“The intranet is a direct reflection of the ethos, soul, and culture of a company,” says Jeremiah Owyang.

Would you rather cut off your right hand before navigating your company intranet? A treasure trove of social capital is waiting to be discovered beneath the clutter of broken links, duplicate files and outdated information.

(Stifle the drones of despair. Your company’s intranet should not be perceived as an IT beast with an unending hunger requiring massive amounts of additional labor.)

Too often I see companies get caught up in the design of the intranet instead of the function. First determine the strategy and direction of the company intranet.

1. Identify needs and requirements of users.
2. Identify business requirements.
3. Identify best practices.

Needs and requirements of intranet users are constantly evolving, so continuously monitor strategies and direction to prevent stagnation of use and content.

Senior Leadership and an isolated IT department cannot be the sole authorities of how the intranet is designed, used or fed. Social capital cannot be built and kept current by a few. Increase efficiency and effectiveness by knowing what reports, fact papers, case studies, discussion boards and various applications are relevant to your workforce.

Next, simplify the unearthing process and reap rewards quickly with a map key of your company intranet.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 24th, 2008 at 1:14 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.