As I’ve written before, one of the great rewards of being a traveling intranet consultant is the opportunity to learn from many organizations, clients and colleagues about their intranet success and failures.

I’ve had the privilege to come to know and learn why Xerox continues to be an intellectual leader which is well exemplified by their intranet portal, WebBoard.

WebBoard is actually a series of internal websites but they are held accountable to defined governance, style and standards. The governance model is what I consider text-book ideal for most organizations (though what is good for one is not necessarily good for another). The intranet is owned by corporate communications but ultimately governed by a small senior executive team. Policy includes effective use and intranet development – with guidelines on content, technology, etc.

This policy and the accompanying standards create a unified, seamless user experience that is a hallmark of most successful intranets.

“It brings people to one seamless experience from an intranet perspective for broader employee access to tools and information,” says Karen Allen, Manager of Employee Communications and the Xerox WebBoard. “There’s a sense that it is familiar, you’re not jumping to different sites or experiences – we’re trying to create a simple, seamless experience so users know what to expect.”

The home page features true portal functionality including individual personalization and role-based customization (e.g. human resources professional, marketing communications, internal information, technology support, etc.). Customization options include stock market ticker, news sources (still working on external news feeds), organization news, weather, and formatting options.

All 58,100 Xerox employees have intranet access and the site enjoys 3-4 million page views per month – roughly two page views per employee per day. Not bad at all. That’s an engaged user population.

I believe however the key to Xerox’s intranet success has been their strategy. They developed a plan with defined objectives and goals and they engaged and involved both employees and senior executives in developing their strategy.

How secure is your intranet? The IT department has likely has gone to great lengths to protect financial and customer systems and databases but have they applied the same rigor to the intranet or portal?

Intranets and portals have grown exponentially since becoming mainstream in the early 1990s. Some are millions of pages large. However, the intranet has typically taken a backseat as the poor cousin to customer websites.

“Although media and management attention is focused on protecting external-facing sites from security threats, identity theft and other online vulnerabilities, intranets should not be overlooked,” writes Peter McKay, CEO of Watchfire in a recent Federal Times article When securing information, don’t overlook intranet. These sites can easily be compromised, and government IT executives are now realizing the need to expand security and privacy practices to agency intranets.”

If you’re a communicator, HR or marketing person responsible for the intranet then you need to ask the right questions of your IT department. First and foremost is understanding what you have, what is available to a wider audience, and what is specifically being done to secure it.

“Only by understanding the intranet environment — the domains, websites, directories, content, servers, technologies in use, and the policies and standards in place — can agencies ensure that they have adequate control of this information and its delivery,” says McKay. “The first step is to conduct an agency wide (assessment) to evaluate the size and complexity of the intranet. By conducting a thorough assessment agencies can effectively evaluate risks. Managers can then make informed decisions about risk mitigation as well as server and application consolidation.”

Things to look for:

·         Identify systems and servers not up to date or otherwise not conforming to IT standards

·         Orphaned content and rogue intranet sites and servers

·         Applications that work or communicate outside the firewall

McKay recommends several key steps to “effectively manage the compliance risks and costs of managing agency intranets:

• Conduct an inventory of internal Web properties to better understand the Web environment. Knowing how many sites and servers you have, the technologies in use, and the technology policies and standards your agency employs will create a more secure and productive intranet environment.

• Scan your intranet with an automated solution to identify vulnerable areas, including forms that may be inconsistent with internal privacy policies or may lead to information leaks.

• Understand what employee and citizen information is being collected and published on the Internet and intranet. The intranet is used to publish sensitive information, including human resources forms and employee health care information. Full knowledge of all online data-collection methods is critical to effectively managing Web privacy.

• Understand exactly who has access to this sensitive information. Proper technology and security controls will allow employees to see only the information required to do their jobs. Often, contractors are granted access without careful consideration for all the information they may have access to.

• Consider applicable security, privacy and accessibility legislation such as the 2002 Federal Information Security Management Act, the 2002 E-Government Act and the 1998 Rehabilitation Act amendments.

 Did you know that IBM had about 10,000 intranet sites and it has taken years to reduce this to about 6,000 intranet sites?

“Slow and steady wins the race.”  There are dozens of fables about how the underdog or the “little guy” came out ahead in the long run, and these lessons can give you food for thought when approaching your intranet launch and how your organization achieves success afterwards.

It’s not the best idea to break into a sprint as soon as the starting gun goes off.  Providing your departments with access to a robust content management system and some web space without first implementing a site governance model can be akin to handing gunpowder to a baby.  Unfortunately, this is what many organizations do when releasing an intranet, to “just get it out there”.  A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, and before you know it--boom!--you have unmanageable site sprawl.

