6 Critical Strategic Steps in Structuring Internal Collaboration Portals

Proper interaction is the foundation of a functional system of understanding different teams in an enterprise. Whether you already own a comm strategy or on your way of developing one, we are here to provide a structured guide to assist you in the process.

While unraveling steps you need to take in creating a platform for boosting internal communication processes, we’ll consider how social intranet features are fundamental in the process.

1. Define Your Approach

How would you go about when streamlining horizontal and vertical interactions? What tools are you going to use? What social intranet features will you consider fundamental? These are some of the queries you need to ask when sculpting your approach.

Consider people, content, and conversations taking place in your company. Know which teams work remotely, which comm channels are effective and who will be in charge of the process.

2. Outline Your KPIs

If you want to succeed in your chosen approach, you’ll have to consider core indices that will determine the performance and success of your process. Such metrics may include the number of users using the platform, a general acceptance of the system, employee engagement levels, productivity levels, and employee satisfaction.

When using your interaction portal, make use of social intranet features in blogs and forums like “commenting,” “liking,” and “sharing” to understand users’ perception of the new communication system. Implement recommendations from managers, IT specialists and other users to help you personalize different sections of the platform for various groups.

3. Decide on the Platform Admins

You can have a premium tool with excellent social intranet features, but without focused and well-trained people running the platform, you are bound to fail. System admins provide security and permissions to ensure those publishing content, sharing documents and querying the database does not compromise the system.

4. Clearly Define Goals and Objectives

What do you want your communication platform to achieve? Set the objectives straight and tailor your processes towards achieving them. This ensures that you stay on track and measure your success based on the final outcome.

For instance, if you want to increase collaboration and engagement between workforce teams, know which teams to target. Know which social intranet features to use and how you can deploy new sites to boost ROI.

5. Who Is Your Audience?

Understand your staff to help you develop a versatile platform that meets the needs of every person. You must acknowledge that not all platform users are alike and design a system that meets the communication needs of each team and department.

Include common social intranet features like open publishing rights, commenting, instant messaging, news feeds, and surveys to create an engaging communication portal. Also, segment social sites by department and function to create a personalized space for various teams.

The communication platform you choose will be informed by your goals and current and future communication needs to develop a priority action matrix. If you were not sure where to start in establishing a robust internal communication tool, contact us at LS Intranet. We will team up with your IT staff and executive to engineer a communication suitable for your organization. Meanwhile, look around to understand the intranet system and features.