6 Minutes
The intranet: more than infrastructure, it’s an employee experience platform
Intranets remain the digital front door of modern organizations — the daily landing page for news, tools, HR documents, collaboration spaces and operational workflows. For IT teams, the intranet is technical infrastructure: servers, authentication, security and uptime. For Communications teams, it’s a strategic channel for storytelling, engagement and culture. Bridging that divide is essential: when the intranet is optimized, it streamlines work, reinforces culture and improves employee engagement; when it isn’t, it becomes a cluttered repository of outdated files, unread announcements and broken links.
Why IT and Communications need to share ownership
Historically intranets have been owned by IT and funded from IT budgets — a logical choice when the priority was infrastructure and technical stability. But as the intranet evolves into a core internal communications and employee experience platform, Communications teams must have a meaningful voice in platform selection, content strategy and governance.
Both IT and Communications bring indispensable skills: IT ensures security, performance and integrations; Communications crafts narratives, curates content and drives adoption. The ideal model is shared ownership where responsibilities are clearly defined: IT handles architecture, authentication, scalability and integrations; Communications leads content, editorial governance, adoption programs and analytics-driven engagement.
Product features to prioritize in modern intranet platforms
Core features for a successful intranet
- Responsive design and mobile-first experience to reach deskless or remote workers
- Robust content management and editorial workflows for multi-author publishing
- Personalization and targeted news delivery to improve relevance and engagement
- Integrations with existing systems: single sign-on (SSO), HRIS, ServiceNow, Microsoft 365, Slack, Teams
- Analytics and intranet metrics to measure usage, search effectiveness and employee engagement
- Governance, version control and taxonomy tools to prevent content sprawl and duplication
Advanced capabilities that matter
- Multichannel delivery: email, mobile push, digital signage and in-app notifications
- Low-code customization and widgets for rapid deployment of services and forms
- Search that understands context and surface authoritative content (knowledge management)
- Accessibility compliance and data protection features for global regulatory needs
SharePoint and ServiceNow: strengths, limits and when they fit
Many enterprises default to SharePoint or ServiceNow because of enterprise licensing and integration advantages. Both platforms have strengths but also limitations when repurposed as primary communication hubs.
SharePoint excels at document management, collaboration and intranet frameworks integrated with Microsoft 365. Without strong governance, however, it can lead to fragmented site collections, duplicate content and inconsistent user experience — a common complaint in large organizations.
ServiceNow is powerful for workflow automation, ITSM and service catalogs. Its strengths are operational efficiency and case management, but its UI and interaction model aren’t optimized for editorial communications or broad engagement.
For companies prioritizing employee experience, a purpose-built intranet platform — designed for editorial control, personalization and multichannel communications — often delivers faster adoption and clearer analytics. That said, SharePoint or ServiceNow remain compelling when document control, deep enterprise integrations or standardized service workflows are the priority.
Comparisons and market relevance
- Use SharePoint when document management, Office integration and corporate portals drive business value.
- Use ServiceNow when process automation, incident management and service delivery are the core requirements.
- Consider a purpose-built intranet platform when internal communications, employee engagement, content personalization and multichannel publishing are primary goals.
Adoption of modern intranet products reflects a broader market trend: organizations want digital workplace platforms that unify collaboration, communications and services while reducing redundancy and lowering total cost of ownership through integrated channels.
Operational advantages and ROI
A well-executed intranet improves time-to-information, reduces repetitive HR queries, increases compliance with up-to-date policies and boosts employee engagement scores. Measurable ROI comes from reduced support tickets, faster onboarding, improved internal campaign effectiveness and higher productivity due to lower search times and better knowledge discovery.
Use cases: where the intranet drives impact
- Enterprise-wide announcements and leadership communications
- HR portals for policies, benefits and self-service forms
- Knowledge bases and searchable policy repositories for compliance
- Team hubs for project collaboration and cross-functional coordination
- Mobile apps for frontline workers and distributed teams
Governance, analytics and the day-after questions
Launching an intranet is only step one. Key operational questions must be answered: Who owns daily content updates? Who measures engagement and usability? Who ensures continuous improvements based on analytics and employee feedback? These responsibilities typically fall to Communications for editorial leadership and to IT for platform health, integrations and security.
Clear governance, defined SLAs and a roadmap for continuous improvement prevent the intranet from becoming stale. Analytics — including active users, search success rates, click-throughs and dwell time — should guide content strategy and feature prioritization.
Shared ownership, shared success
The most effective intranets result from genuine collaboration between IT and Communications. IT builds a secure, scalable platform with the integrations and performance required by modern digital workplace environments. Communications turns that platform into a daily habit for employees through targeted content, user-centric design and adoption programs.
In short: an intranet is not just software. It is a strategic employee communications, engagement and experience platform that demands joint decision-making. When IT and Communications work together—defining roles, investing in governance and selecting the right platform for their priorities—the intranet becomes a competitive advantage for culture, productivity and employee satisfaction.
Source: techradar
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