For most businesses, there is some issue or pain point that has arisen which has sparked an interest in intranets as the solution. Often it’s an identified weakness in internal communications. Maybe it’s a desire to break down information silos and encourage better joint working. For others, it’s a realization that employee engagement needs to be improved. Or perhaps the driving force is the need to find efficiencies in operations with automated workflow processes.

Whatever the case may be, it’s important that you set clear aims and objectives for your intranet from the start. This will make the process of matching and selecting the best intranet for your company a much easier task. As an organization, it’s worthwhile spending time determining what the priorities are for your intranet.

Cost will be an important consideration for young and smaller businesses. With limited finances, a cost-effective solution is top of the list of requirements. In addition, having a small number of employees means that there is a limited amount of internal resources available. Therefore, these businesses will also be looking for an intranet solution that is quick and easy to set up and manage on an ongoing basis.

For larger companies and big corporates, it’s often information needs that tops the list of pain points. Managing and sharing information across several layers and many teams, departments and even office locations has its challenges. These types of companies will be looking for a solution that streamlines and facilitates the sharing of complex information and data streams.

Another potential pain point as organizations grow is the management of business processes. Reporting requirements, compliance recording and simply getting everyday things done, such as ordering supplies and equipment or even managing holiday requests from staff, requires an enormous amount of form filling and paperwork. And often these business processes are being completed via cumbersome paper- or email-based systems. 

For larger organizations with unlimited resources and a dedicated internal IT team, then a custom built intranet may be a feasible option. And for others, creating your own intranet with an off-the-shelf locally hosted intranet may well be the way to go.

However, for the majority of businesses – both large and small – a cloud intranet soluton will tick all the boxes we have identified above. The truth is in terms of simplicity, ease of use and ongoing management, cloud intranet solutons are hard to beat. With comprehensive functionality, it also offers flexibility and adaptability as features and tools can be swapped in or out, designs can be customized to your branding and the platform can grow alongside your business.

For most businesses a cloud intranet will most definitely be fit for purpose and will, in fact, deliver so much more. Interested in exploring the possibilities?