The Most Important Intranet Features to Look For

In today’s rapidly evolving digital workplace, choosing the right intranet platform is pivotal to driving employee engagement, collaboration, and overall productivity. A feature-rich intranet ensures that employees have access to the tools they need for effective communication and collaboration, fostering a more connected and efficient organization. 

So, what are the key intranet features buyers should prioritize when selecting a solution? Let’s dive into the most important features every modern solution should have to help you make an informed decision and get the most out of your intranet. 

1. User-friendly interface (UX/UI)

When choosing the right employee intranet, one of the most critical features to look for is its ease of use. A complicated or cluttered interface can deter employees from using it effectively, reducing overall adoption rates. In fact, 52% of employees report frustration when navigating workplace tools due to poor design or complexity, which hinders their productivity. 

When evaluating an intranet, ensure it provides an intuitive interface that’s easy to navigate even for non-tech-savvy employees. 

A seamless user experience encourages daily use and enables employees to access the information they need quickly and effortlessly.

Furthermore, some solutions allow you to white-label your intranet platform and match it to your organization’s brand and identity.

2. Mobile accessibility and multichannel communications

As the workplace continues to evolve with hybrid and remote work models, having a mobile-friendly intranet is more critical than ever. 

According to studies, up to 70% of employees work remotely at least once a week. Therefore, intranet users must have access to the platform on-the-go, allowing them to stay connected, informed, and engaged from any device.  

This is particularly important to organizations with a lot of frontline employees and mixed-collar companies in industries such as healthcare, retail, and similar. 

Historically, it has been challenging for organizations to provide the same access to workplace tech solutions to office and frontline workers, resulting in a lack of engagement, alignment, and productivity among blue-collar employees.

Furthermore, it is critical to look for a solution that can reach every employee regardless of their preferred communications channel. With Haiilo, organizations can finally make their multichannel communications strategies more efficient and seamlessly publish content on channels such as email, SharePoint, Slack, digital signage, and more.

3. Social collaboration functionalities

Collaboration is at the heart of any modern intranet, especially in today’s era where teamwork is crucial to achieving business goals. According to McKinsey, companies that implement social collaboration tools can see a 20-25% increase in productivity. On the other hand, only 38% of employees are satisfied or very satisfied with work-related tools and technology.

Your intranet’s homepage should be the place to go for every employee when they start their day. It should be the main source of critical and relevant information and a place where people can interact and provide feedback. 

At its very least, you should be able to create channels based on discussion topics, departments, and other criteria such as employee interests. 

Employees should be able to subscribe to the topics of their interest so that they can easily connect with peers and discuss them. 

On a high level, intranets should have:

• Team workspace features to facilitate project management and team collaboration.
• File sharing and document management features to simplify file access, sharing, and co-editing in real-time.
• Discussion forums to enable idea-sharing and cross-departmental communication.  

By fostering a collaborative digital environment, your intranet helps break down silos, strengthens internal communication, and creates a sense of belonging in the workplace. 

💡Related: Top 13 Intranet Best Practices to Follow

4. Advanced, AI-powered search

One of the primary purposes of an intranet is to provide quick and easy access to company information. However, without an effective search engine, finding relevant information can be cumbersome. 

A study conducted by McKinsey found that knowledge workers still spend 19% of their time searching for and gathering information.

Data professionals are losing 50% of their time every week — 30% searching for, governing, and preparing data plus 20% duplicating work.

Intranet buyers should prioritize solutions that come equipped with robust search capabilities, including smart search, filters, and content categorization. This ensures that employees can swiftly locate documents, team members, or updates without wasting valuable time.

The most advanced solutions such as Haiilo leverage AI to make the search functionality even more powerful and efficient, boosting employees’ productivity. 

When employees search for specific internal information, they get answers and direct links to the relevant company resources and files. The system scrapes all the sources of internal information and provides instant access to employees’ questions which significantly improves the digital employee experience.

5. Seamless (also AI-powered) content creation

Yes, there are many ways you can use AI in internal communications!

Content creation is one of the main ones. Besides just having an intuitive content builder, it’s important to look for an intranet solution that leverages AI to make internal comms professionals more productive and make internal content more engaging. 

