Last week in London I had the pleasure of presenting at the Interactions 2011 conference. This was my opening keynote, outlining a vision for the role that intranets should play within organisations.

Key points:

• There are three broad “life stages” for intranets (see Introducing the essential intranet, noting that “new intranets” are now called ad-hoc).
• Intranet teams start asking lots of “what” questions (what is the intranet for?), then “how” questions (how do we make search work?), and eventually “why” questions (why do we have an intranet?).
• Clear business value and impact can only be demonstrated when intranets are essential.
• I then gave a tour of some of the recently-announced 2011 Intranet Innovation Award winners, including Framestore, UK Parliament, QUT and CRS Australia.

The client in question has a pretty typical intranet: well-structured and content-rich. Future visions might be expected to include further upgrades to the staff directory, more collaboration tools, two-way communications and more online forms.

One word came up time and time again, however: mobile. From senior management down to the intranet team, everyone described a world in which staff could access enterprise information wherever they were.

This was more than just a mobile stylesheet for the whole intranet. Instead, the desire was to deliver key content (and often tools) that staff need on their mobile phones or iPads.

A key manager described the needs of a key audience, highlighting how often they were away from their desks, and how much time was spent in meetings. They outlined a vision where their mobile devices, based on GPS information, would deliver contextual information and tools based on whether they are at their desks, in the meeting rooms, or at airports.

Powerful stuff. It was also fascinating to see how quickly the consumer experience of modern phones was driving enterprise thinking, much faster than previous technology shifts.

Of course, this is a huge challenge for intranet teams, IT teams, and technology vendors. We’re going to need some quick movement to meet staff expectations!

I’m catching up my blogging after the recent whirlwind trip around Europe. This is a video recorded at the IntraTeam event in Denmark at the start of the trip, discussing “intranets in 2015″.

As expected, this turned out to be a wonderful conference, with Jane McConnell’s keynote a real highlight, along with many other interesting sessions. As always, plenty of great conversations in the corridors, including with Mark Morrell from BT.

My goal of my “Intranets in 2015″ keynote was to show what the future might look like, if we move intranets beyond their current role. I used the two stories blogged earlier, and added rich visuals and examples. I’m pleased to say that the storytelling approach seemed to connect with the audience, and many insightful questions were asked.

I’ll blog more about the examples I showed shortly, but I did want to share some of the ideas contributed by audience members, going beyond the scenarios I’ve already outlined:

• Martin White suggested that there was no need to wait for Sarah’s first day to connect up with her. What about making contact before that point, and helping her to get up to speed before she even arrives?

  I then had a conversation with a Danish company who is doing exactly that, with the functionality planned to go live mid-year. I look forward to seeing this in the 2011 Intranet Innovation Awards.

• Martin also highlighted the additional value of providing intranet access on mobile devices: location-aware services. The intranet should know what country someone is in automatically as well as the nearest office. Information could then be automatically tailored to match, a perfect example of acting proactively.
• It was suggested that the intranet should piggyback on public social networks. For example, If allowed by Sarah, the intranet could identify her Facebook friends who work within the same organisation, and use that to suggest connections on the enterprise social network. (Privacy would need to be carefully managed.)

This week I’ll be spending a whole day with some of the leading companies in Switzerland working through the future sceanrios, so I look forward to further insights. Please do continue to contribute to these conversations, and together we can uncover where intranets should be heading.

Up to this point, the central focus of intranets has been content. How to write it, how to publish it, how to maintain it and keep it up to date. This matches the intranet’s role as a publishing platform, and an internal website.

Intranets in 2015 will put people at the centre, supported by content, tools and collaboration. This is something that Alex Manchester on our team has been talking about for a while now, and it’s a rich vision.

