February 7, 2012 at 9:19 am | Posted in benchmark, benefit, best practice, collaboration, content management, digital workplace, engagement, governance, homepage, intranet, mark morrell ltd, plan, publishing, research, SharePoint 2010, social media, standards, strategy, training, usability, user testing, value, wiki | 1 Comment
Tags: applications, benchmark, benefit, best practice, beta testing, blog, bt intranet, collaboration, content, digital workplace, engagement, governance, help, homepage, intranet, intranet applications, Mark Morrell, plan, publishing, research, sharepoint 2010, social media, standards, strategy, usability, user testing, value, wiki
Thinking about what is the best way to implement SharePoint 2010?
Are you looking for good examples of managing intranets?
Are you planning how to transform your digital workplace?
Maybe you want to use collaboration tools to increase employee engagement?
Now you can find helpful information on all these areas in one site. It combines my first-hand experience managing BT’s intranet with my knowledge and help improving other intranets to show how you can improve your intranets and digital workplaces.
If I can help you further please contact me whenever you want to.
November 24, 2011 at 9:28 am | Posted in benefit, best practice, career, digital workplace, homepage, intranet, value | 4 Comments
Tags: benefit, best practice, bt intranet, career path, digital workplace, intranet, Mark Morrell, value
I read with interest the blog posts by Tony Byrne ‘Death of the Intranet‘ and by Martin White ‘Death of the Intranet: ‘The Times They are a-changin’‘. They are both interesting posts with provocative titles to catch the attention. It has caused some great discussions about intranets which is great. The biggest and most negative reaction I found has been from intranet practitioners who feel it is an over reaction and not how they see things.
Having recently been an intranet practitioner as the BT Intranet manager before becoming a consultant, I can see the subject from both points of view. I believe intranets are still live and kicking To adapt the famous quotation by Mark Twain after hearing that his obituary had been published in the New York Journal “The reports of the death of the intranet are greatly exaggerated” in my opinion.
Continually evolving
I believe intranets are naturally evolving and maturing. Over the past 15 years intranets have been called many different names. Intranets have needed to adapt to changes in technology, different business requirements and climates. But they are still here and thriving. The digital workplace is a wider environment that intranets will be a vital component of. Yet another evolution for intranets to absorb and adapt to.
Wikipedia says ‘Increasingly, intranets are being used to deliver tools and applications, e.g., collaboration (to facilitate working in groups and teleconferencing) or sophisticated corporate directories, sales and customer relationship management tools, project management etc., to advance productivity. Intranets are also being used as corporate culture-change platforms. For example, large numbers of employees discussing key issues in an intranet forum application could lead to new ideas in management, productivity, quality, and other corporate issues.’ I agree with that from my experience of how intranets generally are being used.
Different tools to access intranets like mobiles won’t end the intranet. It’s just another opportunity to show how adaptable intranet can be in providing the information people need while on the move from their smartphones. Intranets are still the bloodstream for information and applications, properly managed and accessible any time, any place, any where and more and more using any device, that employees need to do their work each day.
Passionate practitioners
I am writing a report about how the passion showed by intranet practitioners about their organisation’s intranet that they manage can help accelerate improvements. I believe it is the personality as well as the abilities of an intranet manager that can help achieve more. Intranet practitioners know better now than ever before how to feel the pulse of their intranet and organisation it supports.
I recall in my previous role how I would champion again and again something I believed passionately about would improve BT by its adoption sometimes against sceptical line management as well as partners like IT and some stakeholders. Of course, judgement is critical as your reputation will suffer if you keep getting it wrong. My point is that passionate intranet role models are being created which other intranet practitioners can benefit from and will continue to help intranets improve in the years ahead, not die.
The development of the digital workplace will be seen not as a threat but more as an opportunity for two reasons:
- The intranet will fit well within the digital workplace and grow in influence on the back of it as more senior stakeholders see how the organisation will benefit from adoption.
- The digital workplace role will be another step an intranet practitioner can consider when looking for their next career move (more on this in a later post).
