In this week’s Intranet Report Podcast I discuss with Tom Marciniak the terrible, the bad and the ugly (17 minutes). From examples of some of the worst intranets to the it’s-so-bad-it’s-funny intranet mistakes.

1. What makes a bad intranet?
2. How do intranets turn out bad?
3. How to fix bad intranets
4. The reason why intranet search sucks

TO LISTEN: visit the Intranet Report Podcast.

If you fail to disclose certain information on a corporate website, or from a corporate e-mail address, in the United Kingdom, you could be fined. Companies in the UK who do not contain regulatory information on their websites and in their e-mail footers (as of January 1, 2007) are in breach of that country’s Companies Act and risk a fine.

Whether or not your organization is in a jurisdiction that has to comply with such legislation the message is clear: with power comes great responsibility. Corporate web and intranet managers need to act responsibly with their content, and act accordingly. If they don’t already exist (or if not in the proper form), the responsibility begins with well developed and promoted policy including:

Read my full article (Ir)responsible content (on Ragan's new Content Matters blog, of which I am one of the co-authors).

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: Intranet Report Podcast -- March 15, 2007

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The Intranet Innovation Awards are global awards that celebrate new ideas and innovative approaches to the design and delivery of intranets. I’ve agreed to lend my name and Prescient Digital Media’s support to these first annual awards as I customarily highlight and regularly document and write about award winning intranets on this site.

The goal of the awards is to recognize innovative intranets (whether large or small), and to share them with the wider intranet community. Uniquely, these awards recognise individual intranet improvements, and not intranets as a whole.

The Intranet Innovation Awards are now open for submissions, which must be received by 15 May 2007. Full details on the awards (including the entry form) are at: http://www.steptwo.com.au/iia/index.html

The Intranet Innovation Awards have been created by Step Two Designs, a recognised thought-leader in intranet strategy and design. These are also truly global awards, supported by a network of intranet-savvy organisations from the US to the UK, Europe and beyond.

“Intranets must innovate in order to prosper; they must constantly grow and evolve to better meet the needs of the organisations they serve,” says Step Two’s James Robertson. “While there can be no single 'best intranet', there are innovative ideas and approaches that warrant recognition.

The Intranet Innovation Awards have therefore been established to celebrate the great work done by intranet teams across the globe, to give them the recognition they deserve.

Gold Awards are given across four different categories, each focusing on a specific aspect of intranets. Platinum Award winners are then chosen to recognise the most extraordinary entries for the year.

These awards are about improving all intranets, by increasing the pace of innovation across the whole of the intranet community. Every idea, no matter how small, adds to our understanding of what it means to have a successful intranet.

Read more about the awards and download the entry form.

Every intranet should have a business case; a justification for being, including metrics that prove its worth. Along with user satisfaction, traffic metrics, and ROI, benchmarking information (what others are doing) is also important to know.

For the best possible data, the 2007 Global Intranets Survey (hosted and conducted by Jane McConnell) needs your participation. If you are an intranet manager or consultant then it’s in your best interest to spend 30 - 60 minutes completing this survey.  Every respondent will receive a complete report of the findings – which is very good intelligence for your intranet business case.

To participate in this year’s2007 Global Intranets Survey pleaseContact Jane McConnell.

The 2006 Survey revealed a number of key trends:

• 13% said their senior management perceived the intranet as "business critical
• 55% said their employees would be disturbed in their work if the intranet "went down" for 1 to 2 hours
• 60% say the main obstacle preventing the intranet from achieving its potential is that it is "too communication" and lacks integrated applications
• 70% say that a "lack of awareness of the potential role of the intranet" slows down strategic decision making
• 47% expect their intranet budgets to increase over the next 2 years
• Only 26% are required to measure ROI to justify new or current investments.
• Only 28% have implemented internal blogs and/or external blogs and/or wikis

Take the 2007 Global Intranets Survey by contacting Jane McConnell.

The 1980s and 1990s were tough times for British Airways. The new millennium was not kind either when in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, some analysts began to wonder if BA would survive at all and talked openly about bankruptcy for more than one airline.

Since 2002, the company has re-engineered an impressive turnaround with an aggressive focus on cost-cutting and productivity. In late 2002 its share price had slumped to below £100; today BA’s share price is hovering around £500.

One catalyst for change during the impressive turnaround, in a hugely challenging business and environment, is the BA intranet. In 2001, BA put in place an ambitious plan for a low-tech intranet with lofty targets. Building on what some would call an antiquated platform, Lotus Notes and Domino, BA built an intranet that is delivering a measured value of £55 (more than US$100 million) per year.

“I have to admit I do get envious when I hear about all the technology that others (companies) are using,” confesses Alan Huish, BA’s manager of employee self-service when asked about using Lotus Notes. “But you cannot argue with our results.”

Read my complete case study feature Low-tech, high-value intraneton Communitelligence.com

The police in West Yorkshire, England, are using a simple intranet site to help catch bad guys (see West Yorkshire Police intranet helps solve crimes across the region):

"A new section of West Yorkshire Police’s own internal intranet site is proving to be a great success in solving crimes across the region.

Called ‘Caught on Camera’, the internal web page provides a central place for all photographs of unidentified people wanted for questioning in relation to particular crimes.

Officers across the Force are encouraged to undertake regular checks of the site, feeding any information they have back to a supervisor.

If an image remains on the site for over 4 weeks, it is also picked up by Crimestoppers who will then consider it for media appeals.

Since the site was set up almost 12 months ago, close to 350 people have been identified, with many leading to prosecutions.

Only last week, the site recorded 100,000 hits from visitors within the Force.

Andrew McDonnell of the Force’s Imaging Unit says it has gone from strength to strength.

"This is another example of how we can use simple technology in the fight against crime. Every officer in the Force has access to these images, so if an offender is known to officers in one area, and commits crime in a different area, they will not escape detection"

"Being able to access these images on hand held terminals while on the beat also means we are not taking officers away from front-line duties"

"In addition to exposing unidentified offenders to every officer in the Force, we can also use the images on our Facial Recognition system, which matches the face to known offenders on our database"

"The proliferation of CCTV in the UK is widespread, and many offences are captured on camera. This internal system allows us to make best use of these images and bring offenders to justice"

• The rise and importance of intranets in Denmark and Europe
• SimCorp intranet case study (focus on document management - link is to Danish only)
• Ericcson intranet case study (focus on governance and single platform)
• The future of intranets in Europe

(COPENHAGEN, DK) Can some intranets be evil?!?! I may be in Europe but I could hardly miss this insidious story from the Courant (thanks Tom): Best Buy Confirms It Has Secret Website

“Under pressure from state investigators, Best Buy is now confirming my reporting that its stores have a secret intranet site that has been used to block some consumers from getting cheaper prices advertised on BestBuy.com.

Company spokesman Justin Barber, who in early February denied the existence of the internal website that could be accessed only by employees, says his company is "cooperating fully" with the state attorney general's investigation.

Barber insists that the company never intended to mislead customers.

State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal ordered the investigation into Best Buy's practices on Feb. 9 after my column disclosed the website and showed how employees at two Connecticut stores used it to deny customers a $150 discount on a computer advertised on BestBuy.com.

Blumenthal said Wednesday that Best Buy has also confirmed to his office the existence of the intranet site, but has so far failed to give clear answers about its purpose and use.

"Their responses seem to raise as many questions as they answer," Blumenthal said in an interview. "Their answers are less than crystal clear."

Based on what his office has learned, Blumenthal said, it appears the consumer has the burden of informing Best Buy sales people of the cheaper price listed on its Internet site, which he said "is troubling."

Somebody call Batman... evil is afoot!

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