How to Resuscitate Your Intranet

@andrewhesselden #IntranetNow

How to Resuscitate your Intranet

@andrewhesselden #IntranetNow

Andrew Hesselden

I’m a freelance internal communications consultant. I help companies improve their intranets and communication channels

@andrewhesselden #IntranetNow

1.The real reason staff hate

your intranet 2.What you can do about it 3.How even the smallest of

How even small changes can make things much better

@andrewhesselden #IntranetNow

1.The real reason staff hate

your intranet 2.What you can do about it 3.How even small changes can

make things much better

@andrewhesselden #IntranetNow

1.The real reason staff hate

your intranet 2.What you can do about it 3.How even small changes

can make things much better

@andrewhesselden #IntranetNow

…you’ll get 5 Takeaways

“Our intranet is rubbish”

“Search doesn’t work”

“I can’t ever find what I need”

“The homepage is cluttered” “I just keep what I need in my favourites”

It’s so old fashioned

“The structure doesn’t make any sense”

“It’s really annoying”

“It’s slow”

“I never know if I’ve got the right page”

“Loads of broken links”

“It’s out of date” “Too much text to read”

What they say

@andrewhesselden #IntranetNow

@andrewhesselden #IntranetNow

Your little intranet vs

@andrewhesselden #IntranetNow

Client Story

@andrewhesselden #IntranetNow

What was wrong… in a nutshell

• Intranet lacked structure

• Not much governance

• Minimal/no author training

• Lots of corporate waffle and far too much text

• Some accessibility issues

@andrewhesselden #IntranetNow

Visually…

• Text was all the same grey, with little contrast

• Body text was small

• Headings had no breathing space • Almost invisible hyperlinks… and inconsistent

hover behaviour

• Buttons were inconsistent • Lots of banners and very little white space

@andrewhesselden #IntranetNow

@andrewhesselden #IntranetNow

Planned a new structure

User Journeys & Card Sorting

Planned a new structure

Author Training

@andrewhesselden #IntranetNow

Planned a new structure Intranet Engagement +10 to 20%

@andrewhesselden #IntranetNow

5 Takeaways

@andrewhesselden #IntranetNow

If your intranet feels tired... Consider:

• Current trends in user interface design in the outside world

@andrewhesselden #IntranetNow

If it’s hard to navigate... Consider: • breadcrumbs • page titles • too many choices in menus? • hyperlink text

@andrewhesselden #IntranetNow

If users are frustrated... Consider:

• Are you are giving them what they need?

• Is it up front, on the rocks; no mixer, no umbrella?

@andrewhesselden #IntranetNow

If users ask for quick-links or are creating favourites… Consider:

• Is your intranet structured right?

@andrewhesselden #IntranetNow

If issues keep reoccurring… train your authors…

Consider: • Usability • How to write for the web • Correct archiving processes etc

Andrew Hesselden @andrewhesselden

andrew@coralfish.co.uk

www.coralfish.co.uk

Thank you