Putting people at the centre means many things:

• Delivering solutions that work remarkably well for staff, following best-practice user-centred design and user experience principles.
• Being respectful of staff and their needs {hat tip to William Amurgis}.
• Giving staff control over their own working environment, in many small (and large) ways.
• Connecting people with people within organisations, in addition to capturing explicit content.
• Building an understanding of staff knowledge, skills, expertise and needs; and then using this rich information throughout the intranet.
• Embedding social and collaborative tools in the heart of the intranet, and weaving them throughout working practices.
• Adapting tools to fit human needs, rather than the other way around.
• Delivering an enterprise experience that makes staff productive and satisfied.

We deliver this vision not just because we care about staff, but also because productive staff mean successful organisations.

Many intranets have implemented some of these principles, none have done them all. Many people are passionate about these types of principles, but some have become evangelists about a single aspect rather than human-centred realists.

Faruk Avdi, an Australian web channel manager, has a good view on this. He talks about staff being on a spectrum: from staff with limited IT skills, through to technophiles. Intranets need to work out-of-the-box for those with limited computer skills, and then gracefully allow more experienced staff to take control at their own pace.

This is a mature and nuanced view, and a good example of how to put people at the centre of our intranets.

Our internal information systems have been faceless, oblivious to staff needs and working practices. In the future, these tools will be turned on their heads, with technology designed to support staff in a rich and responsive ways.

How else can we put people at the centre of our intranets and information systems?

An important question has been raised by more than a few people:

So is this still the intranet? Or should we be calling it something different?

An excellent question, and one that I’ll be exploring throughout 2010. There are some that would like to dump the “intranet” name, as it’s associated with the “old” vision of intranets as a publishing platform, a dumping group for documents, and a place for the CEO to post his thoughts.

This narrow vision of the intranet must certainly die. In the process, intranet teams need to go from being custodians of an internal website, to facilitators for business improvements. In many ways, the word “intranet” has too much baggage, and is an anchor for much-needed changes.

Jane McConnell is probably the leader of the movement for a new name, and her preferred choice is the web workplace. She’s written some excellent posts about this, and has articulated some valuable principles that have shaped my thinking. Nonetheless, I’m not convinced.

It’s hard to come up with a new name, and to get it adopted. This is fundamentally a social thing, and it smacks of marketing when driven by a few individuals (not that this is Jane’s intention!). “Web workplace” also doesn’t resonate with me, as it still traps us online, rather than moving towards ubiquitous access.

Where do I stand? I think that intranets still have a role to play in our future organisations, and this is how it could fit together:

“Intranet”

We will still need a web-based “intranet” in the future. This will play a more important role in organisations, mixing old and new thinking:

• corporate homepage and first point of entry
• findability layer, helping staff get to required information and tools
• home for corporate information (yes, we’ll still need this!)
• seamless environment for web-based systems and processes
• business tool used daily by operational staff
• web-based environment for collaboration and social interaction
• vehicle for corporate culture

This is not a million miles away from where intranets are at currently, but there are important differences:

• intranets are just one part of broader environments within organisations (see below)
• focus shifts from publishing information to delivering business value and streamlining processes
• collaboration capabilities get progressively folded in, rather than being separate
• intranets get smarter, sharper, more proactive, and more valuable

As an industry, it is our responsibility to change the perception of the word “intranet”, and to create a forward-looking and constructive vision for our intranets.

(Organisations then benefit from hiding the word intranet entirely, instead giving the intranet a name. That way staff are using “Morris”, oblivious of the debate raging in the intranet community over the appropriate nomenclature.)

“Information systems”

As the future scenarios have shown, Sarah is interacting with much more than just a web-based intranet “site”. Information is available at the point of need, and seamlessly accessible across multiple systems and platforms.

This requires us to be smarter and more coordinated in how we manage our “information systems”. I’m being deliberately generic here, to get away from being caught up in discussions about “document management” vs “enterprise content management”, “business process automation”, “web content management” etc, etc.

Instead, we can say:

“To deliver a staff directory with all the information we need, we’ll need to integrate some of our information systems.”

