What intranets promise

Over the last five years, the company intranet has been transformed from a channel of rapid communication into an essential component of the business process. Many business procedures have benefited from on-line delivery, managers have critical up-to-date information for decision-making, while employees can access tools and exchange information to improve the effectiveness of their work and raise productivity.

Why intranets miss their mark

The potential for savings is enormous: from the obvious economies of paperless publishing to the mobilisation of data, information and knowledge. However, the experience of many employees of the company is that 'its a good idea until you come to use it.' They are faced with a dull and lifeless interface and disappointed by not finding what they need amongst dated content, less than intuitive navigation and unresponsive support. For many, its the poor relation of the company's website.

The true cost of the home-grown intranet

Why should good design be any more expensive than bad design? What has been saved through home-growing via the ICT department (not their core business!) is lost hundreds of times over in an inefficient and ineffective intranet which employees either ignore or use to just a fraction of its potential.

Use our services to develop your vision and create your unique intranet strategy. Saffron House can help you to visualise, structure and design an intranet which engages at all levels, making work easier and employees more productive. One that entertains, informs, shares knowledge and helps identify best practice. One that measurably makes you better in business.

We can help you refresh your existing intranet. If your intranet could be working better, our task force can help. This may consist of an initial assessment and recommendations or you may ask us to target an area or function of your site. We can design, build and deliver a single solution or phase-in a transformation.

Critical to success, is user education. Saffron House has extensive experience in employee communication programmes, assisting change and developing ownership. Our programmes often start with gaining user participation at the outset to understand their requirements and then providing launch materials, webinars and other means of ensuring a successful outcome.

Our clients include several global companies as well as UK government. Saffron House projects have included consultancy for the design of a replacement intranet at a time of merger and a specialist corporate university for one of the world’s largest IT services companies. We have also assisted a government inspectorate structure their intranet for a community of over one hundred remote workers.

We have more than eight years experience of designing and implementing employee communication programmes for clients such as Xerox, Philips, UK Home Office and Atos Origin. These have included many HR projects: change management initiatives, diversity, business excellence and high performance teams.

We design and build websites, mainly for smaller and medium-sized organisations wanting to gain direct business benefits. Our websites are often an integral part of an eMarketing strategy and may also include discrete microsites and portals.

Our approach embraces linked websites, email marketing, site advertising, and eNewsletters, usually brought together in a single strategy. We will also link with direct mail and repurpose other client assets.

Saffron House has been providing successful communications and marketing consultancy and creative services to clients since 1994.

Our clients choose to work with us in relationships which are informal, responsive and pragmatic. For this reason we don't employ the usual agency structures. We keep our organisation tight and virtual, with the emphasis on high value and performance.

If you prefer the comfort (and premium) of a large agency then we won't be your choice. If, however, you want a catalyst - people who challenge the status quo and are prepared to think differently about your requirement - Saffron House can offer you this.

For more details of our approach to Employee Portal & Intranet Design Services, contact:

Kevin Mangan
Kevin@saffronhouse.net T: +44 (0)1285 644425

John Mulholland
John@saffronhouse.net T: +44(0)7966 925178