It is not enough just to set up a governance framework underpinning your strategy. While they are prerequisites for a well-managed intranet, you also need to measure and demonstrate the benefits the intranet provides for your organisation, especially if you need further investment in the intranet or its governance.
Traditional Return On Investment (ROI) financial benefits usually have the biggest impact on your organisation, especially on those approving financial spend. However, there are other types of benefits with significant value. You need to consider all of the following to justify the benefits of good governance:
- Financial benefits that impact on the bottom line of your organisation’s financial results
- Quantified, non-financial benefits, such as improved productivity
- Unquantified, non-financial benefits such as culture changes
Some benefits are easier to measure. Other benefits have greater prominence with your stakeholders. The amount of benefit measured may also vary. Sometimes you may find the amount is so large, the benefits can be difficult to justify as achieved. You will need to judge the best benefits to justify investment in the intranet.
An example would be a change in people’s behaviour that increases productivity with time saved. This may appear to deliver a large amount of benefits. However, showing what people do with that time saved can be harder. Are they working better or on other work tasks, or are they relaxing and having more time to talk with colleagues? It can be demanding finding a suitable benefit.
Remember to:
- Choose how to measure the benefits your intranet provides.
- Decide when is a good time to measure the benefits e.g. interviewing people before and after a major change to assess its impact on their work activities. There are different approaches to take when you measure these benefits.
- Consider how much time you have to measure the benefits, what resources you can call upon, and whether you need wider expertise.
Find out more information on how to manage your publishing community and intranet from my new book ‘Digital success or digital disaster?‘. Read the introductory chapter to find out more. A license to share the ebook with publishers across your organisation is also available.