The keynote by Perttu Tolvanen discusses the evolving role of intranets in organizations, emphasizing that great intranets enhance existing workflows rather than change them. It highlights the importance of adapting intranet design to organizational needs and identifies trends such as the rise of social channels like Slack that complement traditional intranet functions. Additionally, the presentation provides guidance on choosing the right intranet strategy, considering factors like functionality, collaboration features, and the need for a web content management system in multilingual environments.

1. 2015-11-27 Perttu Tolvanen (@perttutolvanen) / Keynote at Confex Intranett 2015 (Oslo, Norway)
Intranets beyond SharePoint
typicalconcepts&technologychoicesinNordics

2. 2
Advisor in buying intranet and web projects
intranetconcepts,technologyevaluations,implementationpartnernegotiations

3. Lessons learned in last 15 years
1. Great intranets are the heart of the organisation. Intranets help employees
to navigate to resources, find key information and keep their focus.
2. Intranets are not systems that change the way organisations work.
Successful intranets adapt to the way organisation works and they enhance
the way organisation works – they make the organisation more efficient,
faster and more enjoyable.
3. Sometimes intranets deliver extensive functionality and capabilities that has
been missing from other systems or is non-existent due to other reasons.
This makes intranet concepts sometimes very different from each other.
4. Intranets are greatly influenced by the platforms and their providers’ sales
messages. Especially individual features can be very product-driven – and
that is a good thing… as long as the product goes to same direction as you!
3

4. 4
Today ”Enterprise Microsoft” is
a very platform-agnostic
software company.
Their iOS apps even support
Dropbox and Box.
Microsoft is now competing in the cloud
with Office 365 – that is their absolute
#1 focus right now. They don’t really care
about on-premise customers anymore…

5. Microsoft is building a new platform – to replace
Windows and Office (as their #1 cash cow). They want
everyone to sign in through Office 365 – that is their
main game. Intranets are not their focus right now –
especially not intranets for large enterprises.

6. Microsoft is basically changing its
strategy from a car-maker to provider
of public transportation. That is a major
strategic move.

7. 7
vs.
The ’applification’ is a major design and technology
trend – and that is something that is worth following –
especially if your employees are mostly knowledge
workers.

8. Social channel is becoming a new layer that complements intranets and
other main channels (especially in knowledge work). Main player (that is
leading by example) is Slack. Yammer is a major player also even though it
has been neglected heavily by MS during the last few years. HipChat is a
good alternative if on-premise installation is a requirement.

9. Having an enterprise chat that replaces internal email
is nice…

10. Having an enterprise chat that replaces internal email is
nice… but the true game-changer are integrations to
other systems. Social channel is worthy as a stand-alone
channel when you have 5+ internal systems integrated to
it and it becomes a social activity stream. And that is
where Slack is right now showing us a glimpse in to the
future…

11. Source: http://kentnguyen.com/personal/staying-sane-managing-multiple-projects/

12. Right now we have a beautiful world for small
teams.
But if you work for a big enterprise, you are out of
luck. And probably things are not going to change in
a couple of years yet.
So lets get back to reality…

13. Human resource
management (HR
systems)
Intranet
News, guidelines,
phonebook, key
documents, search…
Phonebooks
& other
company
directories
Resource
planning and
finance
management
(e.g. accounting,
production
management, stock
management, logistics)
Customer
relationship
management
(CRM)
Project sites
(for partners)
Websites
Extranets
eCommerce
Web
applications
Document
management
Reporting
Data
warehouses
Resource
bookings,
e.g. rooms
“Intranetlandscape”

14. Human resource
management (HR
systems)
Phonebooks
& other
company
directories
Resource planning
and finance
management (e.g.
accounting, production
management, stock
management, logistics)
Customer
relationship
management
(CRM)
Project sites
(for partners)
Document
management
Reporting
Data
warehouses
“bigpicture”
Project
management
Contract
management
Resource
bookings,
e.g. rooms
Intranet
News, guidelines,
phonebook, key
documents, search…
Remember: Having a simple,
communicational intranet is
ok!

