Got Office 365? Why opting for a non-SharePoint intranet is madness!

Posted on 28 September 201716 November 2023 by Dan Hawtrey

These days there is unprecedented choice in the intranet and collaboration space. Not only is there maturity in the intranet software market, but there are also overlapping capabilities with social and collaboration platforms from Yammer to Slack to Workplace by Facebook. Intranet teams have a lot of different options.

One direction of travel is the emergence of a range of hosted or cloud intranets which provide attractive interfaces, templates, the key capabilities youd expect and, above all, convenience and speed. Intranet implementation projects are now much easier and faster and building an enterprise-ready, feature-rich intranet has never been easier.

Turnkey SharePoint intranets

The turnkey intranet market itself has evolved into two key segments:

Standalone and self-contained in-a-box solutions
Those that sit on top of SharePoint Online and Office 365 (some also work with SharePoint on premises).

Intranet managers can opt for strong intranet solutions, either SharePoint based or non-SharePoint based.

But if you are using Office 365 in your organisation, and there are many companies who are or are planning to, there are some clear advantages in implementing a SharePoint-based intranet. In fact. wed go as far to say that opting for a non-SharePoint intranet-in-a-box solution when you have Office 365 really doesnt make much sense at all.

Heres five reasons why:

Creating an integrated digital workplace

In the past couple of years theres been a lot of talk about the digital workplace and having a more consistent, coherent and integrated experience of the wider portfolio of applications in use throughout the organisation, as well as valuable data and content. This helps drive efficiency and process improvement, helps with findability through an integrated search, maintains common standards across different systems and reduces the chance of a frustrating user experience.

Its generally recognised that the intranet plays an important role in the digital workplace, often as the front door or point of entry to different applications and critical documents. Its also usually the place to carry out a search and for employees to find what they need to do their work every day.

If youre investing in Office 365 its very likely that some of the key elements of your digital workplace use Office 365. You may use the document libraries, rich collaboration or the search. A SharePoint intranet-in-a-box product like Wizdom makes it much easier to use the intranet as the front door to current capabilities as well as future functionality on the Office 365 roadmap.

A non-Sharepoint intranet makes it much harder to achieve an integrated digital workplace experience. There will be no integrated search and no simple integration with SharePoint. If your digital workplace is largely based on Office 365 and you want to the intranet to be a gateway to your digital workplace, a non-SharePoint based intranet will likely stymie your efforts.

Unlocking the value of Office 365

Your intranet is a strategic investment and so is Office 365. As well as delivering a more integrated digital workplace, a user-friendly SharePoint-based intranet layer can help drive Office 365 adoption which means youre more likely to be achieving ROI. Your SharePoint turnkey intranet can:

Highlight many of the features within Office 365, explaining the benefits and raising awareness of these tools through communications
Add some context to the tools on offer so they have more value. So, for example, a Yammer group might make more sense and have more value for users when it is combined with intranet-based content or document libraries, therefore driving adoption.
Make Office 365 tools easier to reach and find, through integration into the intranet experience. There are many ways to integrate a product like Wizdom with Office 365, from using Delve and Graph for showing recently documents accessed, to creating a learning portal based on Office 365 video, to adding links in the intranet navigation to these tools.
Improve the usability of Office 365 with a great interface that employees are already familiar with.

Avoiding duplication of costs

If youre an Office 365 subscriber youre already paying for a rich set of collaborative technologies with different options including Yammer, Microsoft Teams and the capabilities of SharePoint itself. Most intranet products now come with their own in-built collaboration capability so when you subscribe to a non-SharePoint intranet product, youre probably paying for capabilities you already have.

Our chosen SharePoint in-a-box product, Wizdom, is a native SharePoint application so it doesnt duplicate the functionality youve already paid for, instead providing a far tighter experience layer on top of Office 365. (The same argument applies to SharePont on premises).

Avoiding duplication also helps to reduce costs for budget constrained intranet teams not only in terms of licensing but also in all those hidden costs such as training, upgrades and more.

Avoiding user confusion

One of the constant challenges for intranet teams is driving adoption and best use of your digital channels across your wider digital workplace. Having a non-SharePoint intranet and Office 365 running in parallel can undermine those efforts by having two parallel systems with overlapping capability.

While employees like choice, they also like clarity. Its far better to have a standard system for collaboration which everybody can use and is properly supported, rather than have two competing systems. The aim for an intranet and Office 365 is to remove silos, not create them.

