Next gen Intranet sites
Earlier last month Jakob Nielson posted his latest research findings on Social Networking on Intranets. Also always the study was quite thorough with case studies from 14 companies over 6 countries.
We work on a good number of Intranet sites for our customers and we find they are facing many of the same challenges.
Here are some notable quote-ables from the article.
When Intranet information architectures are structured according to the org chart, employees have a hard time finding their way around.
As people embrace social media in their private lives, they naturally expect to use similar tools within the enterprise
most companies are not very far along in a wholesale adoption of Web 2.0 technologies
Social software is not a trend that can be ignored. It’s affecting fundamental change in how people expect to communicate, both with each other and the companies they do business with.
successful social media initiatives at many companies emerged from underground, grassroots efforts
social software isn’t really about the tools. It’s about what the tools let users do and the business problems the tools address
So, rather than saying: “X is hot on the Web, let’s get it on the intranet,” say: “We need to accomplish Y; can X help us?”
void advertising the new tools as new tools. Instead, simply integrate them into the existing intranet, so that users encounter them naturally.
The tool itself is nothing; the value comes from the strength of its content.
Widespread use of internal social media breaks down communication barriers. That sounds good, but it can threaten people accustomed to having a monopoly on information and communication.
Corporate communications must adapt to social media’s real-time culture and become much more proactive than in the past
Before implementing intranet collaboration tools, you must consider company culture.
Things Take Time