European intranet expert Jane McConnell has defined 3 stages of intranet maturity. So what’s next for the organisations that have reached stage 3? Lately, I’ve been discussing this with several of our intranet community of practice members and it seems like even the best intranets still have many areas in which they can improve.

Similarities

Coming out of these and previous trips, my observation is: intranets are pretty much the same the world over.

We all share the same goals and objectives, and wrestle with the same issues. Similar discussion topics seem relevant across the globe, including:

• How do we manage our intranets?
• How do we design/redesign the intranet?
• What are the best practices and latest innovations?
• How do we deliver great intranet content?
• Where does collaboration fit in?
• What about web 2.0 and enterprise 2.0?
• What do staff want, and how do we deliver it?
• How do we develop an intranet strategy and roadmap?
• What does it take to gain senior management support and more resources?
• Where should the intranet team sit, and what should it be doing?

No one country is “ahead” when it comes to intranets, and most sites are in a similar stage of evolution.

Differences

Of course, intranets are far from uniform. As I’ve observed in the past, intranets reflect the organisations they serve, and organisations themselves vary widely. Intranets therefore vary organisation-to-organisation, rather than country-to-country.

Factors that influence intranets include:

• size and structure (eg global multinational, government agency, etc)
• organisational culture
• purpose and function of the organisation
• staff skills and activities
• technology, both historically and currently
• plus a hundred other factors

Learning from our differences

There are many great ideas being pursued, and the differences between organisations generate very different approaches. The challenge remains to surface and share these, regardless of which country they come from.

Your thoughts and observations?