Stay future-proofed

Recently Microsoft has really sped up its product release cycle with a real expansion of the apps available within the Office 365 suite, including Sway, Teams and more. Theres always pressure to add new features to your intranet and you may be able to use some of the new powerful apps from Office 365. Even if theres no pressing need now, there may be in the future.

With an intranet like Wizdom, youll be future-proofed for the changes that Microsoft make, ensuring they are part of your digital workplace and helping to drive adoption through the intranet interface. A non-SharePoint intranet wont keep up providing a frustrating and fragmented experience for your users.

Make the right decision

Take it from us, if youre going down the Office 365 road a non-SharePoint intranet makes little sense. We predict that at some stage in the future that you will want your intranet to integrate with your core suite of Office 365 tools. And if you dont want to, your stakeholders and your users will eventually demand it.

Wizdom is a perfect choice. Youll be buying an intranet which keeps up to date with Office 365, but also provides the best integrated experience available as a native SharePoint app.

Earlier in the post we stated that Office 365 is a strategic investment and so is your intranet – with a SharePoint intranet-in a box youre effectively investing in both

The rise of the digital workplace and its impact on intranet

Posted on 19 September 201729 June 2022 by Dan Hawtrey

If youre an intranet professional, have been investigating a new intranet product, or are working on an Office 365 roadmap, youre likely to have come across the digital workplace. Its a term and a concept thats been steadily growing in popularity over the past three years and have now entered the mainstream.

Originally, the digital workplace was used as a term by some of the leading players in the intranet and collaboration world such as the Digital Workplace Group and Jane McConnell. That growth has extended to organizations such as Microsoft, Accenture, and Gartner. Its now often used within organizations to describe functions, roles, and even intranets.

Defining the digital workplace

Defining the digital workplace isnt as straightforward as it might seem, and there is no consensus about exactly what it is. It means different things to different people, and use varies across different organisations.

In our experience, there are three over-lapping definitions:

Its an experience. The digital workplace is the employee experience of all workplace technology, covering a wide portfolio of applications, the relative interfaces, the hardware in use and so on. Its the digital equivalent to the physical workplace.
Its a specific environment. Some see the digital workplace as a specific digital ecosystem a company provides where there is some integration and the employee can access a wide series of applications. Usually the intranet acts as the front door to the digital workplace and will be a significant part of it
Its a concept or a mindset. Others view the digital workplace as more a way of thinking a holistic and strategic way of looking at the employee experience of technology at work.

In reality, these three definitions are strongly interlinked as the concept emphasizes the importance of the experience which leads to development of specific environments!

The intranet as the key channel in the digital workplace

Although some organisations have chosen to re-brand their intranet as a digital workplace, we view intranets as being distinct and different. The digital workplace has a wider focus, while the intranet is usually the most important channel within it.

There are several reasons why the intranet is the key channel within the digital workplace:

The intranet is the perfect starting point for employees to access the wider digital workplace, a gateway to other systems and apps.
Intranets can usually be accessed by all employees so they are the logical channel to be the focus for any integrated experience.
Intranets have evolved to include new capabilities such as collaboration, so many essential digital workplace tools are already included in the intranet.
Intranets are flexible so new links and features can be added, keeping up with the ever-expanding digital workplace.
Intranets can be used to communicate the how and why of using wider digital tools critical for digital workplace adoption and giving context to all the tools and apps in use.
Many organisations are using Office 365 as the center of their digital workplace and an intranet is a great vehicle to leverage your investment with Microsoft.

Four positive trends from the rise of the digital workplace

The rise of the digital workplace has been great for intranets and the teams behind them. Heres four key trends which we see happening with our clients and beyond.

1. Intranets are becoming more essential

In the past, some intranets have typically been regarded as nice to haves and not essential to everyday working. This is changing.The digital workplace emphasizes the importance of having an integrated, high quality employee experience of workplace tools. Intranets are stepping up to the plate to be the natural entry point into the wider digital workplace, as well as the place to complete tasks. Intranet software providers are making it easier to deliver key apps and features and integrate other systems so that the intranet is truly the go to place for employees to get things done.

2. Senior stakeholders are seeing the strategic importance of the intranet

The digital workplace encourages a more strategic view of technology, emphasizing its importance in digital transformation, employee engagement, and more.With the intranet as a central part of the digital workplace, senior stakeholders are more likely to take the intranet seriously and see its true potential.

