How to Improve Intranet Adoption Rates with One Simple Trick

As an intranet project manager, you’ve no doubt worked tirelessly for months on end to source the perfect intranet software. You’ve made sure it includes all those standard features (employee directory, knowledge sharing, employee recognition tools, business processes…) secured management buy-in, and promoted the system ahead of launch day. 

But the thought of low intranet adoption rates keeps you awake at night – what if no-one uses it?

If you’re in this situation right now, you’re not alone. Intranet user adoption rate concerns are as common as software developers who drink coffee (we should know).

 

Being prepared with a solid strategy to drive intranet adoption is the best way to ensure intranet success. But even the best laid plans can go awry. You can follow the best business processes possible for fostering intranet engagement, such as forming an intranet content creation plan, posting internal communications to promote the new system, or even building an engaging employee experience for your end users. But on launch day, you could face the unthinkable: low user adoption. Cue chaos and a lot of confusion.

So what might have prevented teams from adopting their brand new company intranet? The answer may surprise you…

Why an intranet adoption strategy can go wrong

Believe it or not, something as simple as not having automatic login functionality via SSO can be a huge barrier to a good user experience. 

SSO, which stands for “Single-Sign-On”, is a technology that automatically grants access to any compatible digital workplace software without needing to enter login credentials. If your new intranet doesn’t utilise SSO, it will at best slow down access to the employee intranet, and at worst prevent staff from accessing their intranet solution at all.

Indeed, if the first thing users see of their new intranet solution is a login screen, it’s not exactly enticing. And unless they have their login details to hand, it’s going to take a good few minutes for staff to search their inbox and locate their given username and password. This will distract staff from getting to the important information they need, and risks putting off engaged employees who were otherwise excited to use the system. In a world that’s suffering from app fatigue, intranet software login details are just another set of credentials for staff to remember.

A login page isn’t the most exciting start to a new intranet user’s experience…

Constantly having to login to different applications is also disruptive to a user’s workflow, and will do nothing to boost employee engagement. Research shows that productivity takes a hit after every interruption, with the average person taking 4 minutes to resume normal productivity levels. A successful intranet should help people work smarter, but a clunky login process jeopardises this – which may help to explain underwhelming intranet adoption and engagement rates.

How to improve intranet adoption with one simple trick

As we mentioned above, SSO seamlessly grants staff access to their intranet based on their existing user details. Think about the times you’ve been signed into Youtube or Outlook without having to enter a username or password – that’s because you already logged into your Google or Microsoft accounts at some point recently, and your credentials are picked up automatically and enable access, without you really noticing.

Your intranet users can benefit from the same functionality. Removing unnecessary barriers, such as a cumbersome login process, will improve employee engagement with the system and drive intranet adoption rates. This is because staff will be unencumbered and free to experience their intranet instantly, without their workflow being interrupted. Instead, staff can focus on actually using the tools your intranet offers, such as corporate social networks, internal communications features like blog posts, and business productivity apps. As a result, employees can communicate, collaborate, and get stuck into the virtual company culture your intranet solution provides.

By incorporating SSO into your intranet adoption strategy, you can worry less that your intranet launch will falter, and instead see those user adoption rates rise!