What is an intranet, and how can it add value to your organization?

By: Ola Azzouqa

The idea of having an internal communication system started back in the sixties, and it kept evolving. The functions of past business intranet software have paved the way for the modern intranets we have today, which is an all-inclusive digital workplace that provides employees with everything they need to do their job. It connects employees through social media, allows them to collaborate and create content, and uses the latest technology to keep your enterprise at the frontlines of the digital age. 

Intranets can augment your employee engagement, facilitate internal communication, and streamline processes. They are also used to disseminate knowledge and improve collaboration within the organization. 

So, what is an intranet? 

You can think of an intranet as a company's internal website; a platform for employees to access internal resources, communicate with each other, collaborate on work, and share documents and information. 

Intranets may have a wide range of features depending on the organization’s needs, but there are a number of features that are common almost to all. Some of these features include: 

• Profile Management where employees can add their own basic information. 
• Employee Directory that lists all the employees with their names, titles, departments, and extension numbers. 
• Organizational Chart to view the different departments and employees within the organization. 
• Internal Announcements; a place to publish company announcements and list regulation and policy updates. 
• News and gallery sections to keep all employees up to date with news and events related to the organization and the business. 
• Booking meeting rooms; a handy feature where employees can search for available meeting rooms, book them, and send invitations using their email. 
• Advanced Search feature to help employees find what they are looking for quickly and easily. 
• Calendars where you can add your meetings and tasks. 
• Documents pool to manage and classify content in one portal while allowing users to download documents and templates on their device. 

In addition to these basic features, companies may choose to add some more advanced features depending on their organizational needs. These include features such as: 

Communication tools 

These are tools for instant messaging, video chat, etc. used to facilitate communications among employees. 

Voting & polls 

Tools that can be used to create and manage employee polls to get their opinion on something. 

Projects and tasks 

People can use this feature to create, assign, and manage work tasks, whether as part of certain company projects or standalone, and follow-up on them. 

HR self-service 

Through connecting the company’s HR system, an intranet can be used to automate a lot of the day-to-day HR procedures such as applying for vacations and viewing vacations, leaves, and the timesheet. 

Issue Management 

A place to manage any internal support tickets, such as IT service requests, can also be part of a company’s intranet, usually through integration with the company’s own ticketing system. 

What does this mean for your organization? 

So, what does your company get out of this and what value do these features add to your organization? 

There are a number of business benefits that Intranets can bring enterprises; from saving time and cost to creating stronger team collaboration and more. When used correctly, Intranet can function as the ultimate tool for internal organizations and team workflows. 

Below is a shortlist of a few of the main benefits: 

Simplified employee onboarding 

An efficient intranet makes onboarding simpler than ever. The problem that most new hires face is finding the information they need and getting to know the company. The intranet offers a vibrant news hub that provides information and insights about the company, employees can use it to find the documents they need such as policies and guidelines and view the organization charts, their colleagues’ profiles, and information. 

Strong Company Culture 

The intranet can play a powerful role in defining your workplace culture. Your intranet will become the hub of your company. It’s where your company share news and information, conversations take place, and events are planned. All employees, across locations and time zones, have access to what’s happening throughout the company. All of this gives your employees the ability to interact and get to know each other. 

Knowledge Management 

Information exchange is a key component of an intranet. A knowledge base is an effective way to store information in your intranet as it provides one central place to store all your information, documents, templates, guidelines, best practices, or commonly asked questions by employees. With this you can assure that staff turnover doesn’t affect employees’ access to knowledge. 

Seamless Communication 

Intranets improve your internal communication which is vital for your organization. An intranet streamlines communication by bringing it into one place. It is an excellent way for employees to connect easily using a variety of communication tools (voice, video, chat) to share articles, news, etc. 

Effective Collaboration 

The features within your Intranet makes it easier for your employees to collaborate and help each other. They can exchange ideas, share documents, complete work together, provide comments and feedback, and interact with different teams. This allows for reduced email use and quicker responses and eventually getting things done easily and quickly. 

Quick Access to Information 

Because you store a lot of information on the intranet, finding the information you need quickly and easily is essential, whether you are looking for a document, a policy, or even a colleague in the employee directory. Intranet makes finding information easier by providing a single and centralized source to search where you can enter keywords to find what you are looking for. 

Saving time, cost, and effort 

When you have an intranet that is integrated with your HR system, you enable your employees to take care of these tasks on their own saving them and your HR personnel time and effort. This, as a result, lowers administrative and operational expenses of your company. 

Similarity, providing a centralized location for your company’s documents, information, and updates, saves your employees and the company time and associated cost. 

To learn more about intranet solutions from ESKADENIA, please visit: https://eskadenia.com/intranets