About
Accounts
Click here to check if anything new just came in.
March 16 2010
The benefit you gain from intranet standards
I was asked at the recent IntraTeam event (most excellent! 
) to explain in more detail about BT’s intranet standards for publishers. I have posted before about 5 ‘must have’ standards and about accessibility and usability.
I thought it would help to say first why I think standards are important and the benefits for everyone in BT.
Intranet publishing standards need to have compelling reasons for being used. For BT’s intranet these can include:
- Legal: web accessibility, copyright and image rights
- Regulatory: BT’s undertakings with OFCOM
- Business: content up to date and reviewed and branding
- Users: print, PDA features and global navigation bar
The main thing is, whatever the reason, is that it:
- Improves the overall user experience
- Making users more satisfied
- Increases productivity
- Saves costs and
- Benefits the business
You must also make it as easy as possible for publishers to comply with these standards. The higher you make this barrier the more difficult it will be to achieve and the more time and effort needed to do this.
So template features for content management that build in standards like owner, review date, copyright, PDA versions of the information mean publishers have no choice and find it much easier to comply.
I’ll cover our standards in more detail in the next few weeks. Please let me know which ones you want me to cover first.
Tagged: accessibility, bt intranet, content, governance, publishing, social media, standards, usability standards, value
March 10 2010
More ways to make your intranet legal
When I asked a few weeks ago is your intranet breaking the law Janus Boye wanted me to cover other legal responsibilities we have. After a quick panic attack I recovered what poise I have and realised there are other areas where intranet managers, publishers and designers need to make sure their intranet is legal.
So here are key points you need to consider. I suggest you go to the Outlaw site for more details on legal information.
1. Information retention
We need to make sure we only retain the information needed by law and for the sound running of our organisation. But you need to consider whether you retain old copies of content. I know of someone who needed to show a copy of a web page as it was at the time of the incident to prove what guidance was actually being given to people.
2. Legal and regulatory frameworks
Like BT’s undertakings with Ofcom, you may need to meet regulatory requirements. This means there is often a need for some ‘knowledge firewalls’ to safeguard insider information in all sorts of industries such as the pharmaceutical, legal and banking industries. Incidentally the term ‘chinese wall’ is to be avoided according to Wikipedia.
3. Confidentiality
This isn’t just personal. It could be commercial confidentiality too. If someone creates a page about issues with a piece of software how would they be affected?
4. Freedom of information (FoI)
This can be a big concern with intranet content. Anything published on your intranet may be subject to a FoI challenge. It could makes you less likely to share some details. This is probably likely to affect public service intranets most.
5. Data protection
Data Protection, particularly Personal Data and European Union rules for its use and storage, may affect your intranet systems, particularly HR systems.
6. Copyright
Copying any content, especially an image, photo or multi-media file, from another website to insert on an intranet site is an infringement of copyright, unless you have permission from the copyright owner. To avoid any copyright problems restrict your uploading to content which you have created; colleagues, friends or relatives have created and given you permission to use; is provided by an official agency.
Tagged: accessibility, applications, governance, publishing, standards, users
March 05 2010
A great IntraTeam event!
I’ve just got my breath back from speaking and attending one of the best intranet conferences I have been to for some time. I was spoilt by the hospitality of the organisers; the quality of the speakers; the quantity of new ideas and themes and the enthusiasm of everyone interested in intranets.
So what did I take away from IntraTeam 2010?
There was so much good stuff especially from Jane McConnell, Martin White, Eric Reiss, James Robertson and Michael Sampson that I have linked to their blogs if you want to find out more. But there are 2 main areas I will be working on straight away.
1. Stakeholder governance
Develop our governance model more towards even closer, more formal (steering group?), involvement in 2010. These points (thanks to Jane McConnell) will help me:
- Intranets need to implement cross-organisational ownership
- Identify the big intranet decisions and who should make them
- Work with business and functional intranet stakeholders and involve users balancing needs
- Governance is a form of negotiation: you need control, politics, flexibility and common sense (and a sense of humour I say!)
