Social Intranet Examples and Best Practices - More Support for Remote Work

1. What is a Social Intranet?
2. What are the benefits of Social Intranets?
3. What are best practice examples for the use of Social Intranet?
4. Content ideas for your Social Intranet
5. With which software examples can a Social Intranet be created?
6. Haiilo
7. Microsoft SharePoint
8. HUMANSTARSapp
9. Overview
10. Workplace by Facebook
11. Staffbase
12. Just Social
13. Jive
14. Beekeeper
15. Intrexx
16. Conclusion about Social Intranet

A spontaneous chat in the office kitchen? A few words about why the project kick-off was postponed? The digital transformation, intensified by the challenges and promoters of social distancing, unfortunately put a stop to the casual exchange between colleagues. Many software applications are also not fully usable in remote mode, slowing down our daily work. Long story short: Social Intranet is the solution!

In this article we would like to talk about the concrete advantages of Social Intranet, which smartly circumvents the mentioned problems. In addition, we provide suitable software examples that ensure efficient work from home and away from the regular PC workplace. In any case, you will wake up the dormant employee communication from its slumber!

What is a Social Intranet?

A Social Intranet is a communication platform within a company that serves the social aspect, the internal communication and collaboration. It's less about top-down communication between superiors and employees. Rather, the platform acts as a modern support for side-to-side and bottom-up communication, linking the advantages of social media. Because on Instagram, Signal and Facebook we manage regular and casual exchange quite well. And this across borders.

The Social Intranet also serves as a central location for organizational applications. This means that not only mailing and messaging elements are linked, but also interfaces to the most important programs. Whether it's for PC workplaces, Mobile Devices or screens and terminals in production facilities. All systems, updates, work steps, reminders etc. are just a click away. We will report more about this in the following.

Source: Pixabay

What are the benefits of Social Intranets?

Fast exchange without complicated hurdles. This is certainly a clear example of a clear benefit of Social Intranet. New insights and important information can be transmitted immediately and through various components. Be it through a personal one-on-one conversation with video transmission, through a group chat or through the creation of a wiki to inform about a revised business process.

With this we are already cutting to the next benefit. Social Intranet serves excellently to maintain your central knowledge management and not only to maintain it, but to access it as a popular source of knowledge exchange. With a Social Intranet, active knowledge exchange flourishes wonderfully and you prevent the emergence of knowledge silos, or can finally consistently dissolve them.

Not only is a turbo added to communication at all levels. The processing of your business processes is simplified and accelerated by digitizing workflows and integrating them into the platform. Standard processes such as a vacation request, an order or a customer order can be approved much faster - that is, centrally and in real time and in spite of physical distances.

Once employees are used to communicating virtually, they will not only share gossip and chatter with each other, but will also contribute to problem solving and a positive work atmosphere. With project groups and transparent workflows you also give your employees a tool with which they can contribute to the company's success and become part of your innovation power.

And yet another example of a Booster effect regarding collaboration. The promoted exchange based on Social Intranet also has an effect on cohesion. High fluctuation does not even occur and in times of shortage of skilled workers, you have one less worry. As a rule, you already have competent and trained employees and contribute to them feeling heard, valued and well looked after.

As a transparent channel, Social Intranets also provide meaningful feedback in the form of reports and statistics. Are there repeated questions on the same topic? Is perhaps a follow-up training useful? Are there departments or project groups in the company that use the Social Intranet more than others? Which Intranet pages are accessed most frequently and how long does a certain approval process take? These are just a few examples that your company can read based on individual statistics. Problems and challenges can thus be remedied or prevented and you can simply do even more for your organization.

In addition to the advantages, we would also like to address the challenges. If we look at different age groups, it is probably the Millennials and Gen Z, who find their way in Social Intranet very quickly and even shape it. Older employees*, on the other hand, can react with trepidation, as they live face-to-face communication more than younger colleagues. Understanding for this and a gentle integration concept help to overcome these hurdles.

Also a Social Intranet should not only be reserved for those colleagues who have a computer workstation. Therefore, the platform must also be designed for mobile applications and be adaptable to private devices if necessary. This automatically results in the next problem: data protection. The increased reach of your communication and information of course also carries the risk that internal information will leak out. A sophisticated data protection concept, which also takes BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) into account, is just as essential as the focus on absolute voluntariness in view of the use on private devices.

Source: own graphic

What are best practice examples for the use of Social Intranet?

What makes a Social Intranet a great tool? After we have already grasped the advantages, we would like to list some examples of best practices here. So outstanding functions that are well received in practice, but may also need certain prerequisites.

High participation: The Social Intranet becomes the central communication medium in the entire company. This means: Your management team should also use the Social Intranet, because participation generates participation.

