5 steps to create (and launch) a company intranet

Your business is growing, and with that growth comes the need for better communication and collaboration tools. An intranet can help your team stay connected and organized, and it’s a great way to share information and resources. But why should you, and how do you create an intranet? 

This post explains the benefits of an intranet and how to create intranet channels, platforms, and forums that will best serve your business. 

Why should you create a company intranet?

Any business that wants to improve communication, engagement, and collaboration within its organization will benefit from creating an intranet. An intranet is a private network that only members of the organization can access. It provides a central location for storing and sharing information, making it easy for employees to find information and interact.

It keeps employee engaged

By creating an intranet, businesses can provide employees with easy access to the resources they need, whether it's company news, HR documents, or just interaction with their peers.

An intranet with social media-like capabilities entertains employees and keeps them engaged. Happeo, for example, includes social features such as emoji responses and liking and sharing posts. 

Businesses can also encourage employee involvement and collaboration by creating a forum for discussion and inviting employees to share ideas. Intranet surveys and polls can also help increase engagement.

If you want to promote corporate culture and values, create intranet channels just for that. By featuring company news and announcements, businesses can keep employees informed and engaged with the company's mission and goals. You can also create an intranet hub where you post and contextualize your values, then give public thanks to employees who embody these values. 

It makes onboarding easier (for everyone)

A company intranet is a valuable tool for onboarding new employees. 

A self-service portal for the company's policies, procedures, and forms helps new hires quickly get up to speed on how your company does things. New hires know exactly where to find what they're looking for. And leadership can make new hires feel welcome by using the intranet to  introduce them to the company.

A company intranet isn't just ideal for new hires, either. It’s a helpful resource for managers responsible for onboarding new employees. By having all of the necessary information in one place, they can spend less time tracking down documents and more time helping their new hires adjust to their new roles.

Furthermore, when human resources teams need to update onboarding documents, they only need to upload them to the intranet. HR teams can spend less time circulating new documents and more time focusing on personnel. 

It helps hybrid and remote teams work efficiently

More organizations are adopting hybrid and remote working models and, as a result, creating company intranets for maintaining efficient teamwork. When you create a company intranet, team members can easily access the files and documents they need, regardless of location. 

Your sensitive information and data will be secure

An intranet can enhance security by restricting access to sensitive information. With a secure intranet, companies can protect data from unauthorized access. 

This security is of utmost importance when it comes to protecting your customers and yourself from fraud. A secure intranet can prevent data breaches that involve your customers’ payment information and contact details, and your own proprietary assets. 

The top security-industry standard is an intranet with:

• ISO 27001 certification
  
  
• SAML authentication
  
  
• An SSL encryption certificate

Besides restricting access to sensitive information, an intranet can also help to speed up the process of data recovery in the event of a disaster. Companies that store all of their data in the cloud can quickly and easily retrieve it in the event of a power outage or other emergency. 

Steps to creating a company intranet 

Now, let’s look at the steps you can take to develop an intranet that works for your company. 

Evaluate employee needs

First, decide what purpose your intranet will serve. Will it be a place for employees to access company news and information? A place to store documents and files? A hub for collaboration on projects? 

Or perhaps a place for social interactions? Remote work has spiked in recent years, creating a vacuum where water-cooler chats between employees used to be. But, you can create intranet channels dedicated to building social bonds between colleagues.

Once you know how your employees will use your intranet, you can start to plan its structure and content.

Consider your company's needs and decide on features to prioritize

Implementing an organization-wide digital platform can cause interruptions. And, on average, companies take 1.2 years to launch their intranet. (At Happeo, we believe simplicity is synonymous with speed — that’s why our launches take closer to 6-8 weeks).

Besides speed to launch, consider what else will make this intranet a success. Is company-wide adoption important for your intranet to flourish? If so, your company should consider prioritizing features that engage employees, like personal, customizable homepages. 

Does your company use a multitude of software tools, like Slack or Microsoft Teams? Make sure to create an intranet with integration capabilities. 

Searchability is an important yet often overlooked aspect of any company’s intranet. When it’s done right, it can save your employees time and increase productivity. Your employees go from hunting down information and asking colleagues where documents live to being able to search for and find what they need in moments. 

Happeo’s Federated Search feature, for example, searches for keywords across all connected platforms and apps. No matter where documents are, users can find them quickly and easily. 

By tracking search queries and open rates, Happeo's usage Analytics can help your company optimize its searches. Usage analytics can also show you how popular certain pages are, which posts perform best, and who your employee ambassadors are. Now, you can optimize your internal ROI. 

If scalability is essential to your business's future, look for providers that offer tiered pricing. This way, you can start with the essential features and grow from there. 

Decide what content you want on the intranet 

After you've evaluated your employees’ and company's needs, you will better understand what kind of content you need on your intranet. Make a list or a spreadsheet with high-level must-haves. 

This list might include:

• company policies
  
  
• contact information for HR or IT
  
  
• onboarding processes 
  
  
• links to important company documents
  
  
• templates, guides, and manuals on internal processes or structures 

Once you have a handle on the basics, you can start thinking about how to make your intranet serve the more intrinsic needs of a company. This could be to encourage engagement and foster a robust company culture. 

To reach these goals, consider features like forums for employees to discuss important topics, a channel for regular updates from leadership, or creating a platform for employee recognition.

Determine who has access to the intranet 

Consider who will have access to the system. The intranet should be accessible to all employees, but not all employees need access to every aspect of your company's intranet. 

To strike the right balance, create a list of potential users and evaluate each based on their access needs. For example, all employees should have access to company news and announcements. However, only certain employees need access to sensitive financial information. 

Research available options

There are a wide variety of intranet solutions on the market, so take the time to find one that meets your requirements. Once you've found a few potential options, you'll need to compare features and pricing to find the best value for your company. 

Of course, we're biased, but we believe that when it comes to launching a company intranet, Happeo is the top choice. With personalized onboarding and support, we make it easy to get up and running quickly. And we're always updating our software to keep up with the latest changes in employee communication, without any disruption to your workflows and processes. So if you're looking for a simple, fast, and reliable way to launch a company intranet, look no further than Happeo. We'll help you every step of the way.