In times of crisis, is the intranet an afterthought?

From participants in the recent pre-survey Quick Poll… 

Our biggest pressure point

"Placement/importance of the intranet and its teams within the organisation is by far our biggest pressure point at the moment – in economic crisis, restructures are causing the intranet to be an afterthought more than ever (i.e. 'oh the intranet, well someone can just keep that up to date, we dont need much headcount for that, theres an economic crisis going on'). The challenges to deliver through the intranet instead of external high-cost mediums means the opposite should be happening in times like this, but it just cannot seem to reach the radars of those at the top." 

Top management claims…

"How can an organisation fulfil all increasing requirements in regards of functions to an Intranet when top management claims the intranet to be the most important internal communication and collaboration channel and at the same time reducing resources both technical and communication wise?"

What about the future?

"We are dealing with extreme downsizing of already stretched intranet teams. How will this impact intranets in the coming years?"

Loss of experience, less time for everyone

"Loss of experienced publishers due to downsizing (crisis). Less time for everyone to maintain "public", static, non-collaborative content. (e.g. Information about the company, or policies). Public content is important because it provides general information and "body" for people who are not (yet) using collaborative workspaces. How can we motivate owners of policies etc. to realize that their content is important and should be maintained"

My comments:

Organizations are taking huge risks by ignoring or down playing the intranet during these tough times.

Those that decide to leverage the intranet to help the organizations save time, decrease and avoid costs, and communicate and collaborate better are those that will have a better chance at surviving the crisis and becoming stronger.

I wonder how many organizations have actually calculated what they save by downsizing intranet teams versus what they will be losing.

Practically none, in my opinion.

4 Responses to “In times of crisis, is the intranet an afterthought?”

1. Zeb Says:
   May 27th, 2009 at 7:45 am

   Cheers for that Jane. Alas, I have been a casualty of downsizing, so I have first had experience of all you’ve mentioned.

2. Annette Hexelschneider Says:
   May 27th, 2009 at 3:54 pm

   Jane, You are so right! With an holistic approach they would see what they loose with loosing an Intranet: communication, moral support, up-to-date staff, virtual collaboration, intellectual assets and so on.
   Together with a colleague I have written a series: “Wissensmanagement in der Krise – Krise im Wissensmanagement” (Knowledge management in the crisis – Crisis of the knowledge management). Where we talked about chances, flexibility, ROI, strategies, motivation of staff, t-shaped staff. There we cited your valuable post: „2009: Efficiency, Energy and Voice on the Intranet“ (http://netjmc.typepad.com/globally_local/2009/01/2009-efficiency-energy-and-voice-on-the-intranet.html) from 7.1.2009
   We are now going to produce a Whitepaper in German which we will circulate in Austria/Germany/Switzerland to raise discussion on this.
   It think we – who are “still” working – are called for showing the ROI of our work. Knowledge management controlling, Intranet controlling and reporting is a must!! And we have to do it in a tangible and visible way like suggested here: „The importance of ‘tangible’ and ‘visible’“ (http://www.steptwo.com.au/papers/kmc_tangibleandvisible/index.html)by James Robertson, In: „Step Two Designs“, March 2008
   Best wishes from Vienna,
   Annette

3. Jane McConnell Says:
   May 27th, 2009 at 5:05 pm

   Hi Zeb, I’m so sorry to hear you got hit by a downsizing. Thanks for sharing. Drop me a line (privately if you wish, or here) to let me know what you’re planning on next. Jane

4. Jane McConnell Says:
   May 27th, 2009 at 5:08 pm

   Annette,
   Good plan for the White Paper. Any plans to translate it into English?
   Interestingly, I’ll be in Vienna for a client mid June, but only one night in the city. Maybe we can meet up there another time when I’m there longer.
   Please drop me an email directly – I’d like to talk with you about the Global Intranet Strategies Survey. I have just finished drafting questions about intranet value and ROI as well as questions about the positioning of intranet managers. Maybe you’d like to review the questions and give me your feedback?

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