Intranet Blog

People often see an Intranet as a private application that is hosted and accessed exclusively on the corporate network.  The Infrastructure, access and security can all be managed internally, typically supported by an Internal IT team. This method of hosting is the most popular choice with Interact Intranet software customers as it allows them to integrate their Intranet within their existing infrastructure and build integrated applications on their intranet using the Interact Intranet software API.   This allows for integration with Active Directory for example to enable the Intranet to be used as a central single sign on portal.   
 
There is however another option – some Interact Intranet customers choose to host their Intranet externally on the Internet using our online hosting services. We often find this is a popular choice with smaller organisations who don’t necessarily have the infrastructure to host their Intranet internally as well as organisations that have offices spread over many locations such as Sony BMG.. There is also less requirement for IT staff to manage the servers on a day to day basis, as maintenance and backups are carried out remotely.     
 

Hosting the Intranet online vs in-house

In either scenario, Interact Intranet is a perfect fit for your organisation’s collaboration and communication needs.  The question of where to host your Intranet is simply down to which of the two options above fits your business.

Darren Nadin, Technical Operations Manager, Interact Intranet Software
 

Enthusiasm for your Intranet is critical and can make a huge difference to the amount of use your Intranet gets, and therefore its benefit to your organisation.

Generating enthusiasm for the Intranet project is important. It is obvious that having the buy-in from Management is vital to getting the project launched, but at what other levels should you look for input and enthusiasm?  If you don’t get that excitement for the Intranet, how can you generate it?

Enthusiasm can come from three main sources:

• Senior Management
• Middle Management and Intranet Champions
• The Users themselves

Senior Management will have been involved as project sponsors from the outset, but an important part of their role is to use the Intranet as a primary communications tool.  However, their time is valuable, so it’s OK to have PA’s or the communications team working as “ghostwriters” – but nothing undermines an Intranet more than the total absence of Senior Management.  After all, if they don’t believe in it – why should anyone else?

A perfect example of this is BCS – the Chartered Institute for IT – The Directors of the business were involved at all stages of the Intranet - At launch the even handed out cupcakes with the URL on to staff across the organization.  What was more important is they used it and understood its benefits as more than just a document store

The role of the middle levels of management is critical – these are your Champions, and their belief in the Intranet as a tool to improve the way your organisation works is imperative.  More than anyone, they have the ability to convert Intranet cynics by creating and maintaining excellent Intranet content – and telling people about it.

Trust with the Intranet is crucial

The other source of enthusiasm is personal – people form very strong emotional connections (or disconnections!) with Intranets, often forming a trust relationship with it that ensures it’s their first and last port of call.  This means:

• Users trust that the information they need is available on the Intranet
• They trust that the information on the Intranet is correct and accurate.
• They also trust that the information is the most up-to-date version available
  
  

Finally, a strong driver for Intranet use is curiosity and a thirst for information – but these only emerge when the user understands that the Intranet is useful, and is updated on a very regular basis.  
If your employees have this relationship then they will be far more likely to remain enthusiastic, excited and active on your Intranet. It’s far easier to keep people enthusiastic about the Intranet by ensuring it is kept fresh and exciting than it is to get staff excited all over again after letting the Intranet go stale. 

Also, making sure the Intranet contains information that is both accurate and up to date will reward you with a culture of trust and responsibility.  This will lead to greater usage of the Intranet which will positively impact your organisations efficiency and profitability.

Matt McCourty, Intranet Consultant, Interact Intranet Software

Launching a new Intranet is always a critical part of the project's success.  We had many entries for this award with some inventive ideas.  We wanted to highlight two Intranets as they showed critial aspects of any successful intranet adoption - Senior Stakeholder Buy in, Knowledge presentations, and an element of fun! 

British Computer Society run by Sarah Farrand

BCS are joint winners of this award due to a launch strategy that encompassed every level of the organisation.

Launching ‘The Green Room’ on the same day as the Staff Awards was part of a complete rebrand and saw the Chief Executive and Directors handing out bright green cupcakes with a flag detailing the Intranet URL to every member of staff. Displaying such senior buy in and combining it with another high profile event was a very clever technique and along with a presentation and a run through of the structure ensured that it had the required impact required to make launch day a success.

Lee Valley Park Authority run by Simon Clark

Lee Valley Park Authority is joint winners of this award due to the very original and self promoting nature of their launch.

The tale of an organisation's pledge for good communication between staff in a unique 26 mile regional park - and how a new intranet helped them achieve it...

Using the analogy of a film the Intranet was brought to a screen near you with a director and supporting cast in place to produce the Intranet. Popcorn and a movie ticket, that was to double up as a raffle ticket for an ongoing competition, were placed on every desk. The competition to win cinema tickets with their raffle ticket kept staff logging on over the next couple of weeks to see if their number had come up.

The launch strategy made the Intranet self promoting through the use of original promotional materials that evoked high interest.

Posted by Linda Bolg, Marketing Manager, Interact Intranet Software

One of Interact’s many applications is the Mandatory Read, which improves information dissemination by ensuring that important information is read by those who need to see it by specifying an article as a mandatory read. It enables you to check who has read the document and issue reminders if necessary.

Interact Intranet Software - Mandatory Read Documents

The Mandatory Read can be used for any critical information such as ‘Heath and Safety Manuals’, ‘Company Social Media Guidelines’, and ‘Emergency Procedures’. Once, the users have read and understood the information they must tick a box to confirm this. This aids knowledge management and ensures company policies and procedures are adhered to.

The Mandatory Read feature is part of Interact's Intelligence store and includes features such as;

• Ability to mark Intranet documents to be as Mandatory Read throughout the Intranet
• A mandatory read homepage widget that can be added to any homepage - so that important documents that remain unread are pushed to the relavent users
• An Intranet administrator tool that allows authors to check who and when somebody has read their document and also issue reminders to people that haven't read important documents
• A tool to control who a document is mandatory read for - ensuring that the correct people see the correct content.

The ‘Mandatory Read’ is just one of Interacts many 100s of simple to use tools.  Many Interact users also take the mandatory read feature further with Interact's Question Bank.  This allows authors to set questions or tests to ensure users have read and understood the documents.

Posted by Nick Lewis, Product Manager, Interact Intranet Software