There are many articles on the web talking about the stages of the intranet or the future of intranets.

These articles often forecast the intranet as a business tool, or they predict the adoption of social tools to empower the employees.

These are all very useful post and I agree with most of them. But these articles show the status of the intranet from its own perspective. They don't tell much about the status of the intranet in the organisation or the relationship it has with other applications.

Intranet Models

James Robertson mentions these 6 intranet phases: 1. The intranet is born - 2. Rapid organic growth - 3. Repeated redesigns - 4. Usability and IA - 5. Useful, not just usable and 6. Intranet as a business tool¹.

Dion Hinchcliffe has an overview as The Evolution of the Enterprise Intranet².

Recently IBF has introduced the 'Digital Workplace Maturity Model'. This model uses 4 dimensions to describe the maturity of the intranet: 1. Communication and information - 2. Community and collaboration - 3. Services and 4. Structure. Read an introduction in Sam Marshalls blogpost³ or you can download a free report from the IBF site⁴.

These are interesting road maps and models about the intranet. BUT HOW are we going to develop the intranet further?

Intranet?

The Digital Workplace already hints that the intranet should not be called 'intranet' anymore, so also Jane McConnell who suggests, based on responses from participants of the Global Intranet Strategies Survey, to use the term 'platform' to bring the intranet further in the organisation and to create awareness of the intranet by senior management⁵.

I believe this is true and that it is a long and difficult way for many intranets to evolve to a higher level. If they will ever make it.

To explain this we should look at the status of the intranet in the organisation and not from an intranet perspective.

Which applications are important for the business?

What are the most important tools for organisations from a business point of view?

In traditional organisations the intranet has to compete with many legacy applications that support the business processes and assist staff completing tasks. These applications existed long before the intranet was even born and they have proved their value.

1. Core Business Applications

The goal of most organisations is to make money, therefore they have business applications.

2. Business support applications

Part of these are the corporate website, CRM tools, financial systems, project management tools, collaboration tools, workflow systems.

The commercial external website and other marketing tools often get more attention and budget.

The intranet is mostly not seen as a tool to generate business and has not made it to be a core business support tool. Only the highest level intranets have made it to this level.

3. Staff and organisation support applications

To get the work done in the organisation, there are often many supporting tools and applications. These applications are owned by the support units like HR, IT or Finance. The intranet is only one of these tools if you already have a 'high level intranet'.

There is nothing wrong with intranets of this level. They certainly deserve their place in the organisation, but they don't add real value. These intranets have to compete with many other applications that provide similar functionality.

4. The Intranet

Many intranets are still at this level. They are mainly seen as a communication and information tool. Yes... we know better, but the biggest challenge is to explain this to the decision makers.

What the managers think

We could approach the CEO: "Hey Mr CEO, the intranet is important, we should integrate all business supporting applications in a tool where people can collaborate, share knowledge, make faster and better decisions and that all just by doing their job".

He might say: "That's very interesting", and very happy to delegate this subject the CIO or IT director.

Then IT director is the guy then we need to talk to. The person that is responsible for all these applications and often has a substantial pot of money to keep the business applications running. He hopefully sees some possibilities and will allocate some budget and delegate this to his Enterprise Architects.

Ahah, then these are the people we need.

We're now at a level in the organisation hierarchy where procedures have to be followed: In short in the bureaucratic swamps of the organisation. Every decision has to be justified.

So what are we going to do?

We need to look at all these collaboration and support tools and challenge their individual existence; Make clear that these tools need to be integrated in fewer applications. Fewer applications reduce operating costs and integration of information has the potential to increase employee efficiency. But also here.... don't mention the term 'intranet' no more.

This is only one version of the story, but I believe a realistic one. Hopefully higher up in this hierarchy chain some real interest can be created. But don't talk about intranets. Intranets are not important!

Just provoking.

(top image borrowed from www.lifesip.com)