Comments on: Will intranets become scientific?

By: Andrew Wright

Andrew Wright — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 06:49:08 +0000

I think it was Vince Lombardi (a famous & successful American football coach) who is attributed with saying, ‘if you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it’. And I think he also said ‘if you’re not keeping score, then you’re just practicing.’
I have found from my experience that numbers and measures are great motivators for people. Just think of the democratic system for example. How many decisions made by politicians are based on the impact that it will have on the number of votes they are likely to receive… all of them I would guess.
I agree that there have been some good developments in this area recently in relation to intranets, including the Global Trends Report.
I also agree that the management of intranets is becoming more scientific. This is a good thing. A more scientific approach will help intranets fulfill their potential as a key organisational ‘enabling’ technology – rather than just a fancy ‘nice-to-have’ newsletter and staff directory.

By: Jane McConnell

Jane McConnell — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 08:15:14 +0000

Alex – thanks for your comments. We can also approach certain aspects of social media if not scientifically, at least based on evidence. The Global Intranet Trends for 2009 has figures that show that enterprises with Stage 3 intranets are more involved in social media than Stages 1 and 2. In particular, with allowing user-generated content. We will see what the current survey shows us. Stay tuned until October – although some trends may come out sooner!

By: Alex Manchester

Alex Manchester — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 02:55:06 +0000

Good question, Jane. There’s undoubtedly a situation and need arising for more solid, scientific-based intranet development. We have to get more sophisticated at analysis, proving value, and achieving higher level visibility and credibility with intranets and intranet managers/teams.
At the same time, social media, discussion and communication-based development – it is happening in tandem. I think these developments will help/are helping each other. They’re inextricably linked, but exactly how and to what depth is not that well understood, yet.