Remote tool: Home office is more popular than ever and every organization should equip itself accordingly to bridge distances. Instant messaging, video calling, newsfeeds, and mobile friendly.

No one-way street: A Social Intranet is the highway of your communication. Every day it is the platform of your employees, who use, maintain and receive personalized feeds in return. This is exactly why traditional Intranets look very pale in comparison and experience far less use. Conversely, this means that the conversations, criticisms and discussions that take place in the Social Intranet must be taken seriously and may also have consequences.

Even more engagement: For the interaction to really come to life, a high level of engagement and a well-planned and diverse editorial plan are required. This could include a news mix of sales successes, product announcements, CEO blog posts, job ads, surveys or a calendar for anniversaries and birthdays.

Community Champions: Who are the influencers in your organization? Who communicates the most? These people are of high value for the Social Intranet and also encourage other colleagues to contribute or increase participation. Therefore, it pays to find these people and continue to promote them.

Adapted to real needs: Look at your employees' work processes and think specifically about which areas the Social Intranet can help to complete tasks and projects, or to achieve goals. A Social Intranet should exactly cover these needs and support as many workflows as possible.

Simple Operation: A Social Intranet that is well received is definitely also an easy-to-use tool. Therefore, be sure to pay attention to good UX to meet the expectations of your employees.

The first look counts: As always, we decide very quickly whether we like something or not. The same applies to the start page of your Social Intranet. Is it compactly designed and gives a quick insight about the most important feeds, company news and upcoming events? Modern platforms also have intelligent start pages that are tailored to individual users.

Strengthen Organizational Culture: The platform should also serve as a place where praise and recognition are expressed, interest groups can come together, communities emerge and the feeling of connection and belonging is lived.

All-in-one: Finally, the Social Intranet as an All-in-one platform should promote a modern working environment and thus also provide a central home for the most important apps, files, news and links.

Content ideas for your Social Intranet

A constant supply of interesting and relevant Content is not only important for your Social Media Marketing, but also for your Intranet platform. As we mentioned in the previous section, this does not work without a well thought out editorial plan. In this task we would like to support you and provide some content examples:

• Welcome new employees and also mention private information apart from the professional career

• Invite your staff to give new colleagues a personal welcome

• Provide some more Social Media flair and space for personal stories to support your communities

• Provide recognition for special efforts, great sales successes or loyal participants of online discussions

• Post photos, infographics and illustrations matching current events

• Conduct interviews with managers, who not only focus exclusively on business content

• Success stories from customers, milestones and anniversaries can also belong to the Intranet classics

• Dates and events are nothing special, but absolutely belong in the editorial calendar

• Publish reviews after a renovation or merger, or according to the motto: That's how it all started

• Also HR Services, training and discounts for employees should occasionally be published

• New job postings should not be missed

• In finding ideas, you are also not in a one-way street. Use the poll function or do evaluations.

With which software examples can a Social Intranet be created?

A Social Intranet promises more efficiency in daily business and promotes communication in the entire organization. To make the agony of choice in the search for the right Social Intranet for your company easier for you, we present you on OMR Reviews in the category Intranet Software. Here you will find features, price information as well as real user evaluations. Click through and find the tool that masters your challenges. You can read even more about the topic in this post: These are the 7 best Intranet softwares.

Based on our reviews, we can recommend the following Social Intranet systems:

Haiilo

Graphic: Haiilo

Haiilo is one of the top 5 providers in the area of employee communication and employee engagement, which has already convinced more than 800 companies. Including Amazon, Deutsche Bahn, Coca-Cola and DHL. Behind it is also a global team, which has made it its goal to support a modern working world.

One of the most distinctive features of Haiilo is certainly the employee app, as a central communication interface for on the road, in the office or at production facilities. The system also has a well thought out intranet construct, which quickly provides colleague lists, user profiles and expert searches and allows for quick arrangements and chats.

• Haiilo

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Source: Haiilo

Microsoft SharePoint

Source: Microsoft

Microsoft also has a solution when it comes to sharing files, news and resources, as well as a central collaboration platform for working remotely. SharePoint provides dynamic team websites to inform and involve colleagues on site. Work materials and applications, as well as personalized news, are also managed efficiently.

A powerful search function is also just a click away and allows versatile content management. Also, the digitization of workflows and business processes doesn't fall by the wayside. SharePoint creates a digital working environment and provides forms, workflows and customized apps on all devices.

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Source: Microsoft

HUMANSTARSapp

Digital employee communication Made in Germany. The idea of HUMANSTARSapp was born in 2002 and developed accordingly. Currently, the solution is live in more than 750 companies of different sizes and industries as well as in public institutions, associations and communities.

The turnkey enterprise solution provides you with different modules, including a notification center, a blogging function, newsfeeds, a DSGVO-compliant messenger as well as a chat application. Of course, you can also control workflows and form management with the HUMANSTARSapp. And colleagues in manufacturing and production can be connected via extra modules via screens and TV.

