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7 tips for launching a company intranet
Microsoft Small Business Center
Kim Komando writes about workplace technology and security issues. She's the host of the
nation's largest talk-radio show about computers and the Internet, and writes a syndicated
column for more than 100 Gannett newspapers and for USA Today. Find Kim's show on the
radio station nearest you, and send an e-mail to subscribe to her free weekly e-mail
newsletter.
By Kim Komando
One thing I like about running a small company is the ability to act quickly.
Decisions are not bogged down by layers of management. In fact, most moves
are made with the interested parties meeting around a conference table.
But there can come a point when your business outgrows this arrangement. You
need constant, reliable and secure communications with others in the company
to ensure successful growth. You need an intranet.
An intranet is similar to a Web site, and it uses Internet protocols, but it's an
internal network exclusive to one company. (An "extranet" also is an internal or
private Web site, but access privileges are extended to designated customers,
partners and/or others.) Most large corporations use intranets. Information
distribution is a huge task when you have 10,000 or more employees. Intranets
can help cure that headache. I hear you, "I don't have anywhere near 10,000
employees!" But I can give you three major reasons why your small business
should invest in one. Here they are:
1. Communication Suffers When Dealing With More Than One Person
Even a very small company has communication issues. Most people find out
what's happening while gossiping around the coffee pot. Stories change as they
spread, leading to a misinformed and disgruntled staff. If you have
telecommuters, off-site workers, employees who travel a lot or a "virtual"
company, communication issues become even more challenging.
In order for a company to succeed, all players must understand its goals. Neither
long-term nor short-term goals should be confined to upper management
meetings. It's Business 101. Everyone needs to be working toward common
goals. An intranet is the perfect place to post weekly reports, memos and goals.
This way, everyone is on the same page. Toby Ward, president of the intranet
consulting firm Prescient Digital Media, notes that even a company with few
employees benefits from an intranet. Even if you don't have people working
remotely, your sales staffers or consultants aren't always in the office.
Building an intranet can enhance communication through message boards,
instant messaging and moderated chats. How? Let's take a typical business
scenario. The sales staff of five has to come up with a presentation to the
president on increasing sales in the next fiscal year. Those five people will enter
a conference room, eat pizza, drink coffee and drag it out for hours. The first
meeting turns into a three-hour, stream-of-consciousness brainstorming session.
The second meeting starts with a review of the best ideas from the first. The
participants hash out why they will or will not work. By the third or
fourth meeting, the five will come up with some proposals. Using a discussion
board in the days before the meetings can streamline the experience. Ideas can
be debated beforehand. Participants come into the sales meeting more focused.
2. Time Is Money
Yes, this is a cliché. But it's too valid not to use here.
An intranet allows you to post critical information for all employees to see. Even
having human resources information posted is valuable. One of my employees
said workers in his former office once spent 45 minutes trying to find out if the
day after Thanksgiving was a paid holiday. The personnel manager was gone
and no one else knew.
Posting of calendars, company policies and company benefits is a great start.
They'll reduce wasted time. But an intranet can be used for more than basic
information. The beauty of an intranet is its interactivity.
You can save time (and trees) with interactive forms. Vacation requests, supply
orders, changes to benefits and more can be handled quickly and efficiently.
Make sure your intranet follows good design principles. You can't just throw stuff
up there and hope people will find it. Organize your intranet to make it as
user-friendly as possible. We're trying to save time here, not frustrate people.
3. It's Better Than E-Mail
You may be thinking, "Why doesn't the personnel person just e-mail the form?"
Or, "I communicate well with my employees through meetings and postings on the
cork board." According to Ward, e-mailing multiple versions of the same
document or presentation leads to confusion and sometimes information
overload. Let's take that same sales group we envisioned earlier. They've
decided on three major ways they will increase sales. They are now working on a
PowerPoint presentation. Five people collaborating on one PowerPoint file can
lead to disastrous results. I can hear the shouting now. "Who has the most
revised version?" "Johnson, you gave me the wrong figures. I thought we fixed
that." And so on. By using an intranet, people can work on a shared file and have
a central location for the most recent file. This will also help save space on your
server. It may sound like a tiny thing, but having versions of various files on
everybody's computer takes up valuable space.
How To Get Started
Before you set up an intranet, make sure you understand what you want it to do.
Understand how employees will use it. Finally, adhere to good design principles.
If it takes five or six clicks to find a vacation request form, it's too complex.
You'll also have to decide if you want to build your own solution. A consultant can
build an intranet to your specifications. It will have the look and feel and design
principles you specify. This route will cost you U.S. $10 to $500 per person per
month.
To get your intranet ready for employee use, you will need someone to develop
and maintain the content. The idea is to have continually updated information
available. How you delegate those tasks may depend on the size of your
company. If you only have 10 people, one person may be sufficient to maintain
the information.