3. There are new opportunities for intranet teams

Intranet teams are sometimes misunderstood or under-appreciated within the organizations they serve. The teams are also small so the opportunities for career advancement may be limited.The digital workplace offers an opportunity for intranet teams to lead the way in a new and growing area, work with a wider set of technologies and make a real difference. This exposure and focus can lead to new challenges and opportunities for intranet professionals.

4. Organizations are moving forward with the future of work

Because the digital workplace promotes a more holistic view of workplace technology, it often means different stakeholders from across your organization will work together to move forward in a coordinated way.Hopefully, they are uniting behind a shared vision of the future of work within your organization.This is great news as it can help intranets to evolve too as the modern, essential interface for employees, enabling new ways of working and working in harmony with other applications.

Raise a glass for the digital workplace!

The digital workplace concept is here to stay and intranets will benefit enormously. Were already starting to see more interest from senior leaders, better career prospects for teams, and vastly improved intranets.Naturally, there is a still a long way to go, as the digital workplace concept is still young. However, were confident that the next five years or so will prove to an exciting time for intranets and also the people who manage them.

The original article was published here.

Robust policy management with Wizdom’s handbook feature

Posted on 17 August 201729 June 2022 by John Scott

Providing access to company policies and procedures is an important feature for intranets. The majority of companies recognise that the intranet is the perfect way to deliver this information to employees. Companies that have a streamlined approach to policy management reduce their compliance risk and improve their productivity.

Wizdom has a feature called Handbook that allows you to maintain and access policies, procedures, guidelines, handbooks or manuals on your intranet. Its a powerful business app that lets you keep policies in a hierarchical and searchable menu structure.

The app allows your employees to easily find and access business critical information either by search or by navigating the menu. But, just as importantly, it allows editors to easily manage and edit the documents too. Editors and content owners are given a dashboard that advises them about the status of the policies that they are responsible for. The system notifies them, and employees, when the policies are due for renewal or re-approval.

The Handbook app includes the following:

Mandatory Read. Policies can be targeted at groups of people and alert them that they are required to read the information
Relevant Read. Policies can be suggested to certain groups of people that they may be of interest to
Employees can mark policies as read or save them to read later
Page templates makes it easy for editors to manage and edit documents.
Revision history and version control make it clear what changes have been made to policies over time and when
Revision dates ensure that outdated content or content that is being edited is clearly marked
Wizdom forms can quickly and easily be embedded directly within the pages allowing employees to start a process – like booking a maternity leave, for example.

You can even add a simple test that appears at the end of policies, to ensure that employees have read and fully understood the information.

To learn more about Wisdom, read our article about Wizdom intranets most popular feature: news engine

Wizdom intranet’s most popular feature: “news engine”

Posted on 14 August 201729 June 2022 by John Scott

Wizdom intranet features a unique relevance engine that revolutionises news and information management distribution across the whole intranet. The engine includes both Corporate News (for official, corporate comms) and Noticeboard (for more informal comms and messaging).

At the core of the news engine is an information classification engine that automatically makes the content more relevant to employees depending on their job roles and subscription preferences.

Corporate News

This Corporate News webpart has been set up to display as ‘metro’ style

News articles can contain related content, social, video and even other webparts

Wizdom Corporate News allows content creators to easily broadcast engaging corporate messages.
News includes modern page templates and can be managed through approval workflows and scheduled publishing.
The news is visually engaging and supports rich media such as images and embeded video (Office 365 video, YouTube, Vimeo etc.)
An easy-to-use picture editor makes it quick for editors to add pictures and ensure they are scaled to the right size.
Editors can choose to highlight corporate news on the homepage in a variety of formats including a carousel, cards, thumbnails etc.
A news archive makes it easy to find older news through search.
The corporate news templates allow you to include any of the SharePoint and Wizdom webparts and embed them in an article. For example, you can add a form or an FAQ to a news article.
Editor can choose to have likes and comments on news articles.
The news articles can be filtered by tags that you define and are relevant to your organisation.
Next to the article you can see related news, related documents, related people and related pages based on tags.
The author of the articles is displayed which allows staff to contact the right person about the content.

Noticeboard

Make sure that information is shared with all relevant employees and eliminate mass distribution email messages. Wizdom Noticeboard offers editors as well as end users an intuitive experience that makes writing, commenting and reading announcements available to everyone in your organisation.

