Intranet is a private network that organisations use to create secure communications within their workforce, create collaboration and store information.
The internet is a public network that is not centrally owned by any specific entity. An intranet is privately owned, and accessible only to those with private authorisation. An intranet allows users to store, organise and manage information securely within an organisation.
An extranet, unlike an intranet, can be accessed by authorised third parties like customers, partners or vendors. Intranets are usually used by employees as they search for information, communicate across the organisation and manage their workflows.
Information access
Intranets are generally used to host information centrally and provide secure access to documents, policies and information that employees need for their roles. Examples include content management systems (CMS) and document management systems (DMS).
Employee lifecycle management
HR functions can pre-board and onboard new employees to create a great employee experience with the ability to present tailored information and management.
Knowledge management
Organisations hold formal information, documents and vast levels of information for employees. Using forums, idea boards, team areas and discussion areas, employees have the opportunity to ask questions or find knowledge with the help of their peers. Knowledge is captured by the business and made available on a searchable platform, even when a contributor is no longer with the company.
Workflow management
Intranets give employees access to self-service and help them complete common processes using forms or transactional applications. Effective intranet solutions incorporate automated workflows, further empowering employees to accomplish more, more easily. Examples include booking a leave of absence, submitting expenses or starting internal training.
Internal communications
Social and communication tools like wikis, forums, blogs and discussion can be used to create two-way internal communications among staff.
Employee engagement management
Good employee engagement has a critical impact on business performance, yet it is difficult to achieve. There are measurement tools, like Employee Net Promoter Score, or means for empowering staff through blogs and social tools etc. which an organisation can access via an intranet to tap into employee engagement.
Business objective alignment
Intranets help businesses build, embed and communicate a common culture, which improves engagement among employees and increases staff retention.
Cross-functional collaboration
Organisations that are global or have employees working remotely may face challenges with connecting their staff. Intranets allow employees to communicate and connect while building virtual cultures.
Improved employee communication
More effective knowledge sharing
Modernised employee experience
Personalised enterprise-wide communication
Increased visibility
Reduced organisational silos
User profiles
User profiles can be attached to a company directory in conjunction with external profile sources, such as Active Directory, Azure Directory, LinkedIn or Twitter. Omnichannel solutions bring together user profiles, responses, history and assets from the full range of communication channels, creating a single view of each user, complete with channel-specific context.
Blogs and forums
Communications and discussion sites provide intuitive and informal locations for collaboration and information searching between employees.
Communities
Specific departments, projects or even interests can have a dedicated space within communities. Grouped individuals can meet virtually to collaborate, share ideas, ask questions or workshop solutions to problems.
Social interaction and instant messaging
Instant messaging allows users to interact socially through the network, liking, sharing, tagging or commenting on other people’s posts or activities.
ServiceNow streamlines employee service experience with intelligent, engaging workflows that span the apps and information that employees depend on. Bringing together enterprise search, access and vital knowledge, ServiceNow Employee Workflows provide a personalised, one-stop solution designed to meet employees where they are.
The end result? Clear, quantifiable advantages across your organisation.
Simplify access to services
Increased employee satisfaction and more agility when you deliver a consistent experience across all departments in your organisation.
Enable productivity anywhere
Employees with access to what they need, when they need it, through the web, mobile apps or virtual agents.
Design for moments that matter
Provide enterprise-wide experiences to measure up to employee expectations, from onboarding and offboarding to any returns to the workplace.
Optimise service delivery
Better operational efficiency and delivery of services with clear insights around employee queries.
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