Increasing relevance
Intranet managers don’t feel intranets are dying – quite the opposite in fact. They believe intranets are moving into a more critical role for the organisations they support. More and more they are seen as providing a business critical role. This is a long way from just being another communications channels. While I see intranets that are struggling to show value and be taken seriously by their senior stakeholders, there are many intranets growing in value and championed by practitioners who have learnt how to seek support and sponsorship and can talk the language of the business not just the technology.
I believe senior stakeholders, as with intranets, have matured in the last few years. They understand better how intranets have added value, shown benefits in the wider sense and don’t think in straitjacket terms of just ‘return on investment’ so loved by Finance for business case submissions.
For me intranets are a living organism at the heart of organisations, managed by passionate people and increasingly championed by senior stakeholders who ‘get it’ about intranets and can see how they will continue in the wider digital workplace that is unfolding now.
October 19, 2011 at 10:43 am | Posted in best practice, beta testing, collaboration, digital workplace, engagement, intranet, social media | 1 Comment
Tags: best practice, beta testing, bt intranet, collaboration, digital workplace, engagement, social media, user testing
I posted recently that I will be a panellist at the Social Workplace conference in London, UK, on 1 November. Ahead of the conference I was interviewed for my views on the social workplace by Jon Ingham discussing engagement and collaboration.
You can see my interview on YouTube if you are interested or just curious to see me in my digital workplace. There is also a great interview with Sam Marshall who will be at the conference too.
It was a bit wierd talking to Jon using my webcam and not fully appreciating my facial expressions!
I hope to meet you at the conference or tweet about it on the day if you can’t make it.
September 28, 2011 at 11:43 am | Posted in collaboration, engagement, governance, intranet, SharePoint 2010, standards | 1 Comment
Tags: best practice, bt intranet, collaboration, engagement, governance, sharepoint 2010, strategy
When you have one of the best intranets globally – don’t take my word for it, ask the Intranet Benchmarking Forum who independently assessed it – why would you decide to make the biggest change to your intranet since it was created over 15 years ago?
Simply communicate have published a great article I have written which explains why BT decided on SharePoint 2010 and how it went about implementing it successfully while I was the BT Intranet manager.
I hope you enjoy reading it. 
September 26, 2011 at 1:55 pm | Posted in best practice, collaboration, governance, intranet, SharePoint 2010, standards | 5 Comments
Tags: bt intranet, collaboration, engagement, governance, intranet, sharepoint 2010, standards
I have used my first-hand experience implementing SharePoint 2010 (SP 2010) as the former BT Intranet manager, combined with my knowledge from working with other global organisations also implementiing SP 2010, to write a whitepaper on the risks and rewards of SP 2010. It also builds on my SP 2010 posts in this blog.
You can download a free copy of the whitepaper and learn about the risks and rewards SP 2010 presents.
This whitepaper provides a first-hand look at some of the strategies for implementing SP 2010. The paper provides information that will:
- Help guide an organisation from initial consideration of SP 2010 through to the first day of a successful implementation and, most importantly, beyond
- Provide guidance on how to ensure an effective content governance framework, and define organisational standards
- Show you how to incorporate automated compliance solutions to help protect against non-compliant or inappropriate content
- Highlight how to make the right technology decisions for your business to maximise the rewards that collaboration brings and avoid any risks or pitfalls
This will help you understand what strategies will assist your organisation in implementing SP 2010.
You can also join me on a webinar to discuss the whitepaper on Wednesday, October 19, 2011 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM BST.
It would be great to have a conversation about SP 2010 with you.
September 8, 2011 at 9:30 am | Posted in collaboration, digital workplace, engagement, governance, intranet, mark morrell ltd, social media, value | 11 Comments
Tags: bt intranet, collaboration, digital workplace, engagement, governance, intranet, Mark Morrell, social media, value
It’s the type of question I am hearing more frequently. It’s being asked by intranet people, CIOs, senior business operations managers and even a few CEOs. It’s important that it is answered clearly and fully. The alternative of ignoring it is to risk a repeat of what happened to knowledge management in the late 1990s when it was ‘the thing’ to talk about and be seen to be doing but sadly, in many cases, never able to meet its full potential helping businesses.
