Building an intranet: The ultimate beginners guide

If you’re looking to implement an intranet in the near future, then this guide is essential reading.

Let’s be honest, building an intranet can be a daunting task if you’re not sure where to start. But don't worry, we’ve got you covered.

In this guide, you’ll learn what to consider when building an intranet for your company, as well as

• What is an intranet?
• Different types of intranet
• The purpose of an intranet
• 9 easy steps to building an intranet

First though, let’s start at the beginning and ask ourselves what the purpose of an intranet is and establish what you’re trying to achieve as a company.

What is an intranet?

An intranet is a private enterprise network designed to empower employees to communicate, collaborate and perform to the best of their ability. An intranet serves a broad range of purposes and uses but generally speaking, they are used to engage and support employees.

Different types of intranet

There are two kinds of intranet platforms available to organisations, each requiring different types of hardware.

On-premise: This type of intranet is hosted internally on company servers, which are managed, updated and backed-up by a the company’s own IT team. However, due to their complexity, it’s mainly just large enterprises that have the capability to dedicate enough resources to on-premise intranet maintenance.

Cloud-based: These intranet softwares are now the norm. ‘Cloud-based’, means it’s instantly made, maintained and available online. This negates any need to build and maintain any on-premise infrastructure.

Recommended reading 📖 What is an intranet? The ultimate intranet guide

What’s the purpose of an intranet?

You may be wondering "are intranets still relevant?". Yes they are! Gone are the days of old and clunky traditional intranets. A modern intranet is incredibly useful to:

• Connect your workforce no matter where they are based
• Communicate and share important company information
• Increase employee engagement, collaboration and productivity

An intranet has many benefits. Remember, an engaged workforce is a productive one, so by building an intranet that is fun, easy to use and encourages social interaction and collaboration, you can see the positive impact it has on outputs and employee morale. Intranets are no longer a simple content directory;, they’re a place where employees can interact and immerse themselves in the company culture.

9 easy steps to building an intranet

1. Getting started

A great company intranet gives employees the tools they need to be more productive, connected and aligned with your organisational goals.

There are a wide range of intranet solutions available, and not all of them will be suitable to every business. It’s so important to carefully choose the best platform to build your intranet on. Here’s how to do it:

Before building an intranet, internal comms teams should consider the following questions, so that they have complete clarity on what the company wants to achieve:

• Why do we need an intranet?
• What is the purpose of the intranet?
• What are our objectives?
• Which features are must-haves when building our intranet?
• What communications and engagement challenges will building an intranet solve?
• How can we get employees to adopt the solution we choose to implement?

2. Establish the purpose of your intranet

Since you’re reading this guide, you probably already know some of the internal challenges that you want to solve with a new intranet. That’s great. This means you’re already ahead of the game. If you’re unsure of what you want your company intranet to achieve, keep reading. Either way, this step is worth investing some time in so that all stakeholders can ensure the intranet is fit for purpose.

The purpose and motivation behind building an intranet will vary depending on the company. Here are just a few ideas to get you started:

• Improved document or content management: You may want to manage the creation and distribution of content and documents to your employees. The goal of your intranet should be to create a secure content management system where your workforce can find important information quickly and easily, improving productivity.
• Improve employee engagement: There are so many ways that employee engagement can be improved through building an intranet that is tailored to the needs and wants of your colleagues. After all, they will be the people using the platform day in, day out, so it needs to have some pull to keep them interested. The goal should be to encourage communication between employees, whether that be through social and community hubs or personalised feeds which mirror a familiar social media interface.
• Improve productivity and collaboration: You may want a digital workplace where your employees can work seamlessly together on projects and access the information they need instantly.

The most valuable part of this step is finding out what the requirements and objectives of your intranet will be, because the rationale behind intranet building can be different for everyone.

3. Gather feedback from management and employees

Once you’ve established the purpose of your company intranet, it’s important to collect feedback from management and employees. Your employees are the ones who will be using the intranet, so it’s important to find out what they need from the solution.

For example, if your intranet is intended to improve team collaboration, you should analyse how your teams work together currently, and where the pain points are. Ask about the tools they rely on in their day-to-day activities, their preferred collaboration channels, the locations they work in, the devices they use and more. This will help you decide on what features to include when building your intranet.

4. Carry out your research

Company intranets are unique to each organisation and the features you include can be tailored to suit your company's needs.

The best company intranet solutions consider which features will benefit productivity, engagement and communication. These features can then be incorporated into an innovative and exciting platform that supplies information quickly and easily and engages everyone who uses it.

Recommended Reading 📖 31 features your company intranet needs

Before delving into which features you want to personalise to your company goals, here are the key features you’ll certainly want to include for your intranet to be a success:

Cloud based access

Allowing employees to use the intranet wherever they are, at any time and on any device is essential to a great digital workplace. Whether your employees are deskless, in the office, or working remotely, the information flow never stops.

