Mark Morrell has written about following a decentralised publishing model for intranets. To quote: So who is responsible for publishing, reviewing, updating and removing content? “You!” is the answer to any publisher in BT. There is NO central publishing team to do this on behalf of anyone.
Blog category: Intranets
March 9, 2010 by James Robertson
Getting the “intranet model” right
I've just spent a day with a well-known global company at their headquarters in Sweden (and no, it's not IKEA). They are in the early stages of a large intranet project, which has been thrown a curve-ball by a huge global reorganisation. My role in this one-off day of consulting ...
March 9, 2010 by James Robertson
5 intranet trends for business managers in 2010
Janus Boye writes about 5 intranet trends for business managers in 2010. To quote: Social; The big buzzword at the moment with social business, social media and obviously also social intranets. Jane McConnell recently stated that 2010 will not be the year of the social intranet based on a survey ...
March 7, 2010 by James Robertson
The future of intranets in Copenhagen
I've been talking about future intranets since late last year, leading up to my keynote at the IntraTeam Event in Copenhagen. 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 ...
March 3, 2010 by James Robertson
What drives my passion for intranets
I'm very passionate about intranets, and the opportunities they provide. Where does this passion come from? I've spent a lot of time in organisations with staff who do the actual work, particularly in front-line and operational areas. I've interviewed countless staff, including nurses, accountants, call centre operators, consultants, engineers, sales people, ...
Tags: Intranets, needs analysis, staff
March 3, 2010 by James Robertson
Reworking the HR section
Mark Tilbury shares his experiences and approaches to redesigning the HR section of his intranet. To quote: Finally getting a stakeholder session with our HR guys and owners of 'people' related content on our intranet. Negotiations over the process and protocols have been as torturous as organising the Nixon/Frost debates, ...
March 3, 2010 by James Robertson
Senior manager blogs and non-blogs
Jane McConnell shares concrete numbers on adoption of enterprising blogging. To quote: The figures in this year's report clearly show that senior managers in many large organizations are using blogs to improve communication flow, to break through some of the barriers and silos. However, there is still a lot ...
Tags: blogs, Collaboration, Intranets
March 2, 2010 by James Robertson
More advanced steps to a good intranet wiki/blog
Mark Morrell writes about further steps to a good intranet wiki/blog. To quote: In BT anyone can start a blog or create a wiki article internally about their views and opinions and can contribute to other blogs or wiki articles if they wish to. To get started all you ...
Tags: blogs, Collaboration, Intranets, wikis
February 26, 2010 by James Robertson
Presentation skills for intranet managers
Intra-Nomad provides real-world advice on how intranet managers can present well. To quote: At some time or other every intranet manager has to do a presention. All those stakeholders and vested parties demand it. If like me, you’re one of life’s introverts, you dread these moments, even perhaps avoiding them. ...
Tags: intranet managers, Intranets
February 23, 2010 by James Robertson
Future principle: put people at the centre
This future principle explores where intranets should be heading. Previous principles include act proactively, not just reactively, provide universal access and it's more than the intranet. They support two "future scenarios": starting a new job and driving the engine of change. Up to this point, the ...
Tags: Enterprise 2.0, enterprise experience, future, future principle, Intranets, user experience
February 19, 2010 by James Robertson
Scottrade succeeds in intranet revamp by involving staff
Lindsey Miller writes about Scottrade's intranet redesign. To quote: So how can you replace your old, inefficient intranet with a snazzy, new version and get employees to embrace the change? Scottrade knows; the online brokerage firm last year replaced its intranet, “The Insider,” after seven years, and not one of ...
Tags: case studies, Intranets, redesign, redevelopment
February 19, 2010 by James Robertson
What’s in an Intranet name? Turns out a lot …
Carolyn Douglas has written an article on naming the intranet. To quote: Intranets and corporate culture should go hand in hand. If your intranet is not reflecting the culture in your organization and the site is boring or dry, consider how good old fashioned brand marketing can change attitudes towards ...
February 18, 2010 by James Robertson
Do intranet banners work or are they just litter?
Mark Morrell asks: do intranet banners work or are they just litter? To quote: Selective attention is a widely recognised behaviour on the web backed up by reams of usability evidence. Selective attention is what web users quickly develop from browsing around web pages – it basically means that ...
