The faster and easier employees can find the right information at the right time the more productive they will be. Companies that have an effective intranet see higher employee retention rates, better engagement, and an elevated employee self-service rate. To boil it down, an effective intranet is one that’s used to connect people and make work easier.
But how does it do this? A good intranet will solve communication problems, bridge disconnects between teams, build culture, centralize information and activity, simplify processes, and improve workflow. In other words, it produces tangible, measurable results that improve the quality of life and productivity at your workplace.
Although the qualities of an effective intranet are vast, we wanted to discuss the top four qualities. Studies show that intranets that have the four qualities below go a long way to reducing turnover, increasing employee engagement, and higher productivity and self-service rates.
1. Solve communication problems
Your intranet should provide multiple ways in which your people can communicate with each other. As a communication tool, it creates space for discussions around projects and tasks, direct messaging, the sharing of files and information, and internal communications and announcements. It moves the conversations away from outdated and cluttered forms of communication such as email.
An effective intranet should open lines of communication that previously were blocked, disconnected, or absent. For example, at some companies, leadership is unapproachable. A good intranet creates an equal playing field where all team members are given a voice and a chance to interact with one another, no matter their job title.
2. Bridge disconnects
A good intranet bridges the divide between teams and people by centralizing discussions and workflow. It’s where the exchange of information and data happens, where remote employees come together to discuss interdisciplinary projects and objectives, and where the results of their activity are broadcast to other teams via recognition (such as kudos) and company-wide news articles.
By providing positive feedback and facilitating collaboration, intranets move projects forward and reconnect teams who might otherwise be operating independently of each other. Obviously, this is even more important now as companies are hiring employees regardless of where they are physically located.
News and activity features reveal what’s happening in other departments and what other teams are working on. This creates a holistic view of an organization for each employee, which can increase engagement and foster a more open and interactive company culture.
3. Centralize information and activity
A good intranet is where employees at your organization go for help and answers. It’s where important documents and data live. Your intranet should also be a place where any employee can go to learn about policies, procedures, and what’s happening at your company. It’s where they go to read about and prepare for upcoming events.
Although many intranets operate as document repositories with pages and pages of links, a good intranet puts them all in one searchable, easily accessible place. By consolidating company documents, your intranet can also cut training and onboarding costs.
Using AI techniques, intranets are now suggesting relevant content specific to the users situation (geo-location, job level, inferred interest, etc…).
4. Build culture
An effective intranet helps develop, strengthen, and amplify your company’s unique culture. Using an intranet to help build your culture is perhaps one of the most important things you can do for your company. It can improve onboarding, employee engagement, and employee experience.
Broadcasting achievements across your organization via your intranet helps create a culture of engaged, purposeful employees with a sense of camaraderie and mutual respect. Internal communications, news articles, and active culture champions turn your intranet into a space where your company values can become more firmly rooted.
Now that we have covered the four essential aspects of an effective intranet, you might be asking what the easiest and fastest way to get there of your intranet does not have these four qualities. Intellective, a premier ServiceNow partner, has created a tool that sits on top of ServiceNow called the Employee Experience pack. Companies that embrace this tool can reconfigure their intranet with the qualities listed above in ten weeks.
Click here to learn more on how the Employee Experience pack can turn your intranet into an effective tool that solves communication problems, bridges disconnects, centralizes information, and builds your company culture in 10 weeks.
