Cost Effective Ways to Improve the Intranet

Know What’s Working...and What's Not

Representative research. Snap Poll is an innovative staff survey tool that pops up on targeted employee computer screens. Built in reminders help drive participation which can help ensure that all views are represented in the research…including the important but often ‘silent majority’ who perhaps do not have extreme views or agendas and are less motivated to participate.

Snap Poll's easy-to-answer format and high participation rates mean that it can be an effective tool for establishing benchmarks, collecting ideas for how to improve the intranet and for tracking changes over time.

Establish measurable value for intranet improvements. Snap Poll can also be targeted to specific groups of employees, for example, managers and heads of departments. Such individuals can be asked questions such as “what specific business value does / could your department derive from an improved Intranet?”, “How might this be quantified?” For example, a sales manager may say it is the number of accurate proposals that sales people are able to produce. This research will provide an important perspective to help improve the Intranet and quantify the value of a revamped Intranet at a later stage.

Qualitative research. In addition to quantitative research, Snap Interactive is a plug and play, secure, targeted staff discussion forum tool which allows you to tap in to the likes and dislikes of staff with regard to the Intranet as well as to capture innovative thinking and possible ideas to improve the intranet..

The level of IT involvement required to set up the Snap Interactive channels is minimal. This permits you to quickly and easily try concepts out, test uptake and evolve the use of interactive staff communications tools without the need for ‘big project’ budget or resource.

Promote the Intranet Effectively

Pop up desktop alerts and scrolling news feeds. Snap Ticker and Snap Alert can promote new resources and information available on the improved Intranet with click-through links facilitating easy navigation. Easy targeting means that only the staff who need to know receive an update notification.

Raise awareness of new information on the improved Intranet with Snap Shots corporate screensaver tool. It turns employee screensavers into interactive bill boards. An image is worth a thousand words. For example, an image of a graduation cap with some relevant text and a click through link is a powerful and engaging way to notify staff that online, self-paced training programs are now available on the Intranet. Alternatively, an image of a deck chair on the beach with relevant text and a click through link is an effective way to notify staff that leave forms are now available on the Intranet.

Royalty free images are widely available on stock photography sites at little or no charge. Simply type in a key word and find an appropriate image to convey your message effectively.

News feeds on employee's computer screens. Snap Ticker is a targeted scrolling news feed that appears on employees’ computer screens, providing a short headline and the facility for staff to click through to the specific pages of the Intranet.

Consolidate updates easily. Snap Mag is an innovative e-mag that is pushed to employees’ computer screens. It can quickly and easily consolidate information into a visual, template format that’s dynamic and doesn't require an html editor. Any employee can submit articles (if you allow access rights), meaning that anyone who submits intranet content can also add a short ‘teaser;’ into Snap Mag. Since Snap Mag contains 'user generated content' if can be more authentic and compelling than a traditional electronic staff magazine. Staff can recommend intranet (and other) content they find interesting with short 'tweet' followed by a hyperlink.

Don't clutter up email. Snap Mag offers a unique way of profiling your project without cluttering up either the Intranet or your readers’ email inboxes. Short ‘news’ articles in Snap Mag can inform readers of new information and the availability of new intranet tools, as well as allowing readers to click directly through to the specific pages on the improved intranet. Snap Mag can be pushed directly to targeted staff without the need for email.

Involve Staff

Targeted staff quizzes. Snap Quiz is an interactive, targetable quiz format that pops up on the employee’s computer screen. It is a good way of ensuring staff involvement, as it is persistent and it can be fun. Staff can elect to complete a quiz at a time that suits them, but, if required, you can set up the quiz so that it keeps on re-appearing until it is completed.

Research links. Business and product focused quizzes can contain links to the Intranet allowing users to research each question before answering. This tool is a real asset if you are aiming to improve overall knowledge, promote the intranet, and help staff find the content they need on the improved Intranet.

Rate this content buttons and opt in surveys and polls. Snap Quiz and Snap Poll typically ‘pop up’ on the employee’s computer screen. However, both tools can also operate in ‘silent mode’. In silent mode, the quiz or survey only appears when a link or button is clicked by the user. This allows users to opt in to participate. For example, a button can be included on relevant Intranet pages allowing users to ‘rate this content’ or ‘report out of date content’. When the link or button is clicked, the survey appears to capture user feedback. All results are centralized in the content management system. This allows the Communications/ Intranet team to view reports at regular intervals in order to improve Intranet effectiveness and / or send out update reminders to the Intranet content owners via Snap Alert.

