The success of a social intranet is always decided by the users - i.e. your staff. Only if the employees recognise the personal advantages of the new application for themselves and participate, will the intranet become a lively place of exchange and collaboration.
That is why, in addition to providing a modern intranet solution with an excellent user experience, comprehensive change management with open communication is one of the most important success factors during the introduction.
Focus on users
We are convinced that intranets can only function sustainably if they can be consistently tailored to the individual requirements of each user, their characteristics, tasks and goals. The pivotal point of our conception, design and development process is therefore the user experience of a company's employees.
This can be experienced directly in the navigation of the intranet: it takes into account the relevant usage situations, also maps complex structures and ensures that the application can be used intuitively both on the PC and mobile. A mix of communication, information and collaboration tailored to the employee is clearly structured, spontaneously comprehensible, but also emotionally appealing.
Align the architecture of your social intranet with the wishes and concerns of the company and its staff. This way you will benefit from reduced e-mail communication, more efficient decision-making processes and more dialogue and collaboration among your employees.
Building blocks of successful intranets
What exactly your intranet should look like is decided in the conception process. In general, however, you should consider the following aspects in your planning:
Attractive homepage
The ideal introduction should whet the appetite for the next click. The start page should therefore ideally trigger curiosity and perhaps even a little play instinct. And it offers all the relevant information for the respective user at a glance.
Interactive working groups
In subject-related groups, members and moderators introduce themselves, exchange information and bring each other up to date. The Activity Stream shows them the latest contributions.
Social features
Elements from social networks (liking, sharing, commenting, etc.) are also available on your intranet to involve employees in communication.
Powerful search
Using a full-text search with filter options, employees can find documents, media, colleagues including their professional profiles etc. in the entire intranet, across departments and locations.
Contextual content
Every user should always find the content and tools that suit their particular work situation. An intelligent linking of features makes it possible to provide them individually depending on the context of use.
Open feedback channel
Every employee must be able to give feedback on functions and features directly in the system and contribute new ideas themselves. This can promote acceptance and increase motivation.
In addition to the basic components, a wide range of extensions can be realised - depending on requirements and corporate culture. These are, for example:
- Idea management tool with community connection
- Competition analysis tool
- Employee Self Service (ESS) through connection and integration of third-party systems
- Mini-polls/votings
Examples of successful social intranet projects
We have already accompanied numerous clients from the first analysis step until well after the online launch, including Aristo Pharma, Commerz Real and the Robert Bosch Stiftung.
Aristo Pharma
With arinet, Aristo Pharma networks its workforce across all locations: the social intranet promotes communication and collaboration and strengthens the corporate culture. To ensure this, a thorough analysis of user wishes and requirements forms the conceptual basis for the technical implementation of the application.
To the Success Story
Robert Bosch Foundation
The modern intranet allows employees to work together across locations and generate ideas: together in one place, always with the same level of information and always with the latest documents.
To the Success Story
Commerz Real
The social intranet Com.In functions as Commerz Real's leading internal medium. The intranet forms the central communication channel for the Corporate Communications division and, with its diverse functionalities, offers optimal conditions for collaboration across divisions and locations.
To the Success Story
Many years of expertise
As a social intranet agency, we have been dealing with internal networks and their various use cases for many years. As early as 2007, we were one of the first agencies to think in the direction of social collaboration when designing intranets. Our Intranet 2.0 project study combined components such as wiki, blog, RSS feed etc. into a collaboration platform for the first time and was awarded the German Multimedia Award. As pioneers in this field, we have gained extensive experience in various projects and keep our knowledge permanently up to date.
You want to learn more?
We would be happy to show you how to make your intranet an attractive and central point of use. Let's talk to each other!