Participate in the Digital Workplace Trends 2013 survey and get a free copy of the report.

The fabulous Jane McConnell's Digital Workplace Trends survey for 2013 on once again. Jane's survey is now in its seventh year and is consistently the largest and most extensive study of Intranets and the Digital Workplace undertaken annually.

The annual report that result from the survey is an invaluable reference tool for all Intranet Managers. Its provides analysis of digital workplace trends, strategy and governance from over 160 organisations world wide. I have always found immense value in participating in the survey each year as it provides a change to reflect on your organisations direction and strategy and as a bonus, your participation results in a free copy of the report.
If you are an Intranet Manager in any sized organisation and would like to participate in the Digital Workplace Trends 2013 survey sign up to participate right now.

The future has already begun. Is your Intranet ready?

After reading the recent piece by @gvanleemput, Mobile Intranet - Nice to have or must have? I was inspired to put down some personal thoughts and observations.

Over the past 6 months in my organisation I have noticed a huge increase in the number of employees being provided with iPhones and iPad's for work purposes.

Our company now offers customers most of its services via mobile applications and has a growing presence on Twitter and Facebook. Around 25% of employees now use iPad's for business purposes. I am sad to report though that our Intranet has not yet been optimised for delivery on any mobile devices and we are early on in discussions on how this will be achieved.

Data obtained from Jane McConnell's Global Intranet Trends for 2011 of last year indicated that only about 7% of participating organisations were already providing Intranet information and services via smart phones and other mobile devices and 40% of Intranet Leaders were well on the way to delivering mobile services. I can't wait to see the results of this years Digital Workplace Trends 2012 and have a suspicion that the figures for mobile optimisation will have risen significantly.

One of the benefits I enjoy from presenting at Intranet conferences is the opportunity to get to know other Intranet Managers and discuss the many common problems we experience. When discussing Mobile Intranet delivery a couple of common obstacles have been:

Concerns about security of information delivered to mobile devices
Company leaders have in the past raised the issue of the security of company information delivered to mobile devices and also the security of the devices themselves. Many a Blackberry has been left in a taxi from time to time.

Delays in deciding the mobile devices to be rolled out and supported
Blackberry's ruled business as the preferred portable device for many years. It has only been in recent times that the functionality and usability of modern alternatives has become mainstream for business users.

The future for Intranets and information delivery is very exciting. Technology is continuing to evolve rapidly. Many of the past obstacles have been removed and perceived risks addressed. Mobile computing devices once seen as science fiction are now mainstream products. I believe that Mobile Intranet information delivery is definitely a must have in today's business world.

Preliminary feedback from this year's Global Intranet Strategies survey

Participating in Jane McConnell's annual Global Intranet Strategies survey is rewarding in so many ways. Its wonderful to know that you are contributing to a survey that each year provides a valuable snapshot of Intranet trends, developments and strategies from across the globe.
The biggest rewarded comes when participants receive a complimentary copy of the report.

The annual report is an essential reference tool for any Intranet Manager in any sized organisation and I look forward to receiving my copy every year.

There is still time for Intranet Managers to participate in this years survey. You have until the end of August 2010. The more participants, the more useful the data so sign up for the 2010 - 2011 survey today.

Jane has this year provided participants with some preliminary observations from the responses received so far. Please Note that these figures are provisional but definately give you an idea of the valuable information this wonderful survey provides.

Strategy drivers for the intranet are shifting a little
Communication has become even higher as a strategy driver for the intranet: 92% consider it a primary driver compared to 87% last year. Appeal for the new work force has dropped significantly from 17% last year to only 9 % this year.

Collaboration is still in "middle land"

• Over 30% say "Collaboration spaces are available from the intranet via 1 or more links, but are not well-integrated."
• Just under 20% say "Collaborative spaces are well-integrated throughout the intranet in different, relevant sections."
• Around 5 % say "We consider the entire intranet to be "collaborative" and do not make a distinction."

