Company intranet: what it is, examples and 20 ideas for improving it

What is a company intranet?

A company intranet is a corporate web portal that is only available to employees of your company.

It's usually the first page you open when you get to work, and it's the gateway to the company's digital workspace where you can find information, tools, and services that will help you with your daily tasks.

For example, on the company intranet you can find:

• News and Service Communications
• Documents, Policies, Procedures, and Archives
• Training Content and Informative Pages
• Employee Services (e.g., access to payslips, calculation of remaining leave days, etc.)
• Everyday Tools (e.g., room booking, help desk, etc.)
• Pages Dedicated to Corporate Welfare and Employee Benefits
• Shared Workspaces for Project Management
• Conversation Areas, Brainstorming, and Knowledge Sharing

The company that decides to make such information and services available digitally has no choice but to use the intranet to centralize the resources offered to employees, allowing quick access from any work location.

Through the intranet, a company can rely on an effective tool that can increase people's involvement, coordinate departments, manage internal processes from a single platform and, as a result, increase productivity.

In this article, we will look in detail at what a corporate intranet is, why it is indispensable for any type of organization, and what it can offer in terms of services, information exchange, and strengthening the corporate community.

 

Company intranet: why?

1 - Digitization is becoming more prevalent

Nowadays, digitization is an unstoppable race from which companies, if they want to remain competitive, cannot escape.

Indeed, digitization makes it possible to automate repetitive and bureaucratic processes, freeing up resources for more strategic activities. For example, digitizing the submission of requests and their approval can reduce paper consumption in corporate offices, along with the number of unnecessary phone calls and emails.

The inevitability of digitization might appear to many as discouraging, but, on the contrary, it represents the springboard to achieve what all companies, of all industries and sizes, aspire to: growth.

Growth that, however, becomes possible and sustainable exclusively if key business processes:

• have been standardized
  
• are easily usable by everyone
  
• turn out to be available at all times

Simply put, a company truly succeeds in growing if its processes have been digitized correctly and information is able to flow cross-functionally and collaboratively among the people who need it for their daily work.

The intranet covers a key role in this task.

Imagine a worker who, once they turn on their computer, wherever they are, can easily access communications, services, and their shared work and collaboration space with colleagues in real time.

In addition, the use of tools such as integrated chatbots or automated forms for handling requests allows for faster and more organized resolution of daily issues.

A company that invests in these kinds of platforms, aimed at simplifying communication, gets in return:

• increased productivity of business teams
• less wasted time, due to outdated processes or poor availability of information

In this regard, IDC 's white paper highlighted how organizations lose nearly $2.5 million a year due to the difficulty in retrieving critical information.

 

2 - Giving voice to people

Who knows better than people who work in companies every day what works best or worst in their jobs?

Here, giving these people the opportunity to share their knowledge, interact and join forces to improve each other allows the company to increase not only productivity, but also and especially the quality of the results achieved.

Giving a voice to the people who work every day in the company and getting to listen to what these people have to say allows, for example, to solve problems in a timely manner, increasing the retention rate of talent, or perhaps to better understand the needs of customers in order to accurately determine which product to put on the market before the competition.

In fact, within the intranet, the worker is no longer viewed solely as a passive user of corporate information, but is seen as an agent who can actively contribute to the growth of the organization. This type of involvement not only fosters innovation, but allows for a more dynamic environment in which each individual's contribution is valued and recognized.

These are opportunities that every company can seize, thanks to the use of tools such as the intranet. Tools that, in the case of intranet.ai's solution, can be activated in a matter of days and without the need for technical expertise thanks to the constant support of experts.

Intranet.ai: A Complete and Customizable Corporate Intranet

Intranet site: How to create a company intranet for your employees

When an employee portal such as the intranet is to be created, it is necessary to consider that this platform is to be used by all the people in the company and must therefore be customized in such a way as to offer the tools they need for their daily activities, without causing friction in work processes.

Even before we talk about what software to use to create the corporate intranet, it is essential to remember that the intranet is made for the workers, who are the real assets of any organization and who, for this very reason, should be involved in the design phase.

As we said before: only those who work in the company every day know exactly what they need to improve their own and their team's productivity.

The intranet should be built around employees: it should be easy to use, accessible by anyone anywhere, and equipped with all the necessary tools to support communication between colleagues and the activities of individual users.

During the design phase, a good way to gather feedback in the company is through the use of questionnaires.

One can organize meetings, workshops or many other initiatives, but a single questionnaire makes it possible to collect the opinion of a wide audience of people in a very short time, thus covering the most widespread needs within the organization.

