Intranet platforms

Choosing the right platform suite is the single most important decision an intranet manager must make

Most intranets are built on a patchwork of individual applications such as a content management system (CMS), search, social media and digital asset management. There may be several versions of the CMS or even multiple CMS applications. The problems of managing a set of applications from different vendors are not visible to the intranet user, but they certainly are to intranet managers, IT managers and content contributors.

Many large organisations already use enterprise suites to manage intranets and digital workplaces.

ECM, OpenText,SharePoint
Websphere, SAP, Jive, Weblogic, Newsgater, Yammer

Considerations for choosing or migrating platforms are myriad, and include:

Factors to weigh in platform selection

The main elements of an enterprise suite that could support the evolution of an intranet towards a digital workplace are:

business intelligence
collaboration
content management
digital asset management

office productivity
search
social media
usability

Timetable – think months or years, not weeks

“The secret of the successful migration/upgrade of a CMS-based intranet to an enterprise suite with social media applications is the amount of planning that takes place before any binding decisions are made.”

Recent resources on intranet platforms

What digital workplace teams need to know about Office 365: understanding the opportunities

Office 365 is Microsoft’s fastest growing commercial product ever.1 Recent DWG research found that 48% of organizations are already using it and an additional 15% planned to in the next year. Up to 40% of DWG members are planning to introduce ...
Getting recognition for your intranet and digital workplace

One of the best ways to get recognition for your intranet or digital workplace is to enter a competition such as the Intranet and Digital Workplace Awards from Step Two, or DWG’s very own My Beautiful Intranet. Gaining recognition for your ...
How 2 companies leveraged social intranets to turn around culture and revenue

Every organization has cultural and communication challenges – some more than others. Here we explore two organizations that were in a bad spot culturally and financially. While technology alone did not solve their problems, a new kind of intranet improved ...