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Intranet 2.0 after the global financial crisis?

Written by James Robertson, published November 8, 2009

Categorised under: Enterprise 2.0, Intranets

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 and future of intranets?

Something I’ve been meaning to write about for a while is the Intranet 2.0 survey run by Toby Ward of Prescient Digital Media. I think it’s interesting to look at what this survey found, in the context of today’s business environment.

When the survey was initially opened for entries, the first rumblings of the financial crisis were being felt, but the worst had yet to hit in most countries. Since that time, we’ve hit rock bottom, and are only just heading back up towards the light.

Intranets have been around for a long time, and have weathered many crises. While they don’t tend to go away, it doesn’t mean they are well-loved or well-resourced. Intranet improvements can also been seen as a bit of a luxury, particularly when it comes to more avant-garde “web 2.0″ inspired improvements.

But if there’s one thing that this survey shows, it’s that these types of improvements are becoming mainstream:

  • 47% have intranet wikis (17% enterprise deployment); 10% have no plans or interest
  • 45% have intranet blogs (13% enterprise deployment); 11% have no plans or interest
  • 46% have intranet discussion forums (19% enterprise use); 9% have no plans or interest
  • 46% have intranet instant messaging (29% enterprise use); 21% have no plans or interest

35% of organisations have had these types of tools for under a year; only 15% for more than 2 years. This shows that enterprise 2.0 tools are new, and are spreading even as the financial screws start to tighten.

I think we’ll see “intranet 2.0″ or “enterprise 2.0″ tools continue to grow, but perhaps the labels will go away. When everyone’s minds are on the dollars, talk of transforming the organisation will hold little sway. These tools do offer value, and it is that value that smart teams will talk about.

So I would recommend getting a copy of the Intranet 2.0 report (the free summary, or $89 for the full report), and then continuing to explore and innovate.

(And when you’ve delivered some great solutions, don’t forget to enter them into the global Intranet Innovation Awards!)