What to consider when designing your intranet?

What is an intranet?

Intranet, or internal communication tool, is one of the solutions used by modern companies to improve information flow.

• The implementation of this solution can bring many benefits, such as an increase in employee involvement and productivity, for example, or a reduction in costs associated with training and printing documents. We wrote more about how intranet tools work and their advantages in the article: The role of intranets in HR processes and onboarding of new employees.

Achieving the benefits of implementing an intranet will only be possible if the implemented solution is properly designed. But what really makes a particular intranet we can define as good?

A good intranet, or what kind of intranet?

Modern internal communication tools used in companies, increasingly offer a variety of functionalities designed to improve specific areas of the company's operations. Organizations considering implementing such software therefore observe the best corporate intranet solutions and try to design systems that emulate them.

But is this approach the right one? In most cases, no.

After all, a good intranet is not one that provides everything that popular systems do, but one that provides the functionality a company needs and enables it to achieve its own goals.

Intranet design - this is what you need to remember

But how do we implement an intranet that is properly tailored to the requirements of a given enterprise? Taking into account a few tips that have proven effective for many of our implementations  can help. Here are the most important tips for designing effective intranet tools.

Know the needs of the organization and employees

Companies that decide to implement an intranet on their own are not always aware of the real needs of all their employees.

This problem is particularly acute for medium and large organizations with a very complex structure. In order to avoid situations in which the finished tool will not meet the expectations of employees, it is worthwhile to first carefully analyze their expectations and set clear goals to be achieved by the new system.

An audit performed before designing the intranet, should therefore be combined with gathering the opinions of our employees about what functionalities could facilitate the performance of their tasks. The knowledge gained in this way will enable us to tailor the software to the real needs of the company and increase its usability.

Take care of the design and UX of the intranet

Once you know what functionality you want the intranet to offer, you can start designing the system. At this stage, it will be extremely important that the system not only allows you to perform specific tasks, but also provides the highest possible readability and intuitiveness.

The very first encounter with a complicated or visually unattractive intranet may discourage employees. It will therefore be necessary to design a site structure that is readable and in line with the needs of the organization.

We must also ensure that the home page and other tabs of the intranet contain only the necessary elements. This is because in some cases an excess of information can act as a distraction.

The last issue we should keep in mind at this stage of work is to design an appropriate design. It may be important that it is not only attractive, but also matches the company's corporate identity.

Ensure system efficiency and security

In order for the intranet operating in our organization to meet the demands of employees and support the achievement of our goals, the system must operate smoothly and provide security. This is why many companies choose to entrust the creation of the system to external organizations.

We can see the effectiveness of this approach by looking at the company's top-rated internal communication management systems. According to the results of Norman Nielsen Group's latest report “Intranet Design Annual: 2023,” as many as 7 of the top 10 intranets were created in cooperation with external agencies.

This is because intranet design experts such as Ideo are able to both take care of the technology, propose the necessary functionalities and support the client in implementing the intranet.

Sort out content and avoid duplicate content

To make it easy for employees to find the issues they need, an intranet must have a clear and logical content architecture, as well as structure. It may be a good idea to sort information not only by category, but also by its target audience.

An important consideration, however, will be to avoid duplicate content. This is essential for order, clarity and credibility of information.

Give employees the opportunity to speak up

One of the important reasons why companies decide to implement an intranet is the desire to improve internal communication. However, in order for the implemented tool to truly achieve this goal, it is worth ensuring that employees also have the opportunity to generate content.

Depending on the specifics of the organization, two-way communication can be implemented, for example, in the form of comments, “like” reactions under posts, or even inserting blog posts. Such a solution will enable employees to express their opinions and allow employees to build a knowledge base.

Measure indicators and make changes

Monitoring individual Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) will allow us to verify whether the tools designed to support internal communication in the company actually bring us the expected results.

It is worth remembering that the measured values should be appropriately matched to the specifics of the organization and the goals it has set.

However, what examples of indicators can we include? These may include:

• the number of active users of the intranet;
• the number of views of individual subpages;
• the number of user-generated entries;
• the level of satisfaction of the people employed;
• cost savings related to training and onboarding.

Choose an intranet tailored to your needs

By following the above advice, a company implementing an intranet will greatly increase the chances of achieving its business goals. However, for many medium and large companies, other factors may also need to be taken into account.

If you care about getting personalized software that is fully tailored to the specifics of your organization, it is worth entrusting its creation to Ideo specialists. You will definitely increase the chances that the implemented intranet will be efficient and secure, and will provide all the necessary functionalities.