In the lead up to my closing keynote at Intranets2011, I’m going to be talking about essential intranets: what they are, and how to deliver them.

Many organisations have intranets that are useful. They provide content that people need, and reasonably relevant news. But they are often unloved, and are rarely seen as strategic. Work can be done to improve navigation, content publishing and governance, but the sites continue to be taken for granted.

We need to go beyond this, to deliver intranets that are essential. These are intranets that staff can’t do without. They are tied directly into the day-to-day work of staff, and the organisation’s core business. This may seem a daunting objective for many intranet teams, but the truth is that essential intranets can be quite easily delivered with the right mindset.

To help these discussions, we’re introducing a very simple maturity model:

1. New intranets. At the outset, new intranets are focused on growth. Starting small, organisations start to understand what an intranet can do for them, and what information needs to be captured and communicated.
2. Useful intranets. Intranets easily grow to thousands or ten of thousands of pages in size. They provide useful information for all staff, from policies and procedures to updates and news. The primary focus is typically on content and communication, with links provided to other enterprise applications.
3. Essential intranets. Essential intranets underpin the day-to-day work of staff. They are also closely aligned to business priorities, and are designed to directly support service delivery and key business processes. These are business tools, and “how things are done”.

Watch this space for more on essential intranets, including how they demonstrate ROI, and where their focus lies. Join me in this conversation exploring what the future of intranets looks like.

What makes your intranet essential?