Articles
What are your options for implementing a social intranet?
Going social with your intranet could add significant value to your business, but what are your options for implementation?
Rather than trying to boil the ocean, it’s advisable for most organisations to take a phased approach, starting with a high level blueprint for going social with a SharePoint intranet.
The best approach may be to gather key stakeholders together in a small workshop. This normally includes representatives from HR, corporate communications, business strategy and IT. The task for this group (possibly working with a facilitator), will be to investigate specific requirements of the organisation, and put together a high-level plan that can be presented to decision-makers.
Firstly you’ll need to socialise the idea of social with key people in the organisation. This will usually involve an introduction to how social networking inside the enterprise actually works, and demonstrate key capabilities such as communities, profiles and expertise location.
The next step involves gathering a subset of your requirements, uncovering possible use cases, and identifying user journeys that illustrate business benefits and strategic alignment.
It is important to understand the maturity of your organisation in relation to information management and your overall organisational readiness for success with social technologies. An important consideration may be how you can leverage your existing SharePoint implementation.
When is a good time to implement social tools? Every organisation is different, and there may be more fundamental issues hampering your organisation other than not being social e.g. findability, document management and collaboration. The workshop should help to surface these issues.
The take-out from this exercise should be a brief summary of recommendations on the best way forward for your social intranet, complete with information to support your business case and overall planning. 
This blueprint should provide:
- overview of possible scope (including objectives, benefits, where to start)
- suggested approach (what can realistically be achieved, including quick wins)
- achievable timelines
- indicative costs
This blueprint will be invaluable in gaining buy-in from key decision-makers in the organisation. It’s an essential first step in your social journey.
