When doing a simple Google search for intranet portals, the myriad of options and configurations can be a bit overwhelming, especially if you do not have in-depth knowledge about the subject. The options range from free open source intranet solutions to expensive custom development solutions to meet your organization’s specific needs.
Whether you are looking for a simple communication and collaboration portal or an intranet portal with an extensive database, file storage and project management capabilities; there are a lot of factors to take into consideration.
However, any business, big or small, broad or niche, can benefit from streamlined processes, standardized naming conventions, versioning, collaboration, communication and file storage that all these intranet solutions claim to offer.
Taking the following factors into account, you should be able to get a clear picture of the specific needs for your business. This will bring you one step closer to selecting the perfect intranet solution.
What are your goals?
First things first; formulate your business goals. Having a clear picture of what you want to achieve with an intranet portal will be of significant help when researching your options. If anything, it will be easier to cross off options that do not facilitate your goals in initial stages of your research.
Do you want to increase and/or optimize the collaboration within your organization? Do you want to use intranet as a primary means of communication? How will this affect existing internal business processes?
These are all important questions to answer before you continue your research, as they should form the core of why you want to implement an intranet solution in the first place.
Who are the end-users of the intranet?
One of the most important questions to ask when choosing an intranet portal is: who is going to use it?
Is your average end-user already experienced with platforms like social media? Are they already working with computer software? Are they used to changes and do they adapt quickly?
Nowadays, many standard intranet platforms offer a style that looks and feels very familiar to existing products like operating systems and social media platforms. Because of this, end-users will find the platform very intuitive to use. After all, most of them will already be used to several social media platforms.
In general, it’s easier to take advantage of this existing familiarity than to teach a completely new product from scratch.
Change is scary; providing an attractive user experience and, if necessary, user training, will help immensely when it comes to user adoption of the new portal.
Pay extra attention to this aspect when you do your research; it will pay off.
Does the intranet integrate with existing processes and software?
Unless you are starting a completely new business, chances are that your business already uses a variety of software and already has several internal business processes in place.
It’s important to consider the position of an intranet portal within your existing structure.
The intranet portal should either replace existing software or integrate seamlessly with existing software. If not, it beats the point of implementing an intranet in the first place.
Furthermore, the intranet portal should make internal business processes more efficient, not complicate them.
In the end, an ideal situation would be to use the intranet as much as possible and eliminate the use of other applications.
An intranet platform is meant to make your business run more efficiently and effectively, not the other way around.
Planning your intranet project
Planning a new intranet project? What steps to take to build an effective intranet? Download our free whitepaper.
Is it easy to add or remove functionality?
In other words, is the intranet solution flexible and does it have possibilities for custom development?
The solution you choose may work for now, but it should be able to grow with your business. Therefore, it is of vital importance to select a portal that allows for future integration with other applications and provides options to add functionality, whether standardized or custom made.
Providers of intranet portal solutions might tell you that this aspect is not as important as you make it seem, but it is. They will claim that it affects user experience, but this can usually be managed by a smart implementation and user adoption process.
The last thing you should want is to limit yourself in the future. Choose a flexible intranet solution that will facilitate your business as it grows.
What do existing reviews say about the product?
As Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon once said: “Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.”
This is certainly true for intranet portals. Part of your research should be to look at existing reviews. What do people say about the brand and the product? What specific business needs did they manage to improve or NOT improve with it?
The track record of an intranet provider will tell you a lot about what to expect. While new products are not inferior products by definition, it might just prove to be a good decision if you go for a well-established brand that has already proven its worth within your industry.
Is your business currently facing specific challenges?
Every business runs into challenges down the road. There are always aspects that you want to change or could be managed and run more efficiently. It can’t hurt to brainstorm and pinpoint specific areas your business processes could improve in.
A new intranet portal might just be able to address several of the challenges your business is currently facing. Having a well-defined list of desired improvements, along with the general goals that you have in mind for the intranet, will come in very handy when selecting a product.
Engage in conversation with possible intranet providers and explain your challenges. The more you know about what you need and don’t need, the higher the chance of finding the perfect intranet portal.
How do you wish to communicate within your business?
One of the most beneficial aspects of a social intranet portal is the communication possibilities it provides. No longer will your employees need several means of communication like email and instant messaging applications.
During your research, it’s important to ask yourself what your current communication channels are and how they could be improved. Many social intranet solutions will provide an all-in-one communication solution.
Look for the solution that suits your organization, your business processes and your end-users. If done right and configured well, this will improve efficiency to a great extent.
Is technical support included in the package?
Implementing a new intranet platform will bring several technical challenges with it, especially if it’s an implementation into a large existing IT infrastructure.
One of the most important factors when choosing an intranet portal is the technical support your provider offers. This is certainly needed during the implementation process, but just as much when the new intranet is up and running.
Issues can always happen. When they do, having access to reliable technical support during work hours (or even 24/7) will make all the difference and can save a lot of time.
What is your budget?
Last but not least; take your budget into consideration.
It can be relatively costly to implement a new intranet, especially if you consider all the above-mentioned factors and really want to improve your business processes.
This is also why it’s good to be well informed about the subject matter when you decide on a budget. If your ideal intranet solution requires some custom development to cater to your specific business needs, the cost can increase significantly.
In the end, it’s all about the value the new intranet will bring to your organization. There’s no doubt that setting a budget is a healthy decision and part of the process, but it may be necessary to increase the budget by a small margin if the added functionality you get in return is worth it.
What you want is the best intranet solution for your business. By doing research, knowing what to look for and making a well-informed decision, your business can profit from it for years to come.
How is Involv matching those needs?
Over the past 15 years, we have been involved in collaboration projects in mid-sized and big companies. The examples I mentioned in this post are real needs that nearly every business we worked with had. Before we even started developing Involv, we listed the requirements our product would need to match those needs:
- Involv leverages the power of the Office 365 applications and intranet best-practices like department sites, news and events, a who is who page, faq … Just select the tools that matter most to your organisation.
- The end-user experience is key: the look and feel is modern and intuitive, a welcome tour guides users through the main areas and the portal is available on all their favorite devices.
- We’re constantly reviewing user feedback, which helps us improve Involv even further.
- Involv is built on Office 365 SharePoint which means there are tons of options to connect to your other business applications. Work with your existing partner or contact us for a quote if you need support.
- We use a simple and flexible pricing model. Involv is available at a one time fee per user and it’s even possible to switch to a monthly payment.
