40 Intranet Benefits For Departments, Companies and Employees
Milton Herman
Streamlining work communication and collaboration has never been easier. This is the age of digital transformation. All-day meetings and hours spent in the inbox are no longer necessary.
Modern intranets are powerful platforms that benefit companies and employees alike. The importance of intranet in an organization is often understated or misunderstood. Here’s a complete list of 40 benefits of intranet solutions at the department, company and employee level.
What is an Intranet?
An intranet can best be described as a private, secure network for communication and collaboration. It’s a centralized portal to access internal and external resources. The role of intranet in business is to facilitate company-wide communication, increase employee productivity, improve team collaboration, securely store and manage documents, help co-workers stay connected, and integrate business-critical apps.
The original intranets were used primarily for top-down communication and file storage. This approach was inefficient as other communication systems were lacking. Modern intranets facilitate communication up and down the chain and between teams. Social features further empower employees as they create profiles, publish and interact with content, and connect through communities.
Adapting internal workflows with an intranet solution has never been easier. Native integrations with Google Workspace & Microsoft 365 and more allows teams to transition existing infrastructure seamlessly. Additionally, they include native connectors to common business applications, a user-friendly interface, enhanced security, and open APIs and SDKs for tech-savvy folks.
The importance of a good intranet is reflected by the organizational benefits listed below.
Employee Engagement
Time to start or overhaul an engagement strategy? Capitalize on Employee Engagement Opportunities.
Advantages of Intranet for IT Department
1. Saved Time and Money for Your IT Department
IT departments can organize and make company tools, knowledge, applications, and information accessible from a single workspace. Instead of tracking down resources, IT teams can rely on robust search features to enable self-serve searches. Regardless of where employees are working, IT departments can support workers without having to worry about server management or troubleshooting connections.
2. 24/7 Cloud-Based Solution
One of the advantages of intranet in business is they are designed to adapt and expand. As a secure cloud-based platform, intranets are built to scale and grow with a business so IT departments can plan and allocate resources accordingly. They can also provide employees with flexibility and a secure connection point. A cloud-based intranet is accessible from any location, providing on-the-go tools, resources and information.
3. User Management & Governance
Enterprise user governance is no easy task. With an employee experience platform like LumApps, IT teams can create groups based on intranet personas and roles. This manages content permissions and visibility for users. Backend features like this facilitate collaboration and engagement on the frontend. Lastly, IT teams can track analytics on these groups to identify trends and problem areas.
4. Advanced Security and Permission Settings
Data breaches, malware, and ransomware can cripple any business. Protective security features further reinforce the importance of intranet in business. IT departments take the blame if confidential and sensitive information is stored somewhere where security protocols are lacking. LumApps takes this responsibility away and delivers enterprise-grade security.
5. Managing Passwords
As the amount of daily tools and the size of tech stacks increases, insecure passwords are used and sensitive information is not properly protected. LumApps enables single-sign on and two-factor authentication so employees can easily login and IT teams and maintain organization security.
Advantages of Intranet for HR
6. Strengthened HR Management
From a human resources perspective, intranet solutions redefine hiring internally and improve the onboarding process with automation and self-training resources. The best and brightest internal talent won’t miss out on internal opportunities.
They can routinely check the intranet job board which features positions not listed on the website. The management team can recruit internally by searching through employee directory profiles and identifying relevant talent. By hiring from within, HR teams save time and money by reducing recruitment costs and cutting down on onboarding responsibilities.
→ Read more: 22 Intranet Engagement Ideas to Enhance User Adoption
7. Simplify Employee Onboarding
Speaking of onboarding, the institutional knowledge developed and shared in a central location is one of the most significant benefits of an intranet, especially for new employees. These quick-access resources substantially reduce the time it takes to onboard new employees. On day one, they have access to a vast amount of knowledge and expertise from past and current employees. Armed with the information they need for their role, employees work faster and feel more confident in what they produce.
8. Internal Recruiting
Hiring is labor intensive and costly. Anytime an HR team can identify qualified internal candidates it’s a win-win. Recruiting specialists can create an internal job board where employees can review open job postings. Unlike the company website, HR teams can instantly update and modify the information so employees know it’s a source of truth. It’s also an opportunity to give employees “first dibs” at coveted positions before opening them up externally.
9. User Directory
A crucial HR role is to make sure the company org chart and user directory is updated and useful. Intranet directories are not only that, but provide additional insights such as location, technical skills and more. HR teams can help employees find internal subject matter experts for various projects. These directories are “living” so they update automatically and can be updated by employees themselves as needed.
Advantages of Intranet for Comms
10. Employee Social Advocacy
Communication teams strive to get important messages out to the public. One of the most powerful ways to do so is through employee social advocacy. With built-in social advocacy features, intranets give communication teams access to the aggregated social networks of their workforce. They can rely on employees to share press releases, open positions, event information and more. These social media posts are delivered with a personal appeal, and often do better in terms of engagement.