I don’t claim to know all the answers and there is more than one way to address this question. In fact it is a deeper and complex subject which needs covering for this question to be answered fully.
Based on my knowledge and experience in my new role as an intranet pioneer and as BT’s intranet manager with intranet governance, social media, engagement and digital workplace I will post my suggestions on how you can:
- engage people in your organisation
- encourage better collaboration
- get the culture right
- adapt to changing ways of working
- make an impact on the bottom line that your business watches
August 18, 2011 at 9:32 am | Posted in digital workplace, engagement | 3 Comments
Tags: bt, bt intranet, digital workplace, engagement
With perfect timing for my recent posts on the benefits of the digital workplace, the Evening Standard had a great article showing how the London Olympics will have a major impact on the digital workplace in just under 12 months time in 2012.
The aim is to reduce by one third the number of daily commutes to London while the Olympics take place from July 27 – August 12, 2012. Sebastien Coe, head of LOCOG (The London 2012 Organising Committee), has led calls for flexible working and urged leading employers to follow the example of bankers JP Morgan, Citigroup and HSBC who plan to overhaul their working practices.
Companies that already have this sort of flexible working like BT, have realised that there are huge benefits for their business. While I was the BT Intranet manager, 70,000 people worked flexibly accessing the digital workplace with 13,000 never going into an office. BT says its homeworkers are 21% more productive than office-based colleagues.
This is the right time to start planning to implement my digital workplace principles so you are ready ahead of the Olympics.
Some banks believe the Olympics will be the tipping point for widespread adoption of the digital workplace. With savings in productivity and property costs, reduced impact on global warming with fewer journeys and employees more engaged and happier it is a compelling, winning, formula.
The real legacy from the London 2012 Olympics could be digital working becomes a reality for many workers.
April 13, 2011 at 12:37 pm | Posted in benefit, best practice, content management, governance, intranet, publishing, SharePoint 2010, social media, value | 5 Comments
Tags: best practice, bt intranet, governance, publishing, sharepoint 2010, social media, users, value
In my last post ‘It’s how you use SharePoint 2010 that decides the value it brings’ I covered how setting the right level of permissions when you publish with SP2010 is critical to the value it can bring to your organisation.
In this post I will cover how vital it is to set the right level of permissions for people using the information published. The value to be gained by your organisation can vary tremendously depending on how effective this is done.
Factors to consider for people using SP2010 content are:
1. Mobility
It is vital that people can use SP2010 wherever they need to be for their work. This may not be in their normal place of work. People are more mobile and need to use it from their mobile device, laptop or even other people’s equipment.
You need to get the balance right so there is no or minimal risk to security and maximum benefit through time saved not having to go back to your workplace or contacting colleagues for the information you need (and stopping them from productive work).
The information needs to be presented in the best format and SP2010 isn’t very good with that. For mobile devices it is WAP, text only, format which is poor compared with what other publishing tools are capable of. C’mon Microsoft – improve it!
2. Security
It is important that people can use the information they find. It’s critical that it is the correct information they find too. By this I mean they don’t stumble across some sensitive content.
It may be your organisation is regulated and you need to set different permission levels for people in one part of your organisation from another.
So, make sure when SP2010 is set up, the correct permissions are allocated for everyone depending on their employment status, which part of the organisation they belong in and the grade and role of individuals.
If you get this right it will again minimise the risk of a breach in security while making sure people can use the information they need for their work.
3. Accessibility
What do you want people to do with the information they find? While most people only want to view it, other people may want to contribute and build on to what exists.
So you need to set the correct permissions so only the right people can change it while others can read it but need to ask the owner before they can update it.
It is important to remember the different types of content published in SP2010.
Accredited content will most likely be owned and managed by one person. Only they should change what is published.
Collaborative content can be owned by one person, group or be everyone. It is important permissions are correct so the information can be updated and increase in value with each contribution. Remember:
IT IS HOW YOUR ORGANISATION USES SP2010 THAT WILL DECIDE WHAT VALUE IT BRINGS.
More on how people can distinguish different types of content in SP2010 in my next post.
