7 Signs It’s Time for a New Intranet

You may not realize that your intranet is out of date, but the effects of an obsolete intranet system can be felt across your organization. If you’ve noticed any of the following, it might be time to upgrade your intranet.

1. Employees Spend Most of the Day Dealing With Email

Research suggests that many people spend 35 to 40 percent of their day reading and responding to email. There must be a better way to communicate. In an ideal world, many of the conversations that employees have over email would take place on the company intranet, allowing multiple people to brainstorm in a space where everyone can contribute equally.

If your intranet doesn’t provide spaces for this kind of conversation to take place, however, people may resort to using the less efficient method of emailing back and forth.

2. You Can Never Find the Content You Need

Difficulty finding content can be a problem in businesses of all sizes. In too many cases, people feel like they’re drowning in content, yet they still can’t find what they need. If your intranet has descended into content chaos, with many versions of the same files cluttering up the file system and confusing your employees, it could be time for a change.

A new intranet can organize content so it’s easy to find, placing the files people need directly into their project workspaces. Modern intranets also have smart search functions that allow employees to find the content they need simply by entering keywords into the search bar.

3. Employees Duplicate Work

Completing a piece of work only to find that someone else has already done it is very frustrating. If you constantly find that multiple people are unknowingly working on the same thing or that people are recreating work that was already done several months or years earlier, you need a better intranet — one that allows people to find previous versions of content and collaborate to bring it up to date.

When everyone knows what everyone else is working on, there’s less chance of duplication. A good intranet also allows employees to see when someone in another branch has done something similar to the task they are working on, making it easy for them to get in touch to ask for advice.

4. People Ask the Same Questions Over and Over

Is your human resources team fed up with people asking, “Where can I access my latest pay stub?” or “What is the company policy for booking vacation time?” This information should be easy to find on the intranet. If it’s not, maybe it’s time for an overhaul. A truly self-service intranet can save massive amounts of time by eliminating repetitive questions.

5. Employees Are Disengaged

Executives often want to improve engagement, but it can be difficult to communicate their vision to frontline workers. An effective intranet can open channels of communication, ensuring employees are on the same page as higher-level management.

6. Customer Mistakes Occur Too Often

How often do your employees send out the wrong proposal or invoice to a customer? This is a sign of poor organization and communication — and it could be linked to your intranet. You need to make it easy for everyone involved in dealing with a customer to collaborate, which isn’t possible when your intranet is out of date.

7. Employees Don’t Share Ideas

Employees’ ideas can be very valuable, but people are often too shy to share them over email or at a face-to-face meeting. If your employees never voice their ideas, the problem may be that there is no space on the intranet for them to do so.

It’s Time for a Change

If any of these situations sound familiar, it may be time to introduce a new intranet. But don’t wait. Providing a digital workplace that empowers productivity and boosts morale into your organization should be a priority – especially if your goal is to have a workforce that is more engaged with your company and furthering your business objectives.

Topics: Corporate Intranet Tips, Intranet
Daniel Cohen-Dumani

Daniel Cohen-Dumani a Partner and Market Leader of Microsoft Solutions and Services at Withum. He has more than 20 years of experience in the field of computer science and software development. He is a frequent speaker at SharePoint conferences and user groups, and a recognized SharePoint and Office 365 subject matter expert.