Recently I was sitting in a room of people trying to decide what information they wanted to put on their company intranet site. This was a group of managers who were nominated to form the intranet committee. Sitting in a closed door room they were reviewing item by item of what they thought their teams would find useful. They were practical, intelligent people yet not once did anyone say lets go back to the team and learn what information they need easy access to.

 

If one of your upcoming projects is creating or improving your company’s intranet site the real challenge to setting up an intranet that is innovative, not dealing with the technology. To determine what should be on the intranet so it is effective and so that staff feel compelled to use it and improve their efficiencies. The crucial step most organizations skip in implementing it is talking to the people who will be using it, which is typically not the management team.

 

Without any understanding of and buy-in to intranet applications, the tools will be wasted. By performing a needs assessment, you can increase the likelihood of success. This assessment should include surveys, focus groups, staff interviews, workplace observation, contextual inquiry and task analysis. Don’t rely on just one of these techniques, or your data will be skewed. And spend enough time in listening to the real answers, not just those you want to hear.

 

To be a cutting edge organization that uses the same tools inside the firewall consider how Web 2.0 has radically changed how people communicate and collaborate and apply those technologies to your intranet. A popular software platform to build such sites is Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. If you have never heard of SharePoint it is a new server program that comes as part of the 2007 Microsoft Office system - it may be sitting on your server right now. Organizations large and small are using it to facilitate collaboration, manage content, implement business processes and access essential information. How do you determine if SharePoint intranet site is right for you? At its core, the software offers non-techies a chance to manage sophisticated technical tools without having to learn the technology. Using its numerous modules, developers would set up the SharePoint site so that the non-technical staff can easily publish new items, maintain company calendars, search corporate documents, post photos, set up project-management plans and participate in the company blog and wiki pages. There are about 90 different SharePoint modules support various tasks such as content publishing, content management, records management, or business intelligence needs. Once it’s properly set up, the search feature enables staff to always find the documents they’re looking for quickly, thereby greatly improving their efficiency. The best part? You probably already own the software if you server environment is Microsoft. To ensure your intranet is truly innovative, study how people are already using the internet at home, and simply bring those technologies into the workplace. Site up a site that is highly usable and can easily be updated. This will be a great way to retain the young talent you’ll need to grow, even as it helps you better connect them to the experience of your master talent. I can almost guarantee that you won’t regret the investment of your time.