The Best Approach To Intranet Creation: Bespoke Or Cloud Intranet Templates?
When it comes to sorting out your intranet, there can be a lot to figure out in terms of creating the best platform for you and your organisation. Where do you even start?
There are two main options when it comes to sorting out intranet templates: you can start from the beginning and create your own intranet from scratch, or you can look at subscribing to a cloud-based SaaS intranet provider. Every organisation is different, and so the exact reasons for choosing one route or the other will be unique to you — but we’ve assembled a few of the key things that you’ll want to keep in mind at the start of the decision-making process.
Looking At The Numbers
If you’re looking to design your own intranet from scratch, you need to ensure that you have the skills and resource available to make things happen effectively. Granted, you might be able to make it happen with a whole lot of Googling and determination, but the cost may be up to $40,000 just to get a bare bones system in place.
And there’s more to consider than just finances. Going it alone frequently drags out for over a year — and if those in your team who are working on the intranet project are also working through other projects at the same time, everything is going to take a whole lot longer again. These numbers are all incredibly variable based on the size and scope of the company in question, and their intranet-related expectations — but keep in mind that a European study discovered that the implementation of a new intranet could require between 20 and 200 full workdays. Have you got that kind of resource to spare?
The Development Process
When it comes to developing an intranet, you’ll need to start the process off with developing a set of requirements, which will shape everything about your business’ intranet. This could include what it covers, how many employees it’s capable of supporting, and how scalable it is — that’s to say, how well it can grow and change as your business does. It’s a delicate balance between technological know-how and business acumen — not everyone who has the right kind of tech savvy is business-minded enough to understand exactly what makes your organisation tick on a broader scale, and as such, might not be able to establish precisely what components are required.
Once you’ve figured out your requirements, the next step is to identify a software company who are equipped — and then some — to create what it is you’re looking for. You’ll generally need a whole lot of back-and-forth to establish whether or not they are the fit for you — and that takes time.
The development of the product itself is also time consuming, with all kinds of hiccups that can potentially arise. Things get even more complicated if the original template plan needs to be adjusted for myriad reasons — maybe you’ve seen a need for an alteration, or your initial requirement listing hasn’t been totally clear, or the company has added something that you hadn’t originally considered. There will always be several trial runs needed before the product gets unleashed onto the wider company.
Chancing Change
When you decide to build your intranet from scratch, you’ll more than likely end up at the mercy of the software company you’ve enlisted when it comes to making any changes or additions to the initial structure of the intranet system. Need new features? Found yourself facing unexpected growth with a system that’s not so scalable? Your developers will need to put in some more serious man hours to stay on top of change — and that’s all going to create a further financial burden for your organisation.
Getting Results
Cloud-based or SaaS (software-as-a-service) providers are an option if you’re looking to get your intranet launched quickly and cleanly. The pre-existing templates provided mean a whole lot of the slog is avoided: no writing code from scratch, no need to make a whole new product reflecting the idiosyncrasies of your own company. By avoiding building from the ground-up, the costs are vastly reduced in comparison with a totally bespoke solution.
Of course, there is always some element of compromise in working with a pre-existing solution. It’s possible that some features aren’t a perfect match for what you’d want in an ideal world — but at the same time, a well-regarded SaaS provider will usually have most of the features that you’re looking for. You might just need a little ingenuity to figure out how to make things work for your organisation. And since you’ll have saved a whole lot of money by not having to pay a software company thousands upon thousands, you can probably spare a little human resource to tinker around to get things working smoothly.
Choosing The Right Cloud Intranet Provider
When you’re picking a cloud intranet platform, you should always first consider how it’s going to work for you — is the platform able to be customised to the needs of your specific organisation? There’s arguably nothing more important than flexibility — and if you pick well, you’ll find a solution that lets you add extra template pages so that you can further develop your intranet site — then customize your content with additional apps or modules. Every organisation has its own peculiarities — and your intranet should reflect that.
Just because a cloud intranet solution seems to do what you need, keep in mind that cloud-based intranet solutions don’t automatically guarantee a quality product. It’s a great way to save money, but be sure to make decisions wisely — you don’t need to compromise on your ability to customise your intranet just to save money.
What To Look For In A Cloud Intranet Provider
A strong intranet has a few key characteristics that you should keep in mind when seeking out an SaaS provider. You’ll want to ensure that whatever option you pick has them all, and that the organisation is committed to implementing best practice changes and development across the board.
Investigate the flow, structure and layout of the system — is it user-friendly? Keep in mind the user experience both for administrators and for all manner of employees using different parts of the system each and every day. A system that doesn’t flow, or takes a long time to load, or is just plain clunky will not be popular with users. And that negates the purpose of the whole exercise!
So for every cloud intranet provider you’re thinking of using, be sure to enquire about test driving the system — that way, you can keep an eye out for any indicators that it might not quite be the right platform for you.
Getting Started
Once you’ve come to a concrete conclusion on what direction you want to take your intranet, it’s time to put together a plan, including the structure of your intranet and taking into consideration how much special configuration you need. If your organisation has fairly standard needs, you probably will be good to go with a pre-determined template from a SaaS provider. If you’re particularly unique, you may need to investigate a fully customised bespoke solution.
Get planning, consider your own in-house and development skills, and prepare to take the next step and make magic happen. And of course, get in touch with the MyHub team to find out how our templates could work for your business intranet!
