Introduction to Intranets

About intranets, people and processes and corporate portals

Prescient's particular strength and focus pertains to intranet and corporate portal business requirements such as strategy, planning, communications and content.

In large corporations and small non-profit associations, intranets and corporate portals are being used to…

  • Enhance communications
  • Drive collaboration
  • Streamline operations and business processes
  • Deliver significant cost savings
  • Enhance organizational knowledge (Knowledge Management)
  • Improve revenue / sales opportunities
  • Improve HR management

People and Process

Intranets and corporate portals can be expensive endeavours.

Despite the expense, many organizations understand the implicit and/or explicit value and are therefore willing to make notable investments.

According to the META Group, more than 85% of Global 2000 companies have implemented or are developing intranets. However, it’s not only large multi-nationals that understand the benefits and potential reward of a well-funded and high-value intranet.

According to Modalis Research, more than 70% of all small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), including government agencies & non-profits, believe that having an intranet is important and either have intranet or plan to deploy an intranet. (2001 study).

Corporate & Enterprise Work Portals

An enterprise work or corporate portal is a primary website on the enterprise intranet. A web-based gateway to most, if not all, tools and information on the enterprise intranet. The portal can be a ‘catch all’ for all of the intranet, or a business unit or function specific portal (i.e. Sales or HR portal). A portal aggregates tools and information, serves as the principal gateway to the intranet, and can provide a highly personalized user experience.

Portals are Prescient's primary strength and focus. We provide a host of portal strategic services - many listed above - ranging from assessment and user research, to business case and ROI planning, to building the actual information architecture and the entire user experience. We have been building and customizing SharePoint 2013 intranets since inception, and now do so in SharePoint 2016 and Office 365 (including our own intranet at Prescient Digital Media.

More information on our intranet consulting, or contact us directly.