iGoogle-like intranet start page to the rescue!

This week, I have seen four independent case studies by leading Swiss companies presenting impressive new intranet platforms. All have shifted their design to a personalized, iGoogle-like Start page. Is this a coincidence? I doubt it!

Fig. 1 Intranet start page Raiffeisen

Just as can be seen with iGoogle, the intranet Start page features several tabs containing widgets (or ‘gadgets’, to use the iGoogle term). The tabs are pre-populated with a general set of useful widgets. The user may reposition or remove widgets, or select new ones.

Adopting an iGoogle-like approach to the intranet Start page solves many issues:

Limited real estate on intranet Start page for an ever-growing number of stakeholders

Have you ever had to moderate disputes about the allocation of real estate on the Start page? Unfortunately, these discussions can seldom be resolved with facts and figures. Too often, real estate is distributed according to the requester’s influence.

With an iGoogle-like intranet Start page, the user takes the final decision about which widget goes where on the Start page. Content providers must therefore work hard to create widgets that are of value to users. Additionally, having the possibility to present statistics about usage and widget position brings objectivity into the discussion.

Role-based Start pages replace “one size fits all” approach

Intranets are changing from reading things to doing things. To support a user to perform their most important tasks, there is no way around personalizing the Start page. The needs of a client relationship manager at a bank are completely different to the needs of an internal project manager. With an iGoogle-like approach, the Start page can be easily tailored to fit the specific needs of different roles.

Breaking down information silos

Users often complain that the information they need is dispersed among multiple information silos. Great efficiency gains can be achieved by better supporting a user’s end-to-end processes. Mashing up information that originates from different sources tears down boundaries and provides all the required information to successfully complete a task.

Unifying and simplifying the user interface of applications can leverage an additional benefit. Applications are often optimized for power users who use the app on a daily basis. As a result, sporadic users are often overwhelmed by the complexity of the interface. Most tasks performed by a general audience (e.g. looking up a client contact or a recent proposal) do not require all of an application’s functionality. Providing a simplified and consistent interface to applications within an iGoogle-like widget on the Start page speeds up simple tasks and reduces user training requirements. This reduces the burden created by different user interfaces within different applications.

Fig. 3 CRM Lookup combined with VOIP and SMS Functionality in Stimmt Intranet

Why strain your intranet budget?

Three out of four of the case presentations I mentioned earlier featured open APIs, so that interested parties could build their own widgets. Arguably, this openness brings great benefit to intranet managers. If other stakeholders can implement intranet additions at their own cost, this reduces the strain on limited intranet budgets. In one presentation, decentralized development was accelerated further by enabling users to vote for the most helpful addition to the intranet.

Tap the existing knowledge of your employees

The concept of “wisdom of the crowd” often crops up in relation to Amazon’s “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought…”. What if this idea could be applied to the intranet Start page? This is easily achieved using the iGoogle approach – “Other people working in Research and Development also found these widgets to be useful…”. All you need are some statistics that could be used to add or remove widgets from the Start page.

Any downsides?

Besides technical complexity, I cannot really see any disadvantages. An often-heard argument is that users are not web-savvy enough to fully benefit from this approach. In my opinion, this is not really an issue. Since the Start page is pre-populated with widgets, new users are never confronted with a blank page.

On the other hand, Power-users can fully benefit from the flexible, user selected approach.

Using screencasts or brief presentations, users can be trained to make use of the new possibilities. Managing widgets decentrally further accelerates this process. Team leaders who have developed specific widgets for their job functions can train their teams to use the resource in an optimal fashion. This way, training is decentralized and the burden is taken off the shoulders of the intranet manager.

Disclaimer: Stimmt has consulted to two out of the four intranet projects mentioned above.