Intranets - Why You Should Care

Slide 1: Intranets – why you should care Web Standards Group, Sydney 31st May 07 Patrick Kennedy, Step Two Designs

Slide 2: S tep T w o D E S IG N S A bit about me S tep T w o D E S IG N S Computer Systems Engineering  Web designer  Lead developer  Information architecture and usability  Consultant at Step Two Designs  Step Two Designs (www.steptwo.com.au)

Slide 3: S tep T w o D E S IG N S S tep T w o D E S IG N S Intranets are the beast you love to hate Step Two Designs (www.steptwo.com.au)

Slide 4: S tep T w o D E S IG N S What is an intranet? S tep T w o D E S IG N S Not just an internal website  Powerful business tool; a place to get things done  Think of a transactional websites  Step Two Designs (www.steptwo.com.au)

Slide 5: S tep T w o D E S IG N S S tep T w o D E S IG N S So why are they so unpopular? Step Two Designs (www.steptwo.com.au)

Slide 6: S tep T w o D E S IG N S Reasons [notes] S tep T w o D E S IG N S mostly concerned with strategy, planning and management  ‘internal project’ syndrome  lack of support and resources  “It’s just a couple of web pages, you can just whip that up this  afternoon right?” Balancing all the things they could possibly do, versus day to day  Intranets are a journey not a destination but quite often it’s seen as a  discrete project Lack of recognition of their plight and the resources needed  Interfacing with ‘corporate systems’  long, hard slog  burn-out, feeling overwhelmed and unsatisfied.  Step Two Designs (www.steptwo.com.au)

Slide 7: S tep T w o D E S IG N S But seems to be more like S tep T w o D E S IG N S Most intranets suck  Internal website  Low profile  Not sexy  Insignificant  Step Two Designs (www.steptwo.com.au)

Slide 8: S tep T w o D E S IG N S S tep T w o D E S IG N S So what can we do? Step Two Designs (www.steptwo.com.au)

Slide 9: S tep T w o D E S IG N S What can we do [notes] S tep T w o D E S IG N S Cross pollination of skills  Selling the benefits of intranets  Step Two Designs (www.steptwo.com.au)

Slide 10: S tep T w o D E S IG N S S tep T w o D E S IG N S Problem 1: cross-pollination of skills Step Two Designs (www.steptwo.com.au)

Slide 11: S tep T w o D E S IG N S Cross pollination S tep T w o D E S IG N S Expertise might  Web design Intranet be found where you UX folks WSG least expect it (the ‘long tail’ effect) Learn from each other  Step Two Designs (www.steptwo.com.au)

Slide 12: S tep T w o D E S IG N S S tep T w o D E S IG N S Problem 2: selling the benefits of intranets Step Two Designs (www.steptwo.com.au)

Slide 13: S tep T w o D E S IG N S Selling the benefits of intranetsS t e p T w o D E S IG N S Greater satisfaction  Empowering users  Captive audience  Bigger challenge  More functionality  Freedom to experiment  Commercial free  No mistakes  Step Two Designs (www.steptwo.com.au)

Slide 14: S tep T w o D E S IG N S When they’re good… S tep T w o D E S IG N S Step Two Designs (www.steptwo.com.au)

Slide 15: S tep T w o D E S IG N S S tep T w o D E S IG N S Step Two Designs (www.steptwo.com.au)

Slide 24: S tep T w o D E S IG N S Next generation intranets S tep T w o D E S IG N S Enterprise 2.0  Step Two Designs (www.steptwo.com.au)

Slide 25: S tep T w o D E S IG N S S tep T w o D E S IG N S Where do web standards fit in? Step Two Designs (www.steptwo.com.au)

Slide 26: S tep T w o D E S IG N S You have the power S tep T w o D E S IG N S You have the power, people respect your views  You can drive things forward  As with web standards, IA, usability etc  Step Two Designs (www.steptwo.com.au)

Slide 27: S tep T w o D E S IG N S Need to keep a grip on 2.0 S tep T w o D E S IG N S Enterprise 2.0 is amassing momentum as per web 2.0  And it might actually be even bigger  Wiki, blogs, RSS, IM, ajax  We need to reel it in so it doesn’t get out of control  Standards will need to be developed  Need to be promoted within business not just on the  outside Step Two Designs (www.steptwo.com.au)

Slide 28: S tep T w o D E S IG N S Questions? S tep T w o D E S IG N S Your feedback is most welcome  Patrick Kennedy  patrick@steptwo.com.au Blog: www.gurtle.com/ppov/  Website: www.steptwo.com.au  Step Two Designs (www.steptwo.com.au)

Slideshare.net (beta)