Intranets have improved over the last few years through technological innovations that enable greater levels of employee and business efficiency. Engagement features within the corporate intranet are important to running a successful and productive digital workplace. The following intranet trends are worth watching in 2022.
Digital Workplace
As businesses become aware of the benefits of going digital, the digital workplace will continue to increase in global popularity. The intranet is a central piece of a company’s digital processing, providing access for the following:
- facilitation of teamwork
- enhanced engagement
- improved productivity
- increased contact with remote team members
Employee Engagement
Businesses have been experiencing the importance of keeping employees engaged to increase retention. Intranets in 2022 support key employee engagement drivers in the following ways:
- Facilitate trust in leaders by improving communication, celebrating achievements, and providing channels for two-way feedback
- Creating a sense of purpose by providing personalized dashboards and reinforcing company goals, visions, and values.
- Improve interpersonal employee relationships through providing a corporate directory, fostering connections based on shared goals and interests, and encouraging collaboration and shared ideas
Integration of Systems
No single system can handle all the various needs of a business. A range of platforms, support systems, and tools work together to enable the many functions of the company. Therefore, integration of systems is a growing intranet trend for 2022, with increased accessibility and ease of setup as important features of upcoming applications. There are many questions to address about integration:
- Does your intranet have the native capability to integrate with popular systems?
- Can the platform be extended with the building of new integrations?
- What is the level of integration?
- What types of data is passed through and pushed out?
- Are you able to access a free API?
Intranet Content Relevancy
Top-down intranet communication is an outdated method that has shifted recently to targeted content. 2022 intranet trends show there will be a rise in narrative content, particularly from leadership teams, to provide engaging and meaningful information for employees. Suggestions for improved content include:
- Encourage user-generated content.
- Invest in training staff on workplace storytelling to create uniform, relevant, consistent, and relatable content across the company.
- Provide user-friendly apps that are easily managed.
- Ensure your system can host an increased level of content.
- Appoint a team member to govern the system.
Metrics and Data Analysis
Ongoing analysis of data and key metrics will result in improved features. Intranets in 2022 that include analyzing feedback and statistics on engagement will assist in personalizing intranet offerings and making them more user-friendly. hubley’s AnalyticsHub offers reports on social engagement on your intranet for easy measurement. Five best practices for measuring the success of an intranet platform include the following:
- Develop a strategy for collecting and analyzing data
- Optimize the metrics dashboard
- Reformat reports and overhaul processes if needed
- Survey or talk with stakeholders
- Review metrics and create a roadmap for future action
Mobile Integration
The modern intranet trends towards work-from-home and remote teams or hybrid employees. Due to this, an evolution of intranet access and features took place through mobile device access. The following features will surface and improve in 2022 to provide access to remote team members.
- Fast implementation across devices
- Optimized touchscreen performance
- Smart innovation
Personalization
Many digital areas, including content strategies and website user experience, use a personalized approach. Intranet platforms stand to benefit from personalization due to the number of individuals who utilize them. The following benefits result from the personalization of the intranet through content targeting:
- Team members are more likely to engage with the platform if they have easy access to personalized applications and links, resulting in lower turnover and absenteeism.
- Users can find what they need when the intranet content is targeted to their profile properties, which can lead to improved productivity and profitability.
- A personalized approach enables organizations to scale and roll out new technologies as needed.
- Employees are likely to access and act on critical information, increasing communication, eliminating frustration, and leading to a happier workplace.
Social Tools and Features
Social features in a company’s intranet are critical to maintaining a positive corporate culture and employee engagement. Social tools make possible the following types of employee engagement tasks:
- Blogging
- Chats
- Sharing
- Team workspaces
- Video conferencing
Intranet platforms will continue to evolve with new features in the coming year. The future of intranet includes personal profiles of individual team members within the corporate network. These could include in-depth personal profiles and employee updates, such as their locations and current projects. As employees engage with these social intranet tools, the business benefits from data and feedback valuable for improvement and optimization of the company’s intranet strategy.
User Experience
The increasingly social nature of the intranet has resulted in improved internal and external communication in the business world. Optimization of this function results in employees and customers feeling heard and valued. Upcoming trends will see business owners placing greater focus on user experience, enabling the intranet to be more efficient and effective.
Good design is also an important aspect of the user experience, as a platform with high functionality, practicality, and usability can engage team members at a high level. A great-looking intranet platform can improve the cultural image of the company.
Try hubley Intranet
hubley’s intranet systems can help your business to improve the way you engage employees and revolutionize the way you communicate and collaborate. Schedule a demo today to see how hubley can improve your company intranet.
