Intranets are great places for staff to ‘get things done’.

In tough economic times, many organisations are rediscovering that their intranet can be a very cost-effective way to help staff get things done more efficiently. By finding the holdups in everyday business processes, and fixing them, intranet teams are able to continuously improve the value of their intranets to their organisations.

Sources of frustration

Inefficiencies in business processes vary in size and complexity. Even small problems with daily tasks can result in lost time and frustration for staff.

Here are some all-too-common examples of process glitches:

• Forms that must be printed instead of filled out online
• Resource booking systems that give the users no feedback on their requests
• Requiring staff to click through multiple ‘terms and conditions’ pages whenever they use a publicly accessible system
• Forms or instructions written in unfamiliar language that confuse rather than help

No matter how small the task is, improving or fixing it can make a big difference to staff. The intranet team can be proactive about identifying and fixing the worst of these frustrations.

[CM Briefing 2009-04 by Serena Joyner, read the full article]