- Involve the “next to the top” and “operational” level of people
- Don’t treat “social media” like something different from the real intranet
2. People come first with intranets
BT’s intranet has always been based on this principle. It must meet business and user needs. These points (thanks to James Robertson) will help me with some key intranet decisions about to be taken:
-
Put people at the centre of intranets
-
Provide universal access to your intranet
-
Intranets need to act proactively, not just reactively to users needs
-
Intranets should drive the engine for change
-
Create a seamless enterprise experience
-
Deliver end-to-end solutions
-
Cross boundaries so intranets, internets, integrate with different content and applications
-
Intranets must make the organisation work better
-
Intranets must help people do their jobs (better)
-
Intranet managers need to create their own designs and future scenarios
-
Design great (but small) solutions
-
Simplify – join the dots and blur the lines
I hope the tweets helped although Twitter can’t properly capture Kurt’s 5 minute warning signal!
Tagged: benchmark, benefit, best practice, blog, bt intranet, content, governance, research, usability, users, value
March 01 2010
Try a self-managed intranet
In BT I lead a small central team. I’m responsible for the strategy, governance and standards and how they are applied to content published on BT’s intranet using a menu of templates that I manage.
So who is responsible for publishing, reviewing, updating and removing content?
“You!” is the answer to any publisher in BT. There is NO central publishing team to do this on behalf of anyone.
Publishers are responsible for any content they own meeting our standards based on business, legal, regulatory and users’ needs.
They are trained on awareness of publishing standards and how they apply before they publish choosing from a menu of templates that already meet standards.
Automated tools will check content weekly and remind the publishers who own it if it doesn’t meet our standards what needs to be done. If no action is taken it is escalated to the publisher’s line manager and if action is still not taken, it will be removed from use and deleted. This avoids users making decisions on out of date content or because it is too difficult to use.
So, the content is owned and managed by every publisher with templates, training and automated tools to make it as easy as possible to meet the standards all users expect so they have a great overall experience.
My team can concentrate on what we can add most value to for BT and our intranet.
Tagged: bt intranet, content, governance, homepage, plan, standards, value
February 19 2010
What’s the full value of your intranet?
I’m off on holiday next week to recharge my batteries ready for fresh challenges with BT’s intranet in March and to present at the IntraTeam conference in Copenhagen on 4 March. I recommend you attend if you can – not because I’m there – as there are many excellent speakers that I’m really keen to hear and meet.
I will be speaking about how BT measures the full value its intranet gives. It is something I have posted about before. I’ll cover:
If you can’t make the conference, here is my presentation.
Before that I’m off to a lovely quiet place called Solva in Pembrokeshire. Can’t wait…..!
February 15 2010
Do intranet banners work or are they just litter?
1. The myth
If I scatter web banners across the intranet to publicise my campaign, it will have a big impact and raise awareness among people.
2. The reality
No it won’t! Web banners can become a check list item for every kind of initiative. Site owners can get several requests each week to publish banners on their sites. As they only have a limited number of slots for banners on their pages and they give priority to those relevant to their local audiences, most banners never see the light of day despite the time and effort put into creating them.
… and few people look at them.
3. The evidence
Selective attention is a widely recognised behaviour on the web backed up by reams of usability evidence. Selective attention is what web users quickly develop from browsing around web pages – it basically means that they learn to ignore adverts and content that looks like adverts.
Take a look at these diagrams which are heat maps created from eye tracking software following what a sample group of users looked at on web pages. The red colour is where the users looked most … the grey is what they ignored. The adverts on these pages have been highlighted with green boxes … as you can see, users instinctively ignore them!
Usability research about adverts on web pages is quite revealing – the below is typical:
- I enjoy looking at them – 7%
- They’re OK if not too intrusive – 24%
- They’re OK if related to the site I’m on – 24%
- I find them annoying – 45%
So, the lesson seems to be: unobtrusive and relevant adverts are OK … hold that thought.
I know what you’re thinking … this research is about adverts on the internet – not about banners in the intranet. Well, the evidence on the effectiveness of banners on local sites shows:
- on average, a banner will get few hits per day
- this means that a very small % of visitors will click on a banner
- the banners which get the fewest hits are those relating to company-wide campaigns and initiatives
- the banners which get the most hits are those referring to activity specific to that site
4. The solution
So what can be done? How about:
- reducing the number of banners and only use them for key campaigns – it is the sheer quantity that can make them intranet litter
- better planning – agree and prioritise before distributing for publication
- better targeting – make banners relevant to local audiences – these are the ones that get the best response
- avoid publishing content on web pages that looks like it is a banner (i.e. both in terms of location on the page and design/presentation)
- aiming to have a maximum of three banners on a web page – more than three is litter!
February 10 2010
Is your intranet breaking the law?
