Integrate your intranet to be the preferred way to work

When I posted about the latest results for BT ‘BT Intranet 2010 benchmark results‘ I promised to give examples the Intranet Benchmarking Forum highlighted as global best practice.

The first two examples are about our content – IBF said all pages across BT’s intranet contain author and date information – and how involving everyone can make your intranet more valuable to your organisation - IBF said BT’s intranet supports our values to be open and straightforward in dealings with colleagues.

My next example is how you integrate your intranet to be the preferred way of working for everyone in your organisation.  IBF said BT’s intranet has a wide range of activities, heavily used and with high satisfaction levels.

So, how has BT achieved this for it’s intranet?  The following steps have helped BT and can help you:

1. Identify content people prefer to see online.  Publish it online and make people aware of this.  Make sure you switch off any paper versions.
2. Makes sure you have a set of standards that show how users will have a great experience.  This needs to cover design, layout, features which give confidence to people in the integrity of the content like review dates.
3. Measure how satisfied people are with your intranet generally and with specific areas and try to identify trends for future use.
4. Align your intranet strategy and your organisation’s so you are providing what it needs to underpin it’s approach whether it is reducing costs, improving flexible working, etc.
5. Make it easy to find by having a good search engine and other ways like an A-Z of sites or navigation bar.

Two comments from users show BT is succeeding. “It’s a no brainer – you can’t do your job without the intranet” and “the intranet is the key channel”.

You can too by following these steps……..

Tagged: benchmark, best practice, bt intranet, content, navigation, research, standards, users