Making the decision to introduce a company intranet is the easy part. What’s not so easy is finding the time to design and set up an intranet that is the perfect match to your business requirements. That’s where utilizing a supplier that provides intranet design services can make life much easier. In this article, we look at how quick and easy it is to create a customized intranet. First though is a reminder of why introducing a company intranet is the best business decision you’ll ever make.
Benefits Of An Intranet
Originally introduced as document sharing and management systems, the world of intranets has moved on considerably from their introduction in the 1990s. Modern intranets contain a set of integrated business tools that will automate and streamline business processes. Furthermore, the intranet ensures that staff members have at their fingertips all the information and data they need to get the job done.
Companies have found that the introduction of an intranet brings with it a number of important benefits. These include:
Automated Processes
The majority of your business processes are capable of being automated on the intranet. From ordering goods and services, invoicing clients or capturing sales data to internal HR forms and systems, the intranet will mean that you are no longer dependent on paper-based systems or emails. Automated processes are quicker, smoother and mitigate against the potential for human error.
Better Communication
The intranet makes the process of communicating with staff much quicker and easier. All important corporate news and updates are published on the intranet so that employees receive timely and consistent messages. What’s more, communication is a two-way process with staff members providing feedback to senior managers on issues or concerns by way of comments on news items, blogs or discussion groups. Moreover, most intranets will allow for customizable news feeds on the basis of team, office location or job function.
Increased Opportunities For Collaboration
The intranet enables staff members to interact and connect with each other across departmental boundaries. For example, if your staff member is looking to write a multi-departmental health and safety manual then they can set up a virtual project team with a collaborative workspace on the intranet. Team members can share insights and ideas as well as best practice information and guidelines. Then the intranet’s document management features can be used to host the draft manual, keep track of revisions or even to apply a document workflow to seek approvals and feedback for the manual.
Improved Employee Engagement
A very welcome by-product of the company intranet is the improved level of employee engagement that the intranet brings in its wake. Being able to carry out your job more efficiently together with feeling more informed and involved has a knock-on effect on overall levels of employee engagement and morale. And everyone knows that engaged employees tend to be more productive staff members with lower levels of sickness and absenteeism.
Mobile and Remote Access
Nowadays staff members are no longer tied to their desks from 9 to 5. The chances are that they will be out on the road drumming up new business or using the relative peace and quiet at home to work remotely on a key task. Cloud-based intranets mean that staff can still be connected and able to access all the key company information and tools on the intranet out of hours and regardless of their physical location.
Are you now convinced of the need for an intranet in your organization, but feel as though you don’t have the time to devote to getting it up and running? As business executives, there is a myriad of demands on our time and even with the best will in the world, we sometimes don’t get around to all of those tasks that require our attention. When it comes to setting up an intranet though, help is at hand. Engaging an intranet design service will mean that you can create a customized intranet that is an exact match to your business requirements. And what’s more, your new intranet could be live in a matter of days which means that your company will be enjoying all those great benefits that we’ve identified. Here’s how the intranet design service works.
Intranet Design Services Engagement Process
When you engage with an intranet design services supplier you will usually follow a clearly defined engagement process that has three key stages. These are as follows:
Scope And Commercials
In this stage, the designer will work with you to clearly define your objectives and requirements and what it is that you want the intranet to achieve. A site plan will be developed detailing the key pages, modules and the content. Then the finer details are agreed including the scope of works, timelines and pricing.
Site Design
In this stage, and in partnership with you, the designer will set about creating your intranet. The first step in the customization process is to add your company logo and corporate colors. Then choosing from the templates available, content is added to your pages including images, news articles, text, videos, iframes and widgets. In fact, it is also possible to embed Google Apps within your intranet for easy access. Folders and files are then added to the document exchange. And finally, access to information is assigned and controlled via a system of permissions and rules.
Launch
On completion, the intranet is handed over to you for a formal launch. The help and support of the intranet designer quite often doesn’t just end there. Consideration should be given to a training program so that you are able to support the intranet’s implementation going forwards. For a lot of cloud-based intranet solution providers, this may take the form of support backed up with a comprehensive online help knowledge base. As you will need to be able to deal with any teething problems that might be identified is there any there going to be any ongoing post-launch support from the supplier?
Intranets Are Good For Business
Creating a company intranet doesn’t have to be a long, torturous process. Cloud-based intranet design services make it surprisingly easy and straightforward, so much so that you will find yourself wondering why you didn’t do it sooner.
With so many great benefits on offer, intranets are simply good for business. So don’t delay any longer. Get in touch with the team at MyHub Intranet and make sure that your business is enjoying those benefits sooner rather than later.
0 Comments