As a result of advancements in technology, today’s businesses are very reliant on automated processes and information technology (IT) for their day to day business operations. Large corporations, Non-Profit organisations and Small & Medium Enterprises (SME’s) are constantly investing in IT assets that improve customer support, increase customer satisfaction and maximize revenues (United Nations, 2008). Over the years, successfully implementation of corporate intranets has enabled large multinationals such as SUN Microsystems, IBM and The Boeing Company to improve efficiency, effectively share information and reduce cost (Marlow, 1997, p189; Boone, 2000, p133; Boyle & Lloyd, 1998, p171). However, with the current increase in overall failure of IT projects (The Standish Group, 2009), it is necessary to understand why intranet projects fail. This paper reveals 8 key secrets that cause intranet project failure and also provides advice on how to prevent its occurrence.
Secret 1: Absence of an Intranet Strategy
The beginning of failure for any intranet project is the absence of an Intranet strategy. This could be likened to building a house without planing its design; it would either crumble on its own or you will have to break it apart yourself one day. The intranet strategy is a document that describes the direction and scope of an organisation’s intranet over the long-term (Collins, 2001). Simply put, the intranet strategy contains the organisations vision, objectives, target audience and Key performance index (KPI) for the intranet (Ward, 2009).
Quite often, the implementation of intranet projects, are left to IT individuals who are usually very technical and regard the intranet implementation as a mere installation of a good software package and the use of reliable technology (Goodman,2006). However, for a successful intranet implementation, this need not be the case. Attention needs to be paid to business processes, information needs and detailed user requirements; prior to selection of architecture, implementation technology and purchase of any intranet product. The advantages of taking this step is tremendous as it will not only increase the possibility of project success, however it will improve satisfaction of users and the value of the intranet system as a whole.
Secret 2: Inadequate Executive sponsorship
Like any other company project, an intranet project requires a high level of support from the Senior and Executive management. However, the successful intranet requires more than just an ordinary support from the management; but senior and executive management, who are active users, content writers and real advocates of the project both internally and externally (Cortada & Woods, 1999; Kerzner, 2004). A recent research into the top 10 best intranets of 2010 revealed that the best intranets made use of features such as department weblogs and CEO blogs to actively involve senior and executive management in the day to day use of the intranet (Nielsen Norman Group, 2010). Apart from been used specifically for communication and bridging the gap between executive and non-management staffs, these features also help in proving management interest and support in the use of the intranet as a tool to solve business problems.
Although it is very natural to be initially very enthusiastic about a new project; and as time goes on gradually become less enthusiastic, however to mitigate against this phenomena, the project executive sponsor needs to be someone who is genuinely very passionate about the project and not selected based on political reasons. The advantages of an adequate executive sponsorship may vary from company to company however general advantages are adequate funding, access to staffing resources and increased possibility of project success.
Secret 3: Inconsistent content management
Our society today is very much information driven and the rate at which information changes is quite high. For an intranet to be successful, the intranet content which the employees need and constantly access, must be kept up to date. What would be your reaction, if you found out your favorite website which provides you with up to date traffic information, was not updated for about 2 weeks? My guess would be to look for another alternative; employees in your organisation will also do the same if the information on the intranet constantly fails to meet their needs and thus something must be done to prevent this from occurring.
Keeping the Intranet content up to date could really be a challenge, especially to SME’s and Non-for profits however, it has to be done for the intranet project to be an overall success. To simplify this process, the company may consider putting to together a small team of individuals (about 2 or 3) whose primary job description include managing the intranet content and making sure it is up-to date. Furthermore, a technological solution which simplifies the process of content creation and content management would also play a role in managing Content, however majority of the work lies on the intranet team. The team needs to constantly see employees in the organisation as readers of its daily newspaper; who will look for other alternatives if they are constantly given stale information or information that is not relevant to them.
Secret 4: Absence of business processes
The absence of business processes on an intranet could result in total failure of the intranet project. As it is with any website, the users need a reason to always come back to the site; for some they will come back for information/documents, for some they will come back for collaboration and for others its strictly for the company’s latest news. However, in other to ensure all staffs in the organisation effectively make use of the intranet and regularly return to it, business processes need to be integrated on the intranet. Regular business processes such as Leave requests, Invoice payment and Expense claims’ could all be automated and integrated on the intranet; thus making these process simplified, more effective and a time saver for employees who could spend the time on more pressing business issues.
Not only will the the implementation of business processes on the intranet make users and employees more effective, however this strategy will also help the organisation achieve process automation in a cost effective manner. Various organisations have successfully cut down spending on application development and still achieve effective process automation while utilizing this approach to automating business processes (Goodman, 2006).
Secret 5: Mismatch between Corporate culture and Collaboration tools
Most organisations make use of the intranet for knowledge sharing and information dissemination. However, for the intranet to be a very efficient asset to the organisation, it requires collaboration and content generation by its users. Quite often, intranet projects fail as a result of mismatch between the corporate culture and collaboration tools developed on the intranet.
