Intranet: Maximizing Your Technology

I’m going to go in a different direction than you might think here. Think of maximizing as “making the best use of.” Sure, more and more intranet delivery systems are capable of supporting a plethora of shiny, sparkly tools and features—and there’s nothing wrong with using any (or all) of them, provided you have a business case or need to support their use. However, technology is not always the silver bullet.

Many of your intranet users might be what I’ve heard termed “digital immigrants”—users who are being either pushed or pulled, oftentimes reluctantly, into the online world. If your users can’t easily figure out how to use the fancy tools you’ve provide them with, they’ll revert back to their familiar hammer and nail. Making the best use of your technology means starting with a business goal and then presenting the right tool to your users in such a way that they clearly see the benefit of embracing it. It’s shiny. It’s new. And people use it.