Highlights from the Global Intranet Trends for 2010

November 9, 2009 | Comments(7), | Categories: 2010 Intranet Trends, New Ways of Working, Social Media in the Workplace, Stakeholders, The Workplace Web | Tags: 5 future intranet trends | Collaboration | front door | Global intranet trends for 2010 | jmc | people | real time | Social Media in the Workplace |

Trends2010 cover I’d like to share a preview of some major observations from this year’s survey. These points and others are developed in the Global Intranet Trends for 2010 report.

The report will be available for purchase later in November and the exact date will be announced here.

Front door into the workplace web

The Global Intranet Trends for 2010 report is subtitled ‘Towards the workplace web’. This phrase reflects what is happening today in intranets around the world as organizations are positioning the intranet as the entry point into the organization’s ensemble of information, applications, collaboration and communication tools.

More key stakeholders getting involved

The intranet is starting to be “business as usual” and thereby involving more high-level stakeholders in the organization. The ownership model is slowly moving away from the single owner model (usually communication). Forty percent of the organizations do still have this model but another 30 percent have a co-owner model where two or three functions share ownership.

The third model, which is cross-organizational with all major functions and divisions represented, exists in 15 percent. Although used less than the first two models, it is more often found in organizations with mature intranets.

Senior management increasing involvement

Approximately one third of the organizations have a high-level intranet Steering Committee. The senior level presence on this body
has increased over the last year reaching 60 percent, with middle management and operational management decreasing slightly. This trend has continued since 2007 when the senior level presence was around 35 percent.

The individual voice emerging

There are a number of indicators showing that the employee voice is being given some room in the intranet. Two examples: “Commenting on official content” such as letting employees publish comments and questions about articles written by management is “in general use” in 20 percent of the organizations. Another 20 percent are testing it or have it “in some parts” of their organization.

Internal social network applications (similar to Facebook or Linkedin) are not often found to be “in general use throughout the organization”. However they are likely to increase as 30 percent of the organizations are currently testing or “using in some parts”.

Social media benefits appearing

Twenty-five to 30 percent of organizations that have already implemented some form of social media have experienced 3 general benefits: increased employee engagement, more effective knowledge sharing, and better-informed employees. Stories “from the front lines” are shared in the report.

Some measurement

A few organizations have begun to measure the impact of social media and although the examples are rare in number, they provide insight on how the pioneers are making social media part of business as usual.

Social media concerns shifting

Concerns are changing as organizations gain experience. Doubts are considerably lower about the relevance of social media to business needs, senior management hesitancy and employees wasting their time. At the same time there is a higher degree of concern about two things: the difficulty of finding information and potential user resistance.

Hype and risks of disillusionment

Organizations in the planning stages for social media usage have very high expectations for benefits. Their expectations are far greater than what the “implementers” have seen so far. There seems to be a potential risk of disappointment.

Intranets in real-time

Technologies such as presence indicators, instant messaging and web conferencing are found more frequently the more mature
intranets. Some organizations feel they have reached a level of “optimization” for  certain real-time technologies.

Intranets being extended to where the people are

Intranets are leaving the workplace, or rather the workplace is being extended to where the people are. People do not need to be in the office in front of a computer to be able to use the intranet. Home access is possible in over one third of the organizations and smart phone access is just starting.

Some intranets have services for smart phones today, but the vast majority do not. However, twenty-five percent of the organizations in the survey say they are in the planning stages of making the intranet accessible through smart phones and PDAs.

The future intranet

In summary, intranets are being re-shaped and re-energized
around 5 underlying trends.

  • The front-door intranet
  • The team-oriented intranet
  • The people-focused intranet
  • The real-time intranet
  • The place-independent intranet

These trends represent new dimensions of the intranet that better correspond to how people work today. They are discussed throughout the report from different angles and with detailed charts and analysis.

Note:

This is the 4th annual report, and the survey population has grown from 100 to 300 organizations since 2006. The organizations range in size from under 1,000 employees to over 100,000 employees and are headquartered primarily in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.

Topics explored in the survey include positioning of the intranet, strategy and management, business objectives, features of the
intranet, social media and measurement.

7 Responses to “Highlights from the Global Intranet Trends for 2010”

  1. Jan van Veen Says:
    November 10th, 2009 at 4:49 pm

    Hi Jane,
    Thanks a lot, great to have a summary like this. Really helpfull.
    Best regards,
    Jan

  2. Samuel Driessen Says:
    November 11th, 2009 at 2:13 pm

    Congrats with your report, Jane! I hope you’re enjoying some rest now. Thanks for the lengthy report with lots of great insights. I’m reading it now and will blog about it in the near future hopefully.

  3. Hans Says:
    November 14th, 2009 at 3:08 pm

    Hello,
    as far as I can remember, you asked also some question about Microsoft SharePoint in your survey. I am wondering where I can find results of these questions in the Global Intranet Trends report.
    Best Regards

  4. Jane McConnell Says:
    November 18th, 2009 at 7:12 am

    Hans, you’re right. There was one open question asking people to share their experiences regarding Microsoft Sharepoint.
    I decided not to include this in the main report but rather to collate and analyse in a separate piece. I am hoping to involve a Sharepoint expert in the analysis. I have not yet produced this piece but when I do all participants will receive a complimentary copy.

  5. Sammarshall Says:
    December 8th, 2009 at 12:51 pm

    Hi Jane
    Some great insights as always. Very intrigued by the social media shift from skepticism to worrying about user adoption. I think this is a good sign that we’re maturing past the initial hype created by early adopters who tended to give the impression that management were gagging the masses who were desperate to speak out!
    Sam

  6. Jane McConnell Says:
    December 11th, 2009 at 2:57 pm

    I agree with you Sam. The management is not always as “slow to adopt” as we think.
    There’s a lot more general change management and cultural shift that still needs to happen.

  7. The Digital Workplace, a 10-year old term with new life NetJMC/Intranet Strategies Says:
    January 10th, 2011 at 11:03 am

    [...] sub-titled last year’s “Global Intranet Trends for 2010” report as “Towards the workplace web”. It identified one of the 5 megatrends of [...]

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