11. Information Sharing and Accessibility
Sending out information and company-wide announcements is streamlined through the company intranet. Internal news posts give teams the means to respond and interact, opposed to mass emails where reply-all threads are nightmare fuel. This sharing of information facilitates internal discussion as people share their points of view and expertise. Creating space for open dialogue with your company instills trust between employees.
12. Improved Internal Communication
When everyone can share information, articles, make comments and provide feedback, it empowers individuals with a voice and streamlines communication by bringing it into one place. This improved communication system is essential for completing work, but also for innovation.
→ Read more: How to Build a Successful Internal Communication Strategy?
One of the advantages of intranet in business is facilitating collaboration with accessibility to relevant workspaces and tools.Collaboration comes in the form of project workspaces, internal groups, or cooperation with clients. This ability to hash out ideas and speed up go-to-market processes adds to the importance of an employee intranet.
Employee Engagement
Time to start or overhaul an engagement strategy? Capitalize on Employee Engagement Opportunities.
Advantages of Intranet in Business for Companies
13. Engaging Employee-Generated Content
Enrich communication and the employee experience by engaging the workforce with appealing content created by employees, for employees. LumApps has a built-in CMS for publishing blogs and articles, creating weekly newsletters, embedding videos, documents, images, and more. As internal communication becomes more engaging, productivity and employee satisfaction tend to increase.
14. Increased Employee Productivity
Connecting through a centralized digital workplace, employees have access to an entire suite of utilities and tools. Quick access through single sign-on provides access to intranet-wide searching powered by a Google Cloud Search integration, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and integrated apps such as Slack, Teams, Box, Jira, Zendesk and more. There’s no need to login and run ten different applications to find answers.
15. Analytics
Accrued data, trends and patterns allow businesses to make hard decisions or quickly pivot. With LumApps analytics, you can monitor sessions, bounce rates, page views, and so much more through data dashboards. COmpanies can gauge employee interest in a particular topic and test out new engagement campaigns. Make decisions with confidence thanks to intranet analytics.
16. Native Integration with Google Workspace
Modern intranet solutions work within existing workflows. For companies on Google Workspace, this is done via a native and seamless integration. Formerly known as G Suite, Google Workspace includes Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides and other tools that millions of workers use daily. Intranet managers can embed Drive folders directly, and employees can publish Google Docs directly to an intranet community. With easy access to training resources and peers' expertise, the efficiency of Google Workspace is optimized.
17. Out-of-the-Box Microsoft 365 Integration
A native Microsoft 365 integration improves the efficiency of internal business workflows and management. Providing a seamless connection to the entire Microsoft 365 suite helps businesses get the most value out of their Microsoft investment and the advantages of intranet in business. Employees can access files from SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams from a central digital workspace to improve efficiency and quality of work as documents are no longer lost.
18. Knowledge Management
Regardless of industry, every company has a lot of information and knowledge to store. Documentation is often stored across numerous platforms such as Outlook, Excel spreadsheets, OneDrive, Google Drive, etc., making it tedious to find the information you're looking for. The benefits of using intranet as a central repository for all documentation streamlines information access. Additionally, a robust search functionality helps teams efficiently locate relevant information.
→ Read More: Learning Center Use Case
19. Build a Transparent Culture
Creating a comfortable space where your employees can share thoughts and opinions brings out everyone’s best. One of the most vital assets of company culture is built around transparency and flexible work principles. When co-workers feel empowered to build stronger relationships with peers, trust levels increase and their connection with the employer becomes stronger. Ultimately, each employee can fully contribute their value to the company.
20. Enhanced Project Management
A modern intranet provides you the tools to track your current and past projects, making monitoring progress and issue resolutions much more efficient. Project management software is great for tracking progress and meeting deadlines but the intranet gives other teams insight into projects. The added internal and external conversations provide a deeper understanding of the challenges that emerge during a project lifecycle, especially pre- and post-launch.
21. Process Consolidation
Consolidate common business workflows and reduce the need for multiple applications with a modern social intranet platform. All of your marketing, HR, accounting, business management, and so much more can be aggregated into a central digital workspace. This form of efficiency translates to increased profits.
22. Scalable Documentation Management
Every business's backbone is a knowledgeable and passionate staff and efficient internal communication. As your company expands and scales, your intranet follows suit. Each month brings new policies, information, documentation, and lessons are communicated. Your intranet acts as your company's digital library that updates in real-time with each of these changes.
23. Intuitive Calendar Features
Calendar widgets are convenient add-ons for intranet users. Modern intranet solutions have out-of-the-box integrations with third-party platforms like Outlook in Microsoft 365 or Google Calendar in Google Workspace. This native integration aggregates all of your calendars into one place, providing insight into company and team events.
24. Improved External Relationships
Improving the interactions and relations with outside partners is an overlooked benefit. External questions and feedback can be posted and discussed openly. This improves response time and increases cross-team visibility. Ultimately, external partners will benefit from the improved internal communication.
25. Meeting Documentation
Meeting minutes can become cluttered and disorganized quickly when you have multiple sources of notes. Managing documentation and files within an intranet plays a crucial role for organizational efficiency. Meeting notes can be posted to a community or cross-shared whenever meetings occur. Additionally, video recordings can be re-posted so those not in attendance can get caught up.
