4 Major Advantages of Intranet Software for Your Business

intranet advantages scaled

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Let’s dive right in.

How does intranet software accelerate business performance and make your company better?

Here’s a look at 4 major intranet advantages:

1. Intranets help you recognize and adapt to consumer and employee behavior.

As an employer or business owner, it’s important to recognize the trends in consumer behavior and implement technologies (like intranet software) that embrace these techniques. You’ll also want to recognize and adapt to how your employees share and consume information.

The younger generation today, has vastly different habits than consumers in the older age groups.

  • They are less inclined to buy laptops and prefer smartphones and tablets.
  • They consider landlines frivolous and never use CDs.
  • They prefer digital devices and digital content, especially video.

Their behavior is not only important from a consumer point of view but also from an employee and company point of view.

To genuinely engage youth, marketers have to connect in the spaces, networks, and ways that youth engage with content and media.

Expected revenue from the youth exceeds $15 billion in the next 3 years across mobile advertising, apps, digital video and social networks alone.

These consumers also are more likely to spend time and search for information, solicit and provide reviews and feedback, and engage across networks like Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, (you name it) and use products from Apple.

So, what does this mean for companies and management?

Companies have to invest in capabilities, services, partnerships, and business models that reach this audience effectively … think intranet software.

advantages of intranet software

Most young consumers have smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and consume video primarily through the Internet. They are willing to pay premium prices for online subscriptions and apps and use mobile devices to access news, entertainment, and make purchases … replacing newspapers, magazines and other subscriptions.

intranet advantages

As mobile becomes the preferred choice of information access, and social networks are preferred over email, social networking across mobile devices has also exploded. Youth – consumers and employees – share videos, photos and opinions on networks to their friends, families and loved ones. The expected impact is as high as $500 billion.

So, what does this all mean exactly?

Well, this is where intranet software has its advantages. An intranet allows you to tap into and embrace this consumer and employee behavior. It’s an online platform (a social network, but more) used for company communication, collaboration, file sharing, employee engagement, etc. There are many, many intranet benefits.

You get the picture, let’s move on.

2. Intranet software helps you build an internal collaborative culture.

intranet advantages

Creating a successful business for the long term requires you to increase employee engagement … and this in turn requires that employees feel validated and that their opinions and ideas matter.

Collaboration is key.

Collaboration is also important for driving business change and growth. You can accelerate the acceptance of change in processes, services, working relationships, policies etc. by using a unified platform for sharing information and experiences.

This is where intranet software has its advantages. It allows you to:

  • Share new insight and ideas
  • Connect with employees
  • Respond to employee feedback

For example, you can set up an executive blog and a Q&A forum on your company intranet. The executive blog helps your ‘higher-ups’ connect to your staff directly, without too much organizational hierarchy getting in the way. Intranet software also helps build bonds between your employees through transparent conversations and dialogue.

3. Intranets create three-way communications.

advantages of intranet software

You can facilitate clear communication between people and groups using intranet software and ensure misunderstandings do not happen … as all information is readily accessible and trackable. A modern intranet is designed to support communication between the three major communication branches in your organization: leaders to employees, employees to leaders, and employees with each other.

On an employee to employee level, co-workers can communicate and share information with each other, while building bonds across the organization. Private and group chats empower team members to reach out to each other immediately to get clarity on a question and move projects forward. The ability to interact with content on the intranet with social and collaboration tools also opens the door for more conversation and teamwork.

When it comes to employees to leaders, a major intranet advantage is having access to internal communication channels that offer feedback, ideas, and suggestions with leadership. With strong transparency, employees feel clear on their direction and empowered in their roles. Using wikis and micro blogs can enable companies to “crowdsource” ideas and involve employees more directly in the change program. Organizations can also build more internal loyalty by seeking out continuous feedback on important issues with polls and surveys, which in turn, leads to greater employee engagement and retention.

Professionals in a higher-up position often have an issue building trust and genuine working relationships with employees. Intranet software gives leadership the internal communication tools to send targeted and personalized messages. CEOs can share thoughts on the new corporate strategy, communicate change across the organization by publishing a video, or congratulate a team on a successful project. This boosts morale and shows employees that leadership cares—making it one of the most valuable intranet advantages for your organization.

4. Intranets enhance employee experience.

When you’re working with intuitive technology such as intranet software, every feature has multiple benefits that propels your business forward. This is perhaps one of the greatest advantages of intranet software – every feature has a function, while supporting other areas within your business.

In recent years, companies have shifted their workplace culture to prioritize their people. We call this the employee-centric workplace. Potential employees want to do great work in great places… and employers know this. 94 percent of executives and 88 percent of employees believe a “distinct workplace culture is important to business success,” according to a Deloitte study.

A strong workplace culture creates a positive employee experience, which drives top notch productivity, customer support, innovation, and reputation.

Whether you’ve established an employee-centric workplace or you’re starting to make internal changes, your intranet can be your best friend. Let me demonstrate how.

When you invest in your employees, they take notice.

Have you ever experienced a job where your basic needs were neglected, or little care was put into your role by higher-ups? Chances are, the environment was jaded and uninspired. A digital workplace encourages a vibrant and connected staff by bringing every tool, person, and department to their fingertips. As a result, everyone feels seen and supported.

Let’s take the intranet homepage, for example.

The intranet advantages are nearly endless. As soon as a member logs in, quick links to important content are front-and-center. A launchpad with essential third-party apps are there – saving your people time. If a user needs to contact a colleague, the employee directory is always there. There’s also recent and personalized announcements from the CEO and the company calendar is always there, rich with events and important deadlines.

advantages of intranet software

Just like that, the headaches of finding a person, loading apps, or reading important company content is gone. And people can do their work with little frustration.

On a basic level, these features help users get from point A to point B. On a deeper level, these features add transparency and trust; no one and nothing is hidden, and employees don’t have to jump through hoops to perform basic tasks.

There is no disconnect between the person and the organization.

Your staff knows when you put in the effort to provide them with the tools and support they need to do their jobs well. This awareness builds a strong relationship with the person and their company. They’ll be the first to talk highly of your organization and also the first to go the extra mile in their roles.

In conclusion.

The advantages of intranet software are many. It enables companies to communicate more effectively, keep everyone informed and engaged, and make changes more swiftly and uniformly. It accelerates business productivity by removing information silos and creating multiple-way communication. It reduces the time spent by employees searching for information and prevents the loss of information that occurs when employees leave organizations. Intranet software allows you to manage change and improvement on a large scale easily and productively.

 

How to launch an intranet

 

Author
Written by

Tim Eisenhauer is a co-founder of Axero Solutions, a leading intranet software vendor. He's also a bestselling author of Who the Hell Wants to Work for You? Mastering Employee Engagement. Tim’s been featured in Fortune, Forbes, TIME, Inc Magazine, Entrepreneur, CNBC, Today, and other leading publications.

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