The structure, function and quality of the intranet is often a reflection of the organization it represents – a reflecting pool of an organization’s culture and dedication to knowledge sharing and employee communications.

Of course, this is not always the case. I’ve seen some great intranets at companies that are not fun to work at (strong execution, poor culture). Alternatively, I’ve seen terrible intranets at good companies (strong culture, poor execution).

In Health Inspectors and Corporate Intranets Jeremiah Owyang writes a good blog about the intranet’s direct reflection of the organization…

“One could learn a lot from looking at an Enterprise Intranet, think about how it is:

• Structured (Silo’d or cohesive departmental sites)
• Information Flows (top-down, bottom-up, sharing or collaboration of information)
• Efficient and effective (web usability, organized information architecture)
• Demonstrates Corporate Unity (cohesive, holistic user experience, and branding)
• Is there Love and care for information (records kept up to date, single set of data which ultimatly translates to how employees deal with customers)

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Intranet Design Wars

© 2006 Toby Ward - Prescient Digital Media

Short notice but Bill Ives is conducting a workshop on what Blogs Bring to the Enterprise for the SLA at Bain & Co. 131 Dartmouth St. Boston, MA:

It starts at 9 AM with registration and networking. The workshop runs from 9:30 to noon. The combination of accessibility, transparency, and archiving that blogs provide has the potential to greatly enrich business communication. This session summarizes the insights gained from our interviews for Business Blogs: A Practical Guide and other sources. It addresses the use of blogs for enterprise applications such as marketing communication and knowledge management, as well as internal communication, project management, and collaboration. I hope to see your there.