Your guide to internal communications intranets: strategy, essential features, and best practices

Let's be honest: the job of an IC professional has changed a lot as internal communications has become a key business function, impacting employee engagement, culture, and connection. What was once sending out emails that feel like broadcasts, internal comms is now built around improving culture, driving consistently high engagement, and making every employee feel seen and connected. The challenge? Getting your messages across a scattered, remote, and often digitally exhausted workforce.

What is a modern internal communications intranet system and how does it differ from a traditional one?

Think of a modern intranet as your company's own private social network and knowledge engine, designed around what your people need to do their jobs effectively. It’s the opposite of those clunky, forgotten "grey sites" of the past that are often viewed as a digital filing cabinet. A modern internal communications intranet is a dynamic, central hub that focuses entirely on the employee experience (EX), enabling personalised, two-way communication and knowledge sharing that powers your whole business.

The internal communication intranet challenges

You most likely know the major communications challenges that businesses are trying to solve all too well. But here are some of the most common internal communications and employee engagement problems that professionals struggle with then it comes to intranets and employee engagement apps:

• Knowledge management issues: Staff waste hours searching through folders and emails for the right policy, leading to errors and frustration.

• Employee disconnection: Employees in different locations, shifts, or even different departments feel disconnected and out of the loop.

• Fragmented tools: Too many platforms (Slack, Teams, email, shared drives) mean multiple conversations happen in multiple places, and suddenly everything important gets lost, there are multiple versions of the same thing and everything becomes derailed when its processes should be seamless and simple.

Why a modern intranet is the backbone of internal comms (IC)

An intranet is something employees should want to use and so choosing a modern internal communications intranet really is a crucial strategic investment in your company’s employee engagement success.

Core benefits: the strategic impact of an internal comms intranet

Establishing a centralised single source of truth:

It’s amazing how easy life is when you access everything you need in one place. Think about it, you have everything you could ever need on your mobile phone, just a few clicks away…that’s why having one definitive place for accurate information has such an impact on employee experience. When your intranet becomes that trusted source, you instantly reduce information overload and give your team the confidence that they are always working with the right information.

Streamlining the employee journey:

A central, organised hub smooths out internal communication flow and collaboration. For new starters, it makes onboarding processes so easy: they get instant access to everything they need, helping them feel like part of the team and giving them the ability to thrive in their role from day one.

Breaking down silos and fostering community:

Intranets help tear down the invisible walls between departments. By hosting project spaces, interest groups, and cross-functional forums, you actively break down silos and help your people connect over work-related topics, and hopefully help people form connections around hobbies and interests.

Accessibility and flexibility for the dispersed workforce:

Whether your people are on the factory floor, shop front, burger flipping station, working from home, or travelling...the intranet has to go where they go. Accessibility and flexibility mean your vital comms can be received via native mobile apps, ensuring you hard-to-reach employees can view communications and information anytime, anywhere.

The three flows of communication: top-down, bottom-up, and lateral

A modern internal communications intranet is uniquely positioned to handle all three essential communication flows, ensuring a healthy, balanced communication ecosystem:

• Top-down (the broadcast): This is the classic flow of information from leadership to employees (e.g., strategy, policy, formal announcements). The intranet uses personalisation and targeting to ensure the right people receive the right corporate message.

• Bottom-up (the feedback loop): Crucial for enabling employee voices to be heard via surveys, suggestion boxes, and comments, informing leadership decisions and building trust.

• Lateral (peer-to-peer): Facilitated by community channels, social functionality, and forums, enabling project collaboration and informal sharing across teams.

Essential modern intranet features for internal communications success

Your platform should feel less like a chronological filing cabinet and more like a vibrant, engaging social network.

Modern intranet features for content, collaboration, and engagement

Intelligent content management & personalised reach

Personalisation and targeting: (how to "cut through the noise")

If you send every message to everyone, people stop reading everything. You can be the person who ensures people only get the content they need, by using personalisation and targeting to deliver relevant news. Use intranet personas and push vs. pull targeting to ensure your finance team only sees finance news and your frontline staff only see critical updates.

Simplified content management system (CMS): enabling non-technical content editor independence

Don't let clunky software slow you down. A simplified CMS empowers communicators across the business to create content quickly. Look for features like no-code creation, scheduling tools, and easy approval workflows.

Advanced search functionality

This is your platform's most important tool. A powerful, Google-esque search means people can find the answers they need instantly, building trust and saving everyone time.

Global capabilities and digital accessibility

For international companies, the intranet must be equitable. Multilingual support ensures every employee can engage fully in their native language. Furthermore, a modern intranet must prioritise digital accessibility (e.g., WCAG standards) to ensure an inclusive experience for all employees.

Dynamic collaboration and workflow tools

Focusing on task completion, not just news

Remember that employees come to the intranet to get things done, not just read news. Ensure your platform features integrated app launchers, easy access to enterprise systems, and clear information architecture to seamlessly support task completion alongside news delivery.

Integrating dynamic collaboration and real-time communication

Connect your people faster. The best intranets either integrate with your existing chat tools (like Teams) or offer their own capabilities for real-time communication, video, and instant messaging to handle those quick decisions and urgent issues.

Community and group sites

Give teams a digital home base! Community and group sites are the foundation for focused, ongoing communication, making it easy to create team-specific communications without cluttering the main feed.

