There are a number of reasons why a business might want to implement an intranet system – improve communications, teamwork, organization, workflows, efficiencies.
Very often wanting to take advantage of an intranet could be down to one particular reason, such as boosting collaboration between colleagues and teams, but businesses soon realize that it can be used for much, much more.
Ask anyone, do a Google search, look in a trade magazine and the top reason for getting an intranet will always be to enhance internal communications. Integrating video, voice, instant messaging, email and social, an intranet will certainly get colleagues communicating better with each other. Also, easy to use content management systems and publishing applications mean that updates and news can be more easily and quickly shared.
With more people working on the same documents, there could be confusion as to what the latest version is, who wrote or edited it, or even where it is. Most intranets provide users with access to document storage and version control apps as standard. The most effective solutions integrate these seamlessly with other collaborative tools to help employees know exactly at what stage of drafting the document is at, who has been working on it or needs to, as well as where the document is in terms of approval. This enables the effective and efficient production of a final version that is accurate and of a high standard.
Businesses perform better when everyone knows how to best do the tasks assigned to them. Improved communications and document control, mean that best practice and training can be more effectively shared with those that need to know it, through written documents or even audio or video files.
Important updates and news can be more easily and rapidly disseminated to colleagues via a quality intranet’s simple-to-use content management system and publishing tools.
A quality intranet will offer a bespoke look and feel that is unique to the business purchasing it. Ideally when a user logs on the intranet home page will have a design that reinforces the brand identity and is written to the organization’s style guidelines. This will act as a continual reminder to employees about the ethos, language and quality they should be working with or towards.
