Which companies use intranet

Question: Can an intranet be hacked? A: Intranets, like any credential-based system, can be hacked using social engineering tactics. Additionally, since many intranets require version updating, out-of-date systems often contain security vulnerabilities, making hacking a genuine threat.

Question: What are intranet softwares? A: A classic example of intranet software is SharePoint. Modern intranet-type solutions include Guru, Confluence, and other company wikis. Question: What are the main features of an intranet? A: The main features of an intranet include information storage, document storage, search, collaboration space, integrations, and permissioning. Question: What is an intranet site? A: An intranet site is a private portal that allows employees to see internal news, updates, and documentation.

It can serve as a company knowledge base, conversation and collaboration space, and leadership communications channel. Question: How do intranets work? A: Users access the intranet by using company credentials, IP address, or VPN to access confidential internal information, communications, and documentation. Question: When was the intranet invented? A: The term intranet was coined in , but the most well-known intranet software SharePoint was launched in See how Guru captures, transforms, and delivers knowledge when you need it.

Why Guru? With Guru's collaborative knowledge management solution, answers find you. Product enablement. The latest product information, delivered to reps in their workflow. Internal communications. Teams stay connected with anytime access to expert-verified information. Employee onboarding. Automated onboarding to meaningfully integrate new teammates. Remote work. A work-from-anywhere solution to help teams collaborate and connect.

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Engineering teams. People Ops teams. Log in. We use cookies to give you to give you the best experience possible on our website and to better understand how users interact with our content. Glossary Knowledge Management. As the knowledge work industry has changed thanks to company-wide chat and video platforms, easy cloud-based document storage, and the proliferation of apps needed to perform a job , the company intranet might seem like a relic of the past. Jump to section. What is an intranet?

What is the difference between intranets and the internet? What are extranets, and how are they different from intranets? Offer a centralized place for document and content storage and retrieval An intranet can be a centralized place for employees to store their important documents and information in a way that makes them easily searchable by anyone who might need them. Simplify permissioning When combined with SSO or purchased as part of a software suite, it can be as easy as a few clicks for administrators to create authorized users or revoke access entirely.

What are the downsides of an intranet? Go beyond intranet with a wiki that works for you. Guru supports you so you can support your customers. An Intranet is an internal hub used by companies to store important information, communicate with employees, increase employee advocacy , streamline key processes, and encourage team collaboration.

While there are many benefits to an intranet , here are some of the most compelling:. Improves internal communications: The most effective intranet solutions encourage communication by empowering workers to access and share information.

For example, individual departments can upload important documents, leadership can make announcements, and product teams can share launch updates. Serves as a content management system CMS : Intranets function as comprehensive repositories of vital information for the entire company.

They encourage a community approach to share and managing content and give employees valuable self-service access to all of the information they need, at any time. This eliminates the need to search for hard-to-find information on a non-intuitive site.

Drives collaboration: By providing centralized access to the tools and information workers need to perform their jobs, employees can find what they need and work better as collaborative teams. Improves efficiency: Intranet virtually eliminates the need for cumbersome email workflows that waste time and lead to version issues and confusion. Say goodbye to emailing someone for the latest form or document; say hello to enabling the entire workforce to focus on higher-value initiatives.

Provides better support: Departments can post important forms e. Unites geographically dispersed teams: Companies now use intranets to connect remote employees, field-based teams, and satellite offices.

This decreases communication issues and increases morale, engagement, and productivity. Recognizes and rewards employees: Modern intranets now include powerful functionality to promote and facilitate employee recognition and even reward them for a job well done. Rewards can range from a peer-to-peer shoutout or digital high five to a gift card or other giveaway. These features provide a better overall experience and one that employees appreciate, if not love.

The feelings are mutual: Companies that provide a better experience are perceived as a better place to work. More importantly, we use Workmates to clarify important project details that needed rapid dissemination among the entire team. Companies can develop a prominent company feed used to manage important messages and encourage their entire workforce to do the same.

The intention of this feed is to publish various recognition announcements—such as appreciation posts, automated birthday and work anniversary congratulations, and more. This can help drastically improve another employee engagement-wise serious office environment and guide leadership as they work to create a dynamic culture. While intranets began as buildable exclusive enterprise websites, they now have the ability to integrate with other tools such as platforms and social media for a robust internal communications experience.