15. Human resource
management (HR
systems)
Phonebooks
& other
company
directories
Resource planning
and finance
management (e.g.
accounting, production
management, stock
management, logistics)
Customer
relationship
management
(CRM)
Project sites
(for partners)
Document
management
Reporting
Data
warehouses
“bigpicture”
Project
management
Contract
management
Resource
bookings,
e.g. rooms
Intranet
News, guidelines,
phonebook, key
documents, search…
… but sometimes you need to
expand … and there are three
typical directions where
intranet concepts expand.

16. 1. Employee
handbooks, news
channel, starting
page for the day
Centrally produced content,
same experience for everyone.
Builds common culture.
2. Operational
support for work
tasks
Business-specific workflows
and applications and
guidelines.
Possibly highly integrated to
other business applications.
3. Collaboration
Team sites, project sites,
document management.
Content is organized by the
teams, for the teams.
Official
communication
and process
guidelines
Supports
everyday
work, flexible
structures
and
processes
Social elements
News, events, blogs
Content, materials, pages, documents
Links to other systems and resources
Conceptual elements of intranets
Reports, key figures, business status dashboards

17. 17
Most typical intranet concepts
and platforms (in Nordics)

18. Human resource
management (HR
systems)
Phonebooks
& other
company
directories
Resource planning
and finance
management (e.g.
accounting, production
management, stock
management, logistics)
Customer
relationship
management
(CRM)
Project sites
(for partners)
Document
management
Reporting
Data
warehouses
Project
management
Contract
management
Resource
bookings,
e.g. rooms
Intranet
News, guidelines,
phonebook, key
documents, search…
1. Social / communicational intranet

19. Human resource
management (HR
systems)
Phonebooks
& other
company
directories
Resource planning
and finance
management (e.g.
accounting, production
management, stock
management, logistics)
Customer
relationship
management
(CRM)
Project sites
(for partners)
Document
management
Reporting
Data
warehouses
Project
management
Contract
management
Resource
bookings,
e.g. rooms
Intranet
News, guidelines,
phonebook, key
documents, search…
1. Social / communicational intranet
Simple intranets can be done
successfully with many systems,
even Office 365 works for them –
or even WordPress.

20. Human resource
management (HR
systems)
Phonebooks
& other
company
directories
Resource planning
and finance
management (e.g.
accounting, production
management, stock
management, logistics)
Customer
relationship
management
(CRM)
Project sites
(for partners)
Document
management
Reporting
Data
warehouses
Project
management
Contract
management
Resource
bookings,
e.g. rooms
Intranet
News, guidelines,
phonebook, key
documents, search…
2. Intranet with lots of custom functionality

21. Human resource
management (HR
systems)
Phonebooks
& other
company
directories
Resource planning
and finance
management (e.g.
accounting, production
management, stock
management, logistics)
Customer
relationship
management
(CRM)
Project sites
(for partners)
Document
management
Reporting
Data
warehouses
Project
management
Contract
management
Resource
bookings,
e.g. rooms
Intranet
News, guidelines,
phonebook, key
documents, search…
2. Intranet with lots of custom functionality
The more functionality and transaction-
oriented features you require, the more
you should be looking at true portal
systems, like Liferay.

22. Human resource
management (HR
systems)
Phonebooks
& other
company
directories
Resource planning
and finance
management (e.g.
accounting, production
management, stock
management, logistics)
Customer
relationship
management
(CRM)
Project sites
(for partners)
Document
management
Reporting
Data
warehouses
Project
management
Contract
management
Resource
bookings,
e.g. rooms
Intranet
News, guidelines,
phonebook, key
documents, search…
3. Document management &
collaboration

23. Human resource
management (HR
systems)
Phonebooks
& other
company
directories
Resource planning
and finance
management (e.g.
accounting, production
management, stock
management, logistics)
Customer
relationship
management
(CRM)
Project sites
(for partners)
Document
management
Reporting
Data
warehouses
Project
management
Contract
management
Resource
bookings,
e.g. rooms
Intranet
News, guidelines,
phonebook, key
documents, search…
3. Document management &
collaboration
If you absolute want to include
document management and
collaboration spaces to your intranet,
then Office 365 is your #1 choice.
But why do you want to do it?