February 18, 2010 by James Robertson
Video interview with Sabre on their online social tools
Sabre Holdings is one of the largest travel services businesses in the world, quietly connecting travel agents with airlines, as well as running major sites such as Travelocity. Sabre Town, their enterprise social space, provides a ...
Tags: Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0, innovation, intranet innovation awards, Intranets, sabre, social tools
February 18, 2010 by James Robertson
Creating successful style guides
Amy Quinn writes about how to create successful style guides. To quote: Style guides are a great way to ensure user experience consistency when developing an application and a way to communicate user experience standards across an organization. They can be application specific, platform specific, and may encompass enterprise-wide standards. ...
Tags: Intranets, style guides, websites
February 17, 2010 by James Robertson
Three views on intranet names
We recently asked members of the Intranet Leadership Forum about the names of their intranets. Several past articles have covered this topic, including Naming the intranet, which goes into the reasons why you should name a site, and Publicising the launch of Boris at City of Casey, which ...
February 17, 2010 by James Robertson
Recommended reading for intranet teams
There are many ways to learn about all things intranet. On the job is the most common way, with learning from peers in close second place. There is now an expanding number of books that are useful for intranet teams. In this article we outline some recommended reading. General Every intranet team's ...
Tags: books, intranet teams, Intranets, reading
February 17, 2010 by James Robertson
Eight intranet design mistakes
Intranet projects are challenging at the best of times. Sites are large and content rich. Project teams are often thrown into the deep end, with many constraints and expectations. Intranet projects may confront challenges such as: unclear intranet ownership and governance tight timeframes limited (and often insufficient) budgets varied (and sometimes competing) stakeholder opinions large number ...
Tags: design, Information architecture, Intranets, mistakes, usability
February 16, 2010 by James Robertson
Video interview with NYK on wiki-based intranet news
NYK is one of the world's largest shipping and transport firms, with 770 major ships sailing the oceans. In an incredibly competitive market, it is vital to quickly respond to industry changes and competitor moves. To facilitate ...
Tags: Enterprise 2.0, innovation, intranet innovation awards, Intranets, news, wikis
February 11, 2010 by James Robertson
Future principle: it’s more than the intranet
I've been talking about the future of how staff will work in organisations, starting with Sarah's first day, and then exploring products and innovation. 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 ...
Tags: enterprise experience, future, Information management, information systems, Intranets, strategy
February 10, 2010 by James Robertson
Our department is different!
Jeff Cram and Jeni Cram write about the challenges of rolling out an enterprise CMS. To quote: “Our department is different!” This is a common and legitimate response from groups used to managing their own websites. They argue that their needs are so specific there is little chance a common ...
Tags: content management systems, governance, Intranets, websites
February 9, 2010 by James Robertson
Future principle: Act proactively, not just reactively
Today's intranets are very passive. They provide a remarkable volume of information, tools and resources, but they sit idly waiting for someone to look for it. This often means that staff don't get the information they require at the point of need. When a new policy is created, it's emailed out ...
February 9, 2010 by James Robertson
Intranet metrics: which indicators?
Jane McConnell has written about intranet metrics, drawing on her global survey results. To quote: What follows is an extract of 2 pages from the report, pages 96 for adoption indicators and page 102 for core business indicators. Note that the number (n =) at the bottom left of each ...
February 9, 2010 by James Robertson
Intranet benchmarking: a mashup of why & how
Jane McConnell has published a post outlining why and how to do intranet benchmarking. To quote: Comparing your intranet to others is useful because intranets exist within organisations and are somewhat 'oblivious' to what happens outside the company. It is hard to look over the fence. That's where the value ...
Tags: benchmarking, Intranets
February 8, 2010 by James Robertson
We don’t do workflow
Mark Tilbury explains why his intranet doesn't use workflow. To quote: Content comes in different shapes and context. Some needs 'locking-down', other content is 'open', while elements develop as it is pushed, modified and enhanced. There is not a 'one solution' fits all process flow within each stream, nor within ...