My intranet could be breaking the law! Why? What? How?
Well if you have information or applications that is not accessible to everyone then you could be. Everyone, whether they have any impairment or not, need to have the same experience when using any intranet information or applications.
Legislation and codes of practice based on the WCAG web accessibility guidelines apply in most countries. US Section 508 and UK DDA 1995 being two of many examples I know of.
In BT we aim to achieve WCAG 2.0 standard. This is above the likely legal requirement for UK DDA 1995 and, more importantly, sets best practice for all users of BT’s intranet so they have a good experience whatever they use, whether they are impaired or not.
How are we doing this? Well, apart from my last post on how to use it as a lever for wider improvements, BT:
- Prevents web accessibility errors by training, clauses in contracts to buy web services, standards embedded in content templates
- Identifies and corrects web accessibility errors using an automated checker tool
- Guides users on how to use your browser, computer more accessibly.
Follow the right approach and you won’t get a nasty surprise. It only takes one discriminated user and you could have a really big problem to solve.
Prevention is much, much, cheaper and better than curing a problem like this.
Tagged: accessibility, applications, best practice, bt intranet, content, publishing, standards, value
February 03 2010
Use accessibility as a lever to improve
I sometimes come across sites and applications on BT’s intranet which could be more usable. I find it can be easier to pick up with the owner or developer about its accessibility as a lever to improve other areas such as usability. Why you may ask?
Well there are some improvements which are a matter of opinion. What is usable to one person maybe very unusable to another. They are subjective.
But accessibility is NOT subjective. Either a site is accessible or not. Also in most countries there is a legal requirement for web services (this includes intranets) to be accessible. The level required may vary.
Accessibility standards are available to everyone on the internet. So whether a site or application is developed, published or managed inside or outside of your organisation, the information will always be there.
When a site or application’s accessibility is being updated it is a great opportunity to improve the usability and make other changes at the same time.
So ideally you can improve a site or application so it is legal and improved in other ways to give a better overall experience for all users.
Preventing accessibility problems as well as correcting existing problems is very important for your users as well as your organisation’s legal responsibilities.
I’ll post soon about what BT does on web accessibility.
Tagged: accessibility, applications, bt intranet, intranet applications, usability standards
January 29 2010
Mark Morrell meets Oracle: update
I met with Oracle and other Oracle customers earlier this week. This was the first of what Oracle hope will be regular meetings with their major customers in Europe. The main focus was on content and document management product features and roadmaps.
I left with the impression that Oracle seriously wants to continue improving the usability of Universal Content Management by engaging with their customers through webcasts and meetings. The next release of 11G using Fusion promises to move towards what I would like – a simple publishing experience which needs minimal IT involvement.
I would like the following to happen next:
- Oracle should hold frequent webcasts with customers to cover future direction of UCM and other products like E-Business Suite.
- Customer representatives should have more business users attending with their IT partners. I was in a small minority at this week’s meeting.
- Intranet managers who are Oracle customers should make sure they attend these meetings.
- Intranet managers should improve their relationship with their IT partners so they are more involved in decision criteria on products so it covers usability and productivity costs during its lifetime.
- Meetings should focus more on how Oracle products can be used by customers than on the components that make up the technology.
- An agreed set of usability standards underpin the direction of product roadmaps.
We should never forget the goal is to make it easier for people to do their work by using technology that is giving best overall value to the business not to have the latest whizzy feature which doesn’t.
And that applies to any software from any vendor our organisations buys.
Tagged: applications, bt intranet, intranet applications, oracle, usability, user testing
January 25 2010
Benchmark to get the best value
I read with great interest Jane McConnell’s blog post on “Vanity” or “Specific value” benchmarking?’. BT has benchmarked its intranet for the past 4 years with the Intranet Benchmarking Forum (IBF). In fact as I write this two IBF people are doing an expert evaluation of our intranet!
BT’s intranet is benchmarked in four broad areas; strategy and governance; metrics and performance; communications and culture; design and usability.
The main aim is to find out where BT sets global best practice and where it can be improved. To assess whether it is meeting the needs of BT and people who use our intranet. All good stuff but…………
It can sometimes be difficult to find out apart from other IBF members where that best practice is and whether it is transferable to BT’s intranet.
It can also be difficult to use the data to justify further investment in BT’s intranet. The IBF do have a financial value benchmark area but that costs more.
So, I’m trying to address Jane’s three questions.