The Noticeboard can be set up to display messages from just one or multiple channels

Before posting a message the user must choose a channel to post to

The post message pop-up window on Noticeboard is super-easy to use

Wizdom Noticeboard personalises the information flow, only showing news that is relevant for the user.
Noticeboard is easy to use and allows you to open news publishing and messaging to a broad user-base without the need for training.
Noticeboard is made up of different channels. Channels can be made mandatory for all or for a selected groups. Or they can be made subscription or a mixture of both. It’s even possible to have hidden channels that are only visible to certain employee groups.
See an overview of the most widely read messages, most commented messages and most heavily subscribed news channel.
Noticeboard offers a variety of intuitive options to control the visual look of messages including support for images, videos and links.
Choose between a selection of Noticeboard webpart templates and display news in various ways. If you want your own customised look and feel, you can easily create your own Noticeboard template in the Wizdom Configuration Center.
Employees will receive new items in their notification panel every time a relevant new message or comment is published. This will draw their attention to new information that is relevant to them personally.
Social features – likes, comments, @mentions and notifications ensures that more people are involved in producing and reading intranet news.
The sender of a Noticeboard news message can choose to enable social comments and likes on their message.
Noticeboard also allows you to show news from external sources as part of the intranet news stream.
Video can be integrated into news by embedding Office 365, YouTube and Vimeo videos – allowing for employee generated video.
Manage news through approval workflows and scheduled publishing.
The Wizdom news archive offers filtered search to find older news.

Running an Intranet RFP – an agency view

Posted on 14 August 201716 November 2023 by Dan Hawtrey

We love working with new clients (as well as old ones!). Obviously, we like to win new business, but the most rewarding aspect is meeting new people and working on exciting projects. The Content Formula team love implementing new things. Making clients happy is what were all about!Usually winning a new client means going through an RFP process. The Request for proposal is an established and structured way for organisations to invite, evaluate and ultimately select an agency or partner to work with it. For us, an RFP could be anything from an invitation to develop a three-year relationship to just providing a product, such as a turnkey intranet.Usually the RFP is a natural step after the formulation of an intranet strategy and making an intranet business case. You may also have done some preliminary work to get the support of your senior management.

RFPs are a big commitment

RFPs are a way of life for digital agencies and software vendors, but they can also be extremely time-consuming for both the organisation and the agency involved.Its a significant time and resource commitment for both parties. It can involve multiple individuals from both side. An RFP process can also last for months, delaying important projects.From an agency point of view, we always carefully consider whether we want to respond to an RFP. We weigh up the time commitment, the value of the work and the likelihood of winning and the associated risk of not-winning.This means that occasionally we will have to turn down the RFP invitation when:

We just do not have the resources to respond adequately, perhaps due to current work commitments
We dont feel were the best agency to respond to the RFP or dont believe we can help the potential client
The work on offer is not of high enough value because it is a small project, although if this is the precursor to a longer working relationship it may be attractive
Where the information requested appears to be over-the-top and it will take us too long to respond
Where the deadline for responses is unrealistic
When we assess we have very little chance of winning the work
Where were not sure the client knows what they want and they are perhaps using the RFP process to find out (intentionally or unintentionally) the information they need rather than select an agency. It is likely they could benefit from consultancy services.

Tips for running a successful RFP process

The danger for an organisation which ends up having agencies and vendors not responding to their RFP is that they will not be able to find the best partner for their needs. The team will also be wasting more time, resources and energy on the RFP process.Here are a few tips which can lead to a better RFP process for everybody.

Find out more information first

Youll save a lot of time by properly researching your list of potential agencies to invite. A lot of information can be gleaned by looking agency websites, and by getting recommendations from your peers.However, the best thing is to arrange a call first. Were delighted to speak to clients about their needs. If youre researching products, then arrange a demo. This can usually be done virtually and its a great way to get a feel for a product such as an intranet-in-a-box solution.Some organisations run an RFI process (Request for Information) prior to an RFP where they ask for information from a wider set of agencies, although this can be a time-consuming process too.

Meet the agency before the RFP

The chemistry between the teams from agency and client is important and is often a key input for any final decision. Ideally meet an agency in person before you invite them to tender. Perhaps ask them to come in for an hour and present to you. We love to meet potential clients. Please get in touch!

