Of course, updating our clients on the latest developments within the SORCE product is important, but I think offering them the opportunity to network was particularly valuable.

We consider our clients to be a community of intranet users and this day offered the perfect environment for them to share suggestions and ideas.

As intranets aren’t generally available for public consumption, a common problem is where to find ideas and inspiration. That’s why we chose to showcase a couple of our clients’ intranets, highlighting specific areas of functionality. So it was no surprise to me that these generated excitement and discussion.

It was great to see our customers discussing their intranets, what they’re proud of and sharing their thoughts and ideas with others.

Another element of the day was holding workshops, where we encouraged our clients to brainstorm ideas for potential product functionality. There were some great ideas which we plan to take on board.

With such positive feedback, I’m already looking forward to holding another one.

One powerful bit of new functionality we’ve just launched to our clients, helps their staff access relevant content. We call this ‘Group Targeting’.

One of our clients has found it to be a highly effective way of pushing information out to all members of their project teams. We’ve shown them that as the information is targeted to their team it’s more likely to be read.

Previously, they’ve been experiencing communication issues with relevant stories on the Marketing page being overlooked by the Sales team. Since implementing group targeting, this is no longer the case, as they can target an article to as many departments as they wish.

A feature I think is particularly useful, especially if you work for a large distributed organisation, is the ability to view all articles relevant to your location.

This means that information is targeted to users in a specific region. Staff in Exeter can read about a visit from their CEO, whereas employees in Leeds can view details about their office renovations.

If you want to see how the SORCE product can help to engage your staff using Group Targeting, please give us a call on 01635 551777 to arrange an informal chat.

However, intranet design is never that simple, so I thought I’d cover 5 key considerations when consulting an agency.

1. Not all design agencies are one and the same. If you want to consult an agency it’s vital that they’re a digital one. They will have the experience of working in the digital medium and will understand the differences between design for the web and an intranet.
2. Who knows your product? If you don’t have a supplier ensure someone with a thorough understanding of the product meets with the agency. Alternatively, arrange for your chosen agency to meet with your supplier.
   This will help the agency to:
   • Understand what your intranet is used for
   • Get a clear picture of product functionality and capabilities
   After all, there’s no point in creating a design which your solution cannot deliver.
3. Ensure that the agency knows how the site will be viewed by staff. Give them a clear guideline to work to by supplying them with screen size and resolution.
4. Make it clear who your target audience are. If possible give the agency access to Personas you have created. Where feasible, encourage your agency to speak with a cross section of staff to determine their needs.
5. Brand guidelines – all images used should be in context and in keeping with your organisation’s guidelines.

Including an individual with extensive knowledge of your solution’s capabilities will help guide your agency in creating a workable design.

I like to think of this as the difference between buying a new house from a developer and consulting an architect to design a home.

When you buy a house from a developer, the structure and layout is pre configured.  Sure, you can change the kitchen or paint the walls to your personal tastes but you’re pretty limited in how creative you can be.

On the other hand, if you’re building your own home from scratch, you choose the structure and layout. This gives you a place that fits exactly around your requirements without compromise.

So how does this relate to us?

Well, there are lots of intranet builders out there who supply out of the box products. Essentially, these are pre configured to work in a particular way with the option to make minor functional customisations. In themselves, they’re good functional solutions which do exactly what they’re advertised to do.

SORCE, however, is more like working with an architect. With proven techniques and components our solution contains some of the most common building blocks to get started quickly. At the same time our platform provides the flexibility for you to create an intranet that fits the needs of your employees. This is the power of having a platform rather than a product.

Whenever I conduct a stakeholder interview, it’s not just a set of questions that I prepare in advance. Based on prior experiences, I thought I’d share my thoughts on what other factors I take into consideration.

Who should you select to conduct your interviews? If possible I find it’s always a good idea to select a third party. This has two real benefits for the quality of information that you are capturing. First it helps to remove bias from the interviewer as they should be objective and have no political agenda. Second the interviewee is more likely to be open with their answers and help point out the real issues.

Before you start any interview, explain to your interviewee the purpose behind the exercise. Explaining how the collected information will be used helps to put staff at ease.

NEVER discuss functionality. This will only stray from the key objective of the exercise, understanding what staff need to perform their job roles more effectively. Functionality should only be considered once you fully understand what the requirements of your staff are.

Don’t worry if you can’t get through all your questions. The number of questions you ask is irrelevant, the quality of the information that you collect is.

Now my final point may seem obvious but it’s something that’s often overlooked. Don’t schedule back to back interviews. Give yourself time to read back through your notes, ensure they are legible and that they make sense to you.

If you keep all these factors in mind, I’m sure your interviews will capture all the information you require. You can then convert this knowledge into tangible requirements for your corporate intranet.

If you want more information on how you can use Stakeholder Interviews within your intranet project download our Stakeholder Interview learning guide.

This was an interesting question that a client recently asked me. Obviously, it will vary from company to company, depending on your needs.