Mobile app

The average person picks up their phone 58 times a day, so it’s an essential part of boosting engagement if your intranet is mobile friendly. Today, employee apps keep entire businesses connected, both inside and outside of working hours, which is effective for shift workers. Being able to reach deskless workers is more essential than ever, so you should make sure they have everything they need in one single place to ensure their job is done effectively.

Customisable

Fully customisable options when building an intranet give companies a digital workplace that reflects their organisational values from the inside out. It's never a case of one size fits all - culture, goals and ways of working are unique and always evolving. The way an intranet looks and works are crucial elements for driving engagement throughout your company.

Social

Social media had 56.2 million social media users in the UK alone at the start of 2024, that's over 82% of the population! So, what better way to engage your workforce with some social intranet elements. This could vary from creating dedicated social hubs for employees to connect with like-minded interests.

Content management

Your intranet should be a valuable resource that stores easy-to-find information and content, from processes and procedures to HR documents, contract templates and more, allowing employees to do their job productively and effectively. From finding important company announcements to mandatory read documents, the organisational capacity of an intranet is limitless, while staying streamlined and easy to navigate for the user.

5. Choose the right intranet provider

An all-in-one intranet software is an ideal solution for most organisations. It brings together everything you need in one place, allowing you to connect and engage your employees from anywhere, at any time.

Whilst there are ‘off-the-shelf’ intranet platforms available, these can be very limiting and offer little flexibility.

When researching different types of intranet platforms, you should consider intranet software that:

• Fits your business goals
• Enhances business activities
• Has a variety of tools, integrations and features
• Meets your budget
• Has the tools to engage your workforce

Here at Oak Engage, we combine all the intranet features that employees love to create an engaged, thriving innovative workspace solution to suit your company needs. Choosing the best company intranet for your requirements can be daunting, but at Oak, we’ll support you every step of the way. You'll receive help and guidance from our experts right from the beginning, creating an intranet to suit your needs and implementing it for success. Plus, once everything is up and running, we run regular ‘Power Hours’ which are free for customers, showcasing new features and helping you to make the most of every feature of your intranet for maximum impact.

6. Request a demo

Once you’ve carried out your research and selected an intranet provider that you think would be best suited to your business needs, it’s important to request a demo.

In a demonstration of best practice in building an intranet, you can see how we can create something completely tailored to your objectives, showcase how you can integrate the tools your people use every day, and all with your company branding to help your culture shine through.

Designing your intranet is all about branding. Just like your website needs to be eye-catching, so does your intranet. It should reflect your company values and culture.

Here are some steps you should take when considering your intranet design:

• Review your company branding and apply it to your intranet
• Choose colours that are easy on the eye
• Select some intranet design examples that appeal to your organisation
• Work with your intranet provider to produce a design that is suited to your company

Recommended Reading 📖: Intranet content ideas to create the best company intranet

We know that to make your intranet and employee app as engaging as can be, it’s got to look familiar and be easy to use. With Oak, you have the option of working with our experienced design team, who'll help you bring your brand to your life and make your content shine.

Take a look at some of our customer success stories to see how they used Oak to develop their company intranet design through their distinctive branding.

• Five Guys
• ScS
• NatWest
• Burger King UK

7. Test your intranet with your employees

Once you have some mock-up designs, it’s important to involve your employees and ask for their feedback. After all, they are going to be the ones using it.

Following this, you can adapt the design and structure of things as required.

8. Launch your intranet!

The next step is to go-live! This can be the most tricky step without any plan in place, so it’s always important to set a schedule and most importantly, trust the process.

If you choose Oak as your intranet partner, we will be on hand throughout the launch to ensure everything runs smoothly, so there’s less pressure on you.

9. Ongoing staff training & development

Once you’ve launched your intranet, you’ll receive ongoing staff training and development to help you get to grips with your new digital workplace.

At Oak, we’ll provide you with expert help and support throughout the employee onboarding and implementation process. You’ll get hands-on experience in setting up and populating your intranet through your own dedicated training environment on our very own ‘Oak Academy’.

FAQ’s

How much does it cost to build an intranet?

This will vary depending on the size of your company and how many users will be using your intranet.

We offer a variety of options that can be tailored to your organisation, whether you’re a small business or a large enterprise. Wherever you are on your employee engagement journey, our expert team will help you discover which pricing plan is right for you. Contact us to find out how Oak could work for you.

What is the best intranet platform?

When building an intranet, there are plenty of solutions out there - but it needs to have the intranet features that will meet your objectives and be an all-in-one solution. This is where Oak comes in!