Overall, the use of social media internally is about the same as last year, hovering around 70%.
However, this year we asked you to indicate how many years you've used social media internally. The figures break down fairly evenly from "less than 1 year" up to "3 or 4 years". Percentages range from 17% to 30 % for each segment. 8% responded 5 years or longer! In the final report we will be looking closely at the difference between the early adopters and more recent adopters in terms of results, strategies, experiences and measurement.


Silos exist in the very places where they should not!
75 % of the organizations say "Our employee support functions sometimes work as silos. (HR, Communication, IT, etc.)". This figure is 25 percentage points higher than the other options: collaborative silos, geographical/language silos and value chain silos (logistics, R&D, sales & marketing, etc.). This was a new question in 2010. We will see how it evolves in 2011.

Involvement of senior management in the intranet
Nearly every participant responded to this open text question, so there'll be lots of verbatim in the final report.

If you found the above as interesting and relevant to your Intranet as I do you should definately sign up for the 2010 - 2011 survey today while there is still time.

Follow Jane McConnell on Twitter, @netjmc and subscribe to her NetStrategy/JMC blog for excellent knowledge on Intranets large and small.

Video Snipits from Four Intrateam 2009 Keynotes

Here is another example of how the organisers of Intrateam make the conference an interesting and informative event for those of us who were unable to be there in person.

I was under the impression that these videos were from this years event but I am advised by Kurt Kragh Sørensen from Intrateam that these videos were in fact from last years event. Kurt also advised that the videos from Intranteam 2010 are still to come. Something to really look forward to.

Each keynote speakers does a brief 5 minute video interview after their presentation. If you are an Intranet Manager interested in the future of entrerprise Intranets I enthusiastically recommend checking out each of the videos I have embedded below.

I have to admit that I am a little biased toward the featured presenters below having met and known two of them for a few years now and have enjoyed a professional online relationship with the others for some time also. For those who do not know these guys here is a short summary on each.

James Robertson - Managing Director, Step Two Designs
James is a true Intranet Guru. He seems to live and breath Intranet and always seems to have a finger on the pulse of what the future might hold for Intranets and Intranet management. James is also a prolific Blogger and blog reader and his Column Two blog is essential reading for any Intranet Manager. James and Step Two also run the annual Intranet Innovations Awards that I am sure many of you are familiar with.

Jane McConnell - Founder, Netstrategy/JMC
For the past 4 years Jane has produced the Global Intranet Trends Report. This report is compiled from the results of the worldwide Global Intranet Strategies Survey that Jane facilitates annually. I have participated in the last 3 surveys and would highly recommend that all Intranet Managers sign up to take part in the upcoming 2011 survey and you will be rewarded with a participants copy of the report once compiled.

Martin White - Managing Director, Intranet Focus
Martin is the author of The Content Management Handbook. He could also be called a Search Guru with a wealth of knowledge and experience in good, bad and ugly enterprise search implementations and management. Martin is currently working a another book, The Intranet Governance Handbook that is due out in August 2010.

Toby Ward - President & CEO , Prescient Digital
I have only met Toby via Twitter and have found him to be a fabulous source of Intranet Information. His blog, Intranetblog.com is a valuable source of ideas, thoughts and observations about Intranets and Enterprise 2.0. I hope one day to be able to meet and chat with Toby in person to expand on our current social media facilitated relationship.

_________________________________________

James Robertson - Transforming the Intranet into a Business Tool
Managing Director - Step Two Designs
Blog - Column Two
Twitter - @s2d_jamesr

Jane McConnell - Main Conclusions from the Global Intranet Trends Report
Founder - Netstrategy/JMC
Blog - Globally Local-Locally Global
Twitter - @netjmc

Martin White - Why is an Intranet Strategy Important
Managing Director - Intranet Focus
Blog - Intranet Focus Blog
Twitter - @IntranetFocus

Toby Ward - Pros and Cons of the MOSS Platform
President & CEO - Prescient Digital Media
Blog - Intranetblog.com
Twitter - @Tobyward



Intrateam 2011 is planned to take place in March next year and if this years event is anything to go by it will be well worth any Intranet Managers effort to attend.