[group calendar software, net collaboration, web based office, online calendar
software, project collaboration software, web based office]
Microsoft Small Business Center
Kim Komando writes about workplace technology and security issues. She's the host of the
nation's largest talk-radio show about computers and the Internet, and writes a syndicated
column for more than 100 Gannett newspapers and for USA Today. Find Kim's show on the
radio station nearest you, and send an e-mail to subscribe to her free weekly e-mail
newsletter.
By Kim Komando
One thing I like about running a small company is the ability to act quickly.
Decisions are not bogged down by layers of management. In fact, most moves
are made with the interested parties meeting around a conference table.
But there can come a point when your business outgrows this arrangement. You
need constant, reliable and secure communications with others in the company
to ensure successful growth. You need an intranet.
An intranet is similar to a Web site, and it uses Internet protocols, but it's an
internal network exclusive to one company. (An "extranet" also is an internal or
private Web site, but access privileges are extended to designated customers,
partners and/or others.) Most large corporations use intranets. Information
distribution is a huge task when you have 10,000 or more employees. Intranets
can help cure that headache. I hear you, "I don't have anywhere near 10,000
employees!" But I can give you three major reasons why your small business
should invest in one. Here they are:
1. Communication Suffers When Dealing With More Than One Person
Even a very small company has communication issues. Most people find out
what's happening while gossiping around the coffee pot. Stories change as they
spread, leading to a misinformed and disgruntled staff. If you have
telecommuters, off-site workers, employees who travel a lot or a "virtual"
company, communication issues become even more challenging.
In order for a company to succeed, all players must understand its goals. Neither
long-term nor short-term goals should be confined to upper management
meetings. It's Business 101. Everyone needs to be working toward common
goals. An intranet is the perfect place to post weekly reports, memos and goals.
This way, everyone is on the same page. Toby Ward, president of the intranet
consulting firm Prescient Digital Media, notes that even a company with few
employees benefits from an intranet. Even if you don't have people working
remotely, your sales staffers or consultants aren't always in the office.
Building an intranet can enhance communication through message boards,
instant messaging and moderated chats. How? Let's take a typical business
scenario. The sales staff of five has to come up with a presentation to the
president on increasing sales in the next fiscal year. Those five people will enter
a conference room, eat pizza, drink coffee and drag it out for hours. The first
meeting turns into a three-hour, stream-of-consciousness brainstorming session.
The second meeting starts with a review of the best ideas from the first. The
participants hash out why they will or will not work. By the third or
fourth meeting, the five will come up with some proposals. Using a discussion
board in the days before the meetings can streamline the experience. Ideas can
be debated beforehand. Participants come into the sales meeting more focused.
2. Time Is Money
Yes, this is a cliché. But it's too valid not to use here.
An intranet allows you to post critical information for all employees to see. Even
having human resources information posted is valuable. One of my employees
said workers in his former office once spent 45 minutes trying to find out if the
day after Thanksgiving was a paid holiday. The personnel manager was gone
and no one else knew.
Posting of calendars, company policies and company benefits is a great start.
They'll reduce wasted time. But an intranet can be used for more than basic
information. The beauty of an intranet is its interactivity.
You can save time (and trees) with interactive forms. Vacation requests, supply
orders, changes to benefits and more can be handled quickly and efficiently.
Make sure your intranet follows good design principles. You can't just throw stuff
up there and hope people will find it. Organize your intranet to make it as
user-friendly as possible. We're trying to save time here, not frustrate people.
3. It's Better Than E-Mail
You may be thinking, "Why doesn't the personnel person just e-mail the form?"
Or, "I communicate well with my employees through meetings and postings on the
cork board." According to Ward, e-mailing multiple versions of the same
document or presentation leads to confusion and sometimes information
overload. Let's take that same sales group we envisioned earlier. They've
decided on three major ways they will increase sales. They are now working on a
PowerPoint presentation. Five people collaborating on one PowerPoint file can
lead to disastrous results. I can hear the shouting now. "Who has the most
revised version?" "Johnson, you gave me the wrong figures. I thought we fixed
that." And so on. By using an intranet, people can work on a shared file and have
a central location for the most recent file. This will also help save space on your
server. It may sound like a tiny thing, but having versions of various files on
everybody's computer takes up valuable space.
How To Get Started
Before you set up an intranet, make sure you understand what you want it to do.
Understand how employees will use it. Finally, adhere to good design principles.
If it takes five or six clicks to find a vacation request form, it's too complex.
You'll also have to decide if you want to build your own solution. A consultant can
build an intranet to your specifications. It will have the look and feel and design
principles you specify. This route will cost you U.S. $10 to $500 per person per
month.
To get your intranet ready for employee use, you will need someone to develop
and maintain the content. The idea is to have continually updated information
available. How you delegate those tasks may depend on the size of your
company. If you only have 10 people, one person may be sufficient to maintain
the information.
[group calendar software, net collaboration, web based office, online calendar
software, project collaboration software, web based office]
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Other technology related sites
for small businesses:
sbtechnologymagazine.org/
entrepreneur.com/ebusiness/
for small businesses:
sbtechnologymagazine.org/
entrepreneur.com/ebusiness/