Work on an intranet strategy before the RFP

It really helps to know what you want from your agency. The best way to achieve that is by working on an intranet strategy which is based on a thorough understanding of your users. The strategy will help you to craft a more accurate RFP document for your needs.It can be very difficult for agencies to give you a proper response if you are too vague about your needs. Some potential great implementation partners for you may not feel they are able to help if youre at too early a stage in your thinking to adequately run the RFP process.Ideally, you should also have business commitment for your project too. An RFP where the work then gets cancelled because there wasnt approval is very frustrating for all.

Dont run an RFP to validate a decision already made

If youve already more or less decided on a supplier and youre running an RFP because your procurement function says you must, or you need to validate your decision with senior stakeholders, then please try to consider alternatives to the RFP process.Of course meet other agencies to make a decision, but when carrying out an RFP go into it with a genuinely open mind otherwise you are potentially wasting a lot of your own time and those within your organisation.

Project manage the RFP

RFPs need to be tightly run as projects to keep them on course. Ensure you:

Have realistic timelines allowing responses from agencies and proper internal consideration of the suppliers
Stick to deadlines
Dont invite too many suppliers, otherwise this may prove too difficult and time consuming for you and your colleagues
Assemble the right team dont leave out stakeholders who will insist on a retrospective review of any decision!
Are transparent about the process and keep everyone involved in the loop.
Stick to the rules. In some industries and the public sector, there may be strict rules to the RFP process which must be adhered to.
Let the agencies who didnt win know the reasons why this feedback is very useful.

Be prepared!

The key secret of running a successful RFP is to be properly prepared. Do your research on the agencies, derive your intranet strategy, and plan the process. Dont go into an RPF lightly, otherwise it can be overwhelming.Follow some of the tips in this post and were convinced youll get more out of the process and find the right implementation partner for your organisation. Youll end up with a willing supplier and related product. Youre far more likely to develop a successful relationship, delivering great solutions with excellent results.

Making the business case for your intranet

Posted on 11 July 201716 November 2023 by Dan Hawtrey

So, you’ve got your senior management behind the idea of a new intranet, youve gone ahead and written an intranet strategy and now its time to make the business case.

Getting a business case for a new intranet is not always straightforward. Many of the benefits of intranets are intangible and senior management may regard it as a tactical rather than a strategic-level solution. Budget for intranets also tends to be trumped by investment in external-facing digital channels.

If you have already worked on a strategy which has senior stakeholders support it should be easier to get your business case approved, as your proposal will offer no surprises.

Even then, you should consider carefully how you construct your business case. It is likely you will go through more scrutiny, be considered against other budgetary requests and it may be reviewed by a wider group of stakeholders.

What should you include in an intranet business case?

Every organisation handles business cases slightly differently. There may be a standard document or form, and a related process. You may also need to make a presentation. The format may well dictate the contents of your business case and the supporting evidence you choose.

Most business cases are likely to include all or some of the following:
How the current intranet, if you have one, is failing
Why you need a new solution rather than using the old one
Why you need a specific solution, if youve selected one
The benefits the new intranet delivers and how these align to wider strategic goals
The risks of not introducing the new intranet
In some cases, you may also be reiterating the general need for an intranet in the first place
Quantified and non-quantified evidence to illustrate all the above

What evidence should be included?

There is a range of evidence you can include in a business case, but remember that business cases love numbers and you will definitely need to include some memorable figures.

Heres some common types of evidence, both numerical and non-numerical:

Specific reduced costs

Specific reduced costs are often driven by replacing legacy systems or the old intranet, with most savings made through the associated licensing costs. These can be significant if you are consolidating several intranets into one and can also include training and support contracts. You may also be replacing hard copy communications such as a staff newspaper.

Other cost avoidance

The new intranet may also be making potential cost savings by doing things much more efficiently than the old platform. This might include making design changes or introducing a new feature. How many costs are you potentially avoiding by using the proposed modern, efficient new intranet rather than the existing, clunky old one?

Quantified softer benefits

Quantifying the softer benefits for an intranet is at the core of a business case. This can include time saved, productivity gains, reduction in emails, increases in employee self-service, improvements to specific processes such as employee onboarding, better customer responses, better data accuracy and so on. If you express these as cost savings then be careful they are credible and that you can explain the maths behind the calculations.

