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Measure the Intranet You Have (Not the One You Don’t Have)
I was not surprised when my latest post about intranet stats (Why Miserable Intranet Stats May Indicate Success) raised a few different opinions.
Measuring intranets isn’t easy. You can argue forever about what you should and shouldn’t measure and what the numbers say.
What Kind of Intranet Do You Have?
To collect the metrics that really matters for your intranet, you must first define the kind of intranet you have in your organisation.
What do you mean? you may ask. An intranet is an intranet, right? Or… is it?
No, not really. If you ask three different companies about the use and value of their intranets, I believe you’ll receive three different answers.
In company A the intranet may mostly be used for top down management information and focus on organizational news.
In company B, they use their intranet mainly for activities: it’s the hub spot for work related applications, they store data such as different forms and instructions and functions like IT help desk or HR are accessible from the intranet.
Company C, however, has taken their intranet into the next generation and their intranet is a fully social collaboration area.
Measure the Right Thing
I’d say that you have to compare your metrics to the kind of intranet you have in your organisation or what your goal with the intranet is. It sounds obvious, but is often overlooked.
If your intranet mainly is about delivering information, time spent on the intranet is not something to strive for. Better then to aim for easily accessible data and search ability, as suggested in my latest post.
But if your intranet is about collaboration and being social, you should encourage your staff to engage and spend more time online by focusing on how to ease more on-line interaction.
Remember, the key is to measure the right thing. Don’t interpret your stats according to an intranet you don’t have or aim for.
What do you measure? Please tell in the comment box below!
Dig deeper: What 5 Experts Say About Future Intranet Trends
About the author
Anna Rydne is a communications specialist, a mother and a small business owner. Based in Stockholm, Sweden, she's determined to uncover the secrets of how successful people and companies communicate. Anna has a special interest in social media marketing and personal branding and she believes the road to success is trying. She tweets about all things comms, social media and marketing @CoSkills and writes for SteamFeed.com twice a month. She holds a bachelor's degree in psychology. Contact her at anna@communicateskills.com.
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[...] Measure the intranet you have (not the one you don’t have): Every month intranet managers have to deliver analysis on our monthly statistics but what do they really mean? Are you setting the bar too high? This post reminds us that we need to evaluate the intranet against our own specific strategy and roadmap and not on what other organisations deliver. [...]