Tags: authoring, Intranets, publishing, workflow
February 8, 2010 by James Robertson
Merit badges for The corporate intranet To incentivize adoption
Sadalit Van Buren writes about using merit badges to encourage intranet adoption. To quote: I've been thinking about the badges that a few social sites are using as incentives to their user communities - specifically foursquare and, more recently, Blip. So many people I talk to are looking for ...
Tags: governance, Intranets
February 4, 2010 by James Robertson
Intranet 2.0 Global Survey 2010
Toby Ward ran an Intranet 2.0 survey last year, which generated some interesting results. He's just launched the Intranet 2.0 Global Survey 2010, and you should definitely consider participating in this. Taking just 10 minutes to complete, participants go into the running for a cash prize. To quote: Respondents who ...
Tags: intranet 2.0, Intranets, survey
January 28, 2010 by James Robertson
Future scenario: driving the engine of change
This is the second future scenario exploring the future of intranets (and beyond) in organisations. The first covered Sarah's first days at work, and this looks at innovation, product management and streamlining business processes. It's an impressive list. When all laid ...
Tags: future, future scenario, innovation, Intranets
January 25, 2010 by James Robertson
The weight of the existing intranet
Some time back, we worked for a large government agency. Their intranet was terrible, a huge collection of separate sites dating back over a decade. New sites has been published in waves, but IT didn't feel that they had the authority to delete old sites. As the organisation constantly restructured, ...
Tags: cultural change, governance, Intranets
January 25, 2010 by James Robertson
Migrating to a new intranet – how do you support the content owners?
Dorthe Jespersen has written about supporting content owners during migration. To quote: The content owners may have many questions: Where does our content go in the new structure? What content do we actually have? Should we delete some of it? Will time be allowed for content quality and improvement work? ...
Tags: content migration, Intranets
January 19, 2010 by James Robertson
Video interview with Prophet on streamlining 360 degree feedback
We often talk about using the intranet to save time, and to streamline common business tasks. This is all about taking a cumbersome existing process, and replacing it with an online version that works spectacularly ...
January 18, 2010 by James Robertson
Social intranet products: am I missing something?
I've been looking at a number of "social" and "enterprise 2.0" intranet solutions recently. (I won't name them, as we maintain strict vendor-neutrality.) These are all intended to be out-of-the-box intranet solutions for medium-sized organisations, and they provide rich social functionality. This includes: team spaces wikis blogs social updates (eg Facebook/Twitter) rich personal profiles home-page "latest updates" ...
Tags: Intranets, social media
January 18, 2010 by James Robertson
In-house presentations on intranets
We've seen a lot of intranets, and have worked with a lot of organisations. With three years of the global Intranet Innovation Awards under our belts, we have a remarkable collection of intranet case studies, covering every industry and focus. It's therefore about time we highlighted the in-house presentations we ...
Tags: business case, Intranets
January 15, 2010 by James Robertson
Video interview with AEP on award-winning ideas system
When I was in San Jose for the KMWorld conference, I organised an awards ceremony for the US winners of the Intranet Innovation Awards. This also allowed me to do video interviews with a number of ...
Tags: ideas system, innovation, intranet innovation awards, Intranets
January 13, 2010 by James Robertson
Sprint’s intranet engages all employees from entry level to executives
Jennifer Sniderman explains how social tools on Sprint's intranet, "Sprint Space," helps to engage staff:
Tags: blogs, Intranets, social tools
January 11, 2010 by James Robertson
Workplace web – 3 models
Jane McConnell explores 3 models for intranets, within the framework of the "workplace web". To quote: We proposed 3 models of the workplace web to the 300 participating organizations. The rest of this post is an extract of the diagrams and text from the chapter "Future Intranet: the front door ...
Tags: Intranets
January 6, 2010 by James Robertson
How to generate business support for intranet innovation
Just before Christmas I gave an in-house presentation at a major Australian bank. In this organisation, the intranet team has recently delivered the start of a major intranet upgrade, and are now working on building support for their next steps. This came about because the intranet manager attended our Sydney ...
January 4, 2010 by James Robertson
‘Simon’ says … check out this branded intranet
The Financial Brand talks about 'Simon', a highly-branded intranet at Delta Community. To quote: The Financial Brand interviewed Mary Olson, VP of Marketing, Delta Community, and talked about the credit union’s creative — and branded – employee intranet, affectionately named “Simon.” Simon is the portal for all employee communications — ...
