Why Do Intranets Fail

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Why Do Intranets Fail?

• Team 1
• Todd Beals
• Mavis Huang
• Eric Monopoli

2
Defining an Intranet

• Private network contained within an organization
• Main purpose is to share company information and
  computing resources among employees
• An intranet can also be used to facilitate
  working in groups and for teleconferencing

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Main Goals of an Intranet

• To provide accessible and up-to-date information
• To facilitate better communication within the
  organization
• Allow inter-site collaboration, enable
  information sharing
• and add value to the organization (i.e. benefit
  info)
• To add excitement to the workplace and strengthen
  the company as a community through innovation and
  combining ideas
• Leverage the abundant wealth of human
  intelligence, creativity, and knowledge within
  organizations to build trust and loyalty

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Overview of the Critical Issues

• Common pitfalls of intranet development
• Insufficient Planning and Ignoring User Needs
• Lack of Organization
• Poor structuring of data
• Lack of a consistent navigation
• (i.e. different designs for different
  departments)
• Nobody in Charge-Lack of project ownership
• Lack of support for end-users
• Managements Disconnect
• Important to get senior management involved

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Critical Issues

• Most corporate intranets fail due to a lack of
  strategic and organizational content planning
• Failure to meet strategic goals
• Coordinating the sites of diverse groups
• Intranet not providing value to end-user  
• Can lead to users not using the Intranet as
  intended

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Avoid Insufficient Planning

• Plan everything in detail
• Implement policies to encourage usage
• Plan sufficient training and support 

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Ignoring User Needs 

• Users are reluctant to use the Intranet finding
  it difficult to use
• i.e. employee handbooks and other hefty documents
  are in PDF format, which are awkward to use.
  Search, navigation and on-line reading are all
  enhanced when you convert content into
  well-designed intranet pages, each containing a
  meaningful chunk of information about a specific
  topic with cross-reference links to related
  material.
•  

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Avoid Ignoring User Needs

• Collect staffs input at start of project
• Develop good training and support materials in
  conjunction with the project
• Encourage participation
• Develop incentives to participate
• Create real-life workshops to establish and
  initiate Communities of Interest

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Content Confusion

• Content can quickly become outdated
• Results in Confusion
• Content written by the wrong people
• Often a duplication of effort across the
  organization 

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Poor Structuring of Data 

• Content organized in line with organizational
  structure
• Difficult to find information
• Search mechanisms don't index all of the intranet
  pages poorly prioritized search results and poor
  page summaries
• Navigational design based on companys
  organizational chart, leading to the
  departmentalization of data
• Resulting in too many clicks to locate
  information 

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Avoid Poor Data Structure 

• Organize data by subject rather than the
  originating department
• Provide extensive hyper-linking to related
  subjects
• Listen to user feedback and periodically adjust
  navigation and interface 

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Lack of Project Ownership 

• Shared ownership of project blurs focus and
  results in conflict, slowing the project down
• Various employees from different department post
  info with little or no governing authority
• Often unclear who makes decisions, how to provide
  feedback, seek assistance, etc .
• Problems passed between departments
• Blurring of project vision and goals 

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Giving Project Ownership 

• Give one department overall responsibility, which
  creates a definitive focus on success
• Appoint a project champion to encourage
  participation and be a focus for queries

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Lack of Support for End-users 

• No-one knows how to use the Intranet effectively
• Users are unsure of how to update content
• Project seen as a waste of time 
• i.e. Staff routinely ignores central developments
  and does their own thing

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Giving Support to End-users 

• Have a clear and obvious point of contact
• Be available and respond quickly to queries
• Develop Training and Support materials early
• Give training before Intranet components are
  introduced

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Critical Issues

• Huge potential cost savings from properly
  utilizing intranets
• Paper
• Printing
• Processing

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Overview of the Issues

• Other basic problems with intranets
• Enthusiasm for the technology quickly outpaced
  any sense of self discipline
• Many intranets become subservient to the
  companys flashier website and arent properly
  funded and many companies are not committed to
  its development
• No real push or policy to use the intranets
  resources

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Overview of the Issues

• Other basic problems with intranets
• Inconsistent management
• Many companies do not build metrics into their
  intranet design, so they have no way of knowing
  what kind of content is being accessed or which
  tools are used
• The unleveraged knowledge of employees was one of
  the biggest inhibitors to value creation

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Perspectives

• How can the information systems strategy triangle
  impact a companys intranet development?

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Perspectives

• How can intranets be utilized to influence
  competitive forces?

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Perspectives

• How can intranets be used to alter the Value
  Chain?

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Perspectives

• Why did HP succeed in its intranet development?

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Recommendations

• There must be authoritative procedures in place
  to manage and distribute content

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Recommendations

• Commercial Solutions
• IBM DB2 Content Manager
• Xerox DocuShare
• Documentum, FileNet, Vignette
• In-House Development

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Recommendations

• Key Content Management Issues
• Availability and Performance
• Multiplatform Operability
• Customer Support
• Application Integration

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Recommendations

• A company must have a plan for its intranet.
  This plan must address the purpose and goals for
  the intranet

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Recommendations

• Pilot Programs
• Simulation
• Controlled Setting

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Recommendations

• Any successful system implementation must have
  the support of management

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Recommendations

• Middle Management
• Most important

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Conclusion

• Plan for all potential uses
• Listen to the end-users
• Identify Information Owners
• Structure Data by Subject
• Invest in a good search engine and educate all
  content contributors on the importance of page
  titles and summaries.
• Be clear in who makes decisions
• Provide Support for End-users

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Questions ?