“The cloud” is ever-present these days, backed by a huge marketing push from multiple vendors, including Microsoft, Google, Amazon and Apple. Backed by immense data centres located in (often) rural locations, “the cloud” will apparently transform our lives.

While it’s still early days for the cloud, it’s clear that it will ultimately have a big impact on the way we manage our information as consumers. It will also make substantial inroads into the enterprise space.

So with executives and IT alike talking about “the cloud”, what does the intranet team need to know?

1. The cloud means many things

With the cloud still heading up the Gartner hype curve, the marketers have started to apply “the cloud” label to many things, including what used to be called software-as-a-service (SaaS). These days, the cloud encompasses...

Source: www.intrateam.com Posted by admin 4 days, 2 hours, 24 minutes ago

The 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer, published last week, finds a deepening sense of distrust in governments, businesses and institutions. The annual global study, which questioned 30,000 people in 25 countries, reveals a dramatic shift in the value people place in information sources – which, in turn, has some interesting implications for communicators and intranet managers.

Across the globe, blame for the financial and political chaos of 2011 landed at the doorstep of government, as trust in that institution fell nine points to 43 per cent. In seventeen of the 25 countries surveyed, government is now trusted by less than half to do what is right. In twelve, it trails business, media and non-governmental organizations as the least trusted institution.

Source: sharonodea.co.uk Posted by admin 6 days, 2 hours, 9 minutes ago

The second week back in the office after the Christmas and New Year break is the oddest time, the holiday break feels very distant already. It’s a great time to propose ideas, plan out and prepare yourself for the intranet year ahead. So, what do we think 2012 has in store?

Here’s the intranetizen 2012 prediction list:

• Austerity measures and the Olympics will drive companies to enable more home working

The intranet as a ‘digital workplace’ will become a step more real and more people will be encouraged to stay home and use the intranet to share documents and collaborate.

• SharePoint maintains position, but 2012 is the year of the augmented social

And a few more...

Source: intranetizen.com Posted by admin 25 days, 1 hour, 50 minutes ago

The company intranet is kind of like the middle child in a family. We care about it, but its siblings usually get more attention. In this scenario, the siblings are external websites and social media channels. Websites always seem to get the makeover and the budget allocations when push comes to shove. Since social media is the last born, it’s the pride and joy of the company and leaders are focusing on this fun and energizing medium.

What many companies and leaders do not understand is that the intranet connects employees with the company and is an important engagement tool. Engagement equals happy employees, less turnover, increased innovation and savings on the bottom line. These things matter.

Source: www.iabc.com Posted by admin 53 days, 2 hours, 19 minutes ago

One particular statistic from the Swedish internet use report for 2011 was how everyone in Sweden in the 16-25 age group uses social media.

For a fair while we’ve been discussing the expectations of young employees in the workplace, but this statistic is about as big as a wake-up call as an organisation can get.

It’s time for companies to stop slacking, pull their intranet socks up and get social.

Source: beantin.se Posted by admin 68 days, 1 hour, 3 minutes ago

Most companies think publicity when they think social media. Usually their thoughts go straight to Facebook or Twitter, and the focus is on external audiences. Which begs the question, why ignore those closest to you – your employees?

In my experience, the “internal social” discussion generally begins when everyone agrees the intranet is a disaster. Many companies default to the path of least resistance, Microsoft SharePoint. According to intranet consultancy Prescient Digital Media, this may be a mistake....

Source: www.communicatto.com Posted by admin 68 days, 1 hour, 12 minutes ago

There has been a lot of coverage lately on the future prospects of corporate intranets. Some say the intranet is dead, some say the intranet is alive but "limping" into the future. I somehow manage to agree with both.

The intranet as we know it is dead and it is currently limping into a new future where, once we arrive, we will not be able to recognize old-school intranets as intranets anymore. It wouldn't surprise me if the intranet concept undergoes a total rebranding and drops the moniker of "intranet." In predicting this future and how it will become concrete, one must understand many different perspectives.

Source: www.cmswire.com Posted by admin 74 days, 35 minutes ago

Although they offer many benefits, implementing a social intranet can be challenging. Here’s what to do.

Social networking has been widely adopted by the public. We use it to share pictures, thoughts on current events, and invitations to parties, as well as to engage in collaborative play. We connect with family, friends, business associates, and strangers. It’s a platform pioneered by the young, but adopted by the masses. And now it’s so ingrained in our personal lives that employees are starting to demand in the workplace the same ease of communication and collaboration they have at home.

So, what makes an intranet social?

Source: www.ragan.com Posted by admin 81 days, 2 hours, 2 minutes ago

Intranets are dead. Long live the Digital Workplace!

OK, this is partly an argument about labels, but labels matter. What most employees understand as their "intranet" -- updates from corporate communications, some HR forms, and a mountain of outdated docs -- is increasingly irrelevant.

The issue here is not that traditional intranet services have somehow lost value. Rather, it's that business units are moving on. They don't want to be "lured" to your vision of an intranet. They want some fairly specific services. From what I can see, there is a confluence of factors here...

Source: www.realstorygroup.com Posted by admin 86 days, 1 hour, 54 minutes ago

Intranets don’t work. Why? Because  not enough resources are given to them to ensure they have a chance of success. Why aren’t resources made available? Because intranets don’t work. A vicious circle is born.

In this post I’m attempting to provide an approach that may help intranet teams to make the case for better resources and to break out of this vicious circle for good.

Why intranets are a low priority in most organizations

Intranets in trying to be everything to everyone have generally failed to ...

Source: patrickcwalsh.wordpress.com Posted by admin 87 days, 2 hours, 40 minutes ago