Intranet 2.0 becomes mainstream

This data is contained in the results of the Intranet 2.0 Global Survey, which included the participation of 561 organizations of all sizes from across the planet.

Intranet 2.0 Global Survey,  n=552

“Once a nice-to-have or a future wish, Intranet 2.0 tools such as blogs, wikis and other vehicles have become mainstream, and are present in nearly 50% of organizations (regardless of size) in North America, Europe, and Australia and New Zealand,” says Toby Ward, the study author, and President, Prescient Digital Media.

Intranet blogs, wikis and discussion forums are quite pervasive, while podcasts and mashups remain an after-thought at most organizations:

• 45% have intranet blogs (13% enterprise deployment); 11% have no plans or interest
• 47% have intranet wikis (17% enterprise deployment); 10% have no plans or interest
• 23% have intranet podcasts (6% enterprise deployment); 30% have no plans or interest
• 19% have intranet social networking (6% enterprise use); 20% have no plans or interest
• 21% have intranet content tagging (9% enterprise use); 24% have no plans or interest
• 37% have intranet RSS (13% enterprise use); 12% have no plans or interest
• 46% have intranet discussion forums (19% enterprise use); 9% have no plans or interest
• 46% have intranet instant messaging (29% enterprise use); 21% have no plans or interest
• 8% have intranet mashups (3% enterprise use); 45% have no plans or interest

Technology platforms

Less than two-thirds of organizations (63%) use a Content Management System (CMS) for their intranet:

• 25% use a custom built CMS (home grown CMS)
• 25% use an off-the-shelf solution CMS
• 11% use a portal solution
• 20% use a hybrid/combination
• 10% use open source

While a CMS is the most popular technology platform to power an intranet, there is no dominant CMS solution amongst survey respondents – no one vendor has more than 20% market share:

• Microsoft SharePoint is used by 20% of those that use a CMS
• Interwoven, Documentum and Vignette each have 4% market share
• No other solution was cited by more than 2.5% of respondents

SharePoint & other Intranet 2.0 solutions

Microsoft is leading the 2.0 charge and dominating all competition. For those organizations that have deployed 2.0 tools inside the firewall, about half have SharePoint (deployed in some shape or form). No other vendor is used in more than 20% of organizations (some organizations use multiple solutions):

• 48% of organizations use SharePoint
• 20% of organizations use Facebook
• 17% of organizations use MediaWiki
• 16% of organizations use WordPress
• 13% of organizations use Confluence

Despite all the hype and regular press they receive, SocialText and Lotus Connections (Quickr) are only present in 3% and 4% of organizations respectively.

Cost of Intranet 2.0

Intranet 2.0 technology is cheap. Of those organizations that have implemented 2.0 tools, almost half have spent $10,000 or less on these tools:

• 46% have spent $10,000 or less
• 35% have spent between $10,000 and $100,000
• 19% have spent $100,000 or more

Satisfaction

Satisfaction levels with Intranet 2.0 tools is low:

• Only 29% of organizations rate the tool functionality as good or very good; 24% rate them as poor or very poor
• Satisfaction rates with executives is dangerously low: only 23% of executives rate the 2.0 tools as good or very good; 38%% rate them as poor or very poor

Barriers to implementation

“Without a proper plan and business case, many organizations will fail to properly implement Intranet 2.0 technologies,” says Ward. “Those organizations that don't have intranet 2.0 tools are not getting executive approval to proceed as they don't have a proper plan or business case that convinces senior management of the need.”

Of those organizations that have not implemented 2.0 tools, lack of a business case, executive support, and IT support are seen as the top barriers:

• 33% of respondents cite lack of executive support as the greatest challenge
• 31% of respondents say lack of IT support is the greatest barrier to implementation
• 30% of respondents cite lack of a business case support as the greatest challenge

About the Intranet 2.0 Survey

561 organizations took part in the survey:

• Geographic Distribution:

-         36% come from the U.S; 24% from Europe; 11% from Canada; 11% from Australia / New Zealand; 10% from UK

• Staff Complement:

-         61% have more than 1,000 employees; 32% have 6,000 or more employees; 39% have less than 1000 employees

• Intranet Longevity:

-         53% of organizations have had an intranet for 7 or more years; 17% of organizations have had an intranet for 2 years or less

• Sectors:

-         13% of the organizations are government; 13% from technology; 12% from financial services; 6% from healthcare

• Author:

-         The online survey was concluded in early 2009 by Toby Ward, President, Prescient Digital Media

Full results

Summary report of Intranet 2.0 Global Survey

Purchase the Full Intranet 2.0 Global Survey Report

For assistance

For help implementing a social intranet or Intranet 2.0 tools see Intranet 2.0 Blueprint

For more information

For more information on the Intranet 2.0 Global Survey or for help in identifying, planning and implementing Intranet 2.0 tools, please contact  Prescient Digital Media or phone 416.926.8800.