8 reasons to outsource your Intranet build – and we can help

A well-designed Intranet solution is the cornerstone of the modern workplace, serving as both a powerful internal communication platform to broadcast vision and key messages as well as an invaluable collaboration platform for users to get work done. A professionally designed Intranet not only streamlines the accessibility of mission critical data but can be configured to radically expedite or even entirely automate key business processes, and exciting new developments such as Microsoft’s Project Cortex are increasingly bringing advanced functionality such as artificial intelligence and machine learning into common availability.

There can be quite an investment of both time and effort to realise a modern platform of this description, but how much does it cost? A common pitfall for some institutions is to conclude that building an Intranet internally must be the most cost-effective option and rely on their own internal IT team to begin building out an Intranet. Without experience in many key disciplines and practices which underpin modern Intranet design, however, this often results in a difficult, resource-intensive and time-consuming project which could end up costing much more in terms of budget, time and disruption than alternatives. Here are eight reasons why you should consider outsourcing your Intranet solution.

1. Speed of deployment

We can speak from experience that, on average, building an in-house Intranet can take an organisation up to 6 months for small companies and over 12 months for larger ones. Outsourcing contracts are managed with a time frame which makes sure that the parties involved stay focused and deliver the services within the agreed time frame. In the last few months Intelogy have been helping an increasing number of clients deploy dedicated COVID-19 portals on Microsoft 365. Recently we created such a portal for a global manufacturing company in less than two weeks.

You should also consider scalability as it can take quite some time to recruit an extra staff member to accelerate the build of your Intranet in case you are not meeting the timelines. When you outsource the work to an IT vendor, they become responsible for meeting the deadlines and can scale up in case of need. Building an Intranet is not a one-person job and will require strong IT and organisational skills, and an experienced dedicated team.

2. Cost of delay

An effective Intranet will improve and accelerate internal communication, help employees to quickly find necessary information, encourage knowledge sharing, reduce emails and meetings and much more. Delaying a deployment of an Intranet will cost any organisation in terms of lost productivity.

3. Reduce impact

Building an Intranet from scratch can be a challenging project and it will require a lot of homework if you decide to do it yourself. With over 25 years of experience in Digital Transformation and Cloud Solutions we know exactly what information we need, how to implement a plan, a long-term strategy and how to build an effective Intranet according to your needs. We won’t be unnecessarily bothering your staff or interrupt their day to day operations to get the work done. This way everyone can be focusing on what they do best. Possibly, your IT department could be qualified and capable to build an in-house Intranet, but they should continue focusing on adding value to your business. Let us do the heavy lifting for you, as it can be very inconvenient for all other staff to have your whole IT Team resourced to build an Intranet.

4.    Experience

We have the experience to avoid pitfalls and recommend things that “just work”. Click here to read some of our best case studies. There are a LOT of options within Microsoft 365 – does your team know which ones to use for each case? How does this meet your IT roadmap or information governance requirements? We would take time to establish the constraints and advice, using experience on the best practice approaches. Some organisations are hesitant to buy an Intranet because of potential ‘one size fits all’ limitations, but we have spent years building customised Intranets and we will oversee a discovery phase before we start building.

5.    Easier to maintain

Expert delivery of an effective Intranet will lead to an easier to maintain solution – mainly because we know what not to do. Outsourcing the creation does not imply maintaining it – we often handover to the in-house team once it is up and running. However, support doesn’t end here. Our managed services imply a complete framework for strategic planning, operational/technical support, change management, and continuous improvement with regular updates, ensuring a reliable and future-proof Digital Workplace for your teams.

6. The newest solutions

Today’s technology is fast paced with updates for various tools and solutions coming out on a regular base. Who is keeping track of all the changes and new possibilities? We bet there are many solutions we can surprise you with. Our entire operations are dependent on staying ahead of the technology curve – things change rapidly in the Cloud and the core of our business is to make sure we understand what those changes imply and how best to use them in a business context. Do you want to pay someone to constantly monitor these things?

7. Extension/Customisation

Sometimes, requirements and business needs can be specific and complex enough that they cannot be addressed with out-of-the-box functionality in Intranet solutions or would greatly benefit from a level of customisation not typically available to the average consumer. Intelogy can not only quickly and effectively map requirements and business needs to existing functionality but also outline areas which would benefit from custom development, ranging from small custom extensions all the way to full custom applications. We have the expertise to both know when something can be done within an Intranet platform such as SharePoint and how to create it if it doesn’t or would benefit from entirely bespoke features.

8. Expertise

By outsourcing to a company like Intelogy you are opening up to a great extent of expertise in the Digital Workplace, not just an Intranet. We offer services in full Modern Workplace Solutions, Modern IT, Information Governance and much more. It doesn’t matter where you are on your digital transformation journey, Intelogy can help at any step of the way.

Feel free to contact us today to discuss any future plans!