Intrateam 2010 - Conference day one summary as viewed via Twitter

Intrateam 2010 is an International Conference about Intranet and Enterprise 2.0 currently taking place in Copenhagen. This event is THE place to be if your are interested in the future direction of Intranets and the people who use and manage them. International Intranet thought leaders like James Robertson, Jane McConnell, Michael Sampson, Mark Morrell and Martin White have been wowing delegates with their extensive knowledge and thought provoking presentations on day one. Needless to say I am green with envy at all who have had the opportunity to attend this gathering of Intranet gurus.

Now those of you who regularly use twitter to follow information on Intranets would have no doubt seen tweets from conference attendees in the past. I have never really been a huge fan of this practice. The tweeted comments on presentations usually lack context and seldom provide any value for people on the outside looking in. But that was before I started following the #IE10 comments posted from Intrateam 2010.

Following event proceedings last night from my home in Sydney was just fantastic. The tweets from #IE10 were gems of information. Thought provoking questions, insightful observations and valuable advise were coming thick and fast in less than 140 characters. I am now convinced that provided the person tweeting from the event has the ability to communicate key points and not just a stream of topics, following conference presentations on Twitter can be an entertaining and informative experience.

Here are some of the tweets from 4 of the English sessions on day one.

Future Intranet for New Ways of Working - Jane McConnell, Intranet and Portal Specialist
(Jane presented some of the key results from her Global Intranet Trends 2010 report)

• HR is a chameleon. Could be your best friend and worst enemy. @NetJMC #IE10
• 30% of ordinary employees have content publishing in their job description @NetJMC #IE10
• 60% are satisfied or very satisfied with search @NetJMC #IE10
• 10% is planning on optimizing mobile access @NetJMC #IE10
• 40% is planning access from home @NetJMC #IE10
• 20% have optimized commenting on intranet @NetJMC #IE10
• 45% have internal blogs and wikis today @NetJMC #IE10
• 5% use social media across the organization. More are testing and planning @NetJMC #IE10
  Correction - @NetJMC Advises that her presentation stated "60 % are using social media today with another 25% planning to do so.
  06 March 2010 - Thanks Jane
  Janes Correct data on Social Media within organisations here.
  

Building the Best Practice Intranet - Andrew Wright, Managing Director, CIBA Solutions and Stephan Schillerwein, infocentric research

• Andrew Wright and Stephan Schillerwein is arranging a competition about the most important for enduser @IntranetMatters @Roojwright #IE10
• Personlization was rated lowest by endusers. @IntranetMatters @Roojwright #IE10
• Winner was News - surprise @IntranetMatters @Roojwright #IE10
• Finding instuctions for completing work tasks was better than news. Judged by endusers - Sorry @IntranetMatters @Roojwright #IE10
• The best intranet in World Intranet Challenge is run by an IT-guy walking around talking to employees @IntranetMatters @Roojwright #IE10

How Newsdesk helped Shell save $5 million - by Rossen Roussev, former Shell Enterprise Portal manager

• Shell saved $15m on a budget that was 10% of that amount.#IE10
• Shell portal rolled out to 142k people in 142 countries #IE10
• Few users will personalise - most want content profiled for them #IE10
• Use words and phrases that help management achieve their business objectives. Rossen Roussev Shell #IE10
• More important than the (impressive) number of $ saved by shell's intranet was that it was done in a way that management bought into #IE10
• shell's savings came from overlapping media contracts being stopped #IE10
• Comms people were creating a lot of newsletters round the world. Replaced by centrally Newsdesk. Rossen Roussev Shell #IE10
• Contracts rationalization 73 contracts identified USD 17 million a year replaced by internal newsfeed Rossen Roussev Shell #IE10
• Think about your organisation. Value and perception. Walk and talk. Rossen Roussev Shell #IE10
• Don't explain to management how great the intranet is. They don't care. It's all about value and perception. Rossen Roussev, Shell#IE10
• "Get out there, talk to people, do your homework!" Rossen Roussev, Shell #IE10
  (PR - Loved this snipit - sometimes feel like shouting it at people)
  