December 23, 2009 by James Robertson
Why your business needs an intranet
Kim Komando has written an article about why your business needs an intranet. To quote: One thing I like about running a small company is the ability to act quickly. Decisions are not bogged down by layers of management. In fact, most moves are made with the interested parties meeting ...
Tags: business case, Intranets
December 22, 2009 by James Robertson
Future proofing intranet governance
Jane McConnell writes about future proofing intranet governance. To quote: If you do not already have a cross-organizational ownership model in place, move in that direction. The Global Intranet Trends for 2010 showed that 14 % of the nearly 300 participating organization have this model. In Stage 3 (more mature ...
Tags: governance, Intranets
December 19, 2009 by James Robertson
When “global & local” becomes “common & specific”
Jane McConnell, who has often talked about "global & local", now introduces "common & specific". To quote: How do you handle global and local content on global portal? A question that has as many answers as intranets! However, in my work with many complex, global organizations, I have developed 8 ...
Tags: governance, Intranets, strategy
December 18, 2009 by James Robertson
Intranet 360 checklist
Jane McConnell has written about running an intranet 360 degree evaluation. To quote: When you organize workshops to explore new directions for the intranet, or when you choose people to participate in a user’s panel, you need to include a range of ages and seniority. The views will be complementary. ...
Tags: governance, Intranets, strategy
December 17, 2009 by James Robertson
An elevator pitch for you and your intranet
It's an old web tale: if you work at Apple's headquarters, One Infinite Loop in Cupertino, California, you may find yourself in the lift one day with Steve Jobs, Apple's billionaire CEO. It's reputedly one of Jobs's tendencies to say to any unlucky lift passenger, 'What do you do for ...
Tags: business case, elevator pitch, Intranets, marketing
December 17, 2009 by James Robertson
The three clicks myth
When designing intranets or websites, it is helpful to have some rules of thumb to follow when making decisions. Over time, many of these have become elevated into principles or rules, widely used throughout the industry. The best-known is the 'three clicks rule', which says that all content should be no ...
Tags: Information architecture, Intranets, myths, usability, websites
December 17, 2009 by James Robertson
How to empower authors
In most organisations authors are vital to the effectiveness of the intranet. Despite this, authors are often given the task of updating content with little or no thought to their skills, suitability or desire. Intranet teams generally have little influence over who becomes an author. As intranets mature and become ...
Tags: authoring, communities of practice, governance, Intranets
December 14, 2009 by James Robertson
Gold winner: COWI (Denmark)
[caption id="attachment_3888" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="COWI's project sites have enabled faster and more effective working across teams and departments, while maintaining compliance with the organisation's strict methodology."] Post 9 of 10 in a series of blog posts giving more insight into this year's ...
December 10, 2009 by James Robertson
iGoogle-like intranet start page to the rescue
Stimmt have shared several Swiss case studies on iGoogle-like intranet start pages. To quote: Just as can be seen with iGoogle, the intranet Start page features several tabs containing widgets (or ‘gadgets’, to use the iGoogle term). The tabs are pre-populated with a general set of useful widgets. The user ...
Tags: Intranets, personalisation, portals
December 9, 2009 by James Robertson
Get ready for intranet 3.0
Sarah Bates writes about the concept of intranet 3.0. To quote: It seems that intranets--and the related online communities within them--are being viewed by senior management as drivers of efficiency and productivity, and as "cultural glue," during turbulent times. Let's get rid of the people handling travel booking and automate ...
Tags: Enterprise 2.0, Intranets
December 8, 2009 by James Robertson
Future scenario: starting a new job
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 ...
December 8, 2009 by James Robertson
5 future intranet trends
Jane McConnell shares a video a presentation on her 5 future intranet trends. To quote: The organizers of Brazilian Intranet Portal Award 2009 event kindly posted the video I made for them on YouTube and I'd like to share it with you. I talk about the 5 future intranet trends.
