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In recent years, corporate intranets and other internal knowledge-sharing systems have moved from "nice to have" to "must have" status in virtually all industries. In many cases, they have evolved into information-sharing platforms that companies rely on to survive in a knowledge-driven global economy.

Intranets exist in all sizes, shapes, and forms. They range from comprehensive, all-encompassing sites that attempt to collate and store the collective knowledge of global companies to the relatively low-cost, lean intranets built for small professional service firms or individual departments within larger organizations. While some intranets require large, full-time content and IT support teams, others are just one of many items on a human resources or communications manager's job description. Some rely on a high level of central control and others are built on a philosophy of decentralization.

The quality that unites intranets is their overall purpose: to drive organizational efficiency and productivity, support the sharing of best practices, lead to more-informed decisions, and in some cases, serve as the primary channel for internal communications.

Management skepticism about intranets and other knowledge-sharing efforts has often been based on their alleged lack of providing a return-on-investment (ROI). Admittedly, most benefits are intangible and cannot easily be measured using conventional ROI criteria. However, industry research increasingly demonstrates that intranets have a direct impact on bottom-line results. For example, several Fortune 500 companies report ROIs of up to $20 million.

Research has also demonstrated that intranets have a significant effect on workforce efficiency and productivity, and that there is a significant correlation between intranet satisfaction and job satisfaction.

So far, so good. But despite these optimistic findings, the intranet outlook for many organizations remains grim. Low usage, aborted intranet projects and complaints of inefficient allocation of resources are widespread. Too often, knowledge sharing is seen as an unwelcome, separate activity, detached from employees' "real" work. How can this outlook be improved?

Steps to Success — A Few Guidelines

Let's start with a truism: An intranet is not a toy. Rather, it is a strategic investment made by an organization to capture and disseminate intellectual capital and, in the process, remain competitive. Too often, this goal seems to have been forgotten. Elaborate knowledge-sharing platforms that were built and launched proved to have little connection to employees' real needs and the organization's business goals.

Intranet Features Focuses on user needs — not technology promises Directly supports the organization's goals and processes Enables collaboration and communities Inspires learning, innovation and new thinking through sharing best practices Promotes and delivers bottom-line results

Experience shows that employees use an intranet primarily because it is of substantial benefit to them and helps them perform their jobs better, not because of its sheer availability or a company-dictated policy. "Build it and they will come" rarely works. Success depends on an ongoing process that has as much to do with people management as it does with the availability of an appropriate information-technology infrastructure.

Realistic Goals
Guideline number one: Don't inflate expectations. The introduction or relaunch of any knowledge-management tool is often perceived as a distraction and, therefore, approached with a high dose of skepticism. Overpromising and the associated disappointment may reinforce skepticism and result in rejection. Setting realistic goals is a prerequisite for success and a good starting point for measuring progress.

Resource Planning
The technology and knowledge-management euphoria of the 1990s produced many costly intranet projects that were abandoned shortly after their launch. Many examples of failed knowledge-sharing efforts can be attributed to underestimating the need for ongoing content and technical management. Recent experiences clearly demonstrate that outdated content and technical mishaps are major obstacles to user acceptance. Misleading information can also have an adverse impact on an organization's ability to make informed decisions. Any intranet-planning effort, therefore, must carefully map out long-term resource needs for continued maintenance.

Promise of Technology
Organizational knowledge-sharing initiatives sometimes fail because too much emphasis is placed on what technology can achieve rather than on what users actually need. A more successful approach is to avoid guiding projects by promises of what technology alone can deliver. At every stage of the process, decision makers need to consider whether a new technology feature supports overall objectives, or is merely an option that could complicate the tool, distract users or result in serious technical-support issues.

Content and Functionality
Given the diversity of corporate environments and needs, there is no one-size-fits-all prescription for "the right" content and tools. One general rule, however, does apply: The more directly a knowledge-sharing tool is tied to user needs, the more likely it is to be widely used. An intranet's purpose is to enhance existing processes, not to create a separate activity. Knowledge-sharing initiatives should, therefore, start with a candid assessment of the tools employees may be lacking to improve their job performance, as opposed to preconceived notions of what would be nice to have. Guiding questions should be: Which information and tools are critical to an organization's operating performance? What resources will help users perform their jobs more efficiently?

More is not Always Better
Users are interested in finding — not searching for — the right information without delay. A good intranet is therefore built on the premise of avoiding the frustrations of information overload whenever possible through a logical site structure, functional search engine and a content-management approach that values quality over quantity. More sophisticated sites feature virtual communities and collaborative tools, as well as business and financial tools that integrate the intranet into day-to-day work processes.