March 31, 2011 at 9:00 am | Posted in application, benchmark, intranet, mobile, publishing, SharePoint 2010, social media, usability, user testing | 8 Comments
Tags: applications, benchmark, bt intranet, intranet applications, mobile, sharepoint 2010, user testing, users
When will organisations start designing and creating applications, web pages and social media tools with mobile devices as the first priority before PC users?
More and more people are using smartphones for their work. While travelling or working remotely from their normal place of work they need to use their intranet.
But we still design for PC users as the first priority. This can mean it is more difficult than it need be when using a smartphone on your intranet wasting unnecessary time or having to involve others taking them away from their work.
When will the tipping point come and first priority be to check that anyone with a smartphone can have a great experience using a new intranet tool?
When the Intranet Benchmarking Forum last benchmarked BT’s intranet they said “BT’s intranet is designed to support mobile workers so it is fully accessible from mobile devices. Mobile users use a text-based interface.”
People in BT can use their Blackberrys to:
With the rollout of SharePoint 2010 it is critical that people can use their Blackberrys to do this. As you can see from comparing these screenshots showing SP2010 sites using a PC and Blackberry that is possible.
How long before the experience is as good or even better when you use a smartphone compared to a PC though?
March 24, 2011 at 9:59 am | Posted in benchmark, best practice, collaboration, community, intranet, research, social media, value | 4 Comments
Tags: benchmark, bt intranet, collaboration, social media, value
In my last post ‘Measuring the value SharePoint 2010 can bring to your organisation’ I covered how you justify the benefits SP2010 may bring to your organisation.
Now I want to widen this on to show you five examples how you can benchmark and assess the value your intranet adds to your organisation. They meet all your budget needs (some are free!).
1. Benchmarking the whole or part of your intranet
This is the gold standard for intranet benchmarking. The Intranet Benchmarking Forum can benchmark all your intranet, the financial value it brings or just some areas e.g. governance and strategy, communications and culture, performance and metrics or usability. They will soon benchmark using their digital workplace maturity model (a phrase getting a growing acceptance). You also can share your benchmarking results with other members and learn more on best practice, etc.
The benchmarking does cost depending on what you want.
2. Benchmark with people who use your intranet
The Worldwide Intranet Challenge gives you a free opportunity to ask people using your intranet to complete a set of questions modelled on previous experience to find what most intranet people need to know about their intranet. You can benchmark your findings with other intranets.
If you want to use it again there is a cost but you will have the first set of results to compare your progress with and measure the improvements.
3. Share best practice with intranet communities
Meeting other intranet professionals and sharing similar/same experiences is very difficult to put a value on. It is very high in my opinion! Meeting people at conferences (and some of the speakers too) is great value but you don’t go to many and can’t choose who will attend.
Maybe joining a group of intranet professionals regularly to discuss common issues of interest gives more value? You choose!
IBF, IntraTeam and J Boye are three communities that immediately come to mind. Some offer introductory free attendance but if you are serious you need to subscribe and stay for at least one year. I find the more you put in to these groups, the more value you gain from them.
4. Share best practice online
You can join many online communities for free that can help you to benchmark (more informally) your intranet with others. You may need to spend more time and effort rather than money building up relationships to the level of trust you need to share the, shall we say, not so good parts of your intranet with others. You need to find out what role people have first too (consultant, intranet professional, thought leader).
LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Yammer are the obvious places to start but there are other good places to join online communities I may not be aware of.
5. Benchmark with an intranet ‘expert’
Finding out what is best practice and how your intranet measures up to this standard needs a lot of care and attention. You can misunderstand raw data on intranets and not place it in the right context. Paying an intranet ‘expert’ who has years of experience, able to share knowledge easily and give you what you need can be money well spent for the benefit it can gain.
There are far too many intranet experts for me to mention them all and their fields of work vary. The people who immediately come to mind that I would recommend are Jane McConnell, Martin White, Janus Boye, Michael Sampson, Kurt Sorenson and James Robertson but there are other great intranet leaders who can help you.
So, you have 5 examples to benchmark your intranet. Before you act, think about:
- what you need to do
- how much funding you have
- what are your timescales.
I’m sure there are other examples that people reading this may want to share that have helped them. Please post a comment!
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