We see the following progression happen far too often: organizations start out with high hopes for their intranet design projects, but when a working solution is actually delivered, users are quick to complain about it. This disappointment results from a failure to manage user expectations for the intranet, which sets up unrealistic expectations that could never be met. 

Managing user expectations from the outset can help to avoid discontentment and even result in a better and more practical intranet coming out of the design process.

Part of the problem is to focus too much on the term “intranet” rather than the functions it serves. The initial purpose of an intranet was to support corporate communication, but it too often becomes an end in itself. When upgrading or redesigning a corporate intranet, it’s easy to fall into the trap where you’re just improving upon the look and feel instead of using it as an opportunity to tackle specific business problems.

A major challenge for professional services firms is that the employees must be able to access and process a lot of unstructured information in the course of creating client deliverables — typically documents and digital files.

Many professional services firms could achieve valuable productivity gains and other benefits by using a corporate intranet to improve information sharing and communication.

Cloud solutions are increasingly popular in today’s digital workplaces, but most of them aren’t well-suited to specialized needs and industry niches. 

There’s more to a successful intranet implementation than buying the right technology product. Before you move forward with any intranet solution, such as SharePoint Online, make sure to understand what your organization is seeking to gain from the technology investment.