Every organisation has its unique beliefs, value systems and attitude which provide the organisation with its own culture. In some organisations, information sharing and the corporate sense of community is far fetched while in others its already a part of the company. Employees in some organisations are used to a clock in/clock out system, where the staffs are only concerned with their daily tasks and their wage, while in others there is a sense of belonging. For an Intranet project to be effective, the intranet team needs to understand the corporate culture of the organisation in order to approach collaboration and knowledge sharing on the intranet appropriately.
A common misconception in the world of intranet development is that the implementation of Enterprise 2.0 tools and social media tools such as forums, blogs etc will improve collaboration and reduce time wastage for employees, however it is important to know that the implementation of this is not a silver bullet. As important as this technical approach to collaboration is, it will fail without the right corporate culture. Organisations that already have a sense of community and information sharing are more likely to succeed upon implementation of collaboration tools on their intranets; however for organisations that do not have a sense of corporate sharing and community, various approaches such as effective training on intranet collaboration, rewards for knowledge sharing, inclusion of content creation in job description and top executive support, could be used to help improve collaboration on the intranet. However, the most important key here is the understanding of the corporate culture in the organisation.
Secret 6: Poor marketing and awareness
Suppose you wish to sell your product/services to about 100 people and must achieve a minimum conversion of 70 percent, what will you do? Most of your ideas will be centered on Strategy, Awareness and Marketing. Now imagine the product is your intranet and the people you wish to sell to are your employees, will you still do the same? More than likely the answer will dwindle form maybe, to No and in very rare cases a YES. The key point here is, for an intranet to be successful, the organisation needs to see the employees as buyers or users of its free service. The more aware the employees are about the product, the more than likely they use it. A lot of intranet projects fail as a result of poor marketing and awareness within the organisation and thus must be conducted effectively.
Furthermore, some organisations poorly market their intranets as a result of cost; having spent quite a lot on development and/or purchase of intranet products (software and hardware inclusive), it may be tempting to reduce funds allocated to the project in the latter phase. However, it is important to note that without effective marketing of the product, total expenses on the intranet is as good as a waste. Staff awareness and Internal marketing of the intranet, is as important as the development/purchase of the intranet itself and is very key to the overall success.
Over the years, various organisations have made use of marketing campaigns such as Intranet contests and gift giveaway, Intranet birthday celebrations, Intranet launch parties, Constant presentations, intranet brochures giveaway and Intranet Email newsletters to record great success however, one key tool that must be used to achieve staff awareness and product knowledge, is training. Frequently, when the intranet makes use of typical web technologies, training is often neglected as a result of a common misconception that people already know how to use and navigate websites and therefore would also find their way on the intranet easily. However, it is important to note that the key reason for the training isn’t to teach web technologies but to help employees identify why the intranet is important and how it can help in their daily business activities.
Secret 7: Poor User Experience
Corporate intranets are developed to be used in an organisation by both technical and non-technical individuals. Unlike a host of other software developed specifically for the technically oriented users, the design of the intranet needs to love people and people will love it back. Quite often, when an intranet product is been developed, detailed attention is paid to what the product does while little attention is paid to how it works and how that affects the user. This often overlooked step can really determine success or failure of an intranet project.
Suppose you were given a tea cup with a lid as a gift and on the day you decided to use the tea cup for coffee, you spend about 20 minutes trying to figure out how to open the lid; only for you to realize that a tiny nub was underneath the tea cup that helps to open the lid. The thoughts running through your mind will be too complex for a tea cup, what an early morning puzzle or in fact some like me, would have dropped the tea cup for a latter time (if there ever will be that time). The same happens to your organisations intranet, if its well designed employees will use it and if not alternative will be sought.
Intranet users are not looking for a complex process to locate a policy document, they need a simple, natural and intuitive approach to perform tasks on the intranet. The intranet is not a piece of puzzle and therefore careful consideration should be made about the users experience while making use of the intranet for various tasks.
Secret 8: Poor Intranet Analytics
Having a knowledge of what works, what doesn’t and why they don’t, is a key intranet management step that must be taken. Not only is it important to go through a process to understand what your users want, what the organisation needs and market it to them, however you also need to understand what works and what doesn’t after they have been implemented. This strategy is simply called intranet analytics; and the idea is to make realistic decisions based on existing data.
Regular traffic to the intranet should be measured, page views and hits should also be measured. Organisations could also conduct regular surveys and seek feedback to enable the intranet team understand and make adequate arrangements for what needs to be adjusted. Intranet analytics helps identify if defined business processes are effective and also helps estimate cost savings using this new processes.
Intranet analytics helps to keep your content relevant and support your staff; being equipped with the vast understanding of what works an what doesn’t, the intranet team is able to make educated decisions that will in the end make contents relevant and adequately support the organisations staff.