With a questionnaire, it therefore becomes easier to find out:

• how people in the company communicate with each other
• how members of a team collaborate
• what the overall level of productivity is
• which processes work well
• which processes need to be improved

To help companies gather this information, we have created a simple questionnaire to be submitted to workers during the intranet analysis and design phase.

The questions we have identified are used to create a basic structure-just add a few more pieces to adapt our questionnaire to the reality of your own company.

What intranet software should you use?

When it comes to selecting software to implement an intranet, as is often the case, there are always many factors to consider that make this task somewhat complex.

If a company decides to pose the question to a software vendor or a system integrator, they will either recommend buying their own product or using the solution that will allow the vendor to maximize their profit based on the expertise they already have.

Therefore, it is more useful to explain the considerations that were made in intranet.ai for the implementation of our off-the-shelf solution.

 

An ecosystem as standard as possible,
the basis of the enterprise intranet

Microsoft has positioned itself as the absolute leader in its enterprise collaboration proposition with Microsoft 365, and, in fact, this suite has become an essential tool for most companies.

"Over 200 million users rely on SharePoint as Microsoft is again recognized as a Leader in the 2020 Gartner Content Services Platforms Magic Quadrant Report."

 

To understand why SharePoint is the ideal tool for building the intranet,
read our article on SharePoint Online and its key features.

Companies that have adopted Microsoft 365 get seamlessly integrated day-to-day productivity applications, single authorization management and secure platforms for collaboration with external partners.

Our solution provides an access portal for everyone in the company, while maintaining native integration with Microsoft tools.

A constantly updated intranet solution

All features introduced monthly by Microsoft are immediately tested by our experts and included in the intranet.ai solution so that the value of the company's Microsoft 365 subscription is implemented within the intranet as soon as possible.

 

No maintenance costs

An effective intranet, such as the one we have developed, can be used in SaaS mode, similar to your company's Microsoft 365 subscription. In this way, no additional cost is generated for one's digital workplace, which is always online and functioning.

 

With Microsoft security standards

 

The organization's data reside and will always reside within the corporate Microsoft subscription. What does this mean? Simply that intranet.ai is designed to keep corporate data within Microsoft's security perimeter, ensuring maximum privacy.

20 ideas for the corporate intranet

Let's now look at 20 ideas suggested by our experts to improve the employee experience in the company and intranet, divided into:

• Employee Services
• Personal area
• User engagement

These ideas are designed to make work life easier, more productive and more rewarding. By digitizing company services, for example, workers can more easily access resources such as vacation request forms, project documents or company applications with which to perform their tasks.

On the other hand, the personal area allows each user to have personalized tools at their fingertips to share useful information with the company to make themselves known to colleagues, highlighting their skills, or to access new training and career opportunities.

By introducing user engagement features, the company can create an environment that not only stimulates participation and collaboration, but also transforms the intranet into a true strategic asset. It is no longer just about improving productivity; it is about giving workers the opportunity to actively contribute to the growth of the business ecosystem, making them protagonists of change.

Each intranet feature aims to improve the work experience by offering practical solutions that enable people in the company to be more connected, organized and motivated. In this way, the intranet becomes a daily reference point, capable of fostering a more purposeful corporate climate where everyone's contribution is valued.

As a reminder, to read more ideas on how to improve the corporate intranet, we have shared our free guide at the end of this article.

Examples of company intranet for providing services to employees

In this chapter, we will look together at some examples of services that can be offered to colleagues at all locations via the corporate intranet.

• Booking meeting rooms
• Reservation of company cars
• Vacation and leave requests
• Approving leaves of absence
• Payroll
• Posting internal job openings

Meeting room booking

With the corporate intranet, you can book the perfect meeting room for your needs in seconds , based on the day, time and tools provided, with the ability to invite colleagues by stopping the appointment in their diary.

Meetings can thus take place when and where you want, with no waiting time.

Booking Details for Spaces and Resources by intranet.ai

Reservation of resources and corporate space

Also through the intranet, it is possible to reserve:

• the parking space
• the workstation
• the company devices

On the home page of the intranet, once the first login of the day is made, the system could be customized to automatically propose the latest resources booked by the user by highlighting real-time availability.

Requests for vacation, leave, illness

The corporate intranet can also be the centralized system for making requests and obtaining approval from the relevant manager, streamlining the entire process.

If the company already has external applications specifically for these operations, then the intranet is the perfect platform for an integration. Indeed, it allows the request form to be filled out directly from the portal and shows the status of all past requests.

