When you’re overseeing the effective running of a workspace, you need to ensure that there’s effective communication, collaboration, and productivity. Even more so if you run your own business, or you may sink!
There are many ways to ensure that your team is communicating with you, with the main one historically being via email. In more recent times, this has moved to apps such as WhatsApp, but of course, there’s always the risk of data breaches and the hassle of having to send documents (when needed) through a potentially insecure platform.
This is where a company intranet comes in. It works as a main platform that seeks to speed up internal processes at a business which, by proxy, enables better collaboration and communication.
Of course, as a business owner, you may have played around with the idea of a company intranet before and decided that your business was too small, or the platform was too expensive to invest in. Here, you’ll be guided through the main benefits of investing in a company intranet, even for the smallest of businesses.
Improved Internal Communications
A core advantage for a business that has a cloud-based intranet system is that it will help to streamline communication between team members. There’ll be no lost information, no emails left unread and, of course, it will also act as a platform for staff to access information, even if they’re working with a remote or hybrid model. It also allows you to have a space where you can post important information about your company for all to see, which is much more efficient than sending a dozen or so emails.
As a result, your team will receive company-based notifications in an instant, which will help team leaders to rest assured that all their team is up to speed with policy changes, as well as corporate news and meetings. The discussion boards and forums, as well as instant messaging, that come with an intranet will help with faster internal messages, so there’ll be no more long waits for team members to respond to each other.
Another issue is also addressed with the use of a company intranet: email overload. Historically, businesses have sent all matters of information to an employee’s email address, causing the dread of sifting through documents. This is time-consuming and a bit of a psychological overwhelm. By having an intranet, there are set spaces for different messages, so when your team receives an email, they’ll be more likely to spot it, thereby helping with clearer communication.
Better Productivity
Going back to the notion of different spaces on an intranet for different information, this centralized point is the perfect space for uploading tools that your team may need to complete their jobs. Again, this is ideal if you and your team are operating on a remote or hybrid model. It will also ensure that your team spends less time searching for information, which means they will have more time to focus on the task at hand. The end result is higher productivity and fewer project delays.
An intranet space can also be used for your team to store, share, and retrieve documents when they need to, which, again, will save time on searching for said documents and will minimize duplication costs, such as printing and paper. So, an intranet is also a boon for your HR team, which will be looked at shortly.
The majority of intranet platforms also help your team with task automation, which eliminates the need for them to draw up their own to-do lists, and ensures that work is completed in the desired order, without needing to run this by managers or team leaders. The end result is a workforce that knows what they need to do and can get it done, without needing to check with managers.
Going back to HR, having an intranet can help any HR team store and upload pay stubs, employee benefit options, and even handle time-off requests, thereby minimizing the burden on your HR team of having to do this manually. There are even intranet options that can be used to allocate shifts with the help of AI software, so HR only needs to approve each allocation sheet and ensure that the employee’s required number of hours per week is met.
Better Engagement
The last thing you want is a workforce that isn’t engaged. Having a team that’s on the ball is vital for the success of any organization, and as you may have guessed, a well-implemented intranet can play a part in helping your team stay engaged. Honestly!
Intranets are designed with intuitive layouts and collaboration tools, so your team will be able to navigate the space with ease, as well as engage with other team members via collaboration tools. So, everyone will be better connected, as they’ll be able to chat with each other via blogs, forums, and social areas of the intranet, creating an almost social media vibe. Almost!
Then, there’s the more technical side of a company intranet. Your team will be able to use tools together on these platforms to complete projects and, you as the manager or team leader, will be able to oversee them all, without having to bug your team with emails. No one likes being bombarded with emails!
Improved Security
OK, so many teams that operate in an office or even dabble with remote or hybrid work models worry about the security of the work and documents that they have access to.
Everyone is familiar with online hacking risks and, while it’s always important to keep your team trained on how to prevent hacking, having an intranet space for your company can also act as a buffer. A company intranet is secure and will have built-in features to prevent hacking, such as two-factor authentication options, as well as codes and sometimes sliding cards for external devices. This ensures that only your team gets access to private and sensitive information, such as payroll details, demographic data, and bank information.
Best of all, most intranets automatically upgrade, so you and your team will always be protected by the latest security features, without you having to do anything.