For example, SharePoint is a popular intranet from Microsoft Office. Despite the fact that new technology is emerging to advance the field of communications, for many companies, there are still key advantages to having an intranet made and managed by a dedicated in-house team.

Here are three strategic benefits of having a company intranet. Every organization has hundreds, if not thousands, of differently formatted files floating among email threads, Google Drive, or hard drives on laptops or desktops. Having a company intranet makes it easy to store and access all your files in one central location.

Any communication that happens on an intranet is also saved for as long as the intranet is up. This makes it easier for individuals to search for past posts from their company intranet. Intranets usually feature user profiles similar to your LinkedIn profile. They contain a photo, job title and description, and contact information. Any employee with access to the intranet can discover new colleagues and message them through the intranet.

This facilitates increased collaboration and helps establish a workforce network. Intranets started off in the s as a simple welcome page with sparse information about an enterprise.

Since then, they have evolved to include discussion forums, blogs, and social features. This has enabled internal communicators to be able to use their intranet to share key messages and organizational updates. CMS intranet enables internal communicators to easily create and share content across the system. Here are five common disadvantages to having an intranet for many companies. Intranets have traditionally been structured in an outdated format that forces employees to search through thousands of pages or folders to find the information that they need.

Content is often out of date because publishing to intranets can be difficult and time-consuming. With information being hard to find, workers may get disillusioned with keeping up with intranet communications. This negatively impacts the employee experience and lessens the effect of your messages on broader business objectives.

Intranets are limited in their ability to reach all employees as they are sometimes only accessible on the desktop. Remote workers, such as retail workers, nurses, warehouse staff, and truck drivers , may not have the ability to access intranets. Frontline workers may not have a company laptop, home access to the intranet, or regular access to the internet.

Even if these workers wait until they have a computer to access the intranet, the information on the intranet is often out of date or disorganized, making it difficult for employees to quickly find the content they need. In order to reach every worker, you need to make sure that your communication tools support remote and field workers. We compiled direct feedback from IT leaders about this issue. It is no secret that as a society we are addicted to our cell phones. Many intranets do not support mobile or need to be updated with the next mobile release.

If you already have an intranet, it can be tempting to wait until the next update that has a mobile feature instead of committing to a communications makeover.

But by waiting to make the switch over, you are losing an easy, accessible way to communicate with your entire workforce. Mobile communications , especially native apps, are convenient for every worker and more likely to keep them engaged. Communication technology and software are constantly improving and evolving. We are accustomed to regularly scheduled software updates, new releases, and exciting new features.

In comparison, it can take years for new intranet versions to come out. Microsoft, for example, is on a three-year release cycle. This lag prevents internal communicators with intranets from getting access to the latest strategies to keep workers informed and up to date. With these big new releases, employees need to learn complicated new features and adjust their old workflows. New releases may not integrate well with other software that you use or be tedious to install if you wait too long between releases.

This is just an overlay to your existing intranet, so all your same problems are just covered over with a prettier interface. Intranets are run, created, and updated by a dedicated intranet or digital workplace team. These teams use a variety of cross-functional skills to run the intranet. The Spark Trajectory Intranet and Digital Workplace skills matrix shows how intranet and digital workplace teams have a variety of skill sets that stem from technology and IT management, content and communication, user experience design, and social and collaboration management.

All these skill sets lend themselves to creating a tool that incorporates communication, database management, and design. The Sparks skills matrix also highlights how the department and its responsibilities are not as fixed or defined as HR or IT. Because the intranet team is responsible for both creating, uploading to, and managing the intranet, it can be difficult to uncover where exactly new features and tools need to be added.

The intranet is not the digital workplace. The goal of which is to break down communication barriers and foster efficiency, innovation, and growth. It is not a one-size-fits-all solution but rather a best-in-class set of platforms and tools that make work happen seamlessly. A successful digital workplace uses intelligent workflows to make everything work on-demand and with less friction.

A good communications platform is the core of the digital workplace—delivering the right information at the right time to the right worker. If your people are uninformed or worse, never informed, your best efforts will fall flat.

Optimizing the efficiency and effectiveness of your intranet involves making sure you are keeping up with best practices. Because intranets have been around for decades, they can often be difficult or slow to update. In order to provide the best intranet, you will need to do the following.

Is an intranet the mode of communication that your employees want to use? Instead, internal communicators often use email newsletters, company apps, digital signage, or physical postings and announcements. You need to make sure that an intranet is a preferred medium to reach your workforce.