Video and visual content tools

Views don't guarantee comprehension. Because visuals are processed faster than text, your intranet should make it easy for everyone to embed, host, and share video content for announcements, training, and insights into other teams experiences. We have 'Moments', a feature that allows employees to create their own TikTok style content. Sacha spoke about this in our latest webinar 'The frontline divide: the hidden cost of a disconnected workforce':

 

 

 

Social functionality, employee advocacy, and internal newsletters

You need to incite conversation from the masses. Native social tools like liking, commenting, and @mentioning turns passive readers into active participants. Furthermore, modern internal communications intranet platforms support:

• Employee advocacy: Enabling employees to easily share approved, positive company content to their personal social networks to boost recruiting and brand trust.

• Internal newsletters: Using the intranet's CMS to create curated email digests of top stories, ensuring employees who prefer email don't miss key updates.

Feedback, recognition, and support

Wellbeing and mental health resources

The modern workforce needs support. The intranet is the ideal private channel for distributing mental health resources, signposting employee assistance programmes (EAPs), and running sensitive, anonymous surveys that address stress and burnout.

Gathering feedback

You can’t improve what you don’t measure. Make gathering feedback simple with built-in surveys, polls, and even anonymous digital suggestion boxes. This data is paramount for improving the employee experience.

Employee recognition tools

If employees feel that their work is not properly recognised, they will quickly lose engagement. Make recognition a daily habit! Tools for peer-to-peer celebration and virtual shout outs are essential for showing people they’re valued.

Idea management systems

Harness the brilliant ideas floating around your company by providing a structured, central hub for submission and collaboration.

How to use intranet software to transform internal comms (best practices)

You’ve got the great technology; now it’s time to be strategic. These four principles will help you launch your intranet with high adoption rates, and keep them high too.

Strategy first: defining your channel-message matrix

Avoid the spray-and-pray approach. You need to choose the right channel for the right message. Is it an urgent push? A celebration post? A long-form policy? Be intentional about the channel to ensure your communication lands effectively.

Create a culture of contribution, starting with leadership

Your intranet shouldn't just be the leadership talking at people. Follow the wisdom of organisations that went working offline to improve online by involving your people. Crucially, senior leaders must model behaviour by actively using the intranet. Recruit and empower internal comms champions across your business to keep the content fresh, relevant, and local.

Strategic content focus: aligning comms with purpose

To drive business results, your IC must align with strategic goals. Prioritise content on the platform that drives:

• Strategy, vision, and purpose: Connecting daily work to the 'bigger picture.'

• Organisational change: Communicating transparently and supporting change management initiatives.

• Values and culture: Amplifying recognition, inclusion, and what it means to work "here."

Content governance and knowledge base creation

Your credibility rests on accuracy. Establish clear content governance rules about who publishes and approves what. By standardising information and procedures into a structured knowledge base, you protect your single source of truth.

The continuous feedback loop

How to keep adoption high? By listening! Use your analytics and survey tools to establish continuous feedback loops. Ask employees what they need, what works, and what doesn't, then visibly act on that feedback.

 

Proving your internal communications intranet value: metrics, ROI, and future-proofing

To secure budget and earn that seat at the executive table, you have to prove your impact. This section shows you how to turn activity into pounds and pence.

Measuring intranet adoption and reach

These numbers show you who's using the platform:

• Login rate: Are your people making it a daily habit?

• Unique visitors: Are you successfully reaching your entire audience?

• Content consumption per user: What content resonates? Use this data to strategically create more of what works!

Measuring engagement quality

True engagement is active, not passive:

• Comment-to-view ratios: A high ratio shows your content is sparking dialogue.

• Survey completion rates: This reflects trust and willingness to be involved.

• Participation in social features: Activity in groups and recognition posts proves the community is thriving.

Calculating the business impact (intranet ROI)

Translate engagement into hard business metrics:

• Productivity gains: Quantify the time saved when an employee finds a document instantly instead of spending 20 minutes searching.

• Cost savings: Show how the intranet has reduced your reliance on expensive mass email tools or other collaboration licenses.

• Talent correlation: Use engagement data to build a case that a connected, informed workforce leads to lower staff turnover and higher profitability (remember that 23% more profitable stat?).

The future-proof intranet: AI, automation, and trends

Show your organisation you’re thinking ahead. AI can feel like a buzzword, but used correctly, it can be your ultimate side-kick for helping you work through tricky tasks quickly.

AI-powered personalisation

AI is helping us move past manual targeting. Soon, the engine will use machine learning to intelligently curate news feeds and knowledge, ensuring your people see exactly what's critical to them without you having to lift a finger.

Selecting the right internal communications intranet platform: key evaluation criteria

Now that you know what success looks like, you need the right vehicle to get you there.

Top intranet platforms for internal comms: what to expect from the market

The intranet market is diverse, with providers specialising in different organisational needs. Finding the right fit requires understanding their primary focus.

Key evaluation criteria:

Ask the tough questions: Does the platform offer long-term scalability? What is the cost ? Does it meet your security standards? And crucially, does it have deep integration capability with your existing tools like Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and your HR systems?

If you’re in the stages of considering intranets, we have a great intranet requirements checklist guide with a free worksheet to help you map everything out.

Conclusion

The modern internal communications intranet is the most powerful tool in your arsenal. It is the core of your digital culture, transforming a fragmented workforce into an engaged, high-performing team.