What are the advantages of an intranet or digital workplace?

Owning an intranet for your organisation is the assurance of a fluent and efficient internal communication network. Sharing important information with your employees, even when they are working from home, is essential for effective internal communication. Discover the benefits of a progressive intranet, the flexibility and personalization possibilities of a digital workplace.

What is an Intranet?

An intranet is a corporate internal communication network. It is used to optimise the exchange of information within an organisation. Today, intranet softwares have evolved a lot and they are also used for collaborative work. They are no longer only intended for very large companies and have become essential for any type of organisation.

The principle is based on a private network where the access is restricted to users who have an account on the intranet. This access can be on the company’s workstations, as well as remotely for companies that practice teleworking.

Today, modern intranets are hosted on a secure cloud. They provide a common workspace where the following are shared:

• Internal company documents ;
• Projects in progress ;
• Business applications or software, such as ERP, CRM, accounting software, or internal chat and messaging.

Web technology allows all company employees to access the resources they need to do their jobs and to communicate to each other. There is a wide range of products on the market. There are standard solutions or CMS as well as tailor-made intranets.

The traditional intranet is being transformed into a digital workplace. This platform is a real digital workspace at the heart of your IS. It brings together all the tools that employees need to work with the possibility of customising the interface.

Why use an intranet or digital workplace?

There are many advantages to the use of an intranet or digital workplace.

The advantages of an intranet for employees

The access to all business tools and company information in a centralised manner is a great help for employees. Indeed, this centralisation offers an easy access to all necessary resources.

Moreover, current intranet solutions are easy to use, as they work intuitively. The storage of documents, information and integrated applications is presented in an attractive design. Also, it is possible to customise the dashboards of each employee according to the projects they are working on and their individual needs. This way, the use of an intranet saves time for everyone, as everything is in one place.

The digital workplace concept offers collaborative workspaces that encourage interaction. This boosts efficiency and team cohesion. In these integrated collaborative environments, internal applications find their place. Microsoft Office 365 and Teams, Google Workplace, Trello, Slack can be integrated into the intranet and create a global system.

To have everything at hand is a source of satisfaction for your employees. As for exchanges, the transversality of the system makes them more frequent and fluid, including between different departments. This is an advantage for increasing the feeling of belonging to the company, and therefore for building employee loyalty.

The advantages of the intranet for internal communication

Internal communication within the company is greatly improved and your IS gains in performance. Employee commitment increases, as does their productivity. It is much easier to diffuse information to all the teams concerned. The intranet becomes social and a source of cohesion. It helps to improve and develop the employer brand, a major project for companies to keep their talents and attract new ones.

The use of a global system makes it possible to benefit from all the modern integrations approved, updated and tested on an ongoing basis. Your information system remains at the edge of technology.

The advantages of the intranet for the company

Data security is a major concern. With a cloud-based intranet, access to the system is restricted and data is fully secure. For example, Cloudflare has security procedures and tools to protect you. Your websites and web applications are safe from attacks and data loss.

Furthermore, by choosing a cloud-based intranet, you can adopt a FinOps approach. This aims to optimise storage costs and guides you towards a Green IT approach.

Likewise, the connection and synchronisation of data from different IS tools on the same system is cost effective. If it saves time for employees, their productivity is increased as well as the profitability of the company.

The advantages of the intranet for HR

Centralized management facilitates the work of HR. From an administrative point of view, many tasks are simplified:

• Creation of accounts ;
• Creation of passwords ;
• Assigning access rights ;
• Consultation and modification of information ;
• Managing different types of documents.

This is also the case for the organisation of internal events. The sharing of content by employees on the intranet is also encouraged by the platform. This type of action tends to help the employees to develop their skills. Indeed, the intranet can encourage employees to develop their skills by offering them easy access to training resources. It also allows them to share their knowledge and best practices, or to make available to them guides and procedures specific to the organisation.

Why develop a customised intranet?

As mentioned, intranets come in many forms and for different types of organisations. Nevertheless, it is possible to adapt a standard solution to the needs of the company or to have a system that is fully suitable. With customised development, Castelis can create an intranet that is fully adapted to your IS and your objectives.

What are the advantages of a customised intranet?

• The development of features that correspond to the real needs of the company;
• The addition of specific modules to an existing intranet when new functions are required;
• The integration of information system tools into a unified interface;
• Real-time synchronisation of information between different tools;
• Improving data sharing between tools or sectors of an institution.
• Benefit from the best solutions for your IS with advanced technologies.

An intranet or digital workplace is now an essential communication and work tool. It allows to unify the internal communication of the company, to link in a relevant way the various services and the collaborators but also to offer the tools and business applications adapted to each profession of the company.

Need more information on web tools for your company or specific web development? Contact us, Castelis’ custom development experts are at your disposal.