December 7, 2009 by James Robertson
Gold winner: NYK Group (UK)
[caption id="attachment_3888" align="alignnone" width="599" caption="NYK's wiki News Room provided a cost-effective, global and user-friendly solution to sharing and distributing Group news. Screenshot courtesy of NYK."] Post 7 of 10 in a series of blog posts giving more insight into this year's ...
Tags: intranet innovation awards, Intranets, wikis
December 2, 2009 by James Robertson
Catherine Grenfell on successful intranet managers
Jane McConnell has conducted a podcast interview with our very own Catherine Grenfell on successful intranet managers. To quote: When dealing with the legacy of intranet initiatives that have failed, Catherine says: "You can't undo the past; you can influence the future." Establishing communication channels and setting expectation when everyone ...
December 1, 2009 by James Robertson
Slidecast of the 2009 Intranet Innovation Award winners
Last week we held an awards ceremony at the KMWorld conference in San Jose. In addition, I gave a 50 minute presentation that shared plenty of detail on a number of the winners. The ...
December 1, 2009 by James Robertson
Video marketing of the intranet
It's not enough just to redevelop the intranet, it also needs to be relaunched. The challenge, like all marketing, is to reach the intended audience and capture their attention. While many intranet teams are too shy for their own good, a few are not afraid to do something interesting. Thanks to ...
November 30, 2009 by James Robertson
Podcast interview with Gerry Gaffney
The Step Two team have been very busy recently across every possible medium. Having been in the US for a week at KMWorld, I've fallen hopelessly behind in sharing all this. So this will be the first of a series of posts over the coming week that highlights our outputs... To ...
Tags: Intranets, podcast, strategy, user experience
November 25, 2009 by James Robertson
How long could you survive without the intranet?
We've got great stories coming out at the two-day Intranet Leadership Forum intensive in Sydney. One that jumped out to me was the following: The intranet team at a major Australian bank talked about their data gathering efforts over the last year. The goal has been to build a strong ...
Tags: Intranets
November 24, 2009 by James Robertson
The softer side of intranets
For the last seven years we've been writing about intranets, and our focus has relentlessly been on how to make the intranet more valuable for staff and the organisation. Our over-arching statement has always been this: Staff will use the intranet if it's useful. The challenge is to uncover and understand staff needs, ...
Tags: brand, cultural change, culture, Intranets
November 24, 2009 by James Robertson
Photos in staff directories
Photographs can be a very valuable inclusion in a staff directory. They are helpful for putting faces to names, and nowadays in our on-line socially connected world are somewhat expected. However, talk to any intranet team and you will hear about how difficult it can be in practice to achieve this. The ...
Tags: Photos, staff directories
November 24, 2009 by James Robertson
Intranet Innovations 2009: insights into this year’s winners
The 2009 Intranet Innovation Award winners were unveiled in Sydney on 5 November 2009. There's a wealth of great screenshots, information, tips and advice in the 2009 Awards report, which you can find on the Step Two Designs website. This article summarises the winners and hits on some of ...
November 24, 2009 by James Robertson
Gold winner: SunGard (NZ/USA)
[caption id="attachment_3888" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Sungard's Skills Matrix dispenses with a wall-sized spreadsheet and allows managers and other staff to find the right employee for a task. Image provided courtesy of Sungard"] Post 6 of 10 in a series of blog posts giving ...
November 24, 2009 by James Robertson
Roll out the red carpet for your intranet
Rachel Lai has written an article on intranet launches. To quote: When you enter the latest top-rated restaurant in town, the ambience makes you feel: if the restaurant design is warm and intimate, you feel comfortable and relaxed; if the design is hip and leading edge, you feel upbeat ...
November 23, 2009 by James Robertson
Future principle: provide universal access
In 2015, staff will have universal access to information and functionality, delivered at the point of need, regardless of where they may be. This means going beyond the "intranet as an internal website", a concept that has been holding back intranet teams for many years. A few of the ...
Tags: future, Intranets, ubiquitous access
November 23, 2009 by James Robertson
The immense value of expertise location will help drive enterprise social media
Ross Dawson has written about the value of expertise location. To quote: I have been interested in the field of expertise location for over a decade, from back when knowledge managers were building 'corporate yellow pages' and other tools to find the best expertise in the organization. Unless a large organization ...
