The Keys to a Successful Intranet Site

Welcome to DX Weekly — a free newsletter to help you unleash the power of digital for your company. Subscribe here . Digital transformation is the antidote to any company becoming irrelevant, and each week, I’ll share new actionable information to help you and your organization succeed in the digital world.

Intranet sites possess a huge amount of potential within an organization, but unfortunately many turn into digital ghost towns. Nevertheless, there are also many companies whose intranet sites become the lifeblood of the organization.?

What are these organizations doing that makes their intranet sites so successful?

CONSOLIDATION

The most successful intranet sites aggregate a central body of information that is valuable within the organization. Here are four major categories of information that should be consolidated into your intranet site.

News

First, include news employees actually care about. Examples of this are organizational movements, policy changes, team KPIs, etc.?

Resources

Second, provide resources that employees might need for their jobs like PowerPoint templates, organization charts, employee directories, and office or branch location info, to name a few.

Tools

Third, offer links to tools that employees use such as helpdesk ticketing systems, equipment order forms, etc. Ideally, all of the tools that employees use should be found or linked within the site.

Community

Finally, promote the things that pull employees into a community, like public profiles, competitions, awards and recognition, and celebrations.

Once you have all of that, the next challenge is getting people to actually use it.

MARKETING

Don’t assume that “if you build it, they will come,” like in the movie Field of Dreams. Instead, you need to actively promote your intranet site as much as you would a product. There are plenty of ways to go about it, but let’s go over five of them.

Communication

First, communicate the existence and importance of your intranet site to employees. Train them in it during orientation and all-hands meetings, include it in your employee handbook, and have signs around the office that promote the site.

Findability

Second, findability is key. From outside the intranet site, make sure all roads point to it. Have it bookmarked in employees browsers or set it as their default webpage. When they’re using the intranet site, make sure it’s easy for them to find everything they need by tagging content properly and making documents searchable.

Notifications

Third, offer an alert system so employees can subscribe to notifications for specific content. Have a daily, weekly, or monthly digest and post important announcements on the home page.

Ease of Use

Fourth, make your intranet site easy to use. Users often give up on websites that are challenging to navigate. Make sure that the content is scannable, easy to read, simple to navigate, and has no broken links or unplanned downtime.

Authority

Lastly, set your intranet site up as the ultimate authority. It should be the first, if not the only, place to find the latest news, statistics, and updates for the organization. You can also post content from senior leadership to help employees understand company priorities and strategies.

Book a FREE 30-minute call with us

YOUR TURN

How effective is the Internet site at your organization? What tips or suggestions do you have for those looking to make their Internet sites more impactful? I’d love to hear from you down in the comments below.

In my Wall Street Journal bestselling book, Winning Digital Customers: The Antidote to Irrelevance, I walk you through a simple five-step roadmap to drive a successful digital transformation within your organization. This is the methodology that I use to help my clients succeed in their digital transformation journey and win the love and loyalty of their customers. You can access the first chapter for FREE here or purchase the book here.

SUBSCRIBE to DX Weekly for more content each week to help you and your company succeed in the digital world.?

Howard Tiersky is the founder of FROM, The Digital Transformation Agency where he works with leading brands on digital transformation.

• Check out his Wall Street Journal bestselling book, Winning Digital Customers: The Antidote to Irrelevance .
• Howard did an episode about overcoming resistance to launch successful transformations. He discussed the simple four-step process for effective change management: define the change, study main points of resistance, address the resistance, and lastly, execute and adjust your plan as needed. Listen to the episode here.
• And of course SUBSCRIBE to this newsletter to make sure you stay on top of his weekly insights on digital transformation here on LinkedIn.?

Want to learn more? We’ve produced over a hundred videos on a wide range of topics geared toward executives and directors from management to digital transformation. Check it out now!