1. I would like to share my benchmarking data with other intranet managers of global organisations with advanced intranets. Any one interested?
2. Identify more of the full value an intranet provides in a form that can be used and understood by people who make the big financial decisions on future intranet investment. Any ideas?
I’ll share the key findings on BT’s benchmarking when known in April.
Tagged: benchmark, bt intranet, measure, value
January 21 2010
Mark Morrell meets Oracle
Next week I will go to Oracle’s Customer Advisory Council. This is a meeting between Oracle and as many of their top 10 customers who can attend. BT comes into that category so I’ll meet Oracle.
The aim of the council is to cover the user experience and how future versions of software being released will improve it. It should also cover concerns like I have about the usability of their applications and making things easier to use.
So, this meeting won’t just be about the current or next release of Oracle UCM and how it meets BT’s needs but cover other applications.
I believe I will be shown the next releases to comment upon and suggest how their future plans could improve the user experience. I really would like Oracle to seriously consider working to some agreed usability standards.
So, this is your chance to help me by leaving a comment on this post or email me by next Tuesday 17:00 GMT (meeting is Wednesday and Thursday) on any usability issue you have that I can raise on your behalf.
I expect it to be a valuable and constructive meeting. I hope to update you afterwards with the progress made. I try to be optimistic!
Tagged: applications, bt intranet, intranet applications, oracle, usability, user testing
January 18 2010
Worldwide Intranet Challenge - Conference Presentation in Denmark
I have been asked a few times why I decided to set up the Worldwide Intranet Challenge (WIC). The seed was sewn when I attended an intranet session a few years back called 'Best practice intranets'. At this session, intranet managers from 3 or 4 different organisations presented case studies about their intranets.
While some of the characteristics of these intranets were impressive and the case studies were interesting & valuable, I couldn't help but think, 'Why are these intranets best practice? Who has decided that they are the best? What evidence is there to support this claim?'. I discovered that there was no evidence, that the term 'best practice' was not being used in the literal sense, and that a session title simply called "Intranet case studies' would have been more accurate (though perhaps not as compelling).
How are intranets currently evaluated?
I did some more research on how the most effective intranets could be identified and discovered that there were organisations that did in fact rate intranets and identified those that were the 'best'. These organisations provide expert evaluations of intranets - in other words, highly experienced intranet practitioners evaluate an intranet based on well defined criteria about what comprises a good intranet and then rank each intranet against this criteria.
If intranets were movies, then these rating systems would be like the various award ceremonies such as the Cannes International Film Festival or the Academy Awards. These Intranet awards are a very valuable source of information and can be a great source of inspiration for other intranet managers.
What about the intranet end user?
After reviewing these approaches to identifying best practice intranets, I felt that a mechanism that allowed intranet end users to also give their opinion about their intranet could be valuable to intranet managers. Kind of like asking someone who has been to a movie, what they think thought about it (ie this would be the equivalent of the box office).
For those new to this blog, the Worldwide Intranet Challenge (WIC) allows intranet end users to evaluate and comment on their own intranet and then for these responses to be compared against other participating organisations. This makes it possible to identify those organisations that are the 'best' in each question as determined by their own end users.
How many people have participated in the WIC?
Since April 2009, nearly 11,000 intranet end users from 30 organisations in 12 countries have participated in the Worldwide Intranet Challenge (WIC). We will be presenting these findings at the IntraTeam Event 2010(International Conference about Intranet and Enterprise 2.0).
The 'Best Practice' intanet presentation
With enough data now to identify those intranets that are perceived by the end users to be the best, we think it is the right time to share these findings with other interested people. We will be delivering two two 'Best Practice' intranet sessions at the 2010 Intrateam Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark - March 2 -4. Details of the sessions are below:
- A workshop on Tuesday 2nd March, 11.30am - 1pm about Building the Best Practice Intranet. The Workshop will look at some of the survey questions such as those related to the home page, finding information, and overall satisfaction and why some organisations have rated highly in these questions and others haven't
- On Wednesday 3rd March, 11 am - 11.50 we will be presenting the topic Building the Best Practice Intranet. During the presentation we will talking about what the WIC measures, why these are important, what have been the results so far, what are the qualities of the most effective intranets, and what qualities do end users think are important.
Other speakers at this international intranet conference include:
- Stephan Schillerwein (co-presenting the Worldwide Intranet Challenge findings)
- Jane McConnell (Future Intranet for New Ways of Working)
- James Robertson (What will a working day look like in 2015?)
