Essential Tips for Deciding: Redesign Your Intranet or Start Fresh?
If your intranet isn’t meeting expectations anymore, you're not alone. Many organizations find themselves wondering: Should we try to redesign the present solution, or replace it with a new, better-designed one?
A well-functioning intranet is essential for mid-sized and larger organizations, keeping communication, collaboration, and productivity on track. But when stakeholders and end-users feel the platform has grown stale and no longer meets their needs, it’s time to reassess.
Here are some tips to help you start evaluating your intranet and decide whether to improve or start fresh with a redesign.
Gather feedback from stakeholders
Reach out to stakeholders and end-users through surveys, focus groups, or one-on-one chats. Identify their pain points and expectations. Look for common themes in their feedback to guide your next steps.
Evaluate usability and user experience
Conduct usability tests to assess navigation, search functionality, content organization, and overall design. Identify any usability issues that may hinder user engagement.
Review content relevance and currency
Perform a content audit to ensure relevant and up-to-date information. Identify any outdated or missing content to meet the needs of different user groups within your organization.
Assess performance and scalability
Analyze technical performance by checking page load times, uptime, security, and scalability. Determine if the current setup can effectively accommodate future growth.
Consider integration with business systems
Evaluate how well your intranet integrates with external systems and applications, such as CRM tools or project management software. Identify any gaps that may hinder efficiency and collaboration.
Evaluate costs and assess benefits
Compare the costs of improving the existing intranet versus developing a new one. Assess potential time and resource savings, along with the expected return on investment (ROI).
Determine alignment with business goals: Check if the current intranet supports key initiatives like employee engagement and knowledge sharing. Assess its ability to adapt to changing business needs and objectives.
Conclusion
Regularly assessing your intranet is essential for keeping it effective and relevant. By gathering feedback, evaluating usability, reviewing content, analyzing performance, and ensuring alignment with business goals, you can make an informed decision on whether to redesign your existing intranet or invest in a brand-new solution. This proactive approach ensures your intranet remains a valuable resource that drives communication, collaboration, and productivity across your organization.
