Corporate intranets are changing fast! No longer are intranets created and controlled by a few select authors and webmasters. New social networking features are being adopted across all industries in an attempt to increase user collaboration and provide a support framework through a modern, feature rich intranet site.
Fears of users running wild and spending their working day tweeting or poking have proved unfounded. In fact, providing social networking features within the organization actually reduces the time users spend on external sites. Evidence also suggests that because users are in a working environment, they retain a professional attitude and don’t abuse the system. Companies are learning that there is a huge wealth of information held within their user base. Blogs, wikis, support forums etc. can all be used to leverage that knowledge and benefit the wider user community. Commonwealth Bank recently introduced a new SharePoint based intranet with social networking functionality and - among other benefits - have had helpdesk calls reduce by 50-60%, massively reducing support costs.
So, all good news then? Well, yes and no. The benefits are obvious: more collaboration from motivated staff interested in contributing to the site, the ability to tap into the knowledge of all users and possibly even a reduction in external browsing leading to increased productivity. It’s also safe to say that a failure to embrace social networking will lead to an exodus from the intranet to the intranet for the most innovative and forward thinking users, who use these tools daily in their private lives and expect to do the same in the workplace.
The drawbacks? It may be new and cool social media, but it’s all still content and as such requires a governance strategy to ensure that user-authored content is relevant, accurate, standards-compliant and appropriate for internal publication. The Intranet 2.0 Global Survey reveals that only 57% of all organizations have published user content policies and standards. This means that almost half don’t have any user content governance. Especially worrying when the same survey indicates that 87% of organizations have at least one social networking tool on their intranet. That’s a lot of ungoverned user content!
As described by Elizabeth Marsh of the Intranet Benchmarking Forum, social media governance is all about mitigating the risks and fostering user trust. You don’t need a separate social media policy. A well designed Enterprise Content Governance (ECoG) model will cover all aspects of content, including social networking. The risk of not having a solid governance model is that your organization’s content, including that stored in blogs, wikis, podcasts, status updates, comments and instant messages, will expand in an uncontrolled way, increasing risk and liability.
So, to enjoy the benefits of a popular and productive intranet you should fully embrace collaboration and social networking. Just be sure that you have appropriate safeguards in place. Take expert advice and ensure that you have a content governance model in place that will allow you to reap the rewards in a controlled and risk-free way.
Fears of users running wild and spending their working day tweeting or poking have proved unfounded. In fact, providing social networking features within the organization actually reduces the time users spend on external sites. Evidence also suggests that because users are in a working environment, they retain a professional attitude and don’t abuse the system. Companies are learning that there is a huge wealth of information held within their user base. Blogs, wikis, support forums etc. can all be used to leverage that knowledge and benefit the wider user community. Commonwealth Bank recently introduced a new SharePoint based intranet with social networking functionality and - among other benefits - have had helpdesk calls reduce by 50-60%, massively reducing support costs.
So, all good news then? Well, yes and no. The benefits are obvious: more collaboration from motivated staff interested in contributing to the site, the ability to tap into the knowledge of all users and possibly even a reduction in external browsing leading to increased productivity. It’s also safe to say that a failure to embrace social networking will lead to an exodus from the intranet to the intranet for the most innovative and forward thinking users, who use these tools daily in their private lives and expect to do the same in the workplace.
The drawbacks? It may be new and cool social media, but it’s all still content and as such requires a governance strategy to ensure that user-authored content is relevant, accurate, standards-compliant and appropriate for internal publication. The Intranet 2.0 Global Survey reveals that only 57% of all organizations have published user content policies and standards. This means that almost half don’t have any user content governance. Especially worrying when the same survey indicates that 87% of organizations have at least one social networking tool on their intranet. That’s a lot of ungoverned user content!
As described by Elizabeth Marsh of the Intranet Benchmarking Forum, social media governance is all about mitigating the risks and fostering user trust. You don’t need a separate social media policy. A well designed Enterprise Content Governance (ECoG) model will cover all aspects of content, including social networking. The risk of not having a solid governance model is that your organization’s content, including that stored in blogs, wikis, podcasts, status updates, comments and instant messages, will expand in an uncontrolled way, increasing risk and liability.
So, to enjoy the benefits of a popular and productive intranet you should fully embrace collaboration and social networking. Just be sure that you have appropriate safeguards in place. Take expert advice and ensure that you have a content governance model in place that will allow you to reap the rewards in a controlled and risk-free way.
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