Implementing a New Intranet? 6 Uncensored Pieces of Advice That Will Make Your Life Easier

At the end of year 2017 my company was ready for a new intranet. After years of using a very "retro look", and a "no-two way communication" kind of a platform, we decided it was time for a change. And what a change that was! This was one of the largest and the most complex project I had worked on, from which the biggest lesson I learned was:

Implementing a new intranet is not just launching a new platform in a technical matter and migrating existing content or tools - it is a complete cultural and communication shift that happens inside the company.

Today, our intranet is called Allianz Connect and it has over 600 active users in Croatia, which have created more than 400 various contents (blog posts, events, discussions, etc.) and have taken around 464.000 actions (likes, comments or shares). These numbers didn't happen over night, they were a result of continuous work and effort from communications side, as well as colleagues from all departments.

So, I thought some of my experience can help you nail this wide range project. I split the advice into two sections, depending on the timeline of the project and with the adjacent important tasks that can massively help you:

1. Pre-roll out phase of the new intranet
2. Post- roll out phase of the new intranet

PRE- ROLL OUT PHASE OF THE NEW INTRANET

1. Go through your existing Intranet and pinpoint what exactly you would like to change. This will guide you to a clear picture of "characteristics and personality" of the new intranet and help you vocalize it easier to all stakeholders of the project. You will need that knowledge throughout the whole project, believe me.

2. Get the decision makers on your side. I can not stress this enough. Whoever it is, depending on the hierarchy of your company, if it is called Captain America or the CEO, you will need their support. And by support I don't mean a tap on the shoulder, but an active engagement during high level decisions and in the post-roll out phase with a "lead by example" approach. If this step fails, you will have a much bigger challenge getting the colleagues on board with this new and extensive change and their engagement will be slow and painful. Yes, changes are painful and you will need support in getting them to fully work.

3. Don't look just at the communication side of the intranet. Have meetings with colleagues working in other departments to see which functions they need in order to work faster and more efficient. This done means two things: you will already have them on board once they see actual work functions they can use AND the new intranet will have less friction with the employees once it is up and running. Intranets are not a place (just) for fun content, they are here to involve, engage and make work faster and easily comprehended by employees scattered around geographically. Have this in mind at all times when deciding which widgets, functions and tool bars you will integrate, where and why.

POST-ROLL OUT PHASE OF THE NEW INTRANET

1. Start off strong. You have a very short time between implementation of the new platform and people's reactions to it. Use it wisely - prepare various engaging content in advance, ask questions, ask for feedback, present the teams, have digital treasure hunts - give your new intranet a face. Communicate fast in order to establish the tone of the conversations this platform should nurture.

2. Gather colleagues who have participated in the implementation (for example in the migration of the content; we have a team called Allianz Connect Super Admins), reward and educate them regularly in order to have ambassadors in every part of your business. They will promote, educate other colleagues and engage in your content. 3 in 1, priceless!

3. After implementation you will discover some things have been done wrong or are not working out well. But how will you know what's wrong? Other than the obvious phone calls and e-mails you receive with concrete feedback, be sure to specifically ask for one in an anonymous poll. After that you will get an objective, concrete info on things that are good and others that need improvement.

There is also the roll out phase itself, but I will leave that wide topic for another article. Until then, I hope this advice will help you built an amazing communication and a work tool!

Got any more advice? Comment below!