Wider, indirect softer benefits

Indirect softer benefits are often the rationale for a new intranet. These include driving employee engagement, cultural change, organisational change, supporting increased digital skills and reducing risk. Note that these can be more convincing if they are pegged to a specific initiative or organisational event such as a significant merger.

Development of new capabilities

Many of the wider benefits mentioned above may also be driven by capabilities included in the new intranet and not available in the current one. Capabilities might include collaboration spaces, social tools, better internal communications through personalisation, better search and the flexibility of moving to the cloud.

Relevant intranet metrics

You’ll need to illustrate why your current intranet is failing. Any relevant metrics from your organisation which reflect this will help, including low adoption, low engagement, minimal satisfaction and poor performance.

The wider context

Wider demographic and survey data that show employee needs, reflect common problems or widespread tech habits can be very useful. This can be anything from levels of employee trust to mobile use in the consumer world to office design trends.

General information about the intranet market

It’s important to show the capabilities of modern intranets to demonstrate their potential, for example the power of an intranet-out-of-a-box solution. You can then show the capabilities of your chosen product in this context.

Success stories from other companies

Referencing specific success stories from other organisations which illustrate an intranets potential or emphasise that your organisation is behind in the game can be very powerful. If you can find examples from your competitors, even better.

Alignment of strategy, roadmaps and capabilities

Sometimes there’s a key initiative such as a global branding programme which means an intranet makes perfect sense. Sometimes an opportunity is driven by a digital roadmap. If getting the new intranet will help leverage investment in other systems (perhaps Office 365 or a new HR system) then it is worth mentioning.

A new intranet may also be driven by necessity such as the withdrawal of support for a product or an internal upgrade of hardware or software.

Tips for presenting your business case

From time to time, as intranet consultants, we help our clients present an intranet business case. Heres a few tips to weve picked up over the years.

Keep it convincing and credible

Remember that your senior stakeholders scrutinise may business cases. Always make sure the evidence you present is convincing and credible, otherwise it may discredit your whole business case. Be particularly wary of presenting cost savings which are based on tenuous calculations.

Keep it targeted to different needs

Remember that different stakeholders have varying agendas and diverse views. Include evidence which illustrates the advantages of the new intranet for each of them. Show different stakeholders whats in it for them.

Keep it focused

There can be a temptation to throw all the evidence you can at a business case. If you are including everything but the kitchen sink, make sure youre not diluting the argument by adding too much detail. Senior stakeholders are very time-pressured people. If necessary, move additional evidence to appendices so those interested can drill down into the detail.

Keep it strategic

A business case needs to resonate at the organisational level. It must be aligned to wider company objectives. Its possible your organisations template for your business case already ensures this happens, but always be specific on how the new intranet furthers company strategy.

Keep it positive

We find its always best to focus more on the opportunities presented by a new intranet rather than the risks of non-deployment, although the latter can be covered. Stakeholders need to be able to visualise the potential of an exciting new intranet to really get behind it.

Getting it over the line

Everyone does businesses cases slightly differently and weve covered some of the generics here to give you some ideas. Usually its not just the formal business case that gets the over the line – it takes a lot of stakeholder management in the background and getting the right backing.

Also remember that intranets are ever more powerful and, even if your business case fails this time around, you may have done more to advance your case than you think.

Video – Wizdom’s Head of product development talks about new solution Wizdom accelerate

Posted on 5 July 201716 November 2023 by Joe Perry

Flemming Goldbach (Head of product development) talks about benefits of the template based approach on the process of building an intranet solution based on SharePoint.

Also please read our blog article about Wizdom accelerate

Wizdom Accelerate module delivers worlds first instant intranet for Office 365 and SharePoint

Posted on 28 June 201730 October 2023 by Joe Perry

Intranet projects just got even faster with Wizdoms Accelerate programme

In the past, some SharePoint intranet projects have been long, exhausting and resource-intensive. We can remember a few which felt truly epic!

Thankfully, the triple whammy of Office 365, SharePoint intranet in-a-box solutions and a more iterative and agile approach to intranet projects means that far more rapid deployments are now possible, preferred and even expected.

And now Wizdom, our Danish partner behind the leading Sharepoint-in-a-box intranet, has just introduced the Accelerate programme, a guided and semi-automated way to provision an entire intranet site structure very rapidly.

An already relatively speedy Wizdom intranet project just got even quicker and easier.

What is the Wizdom Accelerate programme?