And you don’t have to be a company the size of IBM to have intranet sprawl. It’s not uncommon for most medium size companies to have hundreds of intranets (I’ve seen ratios of 1 intranet site per 10 employees). Just imagine the wasted money and resources by not pooling those costs together....

Often the most successful intranets start off in a very humble way (especially in smaller organizations), with not much more content than employee classifieds or the company phone list or even a cafeteria lunch menu.

Some organizations grow their intranets organically, with a department or an employee quietly taking charge, perhaps as a pet project, occasionally enhancing it with features that specific departments ask for.  The intranet can sit collecting cobwebs for months before more staff become aware of its presence and usefulness.  Managers begin to ask for more and more additions, until suddenly the site captures the interest and imagination of employees, and the intranet becomes well liked and indispensable. 

These “organic” sites may not be pretty to look at, but tend to iteratively improve over time.  It’s the distribution of easy-wins and low-hanging fruits that allow an intranet to gain “traction” and acceptance and drive more employees to the site.  Growth comes slowly over a long period of time, but the site becomes indispensable in the process.

Planning out your site deployment, placing some structure around how it’s managed, launching tools and content that will engage staff and listening to feedback, will make it the “go to” site when they start their work day. 

And in the end a little preparation, practice, and thought is going to allow you to gain the traction your site needs to make it to the finish line.

A clever and obviously well funded high school in Price Hill, Ohio is demonstrating some clever innovation. According to The Price Hill Times (Elder's digital studio allows endless creativity), Elder High School is using a state-of-the-art production studio to produce and stream full news broadcasts including live sporting events via the school intranet:

PRICE HILL - ElderHigh School's new state-of-the-art digital production studio is allowing students to endlessly explore their creative capabilities.

This past summer a room in the SchaeperCenter was transformed into the studio, which doubles as a workspace and classroom complete with the latest digital production computer equipment.

"Our boys' creativity is unbounded," said Jerry Hamburg, Elder's technology director. "Anything they can think of, they can do right here in this studio.”

Students began using laptop computers last year to complete class projects and produce video broadcasts of sporting events and school activities for their Web site, www.elderhs.tv. But the new studio provides them with the resources to take learning to the next level, he said.

The room is stocked with two high definition camcorders, studio-quality lighting, a green screen, news anchor desk, several laptop and desktop computers, scanners and a high-powered computer with the newest digital production software, he said.

"We are the first school in the state to have high definition camcorders, we're exactly on the leading edge," Hamburg said. "We can replicate what any professional studio does.”

Elder students will use the studio when producing video for the Web site and creating broadcasts for the streaming Web cast on the school's Intranet, he said.

Students in the video club will also use the technology to make videos for their peers and community organizations, and students in courses such as history, film study and digital production will use it as an innovative approach to learning, he said.

"One of the great ways to learn is by doing hands-on projects and learning visually," he said.

Last year Elder students worked with the Price Hill Historical Society to make a video about Price Hill history, and this year students will make a documentary featuring the first-hand accounts of World War II from local war veterans.

Students can film a teacher conducting a science experiment, post it on the Intranet site and then other students can view it before class so they know exactly what they have to do, he said.

Hamburg said, "It is unbelievable what we can do here."

An interesting read yesterday in the Seattle Times on the evolution of search engines and how they are “redefining” our lives. It got me thinking about the horribly pathetic state of enterprise information retrieval at most companies.

First, some of the Internet stats quoted in the Times:

·     Google remains the top banana representing 47% of all searches; Yahoo! is runner-up with 23% of Internet’s search engine queries (Nielsen/NetRatings)

·     76% of users who have used a search engine; 56% use a search engine on any given day; 32% of users say they “can’t live without” search engines (comScore, Pew Internet & American Life Project)

·     3.9 billion queries on Google in August 2004 (comScore, Pew Internet & American Life Project)

Unfortunately, I was not able to find comparable data on enterprise intranet searches (I doubt it exists but I’d be grateful to any reader who posts a reply with any related data or study).

However, here’s what I did find on enterprise intranet search:

·     According to IDC and Delphi Group, the average knowledge worker spends about a quarter of his or her day looking for information (Google)

·     “An enterprise with 1,000 knowledge workers wastes $48,000 per week – $2.5 million per year – due to an inability to locate and retrieve information.” (IDC)

·     A Roper Starch Worldwide study (2000) found that on average, “Web-rage is uncaged after twelve minutes of fruitless searching, although about seven percent of the 566 people surveyed by say ire starts rising within three minutes” (ZDNet)

It’s worth noting that the number one complaint I hear about the corporate intranet at nearly every single client I’ve worked with (dozens) is “I can’t find anything.” Though I haven’t myself witnessed intranet ‘web-rage’ first hand....

