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Everyone wants to follow best practices when it comes to their intranet but what does that really mean? If you're in the trenches of your company and wondering what works in the real world for the biggest companies around the world, where do you go to find that information? Who do you call to ask? The Intranet Benchmarking Forum can help.

Founded in 2002 by The Empowerment Group (TEG), The Intranet Benchmarking Forum (IBF) is an exclusive, confidential intranet and portal benchmarking group of more than 50 leading UK and global organizations. According to the group's web site, their mission is to drive forward the performance of member intranets and portals through interaction, measurement, and best practice.

What does that mean, and how might that benefit you? First off it is an exclusive group, and your organization needs to meet some stringent restrictions. You must be Global 200, FTSE 100, Fortune 500, or equivalent size to join. As a result, this forum focuses on what the largest global organizations are doing as a matter of best practice. No vendors or management consultancies are allowed to be members. This helps keep the forum open and honest, because no one is trying to sell any software, products, or services. Good news when you are trying to network with your peers to find out what truly works when the rubber meets the road.

As an added bonus, member organizations must sign an IBF contract covering intellectual property and confidentiality. I know my personal experiences have always been enhanced when the people involved in a forum can feel free to speak up and share without having to cover their back or withhold information for fear it'll be shared outside the forum.

Each member organization undergoes an intensive evaluation as part of their membership. Based on an organization's level of membership, they receive an evaluation in one or more of the following areas annually:

Strategy and Governance

How well does a company manage its intranet? How well does it align with and serve the overall business strategy? Is the intranet sufficiently controlled and audited where required? How are risks mitigated?

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Business Value

What is the ROI on the intranet investment? How well does it deliver on its objectives? How does the intranet meet key knowledge management targets?

Communication and Culture

How successful is the intranet as a communication channel within the organization? Does it support the culture of the organization in a congruent way? To what degree are employees involved and actively engaged with using it in their daily lives?

Design and Usability

How well is the user interface designed? How accessible is the site? What is the visual design and navigation like? Does it enable the user experience? Can information be found easily through search and other navigational tools?

Members include well-known organizations such as AstraZeneca, JP Morgan Chase, and Nokia to name a few. Some of the main reasons organizations join include:

Regular, independent user based evaluation of their intranets

Ability to see their intranet and organization relative to peers in a confidential environment

Comparison benchmarking

Access to members only extranet and full industry reports conducted by IBF Forum

Regular meetings to learn about benchmarking methodology and hear first hand the intranet issues/experiences faced by other IBF members.

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