Tags: expertise location, social media
November 20, 2009 by James Robertson
I’m going to start talking about the future, and I need your help
Our unwavering efforts over the last 7+ years have been focused on helping teams deliver better intranets. This has all been about "today", and what we can do to make intranets work better. This has involved uncovering successes (and failures) from across the globe, and distilling these into best ...
Tags: Enterprise 2.0, future, Information management, Intranets
November 19, 2009 by James Robertson
A gathering of award winners in San Jose
This morning we held an awards ceremony at KMWorld in San Jose for some of the US-based winners of the Intranet Innovation Awards. In front of the assembled masses, I was delighted to hand over the lovely glass trophies in ...
November 18, 2009 by James Robertson
Gold winner: Prophet (USA)
[caption id="attachment_3888" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Prophet's in-house designed online performance evaluations system reduced the appraisal process timeframe from two months to one week. Screenshot courtesy of Prophet."] Post 5 of 10 in a series of blog posts giving more insight into this year's ...
November 18, 2009 by James Robertson
Intranets must be task-centric
Gerry McGovern argues that intranets must be task-centric. To quote: Let's say you have an organization of 1,000 people, and 50 of them work in Human Resources (HR). An organization-centric intranet will work great for those 50 people, but it will not work very well for the 950 people who ...
November 17, 2009 by James Robertson
The collaborative intranet: involving users in intranet designs
Patrick C. Walsh writes about directly involving staff in redesigning the intranet. To quote: So let’s imagine that we’re in the process of designing or re-designing an intranet. We’ve done all our user research and now its that scary time when you have to somehow turn the research into design ...
Tags: Intranets, user-centred design
November 17, 2009 by James Robertson
How to create clear web navigation menus
Gerry McGovern has written about the value of clear navigation menus. To quote: Good web navigation is unsubtle. It is clear, precise, familiar, consistent, boring, unemotional. Good navigation is ugly and functional. You've just designed a new plane. It's sleek and ergonomic, fuel efficient yet roomy. You're now sitting with ...
November 12, 2009 by James Robertson
Gold winner: Sabre (USA)
[caption id="attachment_3888" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Sabre Town is social networking for the enterprise, an in-house developed, Facebook-style platform that's led to quantifiable savings for the company. Screenshot courtesy of Sabre."] Post 4 of 10 in a series of blog posts giving more insight ...
Tags: Enterprise 2.0, intranet innovation awards, Intranets, social networking, web 2.0
November 10, 2009 by James Robertson
Gold winner: IBM (USA)
[caption id="attachment_3888" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="The w3 Toolbar is an active, multi-functional browser tool enabling users to recommend, share and link to content, files and more. Screenshot courtesy of IBM."] Post 3 of 10 in a series of blog posts giving more insight ...
November 9, 2009 by James Robertson
Gold winner: IDEO (USA)
[caption id="attachment_3877" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="Rich people profiles, including projects and availability. Screenshot courtesy of IDEO."][/caption] Post 2 of 10 of a series of blog posts giving more insight into this year’s Intranet ...
Tags: Enterprise 2.0, intranet innovation awards, Intranets, web 2.0
November 8, 2009 by James Robertson
Intranet 2.0 after the global financial crisis?
Heading towards the end of the year, it's interesting to start to look back on what has been a roller-coaster of a year. The Global Financial Crisis seems to have transformed everyone's thinking, and the ripples are still being felt in every industry. So what has this meant for the present ...
November 6, 2009 by James Robertson
2009 platinum winner: CRS Australia (Australia)
Post 1 of 10. This is the first of a series of blog posts giving more insight into this year's Intranet Innovation Award winners. Workflow inbox and moreCRS Australia (Australia) CRS Australia provides vocational rehabilitation services and assistance for people with ...
Tags: integration, intranet innovation awards, Intranets, sap
November 5, 2009 by James Robertson
Winners announced for this year’s Intranet Innovation Awards!
The day is finally here, and we're excited to announce the winners of the 2009 Intranet Innovation Awards! These are global awards that celebrate new ideas and innovative approaches to the enhancement and delivery of intranets. Winning entries in 2009 include CRS Australia (Australia), IDEO (USA), IBM (USA), SunGard (USA/NZ), ...
