It seems like the question of whether or not an intranet for business is necessary has been answered time and time again. Still, many companies do not have one because they don’t understand how much it can benefit them. A company intranet offers a quick way to improve business operations and, ultimately, your bottom line.
Here are five simple reasons why you need an intranet for your business.
An engaged and connected workforce through improved communication and collaboration
One of the strongest arguments for intranet software in today’s digital workplace is that it improves employee engagement, connectivity, and internal communications – all of which is great for business. A company intranet is a great way to maintain communication throughout the organization as it allows employees to collaborate and share information in real time.
The best intranet creates a digital workplace that enables better internal communication between workers, managers, and everyone who needs access to the network.
According to a Gallup State of the Global Workplace report, only 20% of workers are engaged at work.
(Image source: Gallup.com)
Yet, engaged employees have the following benefits:
- Improved productivity and profitability – for example, the average knowledge employee spends 2.5 hours daily (roughly 30% of the workday) searching for information. This equates to 12.5 hours a week or 650 hours a year. According to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the average global wage of OECD members is $49,200. The average worker works 1,687 hours a year which means poor employee communication could be costing a company $18,956 per employee annually. Extrapolate this to a company with 1,000 employees, and that’s an $18.9 million direct impact to the bottom line.
- Higher morale, lower absenteeism, and lower employee turnover – engaged employees are less likely to leave their jobs and more likely to have a positive attitude about their work, leading to higher productivity.
- Improved customer service – as engaged employees are more likely to go the extra mile for customers.
Digital workplace for improved efficiency and productivity
As intranets become the main platform for sharing information, knowledge, and communication among employees, they help streamline operations. Employees can access all company-related content on their intranet workspace easily.
This means that they are not wasting time searching for files or checking in with colleagues, which saves a lot of time and helps to increase productivity.
Improved knowledge management
The intranet is where all company knowledge is stored so employees can easily access it to improve their work processes and decision-making abilities. Company intranets allow you to store documents (forms, manuals, etc.), videos, or any other form of digital content.
You can also add discussion forums, wikis, and blogs to the company intranet so employees can share their knowledge and insights. This helps improve overall company knowledge as well as employee productivity.
Hold training and onboarding events
Employees are more productive when they feel like they are a part of the company culture and feel adequately trained for their jobs. An intranet is a great place to hold onboarding and training events. In addition, you can create video tutorials, documents, or even interactive quizzes and games that will help employees learn new skills quickly and easily and reduce new employee onboarding time.
Give employees global access to company information
Intranet solutions can help you provide instant connectivity across all your offices worldwide, letting remote teams share critical data easily from one location using cloud technology.
This is a huge plus for businesses with a global reach, as breaks down communication barriers and ensures everyone is on the same page. Intranets can also be tailored to meet specific cultural needs so that employees feel more connected to the company no matter where they are in the world.
Choose the best company intranet
The reasons above are by no means exhaustive, but they demonstrate the clear benefits of intranet solutions. However, there remains the matter of choosing the best company intranet software and what to look for in intranet solutions.
There are several options on the market.
For example, you can opt for cloud based intranet software or an on-premise traditional intranet solution. Whatever employee communication platform you choose, we offer the following key considerations to help you pick the right intranet platform for your needs:
- Social intranet platform: A company intranet platform should have social networking features, allowing team members to communicate and collaborate easily. The intranet platform should have features and collaboration tools like discussion forums, wikis, blogs, and file sharing so employees can share ideas and information.
- Customization: An employee intranet should be customizable, so you can make it work for your entire organization. It should offer an easy-to-use intranet editor, so you can add different knowledge sharing sections and make changes whenever needed without any coding skills or special training.
- Information management features: This includes features such as easy document management, content management, a shared knowledge library, a search engine, news, polls, digital asset management, policy management, analytics, audit logs, blogs, and integrations with other software that employees are already using. It should be mobile-ready or be available as a mobile app to help engage employees while on the go.
- People management features: An intranet should offer tools to help manage employee profiles, including contact information, job titles and responsibilities, email addresses, and social media accounts.
- Productivity features: A modern intranet system should include features that help employees be more productive such as task management tools, calendar management, a to-do list, file sharing, and an instant messaging system.
- Intuitive platform: An intranet platform should be easy to use so employees can get up and running quickly without any training. It should have a modern design that is visually appealing and encourages employee engagement.
- Intelligent intranet: A corporate intranet should be intelligent, with AI-powered capabilities that improve the user experience and streamline business processes. Artificial intelligence provides actionable insights so organisations can make smarter decisions – fast.
- Years in business: Modern intranet software should be provided by a company that is a market leader. It must have been in business for several years and have a good reputation with evidence of satisfied customers.
- Customer support: The intranet software provider should offer excellent customer support so you can get help if needed. The support should include live chat, email support, phone support, and a dedicated support portal.
- Cloud based or on-premise hosting: Whilst a cloud based intranet is ideal for most organisations, some may prefer to host the intranet on their own servers. Companies should check if the intranet vendor provides both options.
Choosing the right intranet software is a huge decision. You’ll want to make sure you look for an intranet that meets your company’s needs. The bottom line is that the benefits of an intranet for your business will be worth the cost and time spent implementing it.