When we originally announced our partnership with Wizdom we said that we loved the solution because of the maturity of the product, its flexibility and its great ease of use.

Another reason we choose to partner with Wizdom is because of the companys strong commitment to continue to invest in the product in response to customer feedback. Wizdom has a product roadmap which is full of innovative new features and capabilities and Accelerate is one of the latest modules to emerge.

Put simply, Accelerate allows us to provision a whole site structure very quickly for our customers. We can build all the central components you need including the homepage, a news centre, a central document library and more. We can also set up any relevant departmental sites and sub-sites you require, all with the right associated site templates.

And because each template already delivers all the functionality you need for each section of your intranet, using Accelerate means you end up with a fully provisioned site which is ready to start populating with content and data.

Using Accelerate means in one session you can potentially build an intranet which includes a homepage with all the features youd expect, corporate and local news with social features, an employee directory, departmental and divisional sites, a mega menu, a collection of links and more. Thats also an intranet thats optimised for mobile and can either be cloud-based or on premises.

Using Accelerate has some key advantages.

Allows for truly agile or semi-agile project delivery

Many IT functions and intranet project teams want to be able to develop their intranet using an agile methodology, or at least a semi-agile methodology. Accelerates instant provisioning capability saves hours of time, even days, for very complex sites. Essentially you can have an intranet built in less than an hour.

At last, heres an intranet product that isnt working against your IT delivery teams aspirations around agile development, but fits into the way your project team want to work.

In the bigger picture that also ensures a more rapid implementation, with all the benefit that entails including quicker ROI and avoiding the pitfalls of losing momentum often associated with big waterfall intranet projects.

Brings the intranet build closer to the business

Before Accelerate, building a site has been an activity for IT developers. Of course, how you structure an intranet and which associated template to use is a business decision rather than a technology one. However, when you hand the site build over to a developer to complete, there can be a degree of separation between that person and the team making those essential business decisions.

Accelerate moves the building process closer to the business. When we use Accelerate we’re right there in the room with the intranet team, completing the online forms which provision the new intranet. The build process is far more transparent.

Our information architect can get the direct feedback on any decisions that need to be made there and then and we can also tease out any issues that might arise. With the structure built in full visibility, the client will also consider things which they might only think of later, making the whole build process smoother. Overall, weve found using Accelerate is a much better way of working.

Reduces costs

Using Accelerate saves time by automating parts of the site building process. Naturally that means our customers do not have to pay for IT developer time previously spent building the intranet, individual site by individual site. The more complex the site, the more the potential saving.

See what content looks like

Another great feature of Accelerate is that it allows you to view content as it would appear on a site or subsite. You can download content packs which will show you what the different pages within parts of your newly provisioned intranet look like.

This is very useful if a team wants to visualise what a department site might look like and can help intranet teams make quick decisions about which templates to use. It also means there is less frustrating to-ing and fro-ing with SharePoint developers as intranet teams ponder their options.

Lets Accelerate!

We’re using the Accelerate programme with our clients and we’re already seeing the benefits. Naturally we like the time saved, but we also enjoy having intranet teams even more involved in the building stage. The process helps them make essential decisions about site structures and makes the new intranet more tangible.

And our clients like the reduced cost, the speed of implementation and the fact that after just one meeting they have an intranet they can start to add content to. That accelerates the intranet project and means everybody is happy.

Also please watch a video about Wizdom accelerate from Flemming Goldbach (Head of product development at Wizdom)

Wizdom Intranet video case study for award-winning intranet

Posted on 21 June 201729 June 2022 by John Scott

Stadtwerke LÃ¼beck is a utility company in Germany. They implemented Wizdom Intranet with agency partner Hansevision and won 2nd place in Intra.NET Reloaded Award 2017 in the category “Intranet Integration, Strategy & Digital Workplace Management”.

This video was shown at the award show.

Why your intranet must budget for change management

Posted on 12 June 201716 November 2023 by Dan Hawtrey

Intranets now have a powerful set of capabilities and apps, from internal communications to collaboration to forms and workflow to being fully optimised for mobile devices. Indeed, some are morphing into digital workplaces, becoming the starting point of the working day for employees.

However, despite the powerful features of your intranet, it does not necessarily guarantee adoption from users. And without adoption, your intranet might as well not exist!

The intranet adoption conundrum

Adoption is often a conundrum for intranet teams. As an intranet consultancy, its something we get asked about all the time.