Leverage the Intranet with Simple Off-the-shelf Tools

Use the home page for navigation and 'quick finds'. News doesn't have to be on the home page of the intranet. Snap Mag provides a more effective way to manage and deliver company news whilst, at the same time, highlighting key intranet content . This allows the intranet home page to provide simple, clear navigation.

Staff can submit their own news articles and updates. Snap Mag means that you no longer have to chase different people in various departments for news content for your Intranet home page. Articles, once approved by the editor, are automatically included in the staff magazine. The fact that the magazine’s content is ‘user generated’ makes the magazine engaging and interesting to read. Snap Mag is structured to provide short summaries or teasers and a hyperlink (where relevant) to the intranet for more information.

Push out important intranet RSS feeds. Unlike traditional RSS (Really Simple Syndication), Snap Ticker does not require users to ‘opt in’ to specific intranet feeds (although this is an option). Often, intranet RSS opt in rates are low, so use Snap Ticker to push out important intranet RSS updates automatically without the need for staff to opt in.

Intranet not RSS enabled? Snap Ticker allows you to push out newsfeeds even if the Intranet is not RSS enabled.

Quick, cost effective staff forums and blogs. Snap Forum and Snap Blog are quick to set up and cost effective to implement. They are easy to use and designed specifically for staff communication thereby meaning maximum usage and value for staff.

Help desks. Snap Helpdesk allows people who are unable to find the information or answers they need on the Intranet to ask a question in an appropriate online ‘helpdesk’. Moderators can be nominated for each ‘helpdesk’ and receive desktop alert notifications when new questions are posted. Moderators can answer questions directly or point the person to the correct part of the Intranet where an answer can be found. Each specific question is tagged and searchable, meaning that past questions and answers can be easily located in an evolving repository of knowledge.

Scrolling news headlines to promote the intranet. Snap Ticker allows administrators to easily create and send scrolling ‘news headlines’ with click-through capability to members of their teams and/ or a wider employee audience. This keeps staff informed of new information on the improved Intranet that is relevant to them.

Social Media too Challenging for your Organization?

Your company culture and demographic may mean that tools like employee blogs and staff discussion forums are simply not appropriate or acceptable to senior managers. There may be fears around loss of control or the impact of disengaged staff.

Distribute 'safe discussion'. Under these circumstances, why not consider a tool like Snap Mag? Snap Mag enables you to distribute ‘safe discussion’ directly to the employee’s computer screen.

Magazine with user generated content. Snap Mag is a medium that supports ‘user generated’ content but in a more controlled way than either a blog or a forum. Any member of staff can click to submit articles or comments into the ‘magazine’. An editor simply reviews and approves articles prior to publication. Snap Mag provides a means to involve and engage staff with greater editorial control.

Promote intranet content. Snap Mag articles can contain short 'teaser' articles with click through links to relevant pages on the improved intranet.

Measure Effectiveness

Snap Reporting. A wide range of reports are available from the Snap Content Management platform. Everything from click through links followed, the popularity of specific blog and discussion forum items, to the full results of Staff Polls, Surveys and Quizzes are available either as standard options on the platform or as customized reports available from the Snap support team.

Social media ROI. Snap Forum and Snap Blog have Internal Communications specific reporting metrics built in to help you measure ROI and demonstrate value. Reporting can include user demographics, popularity of content, total time spent by users etc.

All Sound Like Too Much Extra Work?

The Snap Content Manager allows delegated administration rights. This means that you can nominate individuals across the business to run appropriate Snap content to promote the intranet. For example:

• Marketing might run new product quizzes with links to relevant intranet pages, screensavers promoting new pricing plans and product offers (with embedded intranet hyperlinks) and put articles into Snap Mag highlighting the latest marketing updates on the intranet.
• HR might run screensavers and/or submit articles into Snap Mag promoting new services and support schemes for staff available on the intranet.
• Etc.

Related Resources

• Improving the Intranet - White Paper
• Getting the most from SharePoint
• Case study - How Wintec increased intranet usage by more than 40%

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