Unfortunately it’s usually not the search engine’s fault; it’s the lack of system and/or execution of how web publishers categorize or save information (e.g. keywords, page titles, meta tags, etc.).

This may sound familiar if you read my article “The search isn't broken, we're broken.”

A disaster zone under marshal law. Estimates of thousands dead and $50 billion dollars in damage. The speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Dennis Hastert, has suggested New Orleans might well be “bulldozed” rather than rebuilt.

I just talked to my friend and colleague Charles Pizzo who is a fellow communicator and one of the affected by Hurricane Katrina. Pizzo and his mom fled their homes in New Orleans. They were amongst the more fortunate who were able to get out before the mandatory evacuation. Despite their early start, Charles spent hours trying to find accommodation that fit their needs. Originally, the closest they could find was a hotel in Little Rock, Arkansas. After spending part of the first night in their car they were able to find a place in Fort Worth, Texas.

Pizzo intimately knows the damage caused not only by the hurricane itself, but by the damage of flood waters including rampant disease being spread by spreading sewage, the many dead, and a lack of medicine, food, and potable water. Charles calls it “a fecal cholera death swamp.”

The Gulf Coast needs your help. I just made a donation and I challenge you to do the same. Here’s a list (compliments of CNN.com) of places you can direct your help:

• Network for Good

• American Red Cross -- (800) HELP-NOW

• Feed the Children -- (800) 525-7575

• Salvation Army -- (800) SAL-ARMY

• Florida Hurricane Relief Fund

• America's Second Harvest -- (800) 771-2303

• Catholic Charities USA -- (800) 919-9338

• B'nai B'rith International -- (888) 388-4224

• United Jewish Communities

• Union for Reform Judaism

• Church World Service -- (800) 297-1516 ext 222

• MercyCorps -- (888) 256-1900

• Noah’s Wish -- (530) 622-9313

• North Shore Animal League -- (877) 4-save-pet

• Operation Blessing -- (800) 730-2537

• Episcopal Relief and Development -- (800) 334-7626

• Habitat for Humanity -- (800) HABITAT

• The United Way -- (800) 272-4630

• Humane Society of America -- (888) 259-5431

• ASPCA -- (866) 275-3923

• Lutheran Disaster Response -- (800) 638-3522

• Mennonite Disaster Service -- (800) 348-7468

• Water Missions International -- (843) 769-7395

• United Methodist Committee on Relief -- (800) 554-8583

• The Baton Rouge Area Foundation -- (877) 387-6126

• Society of St. Vincent de Paul

• Samaritan’s Purse -- (800) 665-2843

• Christian Reformed World Relief Committee -- (800) 55-CRWRC

• Food for the Hungry -- (877) 780-4261 ext 2506

• Northwest Medical Teams -- (800) 959-4325

• World Relief -- (800) 535-5433

• Adventist Development Relief Agency -- (800) 424-2372

• Southern Baptist Convention -- (888) 571-5895

• Save the Children -- (800) 728-3843

• International Medical Corps -- (800) 481-4462

• American Friends Service Committee -- (888) 588-2378

• AmeriCares -- (800) 486-4357

• International Aid -- (800) 251-2502

• International Medical Corps -- (800) 481-4462

• International Orthodox Christian Charities -- (877) 803 4622

• International Relief and Development, Inc. -- (703) 248-0161

• International Relief Teams -- (619) 284-7979

• International Rescue Committee -- (877) 733-8433

• Life for Relief and Development -- (800) 827-3543

• MAP International -- (866) 627-4483

• Mercy (M-USA) -- (800) 55-MERCY

• Operation USA -- (800) 678-7255

• Oxfam America -- (800) 77O-XFAM

• Relief International -- (800) 573-3332

• World Concern -- (800) 755-5022 ext. 0

• Moveon.org: Hurricane housing

Pizzo and other communicators could use your help too. They’ve lost most if not everything. Despite being one of the so-called lucky ones, Pizzo’s business – like many dozens of other communicators and like professionals in New Orleans and the GulfCoast – was largely “washed away.” In satellite photos posted on the Web, Charles was able to identify his house, surrounded in water – only his roof visible. Photos of his mom’s house shows nothing but water. Likely gone forever.

If you’re a communicator or business manager and owner and need outside help then give Pizzo a call. He’s an extremely talented man and here’s a rare chance to reap the rewards and assistance of a senior practitioner who has some rare bandwidth. You can Skype him at: charlespizzo. Or call him at: (817) 263-9006 ext 7410 (room 135).

Other commumunicators are also in need of work:

Read Shel Holtz’s blog: New Orleans communicator seeks help communicating

Read Warren Bickford’s blog: Post jobs for victims of Hurricane Katrina - FREE