Comments on: Intranet purpose: 3 angles

By: Martin White

Martin White — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 18:29:52 +0000

Jane
A very elegant approach. I remain fascinated by the number of organisations I have come across where no thought has been given to the objectives of the intranet. In the current economic climate being able to point to specific benefits from the investment that is being made in the intranet could be a useful speech to have prepared. “Improve productivity” is not an adequate answer.
To respond to your comment about ownership, as a consultant I’d always prefer working in a situation where there is a wrong owner than no owner at all. Having no owner means that the organisation places no value at all on information. You can also usually effect a change from the wrong owner to the right owner – eventually.

By: Jane McConnell

Jane McConnell — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 18:21:10 +0000

Totally agree, Jan. You’ve described 2 major risks perfectly. I’m not which sure which is worse – wrong owner or no owner.
Good addition to my post. Thanks.

By: Jan van Veen

Jan van Veen — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 15:21:51 +0000

Hi Jane,
Great post again, helpful overview.
What I would like to add is that the focus that you choose will also affect your governance. The key question to ask in my opinion would also be: who should OWN the intranet? This may differ from you focus. in my view an intranet is in danger of falling in a void between different organizational entities.Nobody will feel responsible if you get it wrong, or the wrong people become responsible for things they don’t understand.