Despite the best efforts of teams, employees seem hooked on repeating old habits, such as using email for everything.

One critical point is that, in most cases, using the intranet and the related tools is not mandatory. There are other options for employees. So instead of using collaborative spaces or social tools, employees prove resistant to change and revert to the ubiquitous email. However good your intranet is, the idea of build it and they shall come has long been discredited.

Another key reason is that employees are constantly bombarded by messages and information, and thats on top of them being fantastically busy with their everyday activities. It can be challenging to get their attention and let them know about the intranet or social tools they should be using.

Plan for change management

For the best chance of good intranet adoption, you need to plan for adequate change management. Change management is likely to feature marketing and communications, training and support and initiatives to drive engagement. Generally, it will need to be targeted to specific groups and it will need to be ongoing.

Typical change management tactics for intranet and digital workplace projects include:

Traditional written communications, often via the intranet itself
An engaging launch campaign with teaser videos, events, competitions and roadshows
Endorsement from senior leaders
Self-service resources including how-to videos, user guides and e-learning
A support community to answer questions and give advice
Targeted training for super-users, content owners and community managers
Use of an advocate or champions network and their continuing engagement to drive use via peer recommendations
A train the trainer programme

In addition there may be behind-the-scenes stakeholder management, possibly a programme of improvements released iteratively and, of course, a highly useful site!

Youll need budget!

All of this takes time and resources to deliver adequately. Although you can leverage the (free) energy and enthusiasm of local champions, theres a limit to what you achieve without any spend. Youll still need to support and train them, produce resources, get your message across to users and even travel to remote offices.

If youre not budgeting for change management as an integral part of your intranet project then youre missing a trick. A good approach is to do this upfront, presented together with any development, product, IT and design costs. Indeed, weve seen some projects which have budgeted most of the project costs to change management.

Also with the opportunities for lower costs delivered by an intranet-in-a-box solution, presenting additional change management costs can be more palatable for stakeholders.

Heres some reasons why you should budget up-front for change management.

There may not be budget for business-as-usual

Traditionally when a project is considered finished and goes into business as usual there is either little budget left or investment can get cut. Budgeting for a period of ongoing change management can reduce the chance of that happening.

Change management starts during the project phase

Change management effort starts during the project phase, not just around launch time. When you involve employees to provide input, give feedback and test your new intranet, youre helping to drive a sense of ownership and creating advocates for the new platform.

These people may help you launch it later and act as champions within their peer networks. Consider change management as a process which runs from the very beginning of your project.

Employees and organisations are continually changing

Organisations, teams, employees and their needs are always in a state of flux. Youll always need to educate new starters, train new content owners and launch new features. All that requires ongoing support and change management. An intranet is never truly finished and nor are the efforts to drive intranet adoption.

Complex platforms are likely to have a phased launch

Usually central intranet teams are very small. Realistically a team of three may support 100,000 employees. To cope with the workload, it may mean that a staggered or phased launch is required in organisations. This may require a sustained change management effort lasting months.

Adoption will be part of the strategy and business case so be consistent

Your intranet strategy and related intranet business case will almost certainly have envisaged good adoption. Ideally, both should have mentioned the change management efforts required. If this element is in your business case it should then be in your project budget too.

Manage the expectations of your senior stakeholders

Intranet teams are always keen to win budgetary approval for a new platform, and getting that doesnt always come easy. Dont succumb to the temptation to sugar coat a budget request by leaving out change management costs so it is more likely to get passed. Make sure your senior stakeholders understand that change management is essential or youll be setting yourself up for a fall.

Digital literacy is a source of competitive advantage

Learning how to use the tools on the intranet and wider digital workplace, for example those in the Office 365 suite, can help to increase confidence in tools and levels of digital literacy across the workforce. This is hugely beneficial in the long run and can really help drive digital transformation, deliver better collaboration and inspire innovation.

Change management is key

The experience of organisations shows that change management is key to driving intranet adoption, and good levels of adoption are a prerequisite for intranet success. If you want to achieve convincing intranet ROI then employees need to be using the intranet on a regular basis. Change management is integral to success.

Training, support, communications and campaigns need to be properly resourced. By including the costs in your original project budget plans, everybody has a realistic view of what will be needed to make your intranet a lively platform that helps employees with everyday work and enables wider organisational objectives.