Intranet Modernization Using Microsoft 365 that supports your Digital Transformation
Clear internal communication and efficient management are at the heart of any organization. With digital transformation, organizations are increasingly employing workplace management and collaboration tools and applications to have better workplace communication and employee engagement.
Intranet is perhaps the most used and relevant platform to achieve this. It is a private, enterprise-exclusive network that transmits communication among personnel in an organization.
A word that is almost synonymous with “Intranet” is SharePoint, an agile collaboration software launched in 2001!
What is SharePoint?
Originally introduced as internal document storage and delivery system, SharePoint intranet has now transformed into a centralized passport to the digital workplace deck and has emerged as a vital facilitator of the digital employee experience.
SharePoint Intranet is most commonly used by organizations for document management, content management, knowledge management, and project management.
But there is so much more to it!
A few benefits of SharePoint Intranet that most Organizations fail to cash in on are:
- Break down the rigid silos between different departments
- Automate business processes
- SharePoint can be seamlessly integrated Other Microsoft suite & productivity applications.
- Consistent digital experience and time-efficient
The way to cash in on these benefits is to modernize your Intranet! Many existing intranets are unprepared to handle the demands of today’s workforce.
Organizations must thus plan for the evolution of these solutions to improve employee experiences and business processes.
Why Modernize Your Intranet
- Encourages Communication & Collaboration by integrating with productivity applications
- Raise the productivity of employees
- Lead-generation, conversions, and Improved Profitability
- Fosters efficiency, innovation, and growth
- Cost-effective
- Avoids correctional costs due to faulty miscommunication
- Improved Financial outcomes due to increased productivity and sales
It was recently found that companies with better employee engagement with state-of-the-art modernized Intranet outperform their peers by 147% in earnings per share!
Features of a Modernized SharePoint Intranet
An intranet built on Microsoft 365 (one of the most popular forms of modernization) offers the following benefits, which are essential if you want a cutting-edge, modern digital workplace solution to meet the diverse needs of your workforce!
- Deliver Personalization
- Dynamic Content & Robust Search
- Integration with existing systems
- Support global and remote employees efficiently
- Empower employees to engage and share information easily
- Facilitate Collaboration Across the Organization
- Increase Organizational efficiency
- Ultimately – Better customer experiences and improved growth for your Business!
Below is a simple step-by-step guide to help your organization make the most of your SharePoint Intranet with Microsoft 365 by Modernizing it, boosting your ROI, and ensuring an intuitive experience for your employees!
How to Modernize Your SharePoint Intranet
- Understand current business goals and key stakeholders
Your SharePoint Intranet is generally concerned with assisting people in completing tasks and fostering involvement in the organization.
However, your business outcome goals are crucial in determining what information, UX design, and functionality are most important and will work for your users and organization. Simply put, the Intranet you build is for the users and thus, must be by the users.
This can be done by way of employee surveys, feedback mechanisms to understand their perceptions and preferences. Use this data to drive your Organization’s investments in modernizing your Intranet and aligning it with your strategic business goals.
For instance, if more employees seek to see Role-based portals and dashboards on their Intranet, the same can be implemented by building in performance metrics and assessments.
This will drive up employee engagement rates, improve productivity and profitability for your business!
- Review your existing Intranet
Modernizing Intranet is all about working on bridging the gap between the Intranet as it is and as it ought to be.
The next step must be to take stock of the current sites in the Intranet and the content that is placed on it. This inventory can further be supplemented with insights from different departments to understand the business outcome goals that need to be achieved with the new sites.
You can only create a modern, intelligent digital workplace by first knowing how people work, the information they require and a persistently driving focus on enhancing user experience.
Subsequently, you must optimize current content or create new content before migrating to the new site.
- Identify initiatives
The data you have gathered from the first two steps will help you discover initiatives that align with your organization’s priorities. Alongside this, you must also chart out the impediments that may arise when executing them.
While each initiative may be riddled with its own set of implementation challenges, this exercise will help you figure out initiatives that can be rolled out immediately to rapidly boost user engagement and achieve early success!
Ask the following questions about each initiative:
- Is it a viable solution to the real issue?
- What is the cost of implementing the solution?
- How many people are going to be the users?
- Is it possible to construct it in a short period?
- What is the Expected Rate of return on your investment?
Common SharePoint Use Cases Organized By Core Functionality
HR Portal
- HR Policies Management
- Automated HR workflows such as hiring, onboarding processes
- Training and Certification for Employees
- Handling Employee Requests
- Personalized Employee Experience based on roles, admin permissions
- Targeted Alerts
Business Intranet
- Consolidation of organizational information
- Productivity & Suite applications and Tools
- Seamless sharing and collaboration of data
- Automation of document workflows
Social Intranet
- Communication tools such as surveys, discussion threads
- Targeted alerts
- Gamification
- Media sharing and collaboration
Common SharePoint Use Cases Organized By Industry
Manufacturing
- Variety of document formats (for drawings, 3D models, etc.)
- Formalization of manufacturing operations
- Creation and Management of process map
- Integration with management tools and inventory management applications
- Regulatory Compliances
Healthcare
- Automation of operations (appointments, scheduling, cancellations)
- Medical personnel’s on-call schedules.
- Management of emergencies
- Employee recognition and role
- Regulatory Compliances
Financial Services
- Consolidation of data across branches
- Security checks
- Regulatory compliances
- Authorized personnel recognition (badges, etc.)
- Internal policy management
SharePoint Online Intranet Site Types
Modern Team Site
A modern team site that is not linked to a Group is ideal for organizations with wider audiences and increased collaboration.
Modern Team Site (Linked to a Group)
Ideal for collaboration within the team. Owing to its connection to Microsoft 365, access is provided to other tools and apps (such as Teams and Planner).
Communication Site
Ideal for information sharing and social intranets. You can share news, reports and organize other information in a visually compelling format.
Concluding Thoughts
Digital workplaces are cantered on user experiences and outcomes, and the best communication platform is one that ensures that the user gets the information on-demand. This can be best achieved by modernizing the Intranet!
SharePoint Intranet on Microsoft 365 makes for a powerful, centralized hub that uses intelligent workflows to reduce communication friction and get work done!
At TrnDigital, we offer turnkey services to enhance your current intranet offering by fully leveraging Microsoft 365 investments!