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Advantages of Intranet in Business for Employees
26. Productivity Assistant
Employees improve productivity when all the tools and information they need are in one location. The struggle of having an overload of tabs and applications is real. Whether you are accessing Outlook, Google Calendar, SharePoint, or other business applications, employees access them from a single, personalized dashboard.
27. Boosts Recognition and Reward
Showing appreciation by congratulating employees can do wonders to motivation, satisfaction, and so much more. Use the platform for sharing success stories, goal achievements, or just saying, “Thank you for a job well done.” For tasks large and small, recognition goes a long way to boost morale.
28. Team-Shared Calendars
Integrating a shared calendar helps co-workers track each other's availability and tasks. Shared calendars can be used to schedule meetings, display important dates, log paid-time-off, feature upcoming company events, etc. It provides a look into the roadmap of the company and showcases important dates.
29. Improved Collaboration and Feedback
Motivation is easier when the same tools and resources are being used by your teammates. Add this with the ability to use social features such as liking, commenting, mentioning, document sharing, etc., and working together becomes much easier. This form of communication makes it easier to connect with coworkers and across teams.
→ Read More: How to Boost Intranet Engagement: Ideas, Strategies and Tools
30. Mobile Friendly
A cloud-based intranet provides a mobile workplace where employees can connect from anywhere. If you’re a deskless or frontline employee, this provides a way to stay informed and updated without a laptop or work computer. A work email is not required, either.
31. Brings Your Workplace Culture to Life
An engaging and welcoming corporate culture brings a sense of belonging and fellowship between your co-workers. The employee benefits intranet is the perfect tool for fostering meaningful company culture as employees are encouraged to connect and collaborate. The importance of an employee intranet solution promotes teamwork to drive lasting results.
Build meaningful employee networks by facilitating the growth of communities and groups. Professional groups can be created around any expertise, company branch, localization, etc. Additionally, you can build social communities around similar interests. For example, put together an art appreciation group, book club, bicycling group. Unleash your imagination.
32. Provides a Personalized Experience
The new digital experience is built around personalization, even in the workplace. Unique or personalized information means relevant content is delivered to each individual. Get instant access to pertinent work information. Use this information to improve individual performance. Lastly, the personalized user dashboard is curated to your needs and should make the start of the work day more enjoyable.
33. Information Accessibility
Without needing to open multiple tabs or log into various apps, you can search across all Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 applications from your intranet platform. Consolidating all your company knowledge into one location is one of the many benefits of using intranet solutions.
34. Employee Activity and Sentiment Tracking
No one wants to be micromanaged. A business social intranet can collect analytics in organized, comprehensive reports. This provides data to back up the work you’re doing and make sure the workplace is a meritocracy. Having this information helps reinforce behaviors where they see the most success.
35. Reduce Meeting and Inbox Time
Trying to sift through an overly cluttered email inbox or a calendar that is stuffed with double-booked meetings is both time-consuming and daunting. Employees benefit from an intranet that is integrated with chat features and empowers peers to collaborate and communicate efficiently without needing to email or schedule meetings constantly. Stay informed and receive prompt feedback.
36. Human Resources Accessibility
If communication with your human resources department is a one-way street, it’s inefficient for employees and managers. Foster a relationship between employees and management where they treat each other with a high level of respect. Empowered HR departments can play a significant role in improving this mutual respect by facilitating a chance for feedback, and a modern social intranet makes this possible.
37. Improved Satisfaction
Of the many benefits of intranet platforms, significantly improving engagement in multiple ways is but one. As business values and culture flourish on your intranet, it is easier to visualize the larger picture and feel a part of something. Use this to remain connected to their team and to receive feedback from managers.
→ Read more: Top 10 Ways to Improve Employee Satisfaction
38. Organizational Clarity
Companies are ever-changing, and having a clear definition of the organization's structure is difficult to understand. One of the advantages of intranet in business is creating dynamic organization charts that provide visibility on your company's architecture and hierarchy. Adding rich layers to this, additional features like individual profiles help employees understand peer roles and responsibilities throughout your business.
39. Answer Travel, PTO & Policy Questions
It is always difficult for employees and companies to coordinate on paid time off and unexpected absences. Enter the employee benefits intranet. When someone is unable to make their shift, having a system where it is easy to reallocate someone else's work is critical to each project's success. Companies have virtual spaces where you can collaborate and request time off as needed. Having an intranet solution with documentation and a process for these scenarios makes things easier for the employee and the employer.
40. Building Brand and Value / Motivating Peers
Of the many advantages of intranet in business, reinforcing your brand and value among your peers is key to a sense of “oneness.” An intranet provides several ways for placing company values front and center. Having an open forum to converse about ways you represent the brand values in daily work life adds weight to the words on paper. Keep in mind that the benefits of using intranet go beyond just its functionality.
Employee Engagement
Time to start or overhaul an engagement strategy? Capitalize on Employee Engagement Opportunities.