- Mark Morrell (What’s the Full Value of Your Intranet?)
- Michael Sampson (Frameworks for Evaluating Collaboration Tools)
I would recommend that you consider attending this conference if you are interested in finding ways that your intranet can add even more value to your organisation.
January 13 2010
Meeting mobile intranet users’ needs
Last Friday I was interviewed by the Intranet Benchmarking Forum about how BT was meeting our intranet users’ needs who use a mobile device. I also came across a great blog post and an internet report on mobility (over 40mb!).
So, I thought I would share what BT has done and what I would like to do in this post as it is becoming a hotter topic.
I posted about BT Intranet mobile users in June 2009 which links to examples. I feel progress in 2010 will move in different ways for content than for applications.
Content
Now: BT’s intranet standards make sure a PDA heading is on the templates used by our content management system for publishing information. It means mobile users can click on this to see a text version of the same content. Changes made to the main version automatically update the PDA version so people can rely on the content being the same.
Future: With the increased capability of mobile devices used by people in BT I want to make sure the coding (CSS) used for the content is capable of sizing up or down for any device and enable images to also adjust their size. This means we only need one version that is usable and accessible to any device (mobile, laptop, desktop PC, etc) saving on costs and giving users a better experience.
Applications
Many of my regular readers will know my views about the poor usability of applications for intranet users and my concerns with Oracle’s applications on BT’s intranet.
For applications two versions are needed. The full, standard, functionality is available for people to use but for mobile devices only the cut down, key functionality is available.
For example with BT’s Directory I can check a person’s contact details, manager, organisation chart, whereabouts, team members and their whereabouts. For mobile devices only the contact details for the person found are available as that is the main reason why people use it.
The difficulty for me is persuading software vendors used by BT for intranet applications to understand why this is important and what is needed. It should keep me busy during 2010!
Tagged: accessibility, applications, bt intranet, content, directory, intranet applications, oracle, people finder, publishing, standards, usability, users
January 06 2010
The future for BT’s intranet?
At the end of 2009 I posted about BT’s intranet being 15 years old and the progress made in that time.
BT’s intranet has constantly evolved to meet the changing needs of the business and how it best helps people to be able to do their work as effectively as possible.
BT’s intranet has always aimed to be simple and easy to use. People use it to complete an activity such as a room booking, check the latest news and more recently, publish and use opinions and views with people that have the same interests across BT.
So what’s my view on its future for 2010? It’s likely to see BT’s intranet:
- become even easier to use, wherever you are – at home, coffee shop or BT building – whenever you want to and with any device – your PC, BT’s computing kit or mobile – and the real difference will be the experience will be the same.
- ease of use will also mean you won’t need to keep authenticating to use applications and content protected behind passwords. Just login once and then loading up your browser will give you faster access to what you need.
- people will find it as easy to publish content they want to share or own as sending an email and be able to search for all the different types of information on BT’s intranet from one search page that gives you what you need.
Maybe these are not earth shattering aims? But I know if I can help achieve any of these people in BT will benefit more from using our intranet.
And that’s what my role as BT Intranet manager is.
December 15 2009
BT’s intranet is 15 (yes, 15) years old
Just before Christmas 15 years ago a few grey pages appeared and flickered away on a computer screen in BT for the first time.
What began as a small pilot project to look at the problem of “information overload” has led to being one of the best intranets globally with everyone in BT using it.
It’s now such an intrinsic part of the way that the company does its business that it is hard to imagine business life without it. A BT person now uses the information network for a variety of tasks at work and also works with processes and systems which are intranet based.
These include ‘killer applications’ at the start of our intranet that I have posted about before – BT Homepage, Directory, BT Today and more recently social media tools like Blog Central, BTpedia and Podcast Central.
Information and activities supported by the intranet include sales and marketing data, fault resolution, service planning and provision, facilities management, human resources support, senior executives’ sites and business intelligence.
All our key BT-wide applications most people need to use are online – whether booking a room, claiming expenses, ordering a PC, performance marking or training – saving time, paper, effort and transforming costs.
So what about the future? I can’t predict for the next 15 years but I’ll post about the next 15 months soon.
Tagged: blog, bt intranet, BT today, directory, homepage, intranet applications, social media, wiki
November 18 2009
An easy way to improve web accessibility
Has anyone seen the new free accessibility tool on the WAVE site? I thought you might be interested in knowing there is a simple to use and visual tool out there compared with other tools that tend to be a bit ‘techie’ in their results.
