New Intranet, Empty Clicks: 5 Intranet Implementation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Months of planning, coordination, and development went into it. For the go-live, there's a company-wide email, maybe even a video from management. The first few days see high access numbers. Three months later, it looks different: The homepage still shows the launch announcement, documents remain on the network drive, and important information is once again circulating via email and word of mouth.

Anyone who wants to implement an intranet isn't simply buying software. Whether employees actually use the new intranet is decided by entirely different factors: goals, content, responsibilities, and the daily reality of the people it's meant for. In this article, we show you five mistakes we repeatedly see in intranet projects, and what you can do instead.

Why is a functioning intranet so important right now?

Work has become more distributed. Teams are located across multiple sites, working from home, or in production facilities. Information flows through email, chat, network drives, and bulletin boards. The result is well known. No one knows exactly where the current version is, and newcomers take weeks to find their way around.

A good intranet consolidates communication, knowledge, and tools in one place. It is increasingly becoming the foundation for AI. An internal AI assistant can only provide reliable answers if the content it accesses is up-to-date and well-maintained. Read more about this in our article on [internal link: Week 1, AI use cases B2B]. An intranet that no one uses is therefore not just a missed opportunity, but also an expensive one.

What helps:

• Define two to three goals at the start, for example: New employees find all important information on their own within the first week. Or: Internal company-wide emails are reduced by half.
• Staff the project team cross-functionally. Internal communications, HR, IT, specialist departments, and where necessary, the works council.
• Understand the implementation as a change management project. The technology is the smaller part of the work.

Was planning done without considering employee needs?

The mistake: Structure and navigation follow the organizational chart. Each department gets its own area, and users need to know who is responsible before they can find what they're looking for.

Why it's harmful: Employees don't think in terms of departments, but in terms of tasks. Requesting vacation, finding a template, reaching the right contact person. If they have to click three times and search twice to do this, they'll pick up the phone again.

What helps:

• Ask before creating the concept. What do employees search for most often? Where do they currently lose time? Short interviews and a survey quickly provide a clear picture.

• Build the navigation around tasks and life situations, not around the organization.

• Test drafts early with real users. Just five tests reveal the biggest stumbling blocks.

Are content and clear responsibilities missing?

The mistake: At launch, old content is transferred without sorting, or there's hardly any content at all. Afterward, no one feels responsible. Within a few weeks, news is outdated, contact persons are incorrect, and documents exist in duplicate.

Why it's harmful: Trust is lost faster than it's built. Anyone who has once found an outdated policy will prefer to ask a colleague next time.

What helps:

• Clean up before migration. What gets transferred, what gets revised, what gets archived?

• Assign a responsible person for each area and give them time for it. Intranet editorial work is real work, not a side job.

• Create a simple editorial plan and set expiration dates for content so outdated pages are automatically flagged for review.

• Start with a few truly useful pieces of content instead of many half-finished pages.

Is the intranet disconnected from daily work?

The mistake: The intranet is just another island alongside email, chat, ERP, and HR systems. It requires a separate login, only works partially on smartphones, and employees without fixed PC workstations, such as those in production, warehousing, or field service, aren't even considered.

Why it's harmful: Every additional step reduces usage. And if a large portion of the workforce cannot access the intranet, a two-tier communication system emerges that creates more frustration than before.

What helps:

• Implement single sign-on and integrate tools that are already in use, such as Microsoft 365, the HR portal, or room booking systems.

• Think mobile from the start. An employee app also reaches colleagues in production.

• Choose the platform that fits your needs. For companies where communication and reach are the priority, employee communication platforms like Haiilo are a good choice. Those who want to map complex content and processes may need a different solution.

• Ensure good search functionality. For many employees, it's the most important entry point.

Is it over after go-live?

The mistake: The project ends with the launch. There's an announcement, but no follow-up. Managers continue to communicate via email, and no one monitors how the intranet is actually being used.

Why it's harmful: Habits don't change through a company-wide email. If managers don't use the new intranet themselves, that sends a clear message: It's not that important.

What helps:

• Plan the implementation like a campaign. With advance notice, a launch day, short training sessions, and contact persons in the teams who answer questions and collect feedback.

• Make managers role models. Important information appears first in the intranet; emails only link there.

• Measure usage. Active users, most searched terms, searches with no results, pages with high bounce rates. These numbers show where you should make improvements.

• Plan budget and time for further development after go-live. An intranet is a product, not a project.