The document discusses the evolution of intranets towards user-centric designs that integrate collaboration, communication, and self-service tools, leveraging Web 2.0 technologies. It highlights best practices for intranet development, including the importance of management support, user feedback, and usability studies to enhance productivity and employee satisfaction. Additionally, it compares different enterprise software solutions, like SharePoint and SaaS platforms, noting their pros and cons for organizations implementing intranet systems.

1. Intranets that Communicate, Collaborate and Innovate Barb Cagley, President

2. TRENDS | Innovative with Web 2.0 Tools User-centric Combining personalization and social networking with the traditional staff directory Internal blogs by employees, department heads, or company leaders Interactive forums to post urgent requests for advice from colleagues thus improving productivity by sharing knowledge Provide each employee with news updates focusing on their job role and personal interests

3. TRENDS | Best Practices Keep it simple Getting buy in from upper management Don’t overcomplicate the content updating process Get feedback and validation from the users

4. The 2009 Intranet Design Annual: Years Ten Best Intranets cited that the strongest trend they saw was intranet teams are getting larger and more are reporting directly to the company president. 2008 - The Jakob Nielsen Group, considered the guru’s of web page usability by the New York Times, has been ranking and reporting on intranets since 2001.

5. WHY | Social Experience – level one Increase usage and dependence Break through any resistance barriers Increase concentration* Build stronger connection between team members Employee retention * Reuters April, 2009, University of Melbourne

6. Of companies surveyed, nearly 25% plans on implementing a benefits portal in the next two years, according to a report on Benefit-News.com highlighting the research of Forrester. For every 2% increase in employee satisfaction, there is a 1% increase in employee retention. “ Benefits Strategy and Technology Study,” EBN/Forrester Research, Inc., 2005

7. WHY | Communication – level two News and events Employee contact information Policies and procedures Templates or guidelines Photo sharing

9. WHY | Self Service – level three Compensation information Insurance information Expense reporting Office functions (order business cards, cleaning issues, meeting rooms) Training information

10. WHY | Collaboration – level four Project management Sales forecasts Calendars Web conferencing Forums Wikis Blogs Quick links Private instant messaging

12. “ Enterprise 2.0 technologies have the potential to let an intranet become what the internet already is: an online platform with a constantly changing structure built by distributed, autonomous and largely self-interested peers. On this platform, authoring creates content; links and tags knit it together; and search, extensions, tags and signals make emergent structures and patterns in the content visible, and help people stay on top of it all. Enterprise 2.0 technologies are subject to network effects; as more people engage in authoring, linking and tagging,emergent structure becomes increasingly fine grained.” Andrew P. McAfee in Enterprise 2.0: The Dawn of Emergent Collaboration (MIT Sloan Management Review, Spring 2006)

13. WHY | Enterprise Portals – level five Custom tools for the individual employee Alerts for new content posted Multiple access levels Workflow for content updates Tagging content with sophisticated search capability Dashboards for management team

14. HOW | Best Practices Include the users in the development Automate tasks Areas of knowledge gaps

15. HOW | Best Practices Creative ways to engage, inspire and encourage collaboration Employee of the month Company classified Sharing photos for a best vacation photo contest Survey favorite lunch spots or post local lunch menus

16. According to that Jakob Nielsen 2009 Top 10 report intranet site team who were determining the ROI of intranet redesigns primarily relied on usage metrics in terms of users, visits, or page views. Across this year's winners, the average increase in intranet use was up 106%. The report also concluded that improving an intranet's usability will double its use. Investing in a visual designer who understands usability is a key to creating a highly usable site.

17. HOW | Best Practices Conduct usability studies

18. HOW | Develop Goals Determine measurable goals Analytic software – Google Analytics

19. HOW | Determine Software

20. HOW | Enterprise Software – SharePoint: pros Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 comes as part of the 2007 Microsoft Office system Organizations large and small are using it to facilitate collaboration, manage content, implement business processes and access essential information. Half the Nielsen winning sites were using SharePoint Reduces development time 90 different modules supporting various tasks such as content publishing, content management or records management Powerful search

21. HOW | Enterprise Software – SharePoint: cons Need technical skills to set-up On-going licensing fees for advanced capabilities Maintain a server in-house

24. HOW | SAAS – Basecamp: pros Software service Share files, meet deadlines, assign tasks, centralize feedback, and allow you to share information with clients Highrise is a customer relationship management system Backpack includes a group calendar, to-dos, announcements, ideas and files. Campfire has real time chat designed exclusively for groups and allows the sharing of text, files, and code in real time No technical skills needed

25. HOW | SAAS – Basecamp: cons Monthly fees Some limitations Cannot add customize applications