Stromberg Consulting, part of Ketchum, has issued a report on the 2006 Macro-Trends in Internal Communications.

The author, Cynthia Roy, provides some excellent insight and backs it up. Though some of the cited research raises an eyebrow (27% of adult Americans now read a blog regularly… I doubt that very much.)

Roy cites seven trends that are “shaping the communications landscape”:

1. Democratization of Information
2. Strategic Imperative
3. Employee Engagement
4. Demonstrating ROI
5. Segmentation and Globalization
6. Simplicity
7. The Emerging Trend: Personalization

A solid list and a worthwhile read. One communications trend though that I believe is understated is the advance of technology particularly the intranet/portal and social media such as blogs, wikis and podcasting. Of course, I need not go into too much detail backing up my argument… feel free to surf this site!

© 2006 Toby Ward - Prescient Digital Media

Securing your intranet requires more than just technology. In fact, employees represent your highest risk and point of breach.

CMPnet.com’s David Joachim covers the top 10 worst security practices in Lethal lapses:

1. If you find a security hole, buy a product to fix it.
2. Ignore the human element.
3. "Full speed ahead and damn the torpedoes" is our motto.
4. To run a tight ship, take an authoritarian approach.
5. Make access privileges an all or nothing proposition.
6. Treat all data as equal.
7. Back up everything, every night.
8. Perform audits and penetration tests infrequently, and in-house.
9. Endpoints for everyone.
10. Make sure security is highly visible, even intrusive.

“Most of these observations are about process and behavior rather than technology,” writes Joachim “That's not to say technology isn't important. But security pros generally have a mastery of bits and bytes and how to protect them. What's often missing is a sense of the big picture and how each separate alteration to the network affects the whole.”

RELATED READING:

Assessing your security risk

Best practices: securing your intranet

Email and intranet are biggest wireless threats

Securing your intranet from the inside

I was, as they say, ‘in the dark’ when I worked on developing my first intranet (about 1995). Not only were intranets (as we know them today) brand spanking new, they were and are inside the corporate firewall. Therefore it was and is rare to actually see what they look like and truly learn an intranet’s strengths and weaknesses. Best practices were fleeting.

The best place to see and learn about other intranets (outside of this blog of course J) is to go to a seminar or conference that talks about best practices and showcases actual intranets. We can talk theory all we want, but nothing substitutes seeing the real thing.

World-class intranets: proven practices for success is a seminar produced by Prescient Digital Media that we’re kick-starting in Quebec. Led by our Quebec-based senior consultant Claude Malaison this seminar will talk about being the best – and it will show some of the best. Best of all, it’s free!

Avec leur expérience hors du commun et leur longue pratique du métier, les spécialistes invités (séminaire et déjeuner gratuits) aborderont : comment les entreprises et organisations des secteurs privé et public peuvent maximiser leur investissement dans un intranet super performant ; et des études de cas de vrais intranets qui fonctionnent !

Among other things this seminar will showcase how private and public sector organizations can maximize their investments in a high-performing intranet. Of course, there will also be real world case studies of successful intranets.

See World-class intranets for more information.

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On another note I must apologize for my unusually deceptive April Fool’s joke below. Normally I don’t do April Fool’s jokes, but I must have been feeling particularly devilish this past Saturday… Some sent kind notes or voiced concern. I am very appreciative to receive them. It’s nice to have friends. It was however in jest and I didn’t mean to give anyone a scare! I thought my shtick about “pastries” would’ve been a sure-fire clue!