Gone are the days when employees were considered mere cogs in a machine, passive recipients of information, creativity, and innovation. Now, every business wants its employees to be active, engaged, and motivated.
Not just this, employees expect easy access to essential tools for their job, a sense of appreciation, and opportunities for career development. They also look for transparent communication about the business and a strong bond with their co-workers. Whether working remotely or on-site, they anticipate their employers to fulfill these expectations.
Due to these increasing employer-employee expectations, legacy intranet systems are presenting significant challenges throughout the business. And that’s where the need to replace legacy intranet systems with modern intranet comes into the picture.
But, is investment in a modern intranet profitable and ROI worthy?
Let’s deep dive into the realm of modern intranet, the need to switch from legacy systems, and proven ways on how modern intranet drives profitability.
Here, you’ll also learn about the benefits of modern intranet and the best tool for building a robust intranet system.
Let’s get started, shall we?
Challenges of Using Legacy Intranet Systems
Given the average salary of IT professionals in Australia, businesses could be spending $100,000 a year on the maintenance of legacy intranet systems. Moreover, legacy intranet systems present several challenges for businesses.
- Firstly, they lead to high maintenance and support costs, as they require specific hardware and software, and are more prone to failure, demanding specialised expertise for maintenance.
- Their integration with newer systems becomes difficult and expensive, leading to inefficiencies and poor user experience.
- Legacy systems pose security risks due to outdated software, causing potential data breaches and associated costs like legal fees and reputational damage.
- They increase inefficiency costs resulting from decreased productivity and wasted employee time, with cluttered systems and difficulty finding information.
- They increase disengagement costs resulting from poor communication and a lack of modern social intranet tools, resulting in a disconnect between employees and the business.
These challenges underscore the need for businesses to consider migrating to a modern intranet system for increased cost-effectiveness, security, and improved efficiency.
Improve Internal Collaboration With Modern Intranet
Traditional intranets were primarily used as information repositories and for enabling top-down communication from management to staff. However, modern intranets are more than that. They are advanced and feature-rich internal communication platforms designed to enhance collaboration, productivity, and knowledge-sharing within businesses.
Unlike traditional intranet systems, modern intranets leverage the latest technologies, user-centric design, and cloud-based solutions to provide a seamless and engaging user experience.
5 Proven Ways Modern Intranet Drives Productivity and Profit
1. Connect and Support Workforce: Modern intranets provide you with a centralised platform that streamlines access to information, communication tools, and resources. This ease of access and efficient information retrieval reduces the time and resources needed to complete tasks, leading to increased efficiency.
2. Improve Internal Communication: A modern intranet serves as a central hub for internal communication, enabling seamless sharing of updates, news, and company-wide initiatives. Additionally, transparent and timely communication can align your teams with organisational goals, fostering a sense of unity and shared purpose.
3. Enhance Employee Engagement: With features like social collaboration tools, discussion forums, and personalised content, modern intranets create a sense of community and connection among your teams. Engaged team members are more likely to seek career development within your business, reducing turnover costs and promoting long-term success.
4. Efficient Knowledge Management: Modern intranets offer powerful search capabilities and a single source of truth for crucial information like FAQs, policies, and procedures. This enables you to quickly access up-to-date knowledge, reducing errors, confusion, and time spent searching for information.
5. Facilitate Cross-Functional Collaboration: Through features like employee directories and social networks, modern intranets can help you promote collaboration and teamwork across departments, locations, and teams. Furthermore, breaking down silos within your business will lead to innovation and problem-solving, ultimately driving profitability.
Empower Your Business With Modern Intranet
1. Increased Productivity: Streamlined access to information, automated processes, and centralised resources can save your team’s time and effort. With a modern intranet, you can quickly find the required information, leading to higher productivity levels.
2. Centralised Information: A modern intranet acts as a centralised repository for important documents, policies, and resources. This ensures that your employees have easy access to the most up-to-date information, reducing the risk of using outdated or incorrect data.
3. Remote Work Enablement: In today’s work environment, remote and hybrid work models are becoming more common. Modern intranets support these flexible work arrangements, enabling your teams to stay productive and connected, regardless of their location.
4. Enhanced Employee Engagement: Modern intranets incorporate social features, recognition programs, and interactive elements that boost employee engagement. Consequently, engaged teams are more motivated and committed to their work, resulting in higher job satisfaction and performance.
5. Quick and Efficient Access to Tools: Integrating various business systems and tools into the intranet simplifies access for your teams. Single sign-on and seamless integration with applications like email, project management, and CRM systems enhance efficiency and reduce time spent switching between different platforms.
6. Training and Learning Opportunities: Many modern intranets come with built-in eLearning and training tools. With it, your team can access online courses and resources, leading to continuous learning and skill development. This ultimately benefits your business by improving the knowledge and capabilities of its workforce.
7. Employee Onboarding and Retention: A well-structured onboarding process through the intranet can significantly improve employee retention and productivity. When your new hires get properly onboarded and equipped with the necessary information and resources, they are more likely to stay engaged and committed to your business.
8. Cost Savings: By consolidating various processes and systems within the intranet, you can achieve cost savings on IT resources, maintenance, and third-party software licenses. Additionally, automation of processes, such as online forms and workflows, can reduce your manual effort and associated costs.
SharePoint for Building Modern Intranet Systems
SharePoint is a versatile platform used by businesses to create modern intranets, offering a range of benefits. You can leverage it to enable effective content management, allowing easy creation, storage, and management of various content types. It fosters communication and collaboration through team sites and discussion boards, promoting idea exchange.
With SharePoint’s co-authoring feature, your team can work on a document simultaneously increasing productivity and fostering teamwork. Its integration with Office 365 ensures seamless access to SharePoint content from familiar Microsoft applications.
Its personalised dashboards and mobile accessibility can enhance your user experience. Harnessing its business process automation feature, you can streamline workflows, while its robust search functionality will enable you with quick information retrieval.
Lastly, SharePoint’s security features protect sensitive data, and customisation options will align your intranet with branding guidelines. Ultimately, SharePoint will empower your business to build an efficient and secure modern intranet tailored to your unique needs.