Throughout the year there are numerous intranet competitions ranging from the most beautiful intranet through to cutting edge development.
If you’re thinking of entering a competition, I thought I’d offer my observations on what I think judging panels are looking for.
Innovation
How innovative is your intranet? Does it engage your staff in an interesting or unique way? The objective may be to communicate to your organisation but is this done in a different, perhaps fun way? Perhaps you’ve created a business specific ‘killer application’. The focus here is on the best intranet for your business, and how it’s effectively solved your organisation’s issues.
Goals
What are your intranet goals? How has your intranet helped you to achieve those goals? One of our clients wanted to have a heavy focus on the social area of their site, which was extremely well received by staff. After being voted as one of the top businesses to work for in the UK they stated that their intranet had been a big contributing factor.
Design
What does your intranet look like?
How does it compare with what you had previously? Does its design have a big impact on the way your staff interact with their site? Design is not about merely judging a pretty picture; a good design is closely linked to its usability. Every organisation’s design requirements will vary depending on needs of its users. To demonstrate how you reached your design decision, it’s always a good idea to carry out user testing such as chalk tests. Tests such as these will help you identify the path your staff take to locate content on a page and will help you create a more informed decision with regards to design.
Size is irrelevant
Don’t be put off entering a competition because your organisation consists of 300 members of staff. You don’t have to be multinational to be a contender. I’ve encountered many winning intranets that operate on a small scale. One design award last year had winners ranging in size from 500 users to 50,000.
Entering a competition can offer some great incentives for your organisation. Your intranet team can get some recognition for all their hard work. Plus, as intranets are internally focused, it can be tough to see what other organisations are achieving. By entering a contest (and hopefully winning!) you can get access to what others have achieved, offering you further ideas and inspiration.
Do you think you have an award winning intranet? RT your comments below.
