Intranet strategies vary to suit the individual needs of each organization and can range in both timescales and size.

The purpose of an intranet strategy is two-fold: to provide the intranet team with a clear vision along with important goals, and secondly, to provide employees with a detailed plan to ultimately minimize resistance to change.

Successful intranet strategies encompass the following aspects:

Step 1: Current Intranet Problems and Business Needs

The first part of an intranet strategy should effectively set the scene and outline previous efforts whilst highlighting the reasons why they were unsuccessful. This section should attempt to make a solid case for implementing change along with the desired goals. To provide an overview of the current intranet problems, some research amongst the different departments and teams will most likely be required to identify staff pain points.

Step 2: What Will be Delivered

This section offers a clear outline of the planned work that will be completed to achieve the desired goals listed in the first section. Identify resources and support that need to be provided along with the key roles within the project.

This part of the strategy should provide a 6-12 month time frame, or hitherto the intranet’s launch phase. If there exist aspects of the project that will be decided through an employee vote, such as the intranet’s name add them to the strategy along with a suggested completion date.

Step 3: Long-term View

After the launch phase, will you be adding additional modules to your intranet (Learning Management System or Business Process Manager)? If so, add this information to the long-term strategy section. A design refresh or incremental improvements to the top menu structure may also be planned.

With so much effort and resources allocated to the pre-launch phase, this long-term view can be overlooked, however, it is extremely important to keep evolving your intranet in accordance with your ever-changing business needs. Integration with existing business applications may also be incorporated into the plan.