24. Human resource
management (HR
systems)
Phonebooks
& other
company
directories
Resource planning
and finance
management (e.g.
accounting, production
management, stock
management, logistics)
Customer
relationship
management
(CRM)
Project sites
(for partners)
Document
management
Reporting
Data
warehouses
Project
management
Contract
management
Resource
bookings,
e.g. rooms
Intranet
News, guidelines,
phonebook, key
documents, search…
Special case: Document
management with a different system
Document
management /
team sites
Separating intranet and document
management is typically a smart move
even though you would use Office 365
for both of them – and in any case this
gives you lot more options.

25. Human resource
management (HR
systems)
Phonebooks
& other
company
directories
Resource planning
and finance
management (e.g.
accounting, production
management, stock
management, logistics)
Customer
relationship
management
(CRM)
Project sites
(for partners)
Document
management
Reporting
Data
warehouses
Project
management
Contract
management
Resource
bookings,
e.g. rooms
Intranet
News, guidelines,
phonebook, key
documents, search…
Intranet
News, guidelines,
phonebook, key
documents, search…
Intranet
News, guidelines,
phonebook, key
documents, search…
Special case: Multilingual intranet

26. Human resource
management (HR
systems)
Phonebooks
& other
company
directories
Resource planning
and finance
management (e.g.
accounting, production
management, stock
management, logistics)
Customer
relationship
management
(CRM)
Project sites
(for partners)
Document
management
Reporting
Data
warehouses
Project
management
Contract
management
Resource
bookings,
e.g. rooms
Intranet
News, guidelines,
phonebook, key
documents, search…
Intranet
News, guidelines,
phonebook, key
documents, search…
Intranet
News, guidelines,
phonebook, key
documents, search…
Special case: Multilingual intranet
If you have multiple languages, countries and
business units – you probably require a true
web content management system – a system
that can handle relations between language
versions and use the same content in multiple
places. And this is something that e.g. Office
365 can’t do.

27. Human resource
management (HR
systems)
Phonebooks
& other
company
directories
Resource planning
and finance
management (e.g.
accounting, production
management, stock
management, logistics)
Project sites
(for partners)Document
management
Reporting
Data
warehouses
Project
management
Contract
management
Resource
bookings,
e.g. rooms
Intranet
News, guidelines,
phonebook, key
documents, search…
Intranet
News, guidelines,
phonebook, key
documents, search…
Intranet
News, guidelines,
phonebook, key
documents, search…

28. Advice for your intranet renewal project
1. Choose your concept direction early: social/communicational,
multilanguage, functionality-driven or collaboration-driven
2. Document management is not a typical area of intranet – especially in
large organisations
3. Demanding multilanguage concept often requires a true web content
management system
4. Office 365 requires a redesign of intranet concept even if you are
upgrading from SharePoint 2010/2013 (think small applications
instead of big business portals)
5. Having many tools is typically not a problem for knowledge workers –
even having separate search interfaces can be ok
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29. Perttu Tolvanen
Web & CMS Expert, Partner
Perttu Tolvanen is a CMS expert that helps clients
choose partners and technologies for their Web,
intranet and eCommerce projects. His daily work
involves writing RFPs, analyzing proposals, meeting
vendors and facilitating workshops.
perttu.tolvanen@northpatrol.com
+358 50 685199
@perttutolvanen
http://www.perttutolvanen.com
linkedin.com/in/perttutolvanen
29

30. North Patrol is your expert in selecting the best vendors
and technologies for your next intranet or web project.
We are an independent consulting company without ties
to system vendors, and can help you define the
concept, select the best system and vendor.
We have participated in projects using e.g. the following
products: Drupal, WordPress, EPiServer, Sitecore,
Sitefinity, Liferay, SDL Tridion, SharePoint, Confluence,
Magento, Hybris.
www.northpatrol.com
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Advisor in buying
intranet projects