• HUMANSTARSapp

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Overview

Source: Overview

Overview also greatly supports all areas of internal collaboration. Founded in 2017, it was specifically developed to network colleagues in the office and away from the PC workplace. For this purpose, Overview provides an intuitive and easy to use solution that allows tasks to be created, sent and tracked transparently.

A company-owned DSGVO-compliant app for internal communication, a digital blackboard, as well as a sophisticated task management are ready in the company app. Overview was originally developed for the hotel industry, but now frees more than ten branches from paper economy and decentralized communication systems.

• Überblick

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Workplace by Facebook

Source: Workplace

Workplace supports the collaboration of remotely separated employees* through an already known concept. Surface and functionality were simply taken over from Facebook. This eliminates certain initial inhibitions about users, knowing how to use their private network habits in a known environment.

Workplace also supports the organization of groups, chats, live videos as well as the integration of common business software like Zoom, Office365, Webex and many more. A great feature is also the Knowledge Library, which centrally structures, collects all important files and of course keeps them ready for on-the-go.

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Source: Workplace

Staffbase

Source: Staffbase

Another example of a Social Intranet for your company is provided by Staffbase. The tool keeps its focus on simple communication. With the help of a branded employee app, colleagues can be contacted at the same time in the office, on the road and in the home office and the exchange can be facilitated. Staffbase also provides a Front-Door-Intranet that keeps all important news and information in one place and finally ends the channel confusion. Important processes, for example in IT Systems or onboarding, can also be digitized and optimized.

The company Staffbase, founded in Germany, also focuses on simplicity, reach and personalization and has already convinced 2000 companies. For example, the Adidas Group, IKEA, Aldi and many more are already working with the application.

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Source: Staffbase

Just Social

Source: Just Social

Also in St. Pauli, people have come together to improve organizational communication. The result is Just Social, a central news home that can be targeted precisely to location or target group. For this purpose, the manufacturer provides an already established app structure for desktop and mobile.

News, chats, surveys, events, wikis, files, directories and reports are ready and can be personalized individually. Simple search via full text, and this across all contents and files, as well as machine-learned ranking by artificial intelligence can become true wonder features in everyday life. Just Social also operates DSGVO-compliant hosting in Germany.

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Jive

Source: Aurea

Jive promotes the networking of employees, knowledge and content in a single collaboration and communication hub. This includes a user-oriented interface with intelligent search function, which allows mutual recognition, rewards, analyzes and detailed profiles. Jive also connects all parts of the IT infrastructure to ensure use across systems, applications and devices.

With the help of the mobile app Jive Daily, the full range of services is also available device-independently. Jive is part of the company Aurea Inc, which operates worldwide with more than 2000 employees, each with a focus on software industry and digital transformation.

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Beekeeper

Source: Beekeeper

The mobile application with the pretty name supports especially frontline employees who do not sit at a desk, through a central communication platform. Thus, the system is primarily used in industries like manufacturing, retail and hospitality. Chat campaigns and surveys, data sharing and news streams support both the virtual 1:1 exchange and the communication in groups.

Beekeeper also supports the automation of processes and workflows across organizational systems, which is especially useful for IT updates, HR and onboarding tasks. The company based in San Francisco also provides modular extensions for its application and can be individually adapted.

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Intrexx

The Social Intranet from Intrexx focuses on the optimization of individual business applications, which can be easily adapted to the company structure with a few simple steps - according to the low-code logic. Intrexx is primarily oriented towards the topics of analytics, document management, content management and social collaboration.

The latter includes features such as file sharing, surveys, project/task management and instant messaging, thus keeping joint work productive even when remote. Intrexx is part of the United Planet GmbH based in Freiburg and is already being used by more than 5000 companies and organizations.

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More examples of Social Intranet?

If you would like more examples and recommendations of Social Intranet, feel free to click through OMR Reviews with even more providers around the topic of organizational Collaboration & Communication. Currently we provide you with 20 software insights including price information and practical tested experience reports.

Conclusion about Social Intranet

Anyone who talks about the future of the workplace certainly also means a digital home for a global or decentralized team. A Social Intranet is the right companion for this, making working remotely much more comfortable and pushing the idea of social cohesion back into the foreground. Talking to colleagues or asking for advice, organizing and holding team meetings are just a few examples that run much better with Social Intranet.

That's why we have introduced you to best practices and top rated Social Intranet software examples that make work and collaboration more effective. Whichever provider you ultimately choose will of course also depend on which functions in which degree you want to use primarily. The existing infrastructure also plays a decisive role. However, individual constructability or a modular structure of the Social Intranet are good approaches to master the current challenges in a targeted manner.