What Makes A Successful Intranet Design?

It is easy to get carried away with features when designing an intranet but it is important to take time to consider, “what makes a successful intranet design?” Unfortunately, there is no straight forward answer to the Intranet design conundrum. If we examine intranet sites there are many common components. However, just because a component is common it does not mean that it forms an essential part of a successful intranet design.

A good intranet consists of elements and components that users need to or want to access frequently. Therefore, it is important to understand the needs and requirements of the users. In addition there are 3 core factors that gear your intranet to success – functionality, performance and maintenance.    

Requirement Of The User

Something that is often overlooked in the design process is the end user. One needs to understand the user, their requirements and their end goals. Understanding the user is about a lot more than just their level of access. Each level will have a different set of requirements. Identifying and catering for several levels of different requirements can be tricky.  

The user requirements should include several factors to improve efficiency and effectiveness. These are some ideas that should be incorporated into intranets.

• Applications and software that are used on a regular basis.
• Centralised content should be setup for quick and easy access.
• Inter-departmental information and knowledge distribution channels.
• Daily planner and organiser.
• Easily accessible company information resources.
• Easily accessible non-company information resources.
• Inter-departmental communication channels.  

Functionality – Integrated Users Friendliness

Intranets are often viewed by companies as simple internal websites. However, once you have identified the requirements of the users, the intranet design can be used to create a core around which all work flows. Software can be integrated to improve productivity, central document storage speeds up retrieval time, sharing knowledge and communication between departments can improve processes across the company, custom built applications and software can also be used for more efficient planning and execution of daily tasks, access to both company and non-company information and resources can be streamlined. In addition, some businesses have several offices at different locations or a mobile work force. Intranet website solutions may need different systems or components for cloud integration or mobile access. 

Performance - Speed Wins

While the story of the tortoise and the hare is an amusing anecdote for children, in the business world performance is essential. An intranet needs to run quickly to succeed. Investment in IT infrastructure or intranet solutions that deliver high-performance can mean the difference between success and failure. If the intranet takes long to load and navigate, users will be discouraged from using the intranet and this may actually hinder efficiency and effectiveness.

Maintenance - Keep It Up-To-Date

Another issue that is often neglected by companies is intranet maintenance. It is a misconception to think that once the intranet is live the job is complete, it is in fact just the beginning. If the content is not current and the intranet is not maintained properly users will stop using it. Old information is of no use, errors and degrading functionality erode user confidence in an intranet system that is supposed to help the user. Constant analysis of why and how users interact with different components can give insight into evolving trends and will help streamline and optimise processes as well as increase productivity. This will also help identify redundant components to discard and add new features that will improve usage and ROI. If users are not interacting with the intranet on a daily basis you need to re-examine components and functionality to ensure your intranet is successful.