Intranets — an increasingly popular tool for HR departments and a virtually indispensable tool in employee benefit self service. If you go online, you will find a seemingly unlimited supply of free advice. But remember “you get what you pay for,” so maintain a critical eye.
Do we need an intranet?
www.intranetjournal.com/articles/200104/cs_04_18_01a.html
This article, Best Practices for Successful Intranets, is part one of a two part series. It is a quick read with some helpful ideas. Key questions considered include: Do we need an Intranet? Who is the audience? Where do we start?
Taking the measure of intranet success
www.intranetjournal.com/articles/200106/cm_06_06_01a.html
This appears to be part two to the article provided above (the site leaves it a little unclear.) Titled Employing Strategic Content Management for Successful Intranets, this article digs a little deeper and lays out the strategy for developing an Intranet, such as establishing metrics to determine intranet effectiveness. Other key topics include: effective implementation and the importance of the treating employees like internal customers.
Detailed discussion
http://intranetjournal.com/articles/200110/ic_10_31_01a.html
This link leads to the article Sharing Information In Your Company. Is it Time for an Intranet? A longer piece than the two above, this is an ideal place to start for those who are seriously considering introducing an intranet. A detailed discussion of selling the idea to management is offered. The article is somewhat geared to small businesses that might purchase a solution out of the box, but the considerations presented remain valid for any organization planning to develop in-house or purchase a custom solution.
Some good questions to ask
www.kmworld.com/publications/whitepapers/portals/weir.pdf
The Burgeoning Market for Enterprise Portals seems a little bit “techy” at the outset. But once it is recognized that Enterprise Information Portals (EIP) are simply an amalgamation of intranets, readers of all levels will be comfortable with the information presented. A tidy two-page PDF (Adobe), this article gives few answers but offers the reader many questions. The author asserts that “the next generation of enterprise portals will move beyond the primarily inward facing model to include business partner collaboration, customer interaction and support for such functions as procurement.”
Failure to deliver
http://content.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB19990624S0011
Vicki August is the author of Intranets Fail to Deliver Business Value. The main message here is that an intranet must be developed at a strategic level first, and that development must involve not only intended users, but those within the company who have a view of the whole business.
Start with the intranet
www.useit.com/alertbox/990404.html
Some of the good ideas here include: making the intranet portal the starting page on all browsers within the company and ensuring there is an easy-to-use directory and search engine.
Developing strategy
www.cio.com/WebMaster/strategy
This site offers a 228-page PowerPoint presentation. While it is a little cumbersome to work through, it is filled with ideas and questions that will help lead you through the design of your own intranet.
An intranet in days
www.cio.com/archive/040100_intranet_content.html
An excerpt from this fascinating case study: “But KPMG, Ernst & Young and PWC all recommended a path Goluska was unwilling to take. They advocated building a consensus and defining a vision, which Goluska figured would take a month, if not years, of meetings. So the intranet committee blew off the advice. The fateful decision was made. They would build their intranet their way and they would build it fast. They’d concentrate resources, grind and crunch. They’d do it in four days and three nights.” Click on to read the whole story.
Further reading
•www.cio.com/archive/webbusiness/110198_cheap_content.html
•www.cio.com/archive/webbusiness/120198_hr_content.html
These last two links provide interesting stories to strengthen your background on intranets (including a link to the CIO intranet research centre) and a look at how a growing number of companies are discovering the benefits of letting employees help themselves.
Joe Nunes is an actuary and president of Actuarial Solutions Inc. in Oakville, Ont. He can be reached at (905) 257-2038 or [email protected].
Do we need an intranet?
www.intranetjournal.com/articles/200104/cs_04_18_01a.html
This article, Best Practices for Successful Intranets, is part one of a two part series. It is a quick read with some helpful ideas. Key questions considered include: Do we need an Intranet? Who is the audience? Where do we start?
Taking the measure of intranet success
www.intranetjournal.com/articles/200106/cm_06_06_01a.html
This appears to be part two to the article provided above (the site leaves it a little unclear.) Titled Employing Strategic Content Management for Successful Intranets, this article digs a little deeper and lays out the strategy for developing an Intranet, such as establishing metrics to determine intranet effectiveness. Other key topics include: effective implementation and the importance of the treating employees like internal customers.
Detailed discussion
http://intranetjournal.com/articles/200110/ic_10_31_01a.html
This link leads to the article Sharing Information In Your Company. Is it Time for an Intranet? A longer piece than the two above, this is an ideal place to start for those who are seriously considering introducing an intranet. A detailed discussion of selling the idea to management is offered. The article is somewhat geared to small businesses that might purchase a solution out of the box, but the considerations presented remain valid for any organization planning to develop in-house or purchase a custom solution.
Some good questions to ask
www.kmworld.com/publications/whitepapers/portals/weir.pdf
The Burgeoning Market for Enterprise Portals seems a little bit “techy” at the outset. But once it is recognized that Enterprise Information Portals (EIP) are simply an amalgamation of intranets, readers of all levels will be comfortable with the information presented. A tidy two-page PDF (Adobe), this article gives few answers but offers the reader many questions. The author asserts that “the next generation of enterprise portals will move beyond the primarily inward facing model to include business partner collaboration, customer interaction and support for such functions as procurement.”
Failure to deliver
http://content.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB19990624S0011
Vicki August is the author of Intranets Fail to Deliver Business Value. The main message here is that an intranet must be developed at a strategic level first, and that development must involve not only intended users, but those within the company who have a view of the whole business.
Start with the intranet
www.useit.com/alertbox/990404.html
Some of the good ideas here include: making the intranet portal the starting page on all browsers within the company and ensuring there is an easy-to-use directory and search engine.
Developing strategy
www.cio.com/WebMaster/strategy
This site offers a 228-page PowerPoint presentation. While it is a little cumbersome to work through, it is filled with ideas and questions that will help lead you through the design of your own intranet.
An intranet in days
www.cio.com/archive/040100_intranet_content.html
An excerpt from this fascinating case study: “But KPMG, Ernst & Young and PWC all recommended a path Goluska was unwilling to take. They advocated building a consensus and defining a vision, which Goluska figured would take a month, if not years, of meetings. So the intranet committee blew off the advice. The fateful decision was made. They would build their intranet their way and they would build it fast. They’d concentrate resources, grind and crunch. They’d do it in four days and three nights.” Click on to read the whole story.
Further reading
•www.cio.com/archive/webbusiness/110198_cheap_content.html
•www.cio.com/archive/webbusiness/120198_hr_content.html
These last two links provide interesting stories to strengthen your background on intranets (including a link to the CIO intranet research centre) and a look at how a growing number of companies are discovering the benefits of letting employees help themselves.
Joe Nunes is an actuary and president of Actuarial Solutions Inc. in Oakville, Ont. He can be reached at (905) 257-2038 or [email protected].
