An intranet is a computer network that uses Internet Protocol technology to share information, operational systems, or computing services within an organization. Developing and planning a corporate intranet strategy can be a daunting task. The key is to break the task down into steps. Here are five winning Malaysian web design strategies that will help drive corporate intranet success.
Engage:
Engage your users. Ask them what they want and need, and incorporate your learning into the site plan. Employee surveys can be undertaken to achieve this. Include questions on overall satisfaction, most frequently used areas and favorite areas.
Set Standards:
Develop guidelines and site standards to be applied to and used by all sites on your intranet. A core international intranet team is needed for global intranet strategy and standards, overall management of the centralized portal, core application development, and intranet training and tools.
Simplify:
Keep the site design clean and simple. Don't overload with Java, multimedia and other memory hogs. Employees want to find and download information as quick as possible. As such, intranet pages should download quickly and be designed for those users with the slowest access speeds.
Measure:
Measuring your intranet's performance is perhaps the most important element for justifying your intranet's existence and budget. Popularly employed measurement channels include metrics or log analysis, focus groups, feedback email, help desk calls, usability testing and return on investment (ROI).
Promote:
Every intranet needs to be promoted so that users know its value and are motivated to use it. Users need to be educated on why the site is of value to both them and the company. Organization-wide understanding and acceptance of intranet use is mandatory.
The key to managing the above tactics is to plan each out during the planning phase prior to launching a new or redesigned intranet. In Malaysia, web design companies offer solutions to ensure successful implementation of such strategies.