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Which Department Should Own the Intranet?
Are you still wondering who should be entirely responsible for your intranet? Let's find out in this article!
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Overview
Back in the 1990s, the intranet was often hand-coded HTML pages with links to documents, and the IT department clearly owned it. However, this was the time when the workplaces were not yet digital. Today, technology has improved and more and more businesses are taking advantage of this to create a digital workplace.
Now, the question still remains, who owns and manages your company’s intranet? Is it your internal communication team or the HR department? Perhaps, multiple departments can manage your intranet, right?
One of the reasons why it’s difficult to assign ownership is because a modern intranet includes a range of capabilities and features such as content management, collaboration, social communities, internal communications, forms, workflows, and many more.
Should it be managed by the IT department?
Yes, it’s true that your IT department owns lots of software used by your company. However. They are not the primary users of your intranet. Therefore, it doesn’t make sense that they should own it.
Although it is hosted in the cloud, your Google Workspace intranet is still handled by your IT. Any IT team will want to own and manage all business technology, especially with security and data management being so important in today's organisations. Any technology cannot be introduced without the approval of IT.
Steegle Springbaord, for example, only needs the IT department during its implementation. This allows IT to spend time helping users find the information they want and doing self-service on their pages of the Intranet.
Since intranets are a people solution, shouldn’t it be handled by the HR department?
Your employees should have access to important HR documents such as the policies and procedures.
You want to incorporate tools that will allow your employees to apply for annual leave, manage their employment documentation, deal with performance reviews, conduct training, and claim expenses.
Do you want to use it to develop a strong organisational culture and build your company brand? That’s definitely the responsibility of the HR department.
HR is frequently chastised for being the last to learn about technological advances and handle employment administration.
It's clear that there's a case to be made for strong HR involvement in the Google Workspace intranet – perhaps even ownership.
Or should it be the Internal Communications Department?
Large organisations have a dedicated internal communications department and they are most likely the best candidate for owning the company intranet. Although they won’t be the sole owner, they have more access to the intranet than the other teams or departments.
The internal communications department is responsible for managing content and communications on your intranet.
But, who really owns your intranet?
Your intranet will either be successful or a failure. A modern intranet is usually owned by more than one department. It’s unfair for the IT department to claim ownership when they are not experts in fostering two-way communication.
Your management team is only able to handle and store data, thus giving them sole ownership over the intranet is not a good idea.
If your intranet should be owned by one group, it should be your employees.
They are the ones who are focused on using the intranet and communications. They are the ones who will report to the right department when they are experiencing issues or they can’t locate important documents. However, your employees NEED help to keep your intranet functional.
At the end of the day, no matter which department owns or manages your intranet, what is important is to ensure that the people using it have the ability to keep content updated, drive change, and make updates.
As long as your intranet can do that, you don’t need to worry too much because you’re on the right track!
Why is Intranet Ownership Important?
Managing an intranet is complicated. When you don’t have a clear ownership structure, it can put your intranet at stake and could mean:
Important activities get missed
Duplication of effort or content
Lack of collaboration on projects that may lead to inefficient practices
Employees “do their own thing”
User experience is inconsistent
Intranet failure or decline
Lower employee adoption rates
It could also lead to loss of investment and long-term strategic direction. Since there is no overall ownership, nobody ensures that the intranet evolves to meet the needs of its users or your intranet will not evolve into a modern workspace that motivates employees.
Best Approach to Intranet Ownership
Include functions that need to be involved including HR. Communications, and IT
Set up structures to improve communication and decision making
Provide clarity on which department owns the different aspects of the intranet such as technical responsibilities, managing content, and design
By doing this, the question about who really owns the intranet is less about “IT department vs HR department”. Rather, it should be about the different departments working together to produce a functional and effective intranet.
So… how do you create a Google Sites intranet?
Great question! Steegle is a Google Cloud Partner and has been using Google Sites since 2008. We have developed intranets for large and small organisations with a friendly team using built-in powerful robust and scalable Google Technology as well as our own specially adapted software widgets to make the intranet fly - become a hub of activity where people will want to come back to for years to come.
We can get basic sites customised exactly to your brand and house style within 5-days. You can use our templates for page structures that make sense (being based on the Nielsen Norman ideals of an effective Intranet) as a starting point for your organisation without the need for complex wireframes or project planning. We’ll also be by your side as you start the big task of populating the system and setting it up to fit your company’s culture, and you can get user feedback on your draft site to quickly adapt and change it to meet their needs.
Step one is to get in touch with us so that we can give you a walkthrough of our system. Book a demo to kickstart the process!
Article by Maria Gabrielle
Looking for a customized intranet solution for your organization?
Since 2008, we here at Steegle.com have been delivering intranet development solutions and ongoing support and maintenance for organizations including hospitals and medical institutions. As a certified Google Cloud Partner, we specialize in Google Workspace- based solutions. Give us a call at US ✆ +1 (302) 672 3007 UK ✆ +44 (207) 871 502 or contact us today to view a demo of our intranet solutions, and see how it can help increase employee productivity and save time and money. Click below to learn more about the Steegle.One Intranet solution.
Sales Hotlines
US ✆ +1 (302) 672 3007
UK ✆ +44 (207) 871 5021
UK ✆ +44 (207) 871 5021