With Haiilo, internal communicators don’t ever have to write content from scratch. 

Take a look at how you can create content 10 times faster!

💡 Related: Looking for some good AI prompt ideas for internal communications?

6. Content personalization and targeting

Digital employee experience is key to boosting engagement on your intranet and your workplace overall. Employees are more likely to engage with content that is relevant to their roles, departments, or interests. 

So creating and distributing engaging internal content is one of the main priorities for many internal communication and HR professionals. 

Today, digital personalization is a must, and employees expect the same experience in the workplace as they are experiencing in their private lives on their favorite social media networks. They want to be served the content of their interest and their preferences. 

A cutting-edge intranet offers content personalization and targeting features, allowing you to:

• Segment and target specific groups with tailored messages.
• Display content based on user roles, locations, departments, interests, and other criteria. 
• Ensure the right information reaches the right people at the right time. 

Remember, personalized content delivery has been proven to increase employee engagement by 22%. 

When employees receive personalized content, they are more likely to interact with it, making your intranet a more effective communication tool.

💡 Learn about how you can segment your internal audience to deliver more personalized internal content.

7. Employee recognition and engagement tools

Intranets today aren’t just about information and communication—they are also powerful platforms for employee recognition and other engagement programs. A report by Gallup found that highly engaged workplaces see 21% higher profitability and 17% higher productivity. 

Features like employee shout-outs, peer recognition, and celebration of milestones (such as work anniversaries) foster a positive culture and strengthen morale. These features encourage employees to actively engage with the platform, making it more than just a digital workspace but a hub for fostering a positive workplace culture.

8. Analytics, reporting, and employee listening

Understanding how your employees are engaging with your intranet is crucial for its continuous improvement. With analytics and reporting features, you can track key metrics such as:

• Page views
• User engagement levels
• Content performance
• User behavior patterns  

These insights can help you make data-driven decisions to improve content strategy, increase adoption rates, and optimize the platform based on user feedback. Companies that make data-informed decisions are 19 times more likely to be profitable.

Yet, many IC professionals don’t have a way of measuring the impact and results of their initiatives. 

Also, the above-mentioned metrics are not enough because such data often doesn’t provide the context or valuable insights into what exactly can be improved. 

Today, internal communicators want to know what type of content resonates best with their audience and what type of internal content makes the biggest impact on the ultimate business results. 

With Haiilo’s employee listening intranet features, IC and HR professionals can now attach a simple survey question to every campaign or content piece they distribute. This allows them to understand how their efforts reflect on the overall business success.  

💡 Related: Not Listening to Your Employees? These Are the Consequences!

9. Integrations with existing workplace tech

One of the most powerful benefits of a modern intranet is its ability to integrate with your existing business applications. This includes tools like Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Slack, and more. 86% of employees say they are more productive when their digital tools are integrated and work in harmony.

With seamless integrations, employees can access everything they need from one central location, making it easier to collaborate, communicate, and complete tasks without switching between different platforms.

10. Security and compliance

Last but certainly not least, intranet security is non-negotiable. With sensitive data, internal communications, and business-critical information being shared across your intranet, it’s essential to have top-notch security features. According to IBM, the average cost of a data breach in 2023 was $4.45 million, emphasizing the importance of a secure digital workplace.

Yet, according to research, 49% of businesses have at least some employee with access rights that go beyond what is required for their job responsibilities.

Look for features such as:

• Role-based access control (RBAC)
• Secure authentication protocols
• Data encryption
• Compliance with industry standards such as GDPR 

These features help protect your organization from unauthorized access and ensure that your platform remains compliant with relevant regulations.

Conclusion

When choosing an intranet solution, it’s important to focus on features that drive collaboration, engagement, and efficiency. From mobile accessibility and social collaboration tools to analytics and security, the right features ensure your intranet meets the evolving needs of your workforce. 

Investing in a modern, feature-rich intranet has the potential to transform your company’s internal communication and boost employee productivity significantly. 

By focusing on key intranet features, your organization can harness the power of an effective intranet solution that boosts collaboration, enhances communication, and drives business results.