What Is An Intranet And Does Your Team Actually Need One?

Most organisations, at some point, hit a wall. Not a crisis-level wall but more of a slow, creeping one. Where information gets harder to find, documents pile up on different platforms designed for “easy collaboration” and new hires struggle to get up to speed.

It’s not a sign that means something has gone terribly wrong. It’s natural for teams to expand and processes to become more complicated – expected almost, because it means growth, right? It just means that tools that once worked for a smaller team no longer fit.

For a lot of companies, the answer to solve that issue is something called an intranet. Think of it as the Internet’s quieter, more organised cousin. Sure, it’s not as flashy as some of the workplace tools out there or even AI but it solves a very real problem. It gives people one reliable place to go.

What Is An Intranet?

An intranet is a private, internal network that belongs solely to your organisation. It’s like the Internet but just for your company. Nobody outside of the organisation can access it – that is, assuming your IT department is doing their job correctly.

Essentially, it’s a secure digital space that holds all kinds of policies, procedures, training, internal news – you name it. Instead of that information living in multiple Google drives or inboxes, it stays in one place for everyone to access.

How Does It Differ From The Internet And The Extranet?

This is where it gets only mildly confusing. The Internet is public and that means anyone can access it if they have a connection and a browser. That’s for catching up on the news, doing some online shopping or falling down a YouTube video hole while procrastinating – we’ve all been there.

Intranets, on the other hand, are completely private and accessible to employees only. In order to access it, you usually need to log in with valid credentials and once you’re in, all the company’s internal news is available to you.

Extranets typically sit somewhere in between. It’s like an extended version of an intranet which allows limited access to outsiders. So if you needed specific clients or suppliers to collaborate with but they aren’t your employees, you would use an extranet to share information with them.

Who Are Intranets Best Suited To?

There’s no hard and fast rule here but any organisation of a reasonable size could benefit from using an intranet. From large corporates to healthcare systems and universities, if a group of people need to work together and share information securely – it makes sense.

Smaller companies may not feel that it’s entirely necessary and that they can get by on Google Drive. It works for a time but as teams grow and processes become more complex, the pain points will multiply quickly.

The general rule of thumb is that if you wish you had one place to find and store everything, it may be time to test out an intranet.

Why Intranets Are Valuable To Teams

The earlier versions of the technology were fairly basic but today, they are much more than just a digital filing cabinet. A well-built one touches almost every part of how a company communicates and keeps people informed.

It Becomes Your Organisation’s Single Source Of Truth

You can say goodbye to random documents floating around the office and the days where you were left wondering which version of a document was the most up-to-date one.

With an intranet, all documentation and policies become centralised so if anyone needs to find something, they know exactly where it will be.

It Keeps Everyone In The Loop

In bigger organisations, communication can get a bit tricky from time to time. Sometimes announcements get buried in inboxes or team members are missing from Slack channels.

Fortunately, intranets give leadership a reliable way to share updates and information with the entire company – and employees have somewhere to go to read them.

Onboarding And Training Becomes Much Smoother

For new hires, an intranet is a place to find everything that they need in one place, especially in those first few weeks which can be daunting. From company values to how to submit annual leave, a good intranet can get new team members up to speed much more efficiently.

It Connects Remote And Hybrid Teams

Companies have embraced global teams and it’s not uncommon to see companies with employees scattered all over the world in different countries. When that happens, it’s usually quite difficult to maintain a sense of company culture but an intranet brings everyone together.

It also ensures that all employees have access to the same information at the same time, regardless of their country or time zone.

So, What Makes A Good Intranet?

As with broadband or VPN providers, not all intranets are the same. Some are definitely outdated to say the least with clunky technology that is nearly impossible to navigate.

If an intranet is well-designed, it probably has some – or all – of these things going for it.

Easy to search: If finding something on it takes longer than just asking a colleague, the intranet has failed spectacularly.

Mobile-friendly: People aren’t always at their desks but a decent intranet should work just as well on a mobile device.

Reflects the company’s culture: Intranets shouldn’t feel like another piece of technology or software that could belong to anyone. It should feel personalised and part of the company itself.