Quick request and vacation leave count

Users can access thepersonal area, where they can make requests for vacation leave and view the hours and days remaining against the annualpayroll.

When the relevant manager enters the intranet, he or she can open a widget on vacationapproval and receive real-time notifications reporting requests from team members.

In case the request is not approved, it should be possible to add the relevant reason.

Online payroll

Through the intranet, the company can give staff the option of accessing payroll with payroll history.

Before giving this option, however, care must be taken to secure the process. With our intranet solution, for example, the company can allow access to payroll only after the user has entered his or her credentials or a temporary code received via email or phone enabled.

This will prevent unwanted access to sensitive information

Company car reservation

If there is a service in the company that provides a car fleet for travel, the intranet can facilitate its sharing mechanisms.

It is possible, in fact, to book the car by defining the timing and reasons for the request through a booking form that, if necessary, can be preceded by an approval flow.

Corporate Vehicle Details in Booking Spaces and Resources by intranet.ai

Job posting

Within the intranet, open positions can be posted.

This is a very useful practice in larger companies, since it allows internal vacancies to be checked before starting a search for new candidates outside the organization.

Each user thus has at his or her fingertips a list of job change possibilities, along with the relevant deadlines to apply and the requirements needed to fill the new role.

In turn, human resources can have anapplication management area where they can receive profiles of colleagues who have decided to apply for specific open positions.

The company can also arrange for human resources to access colleagues' personal profiles directly, so that they can evaluate the application through the digital CV available on the intranet.

My profile, your personal area

In this area, you can include any information you choose to share with your company, such as:

• date of hire
• role, duties and responsibilities
• department and location
• skills, interests, experience and training

This information, if expressly shared by the user, can serve to make themselves known within the company and increase networking opportunities through the intranet.

The result is to build a real database based on company profiles, which is especially useful for human resources to get to know colleagues better and be facilitated during candidate search activities for open positions.

In addition, there can be quick access to services that revolve around the employee, such as access to their payroll, a list of their training courses, their vacation and leave requests, their goals, and more.

Overview of the "My Profile" Web Part by intranet.ai

Updating personal data

Whenever an employee's personal information changes, a form can be made available on the intranet that can be filled out to update all the information shared with the company.

A key feature, then, to have a direct channel between human resources and colleagues from different departments, especially when a person changes residence, banking information, and number of dependent colleagues in the team, to give a few examples.

Address book and My Profile

If an employee wishes to be better known and, consequently, to know others better, they can choose to include personal information in the directory of the intranet portal, in addition to the data to which the company has access and which all colleagues can view by clicking on the profile in the company's intranet address book.

 

Corporate training

Within his or her personal area, the user can have the ability to view training courses that he or she has completed and that are scheduled for the near future.

Even if the company already has external LMS platforms, these can be integrated with the intranet so that the worker has one-stop access to content and internal training opportunities.

 

Request for new company training

On the company intranet, the user could request human resources or the relevant manager to take part in new training courses.

The company could use the intranet to present training courses available to workers or post forms to collect feedback on the skills each person or company team wants to improve.

Training Portal

The corporate intranet can be a single point of access to all the information and services the company offers for staff training.

Like a true repository, the intranet can then present the webinars, courses, training materials and video lectures available in the company.

Each training resource is thus made accessible in a special area of the company intranet. Each training course can be evaluated by end users, and progress can be monitored by managers in the company.

Engaging training on the intranet

Training on the intranet is more engaging.

Requests for new training content, attainment of certifications, and participation in certain training courses can be rewarded by the company by initiating a collection of points for achieving goals, such as earning virtual badges.

Each achievement can be highlighted in the personal profile or even made public in the company's intranet address book.

Examples of corporate intranet to create gamification experiences

By the concept of "Gamification," we mean the way by which the intranet adoption process can be simplified through interactivity, friendly competitions and recognition of colleagues' achievements.

Gamification: definition

Gamification, derived from the term "game," is a technique that uses game-like procedures and structures to achieve specific goals, in this case, in business.

This tool takes advantage of the interactivity of today's digital media and can convey various messages, resulting in a high level of active participation among stakeholders.

 

Gamification in the company

Consider how difficult it is to transition people from sending emails daily, which they have been accustomed to for the past 15 years, to using a conversation system like Microsoft Teams.

Consider how much easier it would be for the user to go to the intranet and find a game that explained how to use Teams in the company to solve all the problems they had with emails at work.

