The social intranet and its special features
Published on:
May 03, 2022
Reading time:
minutes
Not all intranets are the same. Anyone who takes a closer look at the subject will notice this. In recent years, social intranets in particular have gained in importance. But why is that? And how does it differ from the other forms of intranet?
At what point is an intranet "social
As is generally known, the intranet is a network that is not publicly accessible. It is mostly used in companies or public authorities. In the past, it was especially needed as a "knowledge base" to make important information accessible to all employees. But the needs of workforces have changed over the years. With the advent of social networking and instant messaging services, opportunities have emerged to connect with others at all times and from anywhere. This social aspect is what the social intranet is all about. Here, the focus is on the individual: users can create private profiles, discuss in forums or exchange ideas in groups. The distribution of roles changes; employees thus become "content creators" in the intranet themselves.
What are the benefits of the social intranet?
Simplified communication allows employees to work together more efficiently. This brings employees into contact who might never have "found each other" in any other way. Documents or knowledge can be exchanged quickly and efficiently. In addition, creative engagement with one's own activities as well as the activities of others is encouraged; mutual understanding takes place. This leads not only to more innovation, but also to greater employee satisfaction.
Quite incidentally, this social interaction promotes corporate culture. This form of collaboration creates a sense of community that other forms of intranet cannot. This principle also works globally - even if this is associated with special challenges. Language and cultural barriers can become an obstacle to successful collaboration. So before introducing a social intranet in international companies, they should first be looked at by a test group.
For whom is social intranet suitable?
Social intranets are suitable for (almost) every company - but not to the same extent for all of them. A small regional company can usually get by with fewer functions; large international corporations can make use of the full range of options. No matter what the size and structure of a company: The social intranet can help optimize processes. For example, using internal communications via social intranets has been shown to drastically reduce email traffic. Decision-making, which is much faster, also benefits. All in all, it depends on the corporate philosophy and the goals that have been set as to which means of deployment are suitable for the social intranet.
Conclusion
The social intranet represents a special and modern form of the intranet. Instead of merely providing information, users can and should communicate with each other through this medium. Thus, this intranet partly takes over the tasks of a social network - hence the term. The advantages are clear: communication is faster and more efficient, employees can share knowledge more easily, and collaboration between different departments improves significantly. In large companies, the social intranet can be a form of employee retention and strengthen the sense of togetherness. In principle, individual functions of the social intranet are also suitable for smaller companies - the exact extent of their use ultimately depends on the individual circumstances.
All articles of the blog series about Social Intranet can be found here:
Checklist for a good social intranet
June 07, 2022
Increase employee engagement with social intranet
May 10, 2022
Relaunch was yesterday
April 28, 2022