WAVE is a free web accessibility evaluation tool provided by WebAIM. It is used to aid people in the web accessibility evaluation process. Rather than providing a complex technical report, WAVE shows the original web page with embedded icons and indicators that reveal the accessibility of that page.
Even better from an intranet perspective, the WAVE Firefox toolbar allows you to evaluate web pages directly within your browser. Because no information is sent to the WAVE servers, the toolbar allows you to evaluate password protected, secure, or otherwise sensitive web content. The WAVE toolbar evaluates content as it is rendered within Firefox. This allows dynamically created, modified, or scripted content to be evaluated in real time.
Tagged: accessibility, applications, intranet applications, publishing, users
November 11 2009
BT Directory – connecting people easily
When BT’s intranet started in December 1994 one of the key demands from people was to easily find and connect with other people in BT. Along with the BT Homepage and BT today, BT Directory was one of the ‘killer application/content’ that encouraged people to want to use BT’s intranet because it gave them a tool that helped make their life easier.
Today Directory is still as critical as when it started. It is the easiest and quickest way to find out who you need to contact in BT. I have shared some examples of BT Directory for you to see.
Ease of use (slides 1 and 2)
It is very easy to find anyone in BT. You can use Directory to find people from any page on BT’s intranet using the Global Navigation Bar (GNB). You can see I have entered my name as an example of what you do, then just press ‘Go’. Their details will appear from Directory (slide 3). You can also click on the Directory heading in the GNB to enter to use all the features on Directory (slide 2).
People information (slides 3 – 5)
You can find a person’s contact details – office and mobile phone nos., email, address - their job title, manager and what part of BT they work in. Again, I’ve used myself for the example (slide 3).
You can also check their whereabouts (downloaded automatically each day from Outlook Calendar) to be able to choose when to contact them and if their office or mobile no. is better. It helps when planning calls or meetings too (slide 4).
You can also see who is in their team as well as their manager and where in the BT organisation structure a person is. I’ve used myself to show my team and where in BT – Group Communications – I fit in (slide 5).
Extra features (slides 6 – 9)
You can use a power search to find someone by just knowing their phone no., which location they may be at, part of their name or even initials (slide 6).
You can find out who else has a particular work interest, activity or title. The example shows how many people with a connection with ‘intranet’ in BT (slide 7).
Mobile users can also use a cut down version of Directory to find people’s contact details (slide 8). The results shown are the key contact details you will need (slide 9).
As social media tools continue to grow in BT, Directory will be a hub to help you find out more useful information to help them connect easily and quickly with the best people who can help you.
Tagged: applications, best practice, bt intranet, directory, killer app, killer content, navigation, people finder
November 10 2009
The Worldwide Intranet Challenge - Wyeth MENA is number 1 (Case Study)
From the first 20 organisations who have participated in the Worldwide Intranet Challenge (WIC) (TM), the most effective intranet as assessed by their own users belongs to Wyeth MENA - and they are pretty happy about it!
That's an impressive banner!!
Who is Wyeth MENA?
Wyeth MENA is based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and was a division of Wyeth (incidentally the Wyeth head office intranet is ranked number 4 in the WIC). Pfizer has recently acquired Wyeth. Pfizer/Wyeth is the world's largest research-based pharmaceutical company and provide a portfolio of products and medicines that support wellness and prevention, as well as treatment and cures for diseases across a broad range of therapeutic areas.
Worldwide Intranet Challenge rankings
The Wyeth MENA intranet received an overall score of 65.253% from their end users (the average score is 58.029%). In addition to this, the Wyeth MENA intranet was the number 1 ranked intranet from an end user perspective in the areas of:
- Intranet look and feel
- Intranet search
- Intranet hierarchy
- Discussing work topics
- Providing feedback or comments about intranet content
- Training (eg. manuals, online training)
- Access to business applications
- Training on using the intranet
It is no coincidence in my experience that having an effective search correlates to the value that end users place on an intranet. See my earlier blog post about the importance end users place on finding information. Providing training on using the intranet is also an easy and quick way to increase the value of your intranet - it may be that the search tool you have is OK but your end users don't how to use it.
The Wyeth MENA intranet is built using Webbuilder.
Interview with Magdy Youssef, e-Business and CRM Projects Manager
What techniques do you use to generate repeat business?
