A well-designed intranet can serve your company’s communicative needs far better than a third-party service. Because it’s designed with your specific needs in mind. A user-friendly intranet helps employees quickly get and stay up-to-date on team projects and the latest company announcements.
So how do you design the perfect company intranet?
First, Why Use An Intranet At All?
Even though email, WhatsApp groups and other channels provide ways to coordinate and communicate with colleagues or employees, an intranet has several particularly useful features:
1.Streamlined Internal Communication
You can set up a conversation and simply direct any new project members to it – every project-related exchange can be stored in an accessible place.
2.Easy Resource-Sharing
An intranet lets you create groups and digital spaces to share project resources, and you can also store documents such as company policies where they are accessible to all.
3.Connected Collaboration
When employees work in silos and communication falters, projects suffer. An intranet creates a communal online space for where real-time communication and collaboration may thrive.
What Should Your Intranet Redesign Include?
The two key features of your intranet should be functionality and usability. Research what features employees need most in order to be efficient. Conduct interviews and user testing. User testing is key to ensuring that intranet user experience will be satisfactory, keeping employees active on your platform.
What Does A New Design Or Redesign Entail?
Once the research and usability planning phases are complete, wire framing and prototype design can proceed. After this, a prototype that gives users a full preview of intranet features will be made. Getting your prototype properly tested, by all types of users, will save time and budget. Developers will need to make fewer edits to the final design.
How To Choose The Right Software
Get input from your development team on software options for your intranet. They have the technical knowledge to make recommendations. Common options include Microsoft Office’s Sharepoint, Jostle and Interact.
The Development Phase
Development is usually the most time-consuming task, thus it’s vital to communicate throughout this process. Be transparent with developers about what you want and why. Making developers part of the early design process is a good idea, as this ensures feasibility and can catch potential design flaws early.
How To Keep Your Users Engaged
The success of your intranet depends, in part, on keeping your users engaged. To do this:
- Keep content up to date – no outdated information
- Make navigation user-friendly – your intranet shouldn’t need a detailed map
- Consistency – make folder labelling and colour coding conventions consistent (this applies to page hierarchy too)
- Make search functionality work – help employees find information easily
- Create ownership – make sure someone holds the ongoing responsibility of keeping your intranet up to date
Contact Us to get more detailed insights into creating your own efficient, engaging intranet