Technology has changed significantly in the last few decades, and it has influenced how businesses operate. Today, intranets are indispensable tools as they improve internal communication, streamline access to information and boost operational efficiency.
However, this isn’t always the case. “Old-school intranets are static content-delivery websites that are predominantly used to retrieve leave forms and extension lists, and they are only accessible at work, through the company’s internal network”, says Sylvia Schutte, MD of Stratitude, a through-the-line, integrated agency.
These traditional intranets are also beset by limitations. They are usually disorganised and have an unclear strategy, with outdated information and a poor search functionality. “But the biggest problem is that these intranets are not able to adjust to the changing needs of a modern business and a modern workforce”, continues Schutte.
“The need to deliver news, internal communication and important documents to staff hasn’t changed, but generally speaking, the rise in the number of new internet-enabled devices has forced a drastic rethink in the way that content is delivered,” explains Neil Bromehead, Digital Manager at Stratitude. “The once catch-all solution to providing this content solely on an internal network now seems to be a really dated way of solving the requirement.”
As companies and technology have evolved, the way people access information has changed. Employees are now working from home or on the road, and may not even be using their company’s computers, but they still need access to internal data. This is a particular challenge for a business such as insurance broker Indwe Risk Services, which needs to maintain effective communication even though they have branches throughout the country and a large, scattered sales team.
Stratitude was tasked to build a new intranet for Indwe that would create a powerful and effective internal network with improved content organisation and classification, easier ways of finding information, increased interactive capabilities, better collaborative tools and enhanced knowledge sharing functionality.
“Our solution was simple,” says Bromehead. “We had to start from scratch and build a responsive, optimised website that was easy to navigate, that had all the necessary security features and only allowed access to users with a valid company domain email address. Now all Indwe staff who need access to the information can have it, wherever they are, whenever they need it, regardless of the device they have available to them.”
The results from Indwe’s intranet have shown that it has become a valuable communication and resource tool. With close to 500 registrations active on the site, and nearly 1 500 page views per week, there is a penetration of 99% amongst Indwe staff across the country. Nearly 3.5 gigabytes of PowerPoints, PDFs and word documents are being downloaded each month, and close to 20% of all traffic is mobile or pad based. Additionally, users aren’t required to be “on-site” or plugged into the VPN (Virtual Private Network) and staff can stay updated from anywhere they have an internet connection.
According to Schutte, “An internal campaign was implemented to involve staff in the development of the new site. Not only did we do a needs analysis of what the business and employees required from the new site, but we also implemented a “name our new intranet” competition. This resulted in buy-in from day one and a huge uptake in registering on the site”.
“We expect first-rate work from our employees, so we briefed Stratitude to build us a first-rate resource tool,” explains Peter Olyott, MD at Indwe. “We’re thrilled with our intranet as it’s easy to use, simple to update and navigate, and most importantly it has streamlined our internal communication, which has significantly boosted our operational efficiency,” Olyott concludes.
For more information about Stratitude’s services go to: www.stratitude.co.za