Are you looking to build an intranet for your company? Perhaps your CEO has charged you with deploying a company intranet. You may well be a bit apprehensive at the prospect of being an intranet builder, especially if technology isn’t really your thing. It’s got to involve a big investment of time, right? And time is the one thing that you’re really short on. Well, if time is your enemy and you’re also concerned about costs and the investment of resources required in building an intranet, then this post is essential reading. You see, building an intranet doesn’t have to be the difficult, protracted and torturous process that you think it is. Let’s find out more.
Intranet Builder: Possible Approaches
When it comes to building an intranet, there are two basic approaches you can take. The first is to develop your intranet from scratch and host it on a company server. And the second approach is to opt for a cloud intranet where all the hard work in terms of developing, testing and piloting is already done for you.
DIY Intranet Builder
One of the advantages of building an intranet yourself from scratch is that you can design a solution that perfectly fits your business requirements. You may well be looking to deploy an intranet in response to a particular pain point or problem. Perhaps it’s a need to improve internal communications because you employ a lot of freelancers and remote workers. Or it may be that your intranet needs to encompass a range of automated business processes because you are a field service company with large numbers of mobile personnel that need to complete tasks and relay information to head office. And so, whatever your motivation or particular issue may be, the DIY intranet builder option means that you can really focus your solution on addressing that problem.
There are, however, some disadvantages with the DIY intranet builder option. Perhaps the most important is that it will require some technical know-how. Often the software that’s available such as WordPress or SharePoint – although capable of delivering a functioning intranet – haven’t been developed with an intranet in mind. WordPress, for example, is more of a blogging tool or website creation platform. And so, as well as requiring some technical expertise to get up and running, many companies have discovered that add-ons and plug-ins are required to achieve the functionality that you need. This can quickly become unwieldy as well as expensive.
What’s more, even if you manage to build the perfect intranet for your company using the readily available software, extensive testing and piloting will be required to ensure it works properly and meets the needs of end-users. And that means extra costs and more resources.
In addition, it’s important not to under-estimate the amount of physical space that’s required in housing a company server to host your intranet. And physical space will also have a cost attached to it and could perhaps be better deployed for other business purposes such as increasing your sales team to generate more revenue. Ongoing maintenance of the server should also be factored into your intranet builder budget. Furthermore, ensuring a secure hosting environment and keeping on top of cybersecurity issues as well as the latest threats is entirely your responsibility.
And so, while there is a place for the DIY intranet builder option, it’s not always the best choice for every business.
Cloud Intranet Builder
Many companies have found that the cloud intranet builder option provides them with greater flexibility as well as cost certainty. With this option, a company deploys an intranet by utilizing pre-built modules and templates, which are then hosted in the cloud by a specialist intranet provider. There are a number of distinct advantages, including the following:
Easy To Implement
There’s no complicated software to navigate. A cloud intranet can be deployed in a matter of hours by following a simple site setup wizard.
Easy To Manage
Similarly, it’s a simple process to edit content, create pages and upload videos as well as managing users using an intuitive set of administration tools.
Pre-tested Modules and Features
Your cloud intranet comes with a set of standard templates that are easily customizable with your own company stamp, including colors, fonts and logos. What’s more, there’s no need for piloting and testing as all that’s already been done by the intranet provider. And so, you get to enjoy all the great tools on offer without the hassle of development or testing.
Advanced Security
The thought of having responsibility for the security of all your important company data and information from both internal and external threats is enough to give most people a headache. Well, online security is all part of the day job for a cloud intranet provider. Keeping on top of the latest threats, deploying firewalls and implementing the latest encryption technology and secure sign-on are all taken care of by the cloud provider.
Cost Certainty
Unlike the DIY intranet builder option where costs can easily spiral out of control, the cloud option provides greater cost certainty. You’ll know in advance exactly how much it will cost and what the ongoing charges are. There’s no surprises and no hidden extras. What’s more, for a modest monthly fee, you’ll get unlimited numbers of users and unlimited data storage, which makes the cloud option far more flexible.
Intranet Design Services
If you’re really up against it and are keen to crack on with an intranet as a matter of urgency, then you can use the likes of MyHub’s intranet design services. Developed with the time-poor executive or manager in mind, the intranet design service will ensure your intranet meets your requirements, is fully customized and is launched as quickly as possible.
Cloud Intranet Builder – The Smart Choice
Many companies have already successfully implemented the cloud intranet builder option as being their preferred choice. From startups with small numbers of employees through to big corporates with many thousands of staff; and from manufacturing companies through to retail, the hospitality sector and public services, you’ll find a complete range of businesses and industries are successfully using cloud intranets.
And so if time is an issue in your company – like it is for most of us – and if value for money, as well as ease of use and implementation are top of your list of must-have features, then a cloud intranet builder is the only smart choice.
Contact us at MyHub for a free demonstration or a 14-day trial and join the growing number of businesses that have realized the manifold business benefits a cloud intranet offers. Make the smart choice today.
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