| Developing a new
intranet or attempting to turn your current one into a
lively employee portal is a project that can connect everyone
in your organisation. To be successful, it requires investment,
commitment and political will in equal measure. Typically,
if your organisation has an intranet, it will have been
developed by your IT support team and may now be no
more than a library of policy documents, HR forms, the
company telephone directory and bits of content that
someone still has some inclination to manage. What happened
to the promise of a lively communication channel?
The true value of the intranet
The prospect of setting up an intranet or taking on
an improvement project should not be underestimated.
A successful intranet will not only improve communication,
it will also be part of your business process, including:
- Vital information to make people’s jobs easier
- Progress measures about projects, performance and
the business position
- Hosted forums and specialist communities for exchanging
ideas and information
- Who’s who in the organisation
- Social information
- Access to customer knowledge
To achieve this, and have employees using it daily
(without even thinking about it!), will require significant
investment and will need board level sponsors to support
your business case. Don’t make the mistake of
thinking that you can do one bit of it, or start off
and hope that others will see its value and lend support.
It won’t happen.
This has to be a cross-functional project and it is
unlikely that a single sponsor at board level will be
sufficient. The IT director, plus HR, plus Finance,
plus Marketing makes sense when you need ownership and
commitment, otherwise everyone will treat it as though
it was someone else’s problem. It is too easy
for other functions to dismiss the intranet as an IT
issue and to see it as a cost centre with few hard business
benefits.
Get out the big guns
Think about all the functions in the business and find
out their business objectives. How can an improved intranet
help them to deliver productivity gains, cost savings
and better communication? Know your senior team. If
they have worked in other companies previously they
may have enjoyed the benefit of an outstanding intranet.
They can be highly influential in gaining a positive
decision for your project.
Human Resources
The director will be looking to improve service quality
and reduce costs. The intranet can provide self-service
functionality to achieve this end.
Finance
They will see an advantage in providing timely intelligence
to decision-makers to avoid costly planning errors.
Operations
Cheaper transaction costs, supply chain management efficiencies
and collaboration can all dramatically improve performance.
Corporate Communications
Bringing management and the workforce closer together
through targeted, timely and interactive communications
will reduce the rumour mill and cut out costly paper-based
desk drops.
Marketing
Ensuring that the workforce lives the brand and fully
understand products, services and competitor activity
is important to marketing.
If you have been given the job of sorting out the intranet
or implementing a new one, make sure that you are not
holding a poison chalice. You will need to educate,
influence and persuade to achieve your intranet vision.
If you need help to plan your intranet project, email
Saffron House or call +44 (0)1285 644425 to bring
experience and expertise and to your strategy and plan
of action.
© Saffron House Consultancy. Reproduction
rights reserved. If you wish to use this article, please
apply to Saffron
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