With that in mind, here are some of my opinions on the best way to manage an intranet document repository.

1) Less is more – people often go crazy and think they should load every document into the intranet. Ultimately the more they put in the harder it will be for people to find the right document. Try to only load documents that really need to be there. Documented rules on what documents should be stored on the intranet will help your content contributors.

2) Take time to tag correctly – the better you can name and tag your documents the easier it will be for users to find what they’re looking for. You should also be consistent about naming and tagging and maintain this consistency over time. It’s a good idea to have some basic documented rules on how documents should be named and uploaded.

3) Logical folder structure – take time to design your folder hierarchy so it’s logical and clear. Also, ensure that the security permissions are such that people can’t go off and create their own sub directories for new files that they want to upload.

4) Review documents regularly – it’s well worth having regular housekeeping sessions (perhaps every 6 months) to validate that the documents you’re holding are the right ones.

5) Continually improve – capture feedback from staff and the site statistics on which documents staff use/need most and how easy they are to find. Then evolve your document repository to improve the experience for the users.

The company in question appreciated that their existing intranet was old, tired and under developed and the time was right to make some improvements. What they needed was some guidance as to what their new intranet needed to do, and why.

The whole point of The Journey’s Learning phase is to explore, discover, and investigate the potential of a new intranet. Armed with your new found knowledge and vision, you’ll be ready to enter the ‘Planning’ phase of The Journey.

It was my role to expose the management team to the possibilities of an intranet using case studies from various implementations we’ve been involved with. It quickly became clear that many people in the room viewed an intranet as an internal website rather than a business application. A healthy brain storming session ensued with a flurry of mind maps being drawn up.

It’s early days and there’s still learning to be done but they’ve taken those important first steps to achieving success.

SORCE are more than just a software provider. With our help, you can discover the key elements that create a successful intranet.

Your staff may well find their inboxes getting cluttered with both internal actions and external communications. There is plenty of valuable content there, but due to the sheer volume of email to sift through, it can be difficult to be productive.

As a result of these frustrations, more companies such as ATOS are turning to email alternatives to share information within their organisations.

Intranets are an excellent alternative to email, providing a central place for staff to source knowledge, documentation and news within an organisation. They offer the facility for employees to view and search for information that is specific to them, reducing time wasted reading irrelevant content.

Intranets aren’t just about communicating corporate news. In fact, they offer many task driven options to your workforce. Rather than a frustrating inbox search, staff can access all relevant documentation through Document Management. Plus, if you want to collaborate and share business knowledge with colleagues, then Forums and Employee Feeds are excellent options all within a secure, sharable environment.

Using your corporate intranet as an alternative to internal emails can offer countless benefits, although it’s not something that will be adopted overnight. Changes will need to be made regarding your organisation’s culture and it will be essential to get senior management buy in.

Only then can you truly open staff’s eyes to the fact that internal email isn’t necessarily the best (or only) corporate tool available to them.

What is Empty Bar Syndrome?

If a bar is empty your natural reaction is to think it’s not very good and not worth entering. However, if a bar has people inside that seem to be enjoying themselves then you’re more likely to want to go in.

It’s the same with your intranet. If people look but don’t see activity or content of worth then why should they be inspired to engage with the intranet themselves?

So here are some things you can do to overcome this challenge.

1. Get a good solid set of content for launch

Fairly obvious, but during the launch of an intranet you need to invest time in getting high quality content loaded. This doesn’t mean dumping all the content and documents from the old intranet into the new. Remember the rubbish in rubbish out rule. Take time planning the content your users need and upload it with the appropriate tags and metadata so it’s searchable.

2. Maintain your content

Related to 1, you need to be aware that content management is an ongoing activity. Your initial quality content can quickly fall into disrepair if you don’t invest the time to keep it up to date. Devolved content management also needs careful management as rogue power users can easily undo your good work if they are not controlled and guided.

3. Identify and recruit early adopters

In the early days you will need an army of users that will act as advocates for the system and will go out of their way to use the intranet themselves and encourage others to do likewise.

4. Get senior management involved

Getting senior people within the business active and visible on the intranet will greatly help its credibility and will encourage others to get involved.

5. Action feedback quickly

Listen to feedback from your users and respond accordingly to continually improve the intranet. Even with the best will in the world, you won’t know what works and what doesn’t until your intranet’s launched, so be ready to be agile.

Don’t hope that your intranet will be well used. Hope is not a strategy! You need a plan to get and keep your users engaged.

Unlike a car, the frustrations are felt by your whole business and not just the driver. If those issues are affecting the ability for staff to do their job then they are unlikely to grin and bear it, opting instead to find other solutions.

It’s only when you bring your car in for a service that you really understand where your issues lie. So how do you ‘service’ your intranet? One of your options is to use a tool like our intranet capability assessment to get an overview of where your strengths and weaknesses lie.

Within this tool we ask you questions to understand how your intranet works for your organisation. This information is then compiled into a report that provides recommendations for your business.

Begin by assessing your intranet using our free intranet capability audit.