Printer Friendly Version

Since the start of this year the Intranet Benchmarking Forum has been running a campaign around "recession-strength intranet". Watching the intranet news and blogosphere I’m noticing this topic now getting more coverage, which is encouraging as intranet managers need all the support they can get as the economic downturn continues. In a post this week Jane McConnell sums up the risks of sidelining the intranet sparked by some of the responses to her pre-survey quick poll:

"Organizations are taking huge risks by ignoring or down playing the intranet during these tough times. Those that decide to leverage the intranet to help the organization save time, decrease and avoid costs, and communicate and collaborate better are those that will have a better chance at surviving the crisis and becoming stronger. I wonder how many organizations have actually calculated what they save by downsizing intranet teams versus what they will be losing. Practically none, in my opinion."

This point is also emphasized in a timely article by Rachel Lei published on CIO.com this week on Leveraging the Power of the intranet: "When businesses are faced with a scary and volatile market, the intranet often falls by the wayside and attention is focused outward. Increasing revenue is the primary goal even in the best of economies. What we all miss at times is turning inward and taking stock of how we can better serve the customers we already have. Your intranet can be key in helping your employees provide exceptional customer service, and it can make it easier for them to drive more sales and provide added value."

If you haven’t read it yet I really recommend the free research paper we released this year, "The Recession-strength intranet" with its real life examples of how smart intranets are "finding ways for the intranet to release previously unexploited value and make a major contribution to the organisation’s bottom line".

But what about intranets that are already providing value but this value isn’t being measured and importantly acknowledged at the highest levels of the organisation? With intranet metrics often falling off the bottom of the intranet team’s to do list, this is a real issue. A recent poll at Intranets Live showed that people tend to underestimate the value of the intranet compared to what IBF has found through the Intranet Financial Value Benchmark.

In a timely article on Ragan.com aptly titled "Without metrics, intranets languish," Toby Ward comments on this issue: "Executives have no respect for the intranet," explains Toby Ward, CEO of consulting firm Prescient Digital. "They see no value in it, little future for it, and they see it as a cost center. There are a few execs who get it—but most don’t, and that’s why it’s stagnating at most organizations."

Demonstrating value can range from a baseline of having a clear "elevator pitch" on intranet value, through a more fully fledge metrics program, right through to the full-blown Intranet Financial Value Benchmark that IBF recently launched. All three levels have been looked at in recent posts:

The three main points that every Intranet Manager should be prepared to demonstrate at any time are:

1. State the current investment levels and business as usual costs
2. List current intranet services and deliverables including their benefits to the organisation
3. List additional beneficial intranet services that can be added at low cost to help the organisation improve or cut costs

User/Customer satisfaction

Content accessed/User Journeys

Performance of site

Readability score of content

Search terms used

Time to complete transactions

Number of participants in social areas

Wherever you start, demonstrating the value of the intranet is certainly coming to the fore in the current climate. Intranet managers can take encouragement from the recent Watson Wyatt survey which found that since the start of the economic slump 72% of employers have increased intranet use, signalling an acknowledgement of how the intranet can help (and again emphasising the importance of being able to make sure this is recognised at senior levels).

Is your intranet recession-strength? How are you demonstrating its value in tough times?

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.

Printer Friendly Version