November 2, 2009 by James Robertson
Top 5 intranet KPIs
Toby Ward writes about intranet KPIs. To quote: Failure to measure your intranet’s performance above and beyond simple analytics (e.g. HITS and page views) is a failure of responsibility (particularly in this economy where most organizations are looking cut costs wherever they find them).
October 29, 2009 by James Robertson
Some testing is better than none
Ideally, all intranet design projects should adopt a design approach which consults with users throughout the process, from identifying needs to input and evaluation of structure and design. This is not always possible. Time and cost limitations occasionally result in corners being cut with testing often being the victim, because ...
Tags: Intranets, usability testing
October 29, 2009 by James Robertson
About the intranet, on the intranet
The intranet is not just a channel for the business to communicate news and information. It is also a valuable tool for the intranet team itself to engage with the wider organisation. To that end, the intranet team should have a section on the intranet devoted to the intranet itself. This ...
Tags: governance, Intranets
October 29, 2009 by James Robertson
Seven roles of the intranet homepage
There is no more contested or challenging page on the intranet than the homepage. As it is the most visible page on the site, everyone wants their piece of the homepage. There is also contention about the role of the intranet homepage: Should the homepage be mostly about news? Is navigation the ...
October 27, 2009 by James Robertson
What every intranet manager should know
Patrick C Walsh has written about job adverts for intranet managers. To quote: I get email updates from an intranet group and recently they’ve added a jobs section. So I’ve been having a quick dip in to see what the jobs are like in the intranet world of today. This ...
Tags: governance, intranet managers, Intranets
October 26, 2009 by James Robertson
An information charter
Martin White has posted an information charter for organisations. To quote: The genesis of the Charter was a particularly challenging project to develop an information management strategy for a major pharmaceutical company, and then having to condense it into a single PowerPoint slide for an internal presentation. Driving home from ...
Tags: Information management
October 23, 2009 by James Robertson
Sneak peak of this year’s Intranet Innovation Award winners
While the official announcement of this year's Intranet Innovation Awards is not far off, we can't resist giving bit of a sneak peak of what to expect. This year we have winners from the USA, UK, Denmark, Russia, Australia and New Zealand. Some of the award-winning ideas will include: Way for ...
October 20, 2009 by James Robertson
Intranet governance begets intranet success
Toby Ward has written about intranet governance, answering some common questions. To quote: As is the case with most websites or intranets it is simply impossible to achieve any long-lasting success without a clearly defined ownership and management structure. Intranet governance provides clarity and rules: namely the titles, roles and ...
Tags: governance, Intranets
October 19, 2009 by James Robertson
Intranet strategy with collaboration products ensures fresh content
Jessica Scarpati writes about collaboration on the intranet, drawing on the opinions of a few in the industry. To quote: Building an intranet to house static content such as an employee directory and benefits forms can make a portal as dated as a corporate brochure. Making unified communications (UC) tools ...
Tags: Collaboration, communication, Intranets
October 19, 2009 by James Robertson
Intuit brainstorm offers innovation management
Bill Ives shares a case study of the innovation management system at Intuit. To quote: Intuit Brainstorm was designed by employees operating as innovators, rather than as a tool for senior management to track the status of efforts. It was designed to meet the needs of these innovators. It enables ...
Tags: innovation, Intranets
October 14, 2009 by James Robertson
Social intranets as the new talent management system
Sean R. Nicholson raises the idea of social intranets as the new talent management system. To quote: As Social Intranets are becoming more commonplace, however, a unique phenomena is occurring. Employees are sharing their previous experiences, subject knowledge, and expertise with fellow employees, management, and executives each day, providing a ...
Tags: Enterprise 2.0, Intranets, social tools
October 13, 2009 by James Robertson
7 principles for decentralized publishing
Jane McConnell has published 7 principles for decentralized publishing. To quote: Define the level according to the "natural business role". Publishing on the intranet must be part of normal business procedures. Whoever is responsible for the accuracy of a specific content should also be responsible for that content on the ...
Tags: authoring, Intranets, publishing
October 9, 2009 by James Robertson
Intranet in the cloud
Toby Ward explores the possibility of hosting the intranet in the cloud. To quote: In short, hosting is provided as a service over the Internet. SaaS is simply hosted software that could include your website content management system, search engine, CRM (Salesforce.com), etc. The cloud is merely a metaphor based ...
