Guest Post: 7 takeaways from the Intranet & Digital Workplace Awards

Since 2011, I’ve managed Step Two’s Intranet & Digital Workplace Awards, a global competition celebrating leading-edge intranets and digital workplaces. We’ve had a variety of winners from global brands to tiny companies and the roster has even included some of the Intranetizens. We’ve just entered our twelfth year and it’s genuinely exciting reviewing the entries for our 2018 Awards as they come in.

Managing the Awards means I get to see a lot of different entries. This shines a light on the some of the trends in the intranet and digital workplace space. So here are seven, albeit rather unscientific, takeaways and observations from last year’s Awards.

New intranets mainly look great

As an intranet consultant I still occasionally see some old way-beyond-end-of-life intranets which look horribly dated and awful, and thankfully are about to be replaced. In the Awards we see a stack of screenshots of recently launched, shiny intranets. In generally they look great with clean, modern and uncluttered designs and some, like Visa’s intranet, are particularly strong.  When I started out managing the Awards in 2011 invariably many of the weaker entries had poorer design work but these days a genuinely ugly intranet is a rare thing. Most new intranet projects I encounter have strong design and UX work.

Most intranet and digital workplace teams are strong at executing projects

My least favourite part of the Awards process is letting teams know they haven’t won. It’s very difficult because teams are usually high professional and exhibit strong practices and strong examples of execution in their submission.  I always give some individual feedback about each entry including the positive elements which stood out for us, but also why it didn’t win. A non-winning entry is almost never about the professionalism of the team, it’s usually because it’s just been edged out by something else really, really good. The standards are high.

Small companies can afford big intranets

A few years ago I was impressed when a small Australian local council launched a sophisticated intranet with a wide range of capabilities. Last year a small not-for-profit organisation with roughly 100 employees (the University of Westminster Student Union) was able to launch a great intranet with targeted communications, collaboration and “apps” based on WordPress and designed and built in-house by a non-IT person. Other organisations are launching complex intranets quickly and easily by deploying turnkey “intranet-in-a-box” products. The smallest companies can now afford highly complex #intranets. Click To Tweet

The rise in interest in search stalled

In 2016 two of our winning entries (Philips and White & Case) had some great improvements around search. On the basis some of the other entries and conversations outside the realm of the Awards, I felt we were on the edge of seeing more great examples of improved search. Somewhere I think I even described it as a “surge” in interest in search. But it just didn’t happen in the 2017 Awards and, overall, search-based entries proved strangely elusive. Has interest in search stalled? Hopefully we’ll get some inspiring search entries this year. (If you’re reading this and you’ve done something, make sure you enter!)

Most channels branded as digital workplaces are still intranets really

The term ‘digital workplace’ has become more and more commonly used by intranet teams to describe job roles and platforms. I think that’s a healthy development and emphasizes the wider value of the intranet, and the essential experience of the teams that run them. Intranet professionals can bring their expertise to the wider digital workplace.

However, many intranets or portals branded as “Digital Workplace” are still essentially intranets which act as a gateway or front door to the wider set of systems and applications used through the enterprise. And while I think the rebranding is healthy, it does mean some entries labelled as “digital workplace” and some as “intranet” pretty much have the same sort of scope.

Intranet and Digital Workplace teams aren’t great at measurement.

I know measuring intranets and digital workplaces is not always easy. Generally, you might be using tools which are designed for websites not digital workplaces. You might not have the time and resources to act on what you measure. And some of the benefits of intranets are intangible. But I also don’t measurement is a core competency of intranet and digital workplace teams.

We ask teams to give us evidence of the business impact of their intranet and while the anecdotal evidence is strong sometimes the numbers could be more convincing. Intranet and Digital Workplace teams aren't great at measurement. To prove worth, value and impact, we need more than statistics and lofty claims about employee engagement Click To Tweet

Last year’s Platinum Winner, ANZ, had well-thought out metrics tied to convincing use cases. It was a breath of fresh air and was one of the reasons it won. But it was an exception – I’m afraid intranet and digital workplace teams just aren’t great at measurement. There, I said it.

Entries come from roughly equal numbers of women and men

Generally, my experience of the “intranet community” is that it’s a sector which is neither dominated by male or females. It’s not like tech development or primary school teaching where there may be under-representation of women or men. In 2017 the gender split of the chief person submitting an entry (who tends to be a key person on the intranet or digital workplace team) was 52% female and 48% male.  That’s a pretty good balance in my book.

Entering the Awards

If you’ve done some great work on your intranet or digital workplace then you should consider entering. It’s completely free to enter (with no hidden costs down the line, only the time you put in) and winners get a lovely glass trophy. You and your team will also get global recognition for your efforts.

We’re accepting submissions until May 25^th2018 but we can sometimes allow a small extension by prior arrangement if you’ve run out of time.  If you have any questions please do get in touch. Good luck – we look forward to receiving your submission!