After the trends and insights come the profiles. The level of detail in each 50-60 page profile is astounding, and is a credit both to Kara Pernice and Patty Caya as the authors and to the intranet teams that have provided so much detail. The 232 screen shots are of a very high quality and are listed in a separate index. There are useful tables that summarise the technology platforms and applications, the project milestones and the responsibilities of the intranet team. Most of the profiles include a list of lessons learned.

The organisations profiled in the Intranet Design Awards 2019 are remarkably diverse in size, geography, business sector and development technology.

• 3M (global for 91,000 employees and 30,000 contractors)
• Anthem, Inc (a US heathcare company with 58000 associates and 22,000 contractors)
• BHP Billiton Limited (BHP) (global with 62,000 employees)
• Duke Energy (US-based with 47,000 users)
• European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) ((London-based with 3500 employees)
• Flight Centre Travel Group (Australian, with 19,000 employees)
• International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) (with 138,000 users of the Bluemine intranet)
• Lamprell Energy Limited. (UAE with 5000 employees)
• Messer Construction Co. (US with 800 active users)
• Norwegian Government Security and Service Organization (750 employees)

The technology platforms are also diverse. 3M., BHP, Duke and Messer are built on O365, Anthem and ERBD use Oracle Web Centre, Flight Centre is built with Unily, and the Norwegian SSO uses EpiServer. From a search perspective Anthem and IBM use Elastic, ERDB uses Solr and just to be different Lamprell developed its own CMS and search application. I’ve highlighted the search applications as the profiles are increasingly focusing on way in which search has been implemented, with a particular focus on employee and expertise search.

What comes across from all ten organisations is that the intranet plays a central role in achieving business and operational objectives. I have a sense that more research is now being carried out in advance of even an initial implementation and that organisations are appreciating that there needs to be a constant review of performance.

There is just one suggestion I can offer. There are brief assessments by the authors of each intranet  in a table at the start of the report. I think it would be helpful to have these assessments repeated, and perhaps extended, at the end of each profile. The amount of detail can be overwhelming, especially to less experienced intranet managers, and some better signposting to some of the innovations and success stories of each organisation could be very helpful.

The 2019 Intranet Design Annual can be ordered for $248 and represents extraordinary value for the investment. Even if you just find one ‘good idea’ or a warning about