Tags: cloud computing, Intranets, strategy
October 8, 2009 by James Robertson
Barriers to intranet use from Forrester
Bill Ives reports on barriers to intranet use, as highlighted by Forrester. To quote: Forrester recently released a report on What’s Holding Back Your Intranet? They were nice to share a copy with me. They found that 93% of employee respondents said they use an intranet or company portal ...
Tags: Intranets
October 7, 2009 by James Robertson
The third way for designing enterprise wiki information architectures
James Dellow discusses how to structure wikis, suggesting a balance between up-front and organic approaches. To quote: Last week I was talking to someone about enterprise wiki adoption. I ended up sketching a rough diagram like this so we could talk about the need to design (in an active, participatory ...
Tags: Information architecture, wikis
September 28, 2009 by James Robertson
30-30-30-10: watch the trends
Jane McConnell writes about the need for intranet managers to be aware of trends. To quote: Intranet managers need to be externally focused - with at least 30 percent of their energy (why 30? less than half, but still significant!) in order to stay fresh, motivated and up to ...
September 23, 2009 by James Robertson
Intranet governance cycle
Maish Nichani has written an article on intranet governance. To quote: This article offers a system view of intranet governance. It is based on a simple strategy that can be applied across different areas. The areas that I've covered are: information organization, publishing, collaboration and applications.
Tags: governance, Intranets
September 23, 2009 by James Robertson
Building a task based intranet using SharePoint (AGL case study)
Andrew Wright has shared an interesting intranet case study from AGL. To quote: This article describes how AGL used SharePoint 2007 to build a task based intranet. AGL is Australia's largest gas and electricity retailer, with over 3.2 million customer accounts and approximately 2,200 employees. It has recently invested in ...
Tags: Intranets
September 22, 2009 by James Robertson
Giving internal visibility to social media
Last night I met up in Geneva with Ernst Decsey, the intranet leader at UNHCR. Some years back we did a fairly big IA project as part of their global intranet redevelopment, and it was great to see how far things have come since then. I found one part of their ...
Tags: Intranets, social media
September 22, 2009 by James Robertson
Training intranet editors: What works?
Janus Boye explores options for training intranet editors. To quote: It can be a real challenge to properly staff properly to use and contribute to an intranet, particularly if struggling with a lack of management support at all levels. Your intranet can’t succeed without trained colleagues that actively contribute. So ...
September 21, 2009 by James Robertson
Connecting bookmarks and “my links”
I had lunch today in Zurich with Lukas Karrer from Stimmt (a user experience consultancy doing great work in the German-speaking region of Switzerland). Many great intranet ideas were shared, but a little thing that stuck in my mind: One Swiss firm is implementing "my links" as part of their ...
Tags: Intranets, personalisation
September 18, 2009 by James Robertson
What to look for in a visual designer
Visual design is considered as part of most entrant redesigns, and involves the colours, fonts and graphics that make up the presentation of the pages. A redesign might need to incorporate a corporate rebranding or brand refresh, or might involve changing the identity of an existing intranet. Either way, the ...
Tags: Intranets, visual design
September 18, 2009 by James Robertson
Using the intranet to access collaboration tools
Collaboration tools are spreading through organisations. Wikis, team spaces and discussion groups are being used in ever-greater numbers. For many staff, this means they are involved in several different collaboration spaces. This might include a project space for their current work, another for a committee they are a member of, as ...
Tags: Collaboration, Intranets
September 18, 2009 by James Robertson
Creating high quality intranet videos at the Forest Products Commission
Video can be a useful and powerful communication tool for large organisations, and has been used effectively for many years. Until recently, the benefits of video have been out of reach to smaller organisations due to its cost, the skills and equipment needed to produce videos and corporate films of ...
September 16, 2009 by James Robertson
Intranet governance – a Parliamentary perspective
Dorje McKinnon has written up the work of the NZ Parliament on their intranet governance. To quote: The team from NZ Parliament have come up with a governance structure that works really well for them in a very technically, politically and legally complex environment.
Tags: governance, Intranets
