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Intranet and portal managers have for years been asked a question they find impossible to answer. So what is our intranet worth in hard numbers to the organization? Not having a convincing answer has left many intranets struggling -- particularly in tough economic times. But the answer may now have arrived.

Tuesday 5 May marks the launch of the Intranet Benchmarking Forum's new Intranet Financial Value Benchmark and gives us all an answer to this "six million dollar" question. This new IBF service is being launched during Intranets Live, the monthy media program from IBF and features BT, where this breakthrough service has been successfully piloted.

I have to confess to a vested interest in mentioning this, as the benchmark has been developed by IBF, a business where I am CEO. Developed in conjunction with financial analysts and some of IBF's 70 member organizations (namely BT, Nokia, Sara Lee, BP and Lloyds TSB), IFVB quantifies the exploited and unexploited contribution of an intranet in terms of financial cost savings, revenue gains and reduced risks.

In this way, organizations can finally put a monetary figure on the value of their intranet assets and services.

Specifically, an IFVB evaluation provides:

a top-line financial value for intranet or related portal services

a breakdown of value into functional areas (such as HR and sales and marketing)

an estimate of the exploited and unexploited value per employee

recommendations on how additional financial value can be exploited

value comparisons with other organisations (these will build over time and are strictly confidential).

The new service, which was successfully piloted in BT, is available to both IBF members and non-members. The findings from initial work prove that the exploited financial value of intranet services within major enterprises runs to several hundred million dollars per annum -- and dwarfs the investment levels made. The unexploited financial value levels are equally striking!

Having gone through the evaluation process, Mark Morrell, Intranet Manager at BT, told me that this was a significant and ground-breaking piece of work and that it help BT prioritize future development.

To learn more about this new service do join the May 5 episode of Intranets Live, which I am co-hosting with Shiv Singh, vice president, Razorfish. We also have live tours of intranets from Arup and Razorfish.

In addition to writing for Intranet Life, where this column first appeared, Paul Miller is Chief Executive Officer and Founder of the Intranet Benchmarking Forum. Paul is a business and social entrepreneur and a key figure in the development of the modern information workplace. He can be reached at paul@ibforum.com. Web references www.ibforum.com and www.intranetlife.com.

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