Things to consider when developing an Intranet Strategy

What things do you consider when developing an Intranet Strategy? I was looking over our Intranet strategy and took note of the elements that were addressed:

• the technology our Intranet runs on (SharePoint 2007)
• the intranet’s core objectives (what the main want to achieve and pointing out how this is aligned to the business’ overall objectives and strategy),
• our target audience – pointing out the type of content that is being delivered to them and how we aim to improve end user adoption and engagement
• general governance and overall maintenance
• recommendations for improvements
• development roadmaps for the strategy’s deliverables

I wondered if there was something that I missed? Is there anything else that should be considered when revising the strategy next year? So, I put my feelers out and got some useful advice from fellow Intranet Professionals.

Scott Hitchins from Odyssey Interactive offered his thoughts:

“It sounds like you’ve covered most of the key elements when designing an intranet strategy.

My only advise would be to consider different phases of roll-out particularly if you’re looking at implementing new intranet solution as part of your new strategy.

Phase 1 being core elements of the software supporting the points you raised, and Phase 2 and 3 being a clever introduction to new Enterprise 2.0 features that drive collaboration and knowledge management to really enhance user adoption and engagement.

For the phased approach to work really need to get under the skin of your audience and understand what will (and won’t) work in the real work. This can be achieved using staff interviews, workshops, and surveys.

We at Odyssey Interactive, the company behind the successful intranet product ‘Interact’ (www.interact-intranet.co.uk) have vast experience in working with our customers across Europe to help develop such strategies.”

Alasdair Stuart-Bell offered:

“I’d advocate that a good Intranet strategy considers: Role and Vision, Governance, Client/Audience Needs, Analytics, Content Management and Publishing, Usability, ROI, Business Processes and Performance Measurement. Based on your original post I think a number of these pieces might be already included, but thought I might share what I consider a bit of a table of contents for a strategic direction.”

What I haven’t touched on is how far ahead should an intranet strategy be planned for – 2 years, 3 years, 5??? With technology and trends changing at a rapid pace it would seem that planning too far ahead could result in not achieving everything you originally planned for. It could mean not implementing features needed to support your organisation, leaving you trailing far behind in your industry and general intranet trends. Yet not planning far ahead enough could leave you reaching the end of your strategy without further plans or developments in the pipeline, potentially leaving your intranet in a stagnant state from an end users’ perspective, while you are left to write and plan for the next strategy.

My thoughts are to write your strategy plan 2-3 years ahead, but review every 12 months and amend as technology and organisational trends shift.

Share your tips on what you think helps to create a great intranet strategy!