Consider how many users you could attract to the intranet if you decide to give people identification badges or rank users who use the new platform more frequently than others.

Consider how you can improve teamwork in the workplace by allowing people to form groups, choose their group's name, and compete to win the competition.

Through the targeted use of gamification in corporate strategy, even corporate values or vision can be conveyed indirectly but much more effectively.

 

"High Five"

On the corporate intranet, public endorsements can be shared that represent tokens of appreciation toward a colleague's new skills or work.

So imagine an area on the home page through which each person in the company can virtually "high-five" to recognize the accomplishments of colleagues.

By doing so, in a light-hearted and playful way, the intranet can help strengthen the corporate community.

Inspiring ideas

The company intranet can be a great place for employees to develop new ideas.

We've used intranet contests to generate new ideas, both to identify new business services or products and to improve employee well-being and internal communication.

People were required to work in groups, which increased interaction and collaboration among coworkers and allowed them to consider how to achieve the company's goals.

When the ideas were ready, they were posted directly on the intranet, subject to approval, and everyone was given the opportunity to vote for them through likes, increased visits, and general intranet engagement.

When people saw their ideas rise to the top of the rankings and be implemented by the company, they became fully engaged.

Who better to than those who work in the company every day know how improve things?

 

The killer app

A "killer app" is an application that generates visits within the intranet site.

Each company intranet must have its killer app to bring as many colleagues as possible into the site and ensure that, together with the use of the specific application, these people can also:

• read company news
• be informed of specific initiatives
• learn intranet possibilities
• learn more about the contents of the company portal.

Examples of killer apps are all the employee services explained in this guide, such as pay slips, which attracts visits from employees at least once a month. This is a great chance for your business to convert an "operational" intranet visit into an "exploratory" one.

 

Use of surveys

Surveys are a very useful tool for engaging employees and thus raising people's engagement with the company. On the one hand, you give people a chance to have their voices heard, to participate in company decisions or give feedback on specific initiatives.

On the other hand, you can provide a way for everyone, through the publication of results, to know how their colleagues feel about certain topics that may not always be commonly discussed and can lead to major communication problems.

To keep engagement high at all times, pay attention to these two things: always do closed-question surveys to make them easy to fill out, and publish the results promptly.

Faq about the intranet

What is a company intranet?

A company intranet is a private web portal accessible only to employees. It serves as a centralized hub for information, tools, and services relevant to their daily tasks. It provides employees access to internal resources, communication channels, and collaboration tools within the organization.

What is an example of intranet?

An example of an intranet is a digital platform accessible only to employees of a specific company, where they can find company news, access work documents, collaborate on projects, communicate with colleagues, and perform various administrative tasks like leave requests and booking meeting rooms.

What do you call a company intranet?

A company intranet is often called "the intranet" within the organization. It may also be given a specific name or branding that reflects the company's identity or culture.

What are the benefits of intranet?

The benefits of intranet include improved communication and collaboration among employees, streamlined access to resources and information, increased productivity, enhanced employee engagement, centralized management of documents and processes, and cost savings through automation and efficiency.

How to use intranet?

To use an intranet, employees typically log in using the credentials provided by the company. Once logged in, they can navigate the intranet's various sections to access news, documents, tools, and services relevant to their roles. They can collaborate with colleagues, participate in discussions, complete tasks, and engage with company initiatives as the intranet platform facilitates.

How do I create a corporate intranet?

Creating a corporate intranet involves several steps, including defining objectives, gathering employee requirements, selecting appropriate software or platforms, designing the intranet's structure and features, customizing it to fit the company's needs, testing, and launching. It's essential to involve employees to ensure the intranet meets their needs and fosters engagement.

What is the difference between intranet and intranet?

There seems to be a typo in your question. If you meant to ask about the difference between "intranet" and "internet," an intranet is a private network accessible only to authorized users within an organization. In contrast, the Internet is a global network of interconnected computers accessible to the public. Intranets are used for internal communication and collaboration, while the internet provides access to external resources and services.

What is the value of intranet in business?

The value of an intranet in business lies in its ability to improve internal communication, enhance collaboration and productivity, streamline processes, foster employee engagement, facilitate knowledge sharing, and centralize information and resources. A well-implemented intranet can contribute to organizational efficiency, innovation, and competitiveness.

What do you put on a company intranet?

On a company intranet, you can put various resources and information relevant to employees, including company news and announcements, documents and files, employee directories, calendars, and event schedules, training materials, discussion forums or chat channels, HR forms and policies, project management tools, and employee engagement initiatives such as surveys or recognition programs.