As more employees are finding their feet as a member of a remote or hybrid workforce, businesses are discovering that a well-designed Information Architecture for their intranet is crucial. Not only for leaders to communicate with their workforce or for teams to communicate with each other, but also for storing and sharing data and content.
Having a secure and easy-to-use intranet is a requirement of almost every modern industry, regardless of the size or scale of your business. It’s especially important due to the increased need to onboard new employees remotely. Having employees working from home is not a new concept for some businesses, but 2020 kicked off an enormous shift in reimagined workplaces. Amongst the new challenges this presented for employees and employers, one of the major outcomes of this shift for businesses was a sudden awareness of their current intranet’s shortcomings.
From old-school filing cabinets to more modern file sharing systems, what once were the pinnacles of workplace communication have been made redundant, clunky, or unusable in the face of the latest intranet platforms. With so much business being conducted in the digital space, and with the incoming generation of workers already tech-savvy, you aren’t alone if you’ve been thinking that your intranet needs a big makeover.
Information architecture refers to the way data and content is gathered and organised online. When done correctly, good information architecture allows users find the things they need on their company’s system quickly, such as files, documents, templates, resources, etc. Some of the biggest barriers people find when accessing their current intranet include
which are all signs of outdated or poorly-planned architecture.
Just as you’d create blueprints to design a house, maximising function, flow, and style, information architecture is used to create an intuitive intranet that your employees will enjoy using.
The term ‘information architecture’ is attributed to Richard Saul Wurman. He was an architect who became interested in the way data and information is collected and how it is used to clarify complex ideas and statistics into understandable patterns and observations. Between the 70s and mid-90s, the term was largely underused until it fell into the hands of library scientists Lou Rosenfeld and Peter Morville. They used the phrase to define the work they were doing structuring websites and intranets.
When applied in the wider internet context, information architecture is defined by several factors:
Though the term has evolved since Wurman first coined it in the 1970s, information architecture and its essential principles are responsible for how website blueprints are created to this day. So when it comes to building your own intranet, or engaging an IT company to do so on your behalf, planning should start just like a house – at the foundations.
To the uninitiated, building an intranet information architecture might seem like an impossible task. Common reasons businesses have for resisting an intranet overhaul include:
Like most things, identifying that you have a problem is the first step. Maybe your employees are spending too much time trying to find the documents they need. You could be wanting to automate a process that currently absorbs too many manual hours. Regardless, once you’re aware of issues, you can make a list of things that would make your day-to-day easier.
Some common requests are:
It’s with these goals in mind that you’ll be well-placed to kick off conversations with an experienced intranet solutions provider. Using your list, they’ll be able to assess your current information architecture and offer solutions. This could be helping you use the systems you have or build new platforms that will better suit your needs.
In the digital world, things move at lightning speed. An app that serves a crucial purpose now may become redundant with the launch of a new product. You might have altered a process within your company. That’s why your information architecture must be built to easily evolve as your company grows, and as the technology around your work changes. That comes with engaging IT specialists who make a point of understanding your business and goals. They should also know how your intranet will need to adapt if you were to scale up or down.
Below are some tips and questions you should take into consideration:
The best outcome of an intranet designed with excellent information architecture is that employees will be able to navigate through the site simply. They should be able to follow basic intuition to get from Point A to Point B. Your intranet builders should spend time getting to know how your company currently operates so that they can create pathways that just make sense.
The most effective information architecture is built using simple language. Not only does this keep instructions and actions clear, but it also makes it accessible to new employees or clients. This may not be possible for some highly technical industries, or if some departments must communicate with specific language. However, where possible you should opt for the most straightforward phrasing to ensure your intranet is usable as possible company-wide.
Your intranet can be as simple or elaborate as you wish but make functionality the priority. You may have five or five thousand visitors to your site, and all of them should know how to find what they need. Put yourself in a new starter’s shoes – what should they see when they open the home page? Where will they need to go? What information should be displayed? By building this into your architecture, you’re saving yourself hours of having to explain that a vital action was hidden in a fancy graphic.
It’s no mean feat to renovate or build information architecture. That’s why Propelle takes the hard work off your hands – letting you focus on the more important aspects of your job. We make sure we know exactly what you need from your intranet before we start drawing up the blueprints.
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