Businesses worldwide have been busy with digital transformation, upgrading systems, overhauling processes, and stacking talent benches to deal with the unique challenges presented by a raging pandemic.
However, many CIOs get that if their companies are to serve clients and enhance customer experience, they must provide employees with a highly functional digital workplace.
In fact, a Gartner report divulges that 30% of organizations can attribute their competitive advantage to their workforce's ability to productively use emerging digital technologies for mission-critical work.
For many, this means deploying Microsoft 365 applications and integrating them seamlessly into everyday work processes. It offers easy accessibility and a good user experience needed to get the most out of the corporate intranet. This is important because an intranet that is too challenging to operate can ultimately put off users and hamper productivity in the workplace.
So, if you want to leverage intranet for the digital transformation of your business, make sure that it is intuitive and can work with existing tech in your workplace.
What You Need to Know About Digital Workspaces
The digital workspace supports internal teams with the latest technology solutions. As a result, it makes collaboration easier and work a lot more productive.
However, you can't expect people to become digitally savvy using old equipment and technologies. So, it's important to update employee devices such as mobiles and laptops and software such as communication technology and intranet platforms.
A study conducted by IDG, a research company, showed how 89 percent of businesses have planned to transform their workspace soon or already have digitally. And these businesses are already experiencing the benefits of improved workflows.
This is not just a technological trend; it has become the way for companies to move forward in a digitally savvy era.
Communications tech like intranet platforms are there to make business processes quicker while improving interdepartmental collaboration. However, employees face issues when new tools are implemented, and they aren't trained to use them.
This leads to confusion, resulting in the total abandonment of efficiency enhancement tools. Also, installing software that is not intuitive and difficult to integrate with existing technology can complicate internal processes further.
3 Simple Microsoft Intranet Best Practices to Follow
Maximize your digital workspace by following these Microsoft Intranet best practices:
Proper Navigation
Intranet portals are essentially multi-site environments that can be understandably confusing to navigate. Appropriate navigational systems are essential to overcome this issue.
This makes it easier to outline information by tasks, subtasks, and departments, saving time, making the intranet easier to use. In addition, building the navigational system at the origin can allow users to add subsites so that navigation becomes easier for them.
Style Guides and Clean Design
Ensure a clean and clutter-free design by first creating a style guide to monitor the setup of your office intranet. It should detail everything – from the way information is organized to which colors are used to keep the intranet on brand.
The guide should also include info on appropriate image sizes, content format, sources, and content types.
Remember, your Microsoft Intranet is like a homepage for employees. Make sure they find it fun, convenient, and valuable by following best practices.
Outline Accessibility and Ownership Rules
Plan intranet governance to prevent content sprawl and ensure that everyone understands the priorities for its use. It should outline who is allowed access to which parts and files on the intranet to communicate roles and responsibilities to all who access it.
Clearly outline the roles of all intranet stakeholders, so there aren't any last-minute surprises for anyone involved.
In Conclusion
Now that you have a basic understanding of how to use an intranet to its fullest potential, it's time to let the experts take charge of your digital workspace and bring it up to speed. Definity First can help you utilize your intranet services to the best of your ability. So get in touch with us today to learn more!
