Loading...
Loading

Things To Avoid When Setting Up A Company Intranet

2019-11-18by Sheldon White

One of the basic things that every company should have, regardless of how big or small it is, is a private network that allows you and your employees to access sensitive business information securely. This is what an intranet is, and it can bring you and your company many benefits.

It doesn’t matter if you’re building an e-commerce store, or if you have an established digital marketing agency, a company intranet is a must.

While setting up an intranet is more straightforward than it may seem, there are still some common pitfalls that you should be aware of. So, let’s get into what you need to avoid doing when setting up your company intranet.

Don’t Go All-in

If you want your employees to be more connected, investing in a company intranet is the best way to do that. Many intranet solutions come with an abundance of very appealing features that can do much more than enhance communication, and it can be very tempting to get all of them. This is best avoided at first, especially if this is your first time setting up an intranet.

Like any other piece of new software or new tech, it takes time to get used to it and see what exactly you can expect from it. A good intranet solution will be easily scalable, and if you need additional features, you can easily upgrade to a more advanced plan later on. So, start small and see how it goes.

Don’t Cut Corners

When you’re implementing a company intranet, regardless of whether you’re building it yourself or if you’re choosing a cloud-based hosting service, you need to understand that you’ll have to invest in additional resources. You’ll need to ensure top-notch security, and you’ll need to have someone on staff who can help you solve problems that can arise if the servers crash, if your network card dies, or if you download a virus by accident.

While you don’t have to go all-in and get all the fancy features immediately, you also shouldn’t cut corners on necessary resources.

Don’t Let Your Business Objectives Slip Your Mind

When setting up a company intranet, it’s quite easy to forget why you’re doing it, as most people focus more on the “what” and “how” parts of implementation. Do you want to improve employee engagement? Do you have weak internal communication? Does your remote workforce need better collaboration tools?

Being clear about your business objectives and what you want to achieve with your company, the intranet will allow you to learn more about what functionalities and features you’ll need. You’ll ensure that the company intranet can meet your needs and expectations, and you’ll avoid running into unexpected problems during the implementation phase, and in the long run.

Don’t Neglect Your End Users

Believe it or not, about a third of employees have never used their intranets! This might make it seem like intranets are a waste of money, however only poorly designed ones are. If you want to improve employee engagement and encourage collaboration and the usage of your intranet, you need to keep your employees in mind when designing it.

Communicate with your employees before you start implementing your company intranet and see what they need. Do they need a basic email, or do they require more complicated applications? Building an intranet for your employees means taking your employees’ needs and wants into consideration.

Don’t Forget About the Importance of Employee Training

If you want to ensure that your employees use your intranet solution, you need to show them how it can be done. While this might seem frivolous, it can be quite helpful as many employees tend to shy away from massive changes because they don’t understand them very well.

You can organize seminars that can explain the intranet and all its useful applications. You can give a presentation, or even use LMS software for this purpose. Whatever you do, it’s just important to focus on keeping your employees informed and educated.

Don’t Stop Once You’ve Set It up

Just because you’ve launched your intranet and everything seems to be going smoothly, it doesn’t mean that you’re completely done. If you wish to have a functioning intranet, you need to invest in its maintenance, and you need to keep a close eye on it.

Perhaps you’ll notice that some features aren’t necessary after a few months of usage, or you’ll realize that you might need additional features. If you’ve implemented and launched your intranet correctly, you’ll easily be able to make any necessary adjustments and scale it up or down as you go.

The Bottom Line

A company intranet can bring many benefits, as long as it’s implemented properly. To ensure everything goes smoothly, you’ll need to avoid the mistakes mentioned above, and you’ll quickly see the effects - you’ll notice an improvement in your employees’ productivity. You’ll likely see a positive impact on your bottom line as well.

news Buffer
Author

Leave a Comment