doing things' e.g. booking holidays, staff directory with social networking groups, online forms • Ensure high quality content - if the information on your intranet is not consistent, accurate, comprehensive and appropriate, staff will seek the information from alternative sources • Information architecture - consider the most appropriate structure for the intranet, e.g. task / subject based structure • Establish content review processes - can these be automated through the content management system? • Ensure the intranet meets accessibility standards - Intranets are required to be accessible by disabled users and users of assistive technology. These requirements have been outlines by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) • Ensure that intranet administrators and authors receive adequate training Launching your intranet • Market the intranet: - Name the intranet - consider a naming competition to determine a suitable name. This can generate awareness and knowledge of the new (or redeveloped) site - Establish clear intranet branding - this can help distinguish the intranet from the corporate website - Develop a communications plan - this outlines the 'message' about the intranet that will be conveyed, who the target audiences are and how and when they will be contacted - Plan other promotional activities: > presentations > emails linking to intranet > automatically loading the intranet home page on log-in, > gimmicks and novelties > staff training / induction • Build trust in the intranet. Staff are more likely to use and support the intranet if they have confidence in its content and management. Users will trust the intranet is they feel that: - content is complete, accurate and up-to-date - the intranet will continue to be viable into the future - It is worth devoting time learning how to use the intranet - The intranet is being supported and taken seriously by senior management • Plan to phase in new functionality over time - this gives you the opportunity to repeat some of the marketing initiatives above and will help you maintain interest and usage in you intranet

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ODYSSEY INTERACTIVE LTD

About Odyssey Interactive Founded in 1996, Odyssey Interactive Ltd are intranet experts and one of the UK’s longest established internet companies. Based in Altrincham, Cheshire, the company specialises in providing the UK’s leading intranet product, Interact. With over a decade of intranet expertise Odyssey has build a reputation for both product excellence and outstanding customer support. Odyssey’s customers report tangible benefits resulting in considerable cost savings and rapid return on investment. Interact is used by over 100,000 people across all sectors - clients include HMV, Waterstone’s, Chelsea Football Club, Tyco ADT, Tradeteam DHL, Amicus, CLIC Sargent, Calor as well as NHS and social housing organisations. About Interact: Interact is a versatile, fully secure Intranet which can be quickly and easily updated by non technical users allowing companies to have a single source portal for information such as staff details, news and procedures. The flexibility of Interact enables companies to start with a basic set of core modules, then add additional modules to suit their business processes, using a phased approach. The latest version of the software, Interact 4.0, is a revolution in intranet technology that has been developed to take advantage of the latest technologies as used by websites like Facebook, MySpace and Amazon. Its unique, adaptive learning capabilities means it can deliver personalised results that set it a significant step ahead of other out-of-the-box solutions. It will improve efficiency by giving staff information that is relevant. Interact 4.0 anonymously collects information about how individuals search and find content, and how they navigate through the intranet. By recognising failed searches it reports missing content, helping to eliminate information ‘black holes’. It overcomes the problem of out-of date and unmanageable content using simple to use, workflow controlled techniques to highlight and review poor quality documents and information. This ‘intelligence’ streamlines the search engine, automatically promoting relevant information to users as they browse or search. A ‘mandatory read’ facility ensures that important information, such as company fire policy, is read by those who need or ought to read it. It has a rich, user friendly interface which uses WYSIWYG technology making it extremely easy to use. This results in decentralised content and site management as users, with limited technical ability, can easily add content and administer the site. The net result is an intranet that becomes easier to manage, contains higher quality information and allows users to locate key information quicker and easier than has previously been possible. If you’d like more information about Interact, or would like a consultation with one of intranet experts please contact us:

0161 927 3222

info@odyssey-i.com

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