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When we delve into the realm of intranet technologies, we tend to focus on the technology, the details, and heavy-duty geeky stuff. Even if we step outside that box on rare occasions and address intranet strategy within our organization, I contend that we still focus way too much on the trees and miss an entire forest of potential that exists. Why do I say that?

Since an intranet is just a microcosm of the Internet that exists within our organizations' walls I propose that the same compelling reasons that attracted us to the Internet should drive our intranets: the opportunity for creating connections between people as part of a virtual community.

You may argue that by virtue of working for the same organization a community and connection already exists. You might also argue that the flow of information and all the other technological bells and whistles like speed, lower cost, common infrastructure, and decentralized publishing, are the most important benefits as they can contribute to ROI. However, I would argue that an organization is nothing more than a collection of connected people committed to a common goal. Without that connection, nothing great happens.

I have the distinct honor of being part of a community, outside of my technology career, that spans the globe yet allows for an intimacy people believe can only come from proximity. It is through the sum total of the community's ability to use various technologies coupled with a strong commitment to integrity, a common purpose, and connection that enables it to succeed on a grand scale.

Benefits of Using Complementary Technology

We tend to focus our intranet discussions around the distinct areas of administration, infrastructure, back-end databases, and presentation. Sometimes we add in a little content management and publishing for spice. While all these components are extremely important, the secret lies in coupling them with complementary technologies (telecommunications, messaging, fax, etc.) and keeping the connection between the actual human beings involved sacred.

Yes, that is right, the most non-technical, yet primarily important piece of all that we do has to do with the human experience. That is, human beings connecting at the core of their being and not just the superficial definition we techies feel comfortable with, which can be easily compartmentalized into such terms as user interface, design, accessibility, and the like.

Assuming I have convinced you that even as technical professionals, we need to be concerned with and committed to the human experience, you may now be asking, how can I do this? How can we better use the tools in our toolbox to better achieve this?

Mixing the Technology Soup to Create Community

I would compare the use of complementary technologies to making soup. You may use all, or just some, of the ingredients in differing quantities depending on the needs of those at your collective tables. Some of the key ingredients I propose using and how are as follows:

Web Technology
This is the stuff that makes an intranet what it is. You can use Web pages and applications to essentially create a vast network of "pull technology" where people in your community can visit and search for what they need, when they need it. You can make it as sexy or as plain as your culture and needs dictate. You can add as little or as much customization as you like to create a personalized experience. Using this personalization, you can even enter the realm of "push technology" giving them content they either request or you impose on them (required by some corporate mandate, for instance).

Couple the Web with the power of back-end database technology and the world can be your oyster. You can do everything from transactional processing to dynamic report generation to community discussions — the possibilities are seemingly endless. The dynamic nature of this technology can simplify administration while kicking down the doors to a world of potential functionality.

Content Management/Publishing
The content/document management and publishing arena, to me, encompass much more than the strict definition of intranet. It is more a way of doing business and managing the information assets of an organization than a way of building community. However, the ability to publish to the Web from these document repositories, and the certainty of knowing how and where to access documents you need, go a long way toward building an informed, and ultimately connected, community.

E-Mail
E-mail is probably the most abused technology we've seen in the last decade. What started out as an amazing way to connect and communicate with others who are geographically distant or on a different time schedule has become the bane of our existence. While e-mail remains a great way to push information to one or more people and communicate with others, it has been abused up and down and I believe has created more, instead of less, distance between us.

The sheer amount of spam people receive daily makes reading e-mail (and administering e-mail systems) a chore. Not to mention people who feel so connected to the need to constantly check e-mail that it could almost be classified as a sickness. Tell someone they can't check it for a day or two and they almost have a meltdown before your very eyes. Lastly, we have become such a dispassionate, disconnected world that we would rather e-mail the person three cubicles away rather than take the risk of real, human interaction; a very sad sign indeed.

Telecommunications
Ah, the phone. How could we forget one of the original gifts of communication and connection for people not physically present? While we're banging away on our keyboards, we tend to forget that we can make a real connection with someone else simply by picking up the phone. The next best thing to being there, remember? With the advent of teleconference lines, we can expand this connection to include many people. Add a spice of videoconferencing to the mix, and it's almost as good as being there.

Although there are challenges associated with conference calling, if people commit to holding the telephone line as sacred as they would physical space, magic can happen.

Cellular communications can be great as well. Expanding the potential connections to include people wherever they are at any given time. However, this "connected anywhere" phenomenon is abused as much if not more than e-mail. Rather than be in the moment and current physical space, people continually search for ways to distract themselves from what really exists. So my advice to you is: use them, but do so with respect and integrity for yourself and others.

Wireless
The wireless protocols continue to be refined with each passing day. This is yet another opportunity to eliminate the physical restrictions associated with building your community. Again, though, it is fraught with the inherent challenges of the cell phone and e-mail. Taken too far, it only becomes a distraction to living a connected life rather than a catalyst for more freedom.

Wrap Up

I hope the perspective I've shared can help you open your eyes to the forest of possibility that exists for us within each of our organizations if we shift our perspective to focus on the human experience rather than a technological one. So gather your ingredients, and make some delicious soup.