When business cases were developed, they were
usually fairly simple, focusing mainly on reducing communication
costs, increasing awareness of communication and providing basic
HR employee self-service. Most companies took a “big bang”
approach, giving little attention to the prioritization of new
content, applications, resources and focus. Today however, even
the most robust of these Y2K-era business cases are long since
outdated. In addition to the obvious changes in the business
environment and technology, dramatic changes in user needs,
expectations and the availability of multiple streams of user
feedback—qualitative, quantitative, log analysis, etc.—mean
that organizations must revisit their business cases annually
to ensure that they reflect current business needs and the evolution
of the intranet itself.
 2.
Gain strong senior management support. Inadequate
business cases that fail to connect the intranet to business
objectives, poor measurement data and insufficient data analysis
indicate that few senior executives understand the true benefits
of employee portals. Too often, they see the intranet as a
handy communications channel or a glorified electronic newsletter
that consumes financial and other resources, rather than a
productivity tool that delivers value.
In order to remedy this problem, communicators must take
the time to develop a compelling business case for existing
and future portal operations to get real buy-in at the top.
Ongoing support requires regularly measuring the investment
and quantifying the benefits in terms that are meaningful
to top management. Until senior executives champion the effort
with more than moral support, intranets will not provide organizations
with value and employees with acceptable user experiences.
3. Keep pace with changing user expectations.
Familiarity with web-based tools and transactions has grown
rapidly in recent years, from Orbitz for travel arrangements
to eLoan for mortgages, iTunes for music and Amazon for shopping.
Employees are living their lives and conducting personal business
through the web at unprecedented levels, and they expect the
same level of features, flexibility and value from their intranets
at work.
For internal communicators, the message is clear: Follow
the lead of major Internet sites, and create a user-centric
experience for employees. Begin with the basic foundation
of every successful e-Commerce site—personalization.
This core component of every portal eliminates the need for
employees to constantly reenter login information. It also
allows them to receive filtered content that eliminates irrelevant
information (e.g. the display of employee benefit options
in California when the employee is actually located in New
York) as well as content based on pages viewed or questions
asked.
 4.
Manage the politics. When it comes to the intranet,
it’s clear that communicators have a tough role. Wearing
multiple hats, they act as corporate homepage managers, content
creators, content wranglers, corporate-wide strategic intranet
leaders and visionaries. These roles are highly visible and
therefore, always political.
The best portals are those that are built and managed by
cross-function teams with clearly defined roles and responsibilities
and a common goal of creating a satisfying user experience.
This clear delineation prevents turf wars, reduces redundancy
and increases efficiency.
Assigning the right people to the right tasks is essential.
Cross-functional cooperation is vital and communicators should
provide input into the technical direction by defining the
business requirements and working with the technical staff
to select the appropriate solution. Communicators should focus
on the user experience, content, rollout and ongoing end-user
communications while allowing IT to take responsibility for
programming, hosting, security and software maintenance.
5. Create sound governance structures. Everyone
wants a say in content development, but no one wants to be
responsible. Add in traditionally weak requirements for updating
and managing portal content, and it’s easy to see how
portals wind up drowning in redundant, outdated, confusing
or irrelevant information.
Solutions to the governance problem include
- Mapping the current process to determine how (and by
whom) content is developed
- Articulating clear business goals for the portal
- Creating 12-18 month roadmaps to reach the goals
- Clearly defining content-related roles and responsibilities
- Establishing accountability and metrics for tracking.
 6.
Think big. But start small and scale up. In the case
of employee portals, the practical aspects of deployment mean
that bigger is not better. By starting small and scaling up,
organizations can build and test their processes in a more
controlled atmosphere. Taking an incremental approach also
builds in flexibility so the portal can be adjusted to reflect
shifting business realities.
7. Take the long view. Despite some doubts
after the dot-com crash in 2001, the web is here to stay.
So employee portals should be viewed as a permanent part of
the workplace, rather than a project with specific start and
end dates. Portals can evolve on their own, sapping precious
resources and confusing employees and management alike, or
they can be proactively managed to deliver tangible, competitive
value to organizations.
The Bottom Line
Finding employee portal nirvana has been elusive, but by applying
knowledge and wisdom accumulated over the past several years,
organizations can move much closer to the ideal. The strategies
that every organization must consider as they strive to achieve
the perfect employee portal are building and proving the business
case, engaging senior leaders, resolving turf and governance
issues, and taking an incremental, long-term approach.
Michael Rudnick is the National Intranet & Portal Practice
Leader at Watson Wyatt.
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