Many intranet teams see themselves as battling resistance to change when attempting to grow the intranet or deliver new functionality. The challenge is perceived as overcoming these barriers to a successful intranet.

In practice, though, the real enemy of intranets is apathy. While at some level the organisation (and staff) recognise the need for an intranet, it is never an immediate enough issue to warrant significant resources.

Without a sense of urgency or a real mandate, intranet teams often limp along, targeting individual needs but never capturing the interest of the organisation as a whole. This briefing identifies the impact of apathy on intranet teams, and proposes some practical approaches for overcoming it.

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Most organisations have an intranet, yet the purpose of the site is often far from clear. While there may be an individual (or preferably a team) responsible for managing the intranet, it may still be difficult to get visibility throughout the organisation for the role and importance of the site.

When talking to senior management, the response is often:

“The intranet is certainly important, but there are other more immediate priorities at present, so it will be difficult to get funding in this budget period.”

[CM Briefing 2006-17, read the full article]