Techniques used include:
- Gaining management support
- Coordinated marketing plan
- Maximizing the value of the homepage
- Automatically loading homepage
- Have your say
- Monthly newsletter
- Produce Regular Content
- MENA Discussion Board
- Brochures and Roll ups
- E-mail links to intranet
- Run surveys
- Internal contest
- ‘killer applications’
- Promoting via the business
- Staff induction
What tasks are done to ensure the intranet is maintained?
Regular monthly tasks include:
- Monitor usage statistics
- Review intranet content
- Rewrite key content
- Mentor intranet authors
- Build relationships with other teams
- Meet countries needs
- Support strategic projects
- Build team skills and knowledge
What is the most popular use or feature of your intranet?
Poll,News,MENA spotlight,MENA discussion board
How do you make sure the intranet continues to meet your staff needs?
Getting feedback using our feedback form, conduct survey every 6 month to track the satisfaction level Provide relevant contents according to the job role, department as well as Geographical locations
How do you measure the success of your intranet?
Passive: Web trend Active: Primary survey. Focus group and face to face meeting
What are your plans for the future?
-Provide MENA intranet with specific Name ( Branding) -Add more relevant messages by segmenting the staff needs - Add more fun by running internal contest - Build one page for new staff to hold all the staff induction materials. to be the primary source of information @ new comers mind
What do you see as your biggest challenges in increasing intranet acceptance and use?
Management engagement to the Intranet services
What advice can you pass on to other intranet teams?
Get the maximum use of Home page, keep it simple and consistent.
The Wyeth MENA Home page
The following image shows the home page. It follows Magdy's guideline of being simple and consistent.
The Wyeth MENA Home page (click here for a bigger image)
How many people are using the intranet?
It's not only the positive feedback from the Worldwide Intranet Challenge that shows that the Wyeth MENA end users are happy with their intranet, they are also voting with their fingers. The following diagram shows the dramatic increase in page visits over a 3 year period. As can be seen from the diagram, when management support was obtained, things really took off.
And who is responsible?
Members of the team include Anca Davies, Baher Massoud, Claudia Burkley, Hala Abo Gazalah, Hamam Haridy, Hassan Ali, Hershey Mendoza, Joseph Tresa, Manar Hassan, Mark Allen, May Caro, Mayola D'Souza, Samantha Colaco, Sini Kurian, Trevor Parsons, Vanessa Edmunds and Vivika De leon
How do you think your intranet compares to Wyeth MENA?
So how do you think your intranet is traveling? The Worldwide Intranet Challenge (WIC) allows Intranet owners to obtain feedback from their end users through a web based survey and then compare this feedback with other participating organisations).
Some comments from organisations who have already participated in the WIC include:
"extremely useful results for validation of development plan and to support engagement and change management." - Dominic Chiappe, Lloyds Register
"It was very useful and I would recommend it to any intranet manager." - Margherita Buoso, European Space Agency
"This survey is a good idea and will allow us to benchmark ourselves against other companies. We have already started to use the survey feedback to make improvements." - Barbara Peters, Wyeth
So why not register now, there is no cost to participate.
November 05 2009
BT today – BT’s great intranet news site
I’ve mentioned in previous posts BT today as BT’s main intranet news site for the latest news affecting everyone in BT. But I don’t feel I’ve given it full justice until now. The problem is where to start as it has so much to offer!
BT today was one of the first sites on BT’s intranet when it was launched in 1994. It meant people could find out the latest news, whenever they wanted to and reduced the overload (and cost) of information being sent to everyone each day.
Since it’s launch BT today has been one of the most popular sites on BT’s intranet. BT raises several tens of thousands of pounds from digital advertising on the site. It has now grown to include:
- Up to 10 news stories published each day
- PDA version available for mobile users
- Subscribing to different RSS news feeds
- Raising issues that people across BT contribute to
- Sharing important events like birthdays, anniversaries, etc.
I’ve shared some examples of BT today for you to see these.
Along with BT Homepage and Directory, the BT today news site is one of the key sites that encouraged people to start using the BT Intranet. Offering a wider range of news services has encouraged people to use it more, and more frequently.
Future plans include more use of photos for each story, larger photos where suitable for stories and people able to comment on each story.
Tagged: bt intranet, BT today, homepage, money, rss, social media, users, value
Maybe Soup is currently being updated? I'll try again automatically in a few seconds...