Is your Intranet Ready for 2012? - Martin White, Intranet Focus Ltd

• Try to type "confidential" in your search box on the intranet. Scared? Martin White @IntranetFocus #IE10
  (PR-Tried this morning. Not as bad as I first feared it may be)
• Abandon hope for those enter here. Is that then welcome message on your intranet? Martin White @IntranetFocus #IE10
• Information is not seen as a business asset. Why not? Martin White @IntranetFocus #IE10
• You can't be an intranet manger for the rest of your life, you'll go insane! Martin White @IntranetFocus #IE10
• Security gets blamed for everything. Martin White @IntranetFocus #IE10
• The intranet is NOT an IT system The intranet is the only IT-system not having a specific purpose. Challenge? Martin White @IntranetFocus #IE10
• Be more specific when asking about what employees do? Martin White @IntranetFocus #IE10
• The value of your information is the sum of all salaries in the company and you are failing to manage it! Martin White @IntranetFocus #IE10
• Collaboration technology gets rolled out without specifying collaboration requirements and goals. Martin White @IntranetFocus #IE10
• Not many had made the requirements BEFORE installing collaboration tools. Not done with many other things! Martin White @IntranetFocus #IE10
• Challenger launch decision. Good book about collaboration according to Martin White @IntranetFocus #IE10
• We share information because we trust each other. Break trust and collaboration breaks. Martin White @IntranetFocus #IE10
• What is the career path for intranet managers? (We can't do the one job for the next 20 years) @s2d_jamesr #IE10
• We focus on the media not the social. A social media guide does not make it social. Martin White @IntranetFocus #IE10
• The biggest intranet challenge is where they bump up to ERP. Millions invested in ERP. Martin White @IntranetFocus #IE10
• The future intranet has to be independent on location, language, department and technology. Martin White @IntranetFocus #IE10

I plan on following the #IE10 tweets from day two of this event tonight and am looking forward to another sessions from Jane McConnell, Step Two's James Robertson, Mark Morrell from British Telecom and Collaboration guru Michael Sampson. Does it really get any better than this?
If this event is on again next year I am going to pull out all stops to attend. Just the conversations during breaks would be well worth the price of the airfare from Australia.

Future principle: ubiquitous access

James Robertson writes in his latest Column Two Post.

In 2015, staff will have ubiquitous access to information and functionality, delivered at the point of need, regardless of where they may be. This means going beyond the “intranet as an internal website”, a concept that has been holding back intranet teams for many years.

James has a clear vision of how Intranets will be expected to deliver by 2015. Full and seamless access to all the information you require to do you job quickly, efficiently and conveniently and the ability to do so wherever you are is certainly a worthwhile goal for an Intranet.

I have recently been investigating the possibility of providing key intranet content like contact information and employee self service function via mobile device. But first I am told I must decide on which mobile platform I am going to deliver my Intranet content to. Blackberry or iPhone?

I think I am going to tread water for a little longer before I commit and see what smart middleware developer can come with something that will handle both..

If you are such a developer or supplier, feel free to post comment and we can discuss.

Highlights from the Global Intranet Trends for 2010

Those of you who read my blog will know I am a huge fan of Jane McConnell. Jane works very hard to produce a Global Intranet Trends Report annually and the 2010 version will be available to purchase later this month.

I have been a contributor to the survey that allows this report to be compiled for the last three years and as such am lucky enough to receive a contributors copy of the report.

For those who are not so lucky, Jane has just published an overview of highlights from this years document on her excellent Globally local - locally global blog.

Highlights from the Global Intranet Trends for 2010
I'd like to share a preview of some major observations from this year's survey. These points and others are developed in the Global Intranet Trends for 2010 report.

As I mentioned above, if you take part in Janes annual survey you get to see a contributors copy of the report before anyone else. That alone is well worth the time it takes to complete her survey. The bonus of contribution is that the more companies that take part, the better the data in the report becomes so it is definitely a win / win.