“Better information systems would allow us to slash the lead-time in product development by 50%”

In practice, this means working with many different tools, systems and platforms. Despite the hopes of some vendors, we’re not going to replace every legacy system with “one tool to rule them all”. Instead, we need to work with point solutions and system specialists to deliver the end-to-end processes we desire and need.

How do we focus our work on the underlying information systems? By targeting the needs and activities of staff:

“Enterprise experience”

The broader industry talks about “user experience”. How users interact with systems, systems’ ease of use (usability), the step-by-step process to complete a task. This has driven remarkable improvements in the usability of websites and intranets.

Within organisations, we should start to talk about the “enterprise experience”. What experience do we want to provide to staff in their working lives? What systems should they be using, and how? How do they interact with the information and tools they need to do their jobs?

This provides a useful focus on:

• delivering solutions that work remarkably well for staff
• creating end-to-end solutions that streamline processes, despite the profusion of behind-the-scenes technologies
• moving steadily towards a seamless environment for staff
• producing delight and joy for staff
• making a real impact on how organisations work, and delivering commensurate business benefits

In short

We’re talking about delivering intranets that bring tools, information and processes together. By steadily improving our information systems, we can provide staff with the tools they need to do their jobs, where and when they need them. The end goal is to deliver an enterprise experience that delights staff and drives business success.

Does this work for you? Or should we using something different?

When a new policy is created, it’s emailed out to all staff, or posted as a news item. But staff are not interested in the travel security policy if they don’t have a trip planned. A new product is launched, but it isn’t of interest to anyone outside that area (even if they end up working there in six months time). Staff don’t have time to read everything now, just in case it will be useful down the track.

Our systems know a huge amount about us, quietly gathered as part of normal working practices. Yet they do nothing with this information.

What if:

• When I join the organisation, all the relevant people are automatically notified, and the key systems updated.
• When I’ve booked a trip interstate, I’m automatically sent details on how to reserve a corporate car.
• When I receive a promotion, I’m pointed to the managers’ area on the intranet.
• When I move into a new business area, I get an update on the recent news items and updates.
• When legislation is updated, I’m notified as I’m working in a relevant area.

This is something that Bob Boiko has been talking about for some time. There are a hundred ways in which our information systems can act proactively, promoting with information or kicking off processes. This can be low-key and non-intrusive (unlike the much hated Clippy!).

Building solutions this way will improve staff productivity, increase adherence to policy, reinforce standard working practices, and delight staff. The information is already in our systems, all we have to do is make use of it.

How else could our information systems be active and proactive?

It’s an impressive list. When all laid out on Morris, the intranet, there is a list of over 300 major products, sold around the world. Stuck in the airport lounge waiting for her delayed flight, Sarah has time to browse through the product details in advance of her meetings later in the day.

From what she’s heard, it was a big project to bring together all the product information together in the one spot, but the payoff has been obvious. Opening up the section for one product, Sarah can see everything from original research and product development through to packaging and current sales figures. Real-time sales figures feed into this, and while sales are moving briskly in Western Europe, there’s a red flag against Brazil, where sales haven’t hit targets for the last 2 months.

Reading through the comments added by staff against the figures, it seems that their major rival has just cut their prices, eroding their market share. Several suggestions have been offered, including one from a front-line sales person that repackaging into smaller units might help to reach their target market better.

Sarah can also see the flow of customer comments as they come in. These are gathered by the call centre and tagged against the product, immediately appearing here and on the homepages of the product managers. The regular scan of social media spaces also feeds into this list. For more expensive products, follow-up customer satisfaction surveys are conducted, and then folded into the collection of consumer information.

For one product, it’s immediately clear that there’s a problem with customer satisfaction, with comments suggesting a gap between the marketing messages and product reality. There’s also a high rate of calls into the call centre, so the installation instructions aren’t working well. Sarah notes down both these points to raise at this afternoon’s meeting with the product and support teams. She could also dip into the team’s working areas, but that’s too much detail for an airport lounge.

There’s also a lot happening in the innovation area. Having been given access last week, Sarah dips into the list of R&D projects currently underway. One of them relates to the use of new materials technology to deliver radically new versions of products, including some in Sarah’s area. The project space is a hive of activity, with team members contributing ideas and test results, and working towards a major milestone.

The project has also spun off a number of related ideas, which sit in the innovation space. Some of these have been picked up by staff, often in ad-hoc groups from across the globe. These will be pursued in the “10% time” that the product teams have. There are also several projects that have been outsourced to external innovation brokers, with individuals and organisations competing for the cash rewards to deliver solutions.

What time was the next flight again? Sarah goes back to Morris to check on the details. Glancing over the summary, she’s still got enough time for the connecting flight, even with the delay. Booking the trip was surprisingly easy. As is common, there’s an arrangement with a third-party booking service, but this time the system was brought straight into the intranet. Much easier, and no need for yet another password.

Morris also knew what hotels she is allowed to stay in, based on her pay grade, and listed the matching options in the city she’s travelling to. Staff who have recently transferred there have also filled in a lot of details about the surrounding area, including the best restaurants (if you’re into Thai food!), nearby laundromats, and how to get about on public transport. Flipping between these details, Sarah picked a hotel that was a little bit further out, but had a nearby jogging track, and was still in 15 mins of the office on public transport.

Being her first trip, Morris also reminded her that she needed to organise travel insurance. Clicking on the link in the email, a pre-filled form awaited her, requiring her to only fill out a few extra details before submitting. Several days later, an email arrived with confirmation of her details.

The travel insurance details were also added automatically to her ‘corporate passport’, which brings together all her key details in a single location. This includes key phone numbers, her contact people in HR and IT, pay details, trip information, upcoming holidays, and more. Very handy when travelling, and just as useful when working in the office.

Right, enough browsing the intranet! Time to close the laptop and dash for the flight.

Principles demonstrated:

• Act proactively, not just reactively
• Deliver end-to-end business processes
• Put people at the centre
• Deliver a seamless user experience
• Cross boundaries

What are your thoughts on this future scenario?

Another year, another job. After 18 months in the last job, and a few months looking for work, Sarah is starting into her new role. The firm seems sounder than the last one, and its consumer products are red hot right at the moment.

Starting a new job is never easy. Having had six jobs in ten years, Sarah is getting pretty skilled at getting up to speed, but still dreads the months of learning the ropes before that out-of-your-depth feeling ebbs away.

At least the security guard knew who she was when she fronted up at 8:30 in the morning, and there was even a pass waiting for her. “Go right up to level six, and Peter will be waiting for you.” After the usual “welcome to the business, it’s great to have you here” speech, Sarah settles into her working area.

More minor miracles: Peter was able to give her login details to her PC, and it seems that the phone system already has her listed. A padded box with a mobile phone is perched on one corner of her desk, in amongst a small pile of other useful stuff. (It seems that after Peter signed off her employment, the internal information systems quietly spread the word to IT, HR and Finance, and everything was lined up before she even arrived.)

Her email inbox has a message from Morris, the intranet. Hmm, “welcome to the business Sarah!”, it seems even the intranet is friendly. Firing up “Morris”, Sarah spends a little time familiarising herself with the system she’s expecting to spend a fair bit of time in.

Part of Morris displays the standard corporate links and tools, but the right-hand half of the page seems to be just for her. There’s a prominent box linking her to an induction package, including a few get-up-to-speed videos, some recorded by other staff members.

Included in her online to-do list are a number of induction items, and she expects these will keep popping up over the next few months. Clicking on one of the tasks, she goes into her staff profile, and fills in a few easy details. The rest can wait for a quiet time over the coming week.

Noting that she’s involved in sales and customer service activities, Morris has suggested a few office groups she might want to join. Not today — too much too quickly — but Sarah does click the checkboxes so she can keep an eye on what’s being talked about, before she works out which groups to join.

She’s already been signed up to her local project group, and browses through the profiles and activities of the team members. Seems like there’s a fair bit happening, with a big report delivered last week. Better add that to my favourites.

Sarah’s also been recommended a “buddy” in a similar role, and she reads through their profile. Looks good, let’s have lunch. Now to unpack the mobile.

Having come to her via the IT folks, there’s already a link in her mobile browser to the intranet. It seems there’s no escaping Morris. Firing the site up, a simplified view is presented, focusing on key tools such as the to-do list and corporate staff directory.

There’s also some instructions on how to download a few mobile apps that talk to the company’s systems. One provides a richer version of the staff directory, including full access to the groups, messages and discussions. It seems this is a third-party tool configured for the firm, as it also includes an external feed of customer comments on the social networking sites.

A second application is a lightweight version of the frontline customer service tools. A few staff have also created some informal mobile tools, stitched together from open-source frameworks, but these can wait for another day.

Dragging her focus away from her shiny new toy, Sarah notices that her email application now lists her outstanding tasks, sans those she has already completed. There’s also a small sidebar, which scrolls messages from across the organisation, including from the groups she’s watching.

It’s also interesting to see a selection of customer comments, collated by the call centre or posted to various social sites. “Oh oh, seems like there’s a problem with a product in one of the Eastern European markets”. Actually, I can help with this one, thinks Sarah, there’s a contact I picked up in my last job who might be useful. She posts a response to an internal question, and quickly receives a positive reply. Not bad, maybe I can be useful on the first day.

By the end of the first day, Sarah has connected up to several new colleagues, has approved a few admin requests, and is lined up to attend tomorrow’s team meeting. She’s also had a few people drop by her desk to introduce themselves, and it seems that Morris has been spreading the word that she’s the new kid on the block.

Behind all this, Sarah’s dimly aware that there’s a dozen systems she’s just made use of, but hidden behind the friendly face of Morris, it all seems rather easy.

Principles demonstrated:

• Act proactively, not just reactively
• Provide universal access
• Deliver end-to-end business processes
• Put people at the centre
• Deliver a seamless user experience
• Cross boundaries

So, what have I missed? How else could Sarah be helped to get up to speed in her new job?

A few of the comments on my initial post made this very clear:

Complete mobile access: From your (really) smart phone you can i) find any needed piece of information through enterprise search; ii) find and email, IM, text, call, video chat with any colleague; 3) edit wiki pages and post news stories; 4) complete activities, such as travel advance requests.

Ephraim Freed

Data, documents, applications, personal contacts, web sites, processes, web based forms, latest news updates – all will be delivered within a relevant context from the Workplace Web.

Andrew Wright

Perhaps the iphone/blackberry generation will be working in micro, tweet sized short bursts of activity taking place small via custom apps.

Dan Leonard

Universal access means unlocking the silos of corporate information, and delivering needed tools and answers to all the platforms and systems being used by staff.

This involves connecting information systems to our familiar tools: email, Word and Excel. It means bring enterprise information into the specialist operational systems that many staff use. It also requires enterprise functionality to be provided on hand-held devices, embedded systems and other field platforms.

We can, however, discount two extremes:

• The concept of an intranet goes away. There will always be a need for an “intranet”, a central web-based point of access that connects information and systems. The world is moving towards the web, not away from it, and this is no different within organisations.
• Everything on the web. There have always been an enthusiastic minority who want to dump the desktop entirely, moving everything into the web. This worked poorly, and in 2015, staff will still have desktop tools, most likely running on Windows.

This vision used to be very difficult, almost impossible, to deliver. Much has changed. Point-to-point integration via web services (and the like) has become mainstream. Mobile devices have much richer capabilities. Enterprise systems are becoming more open to being tailored and connected.

The necessary integration doesn’t need to be perfect. The “good enough” principles that underpin the web are sufficient to allow staff to look up phone numbers on their mobile device, or get access to policies within call centre systems.

The goal is clear: staff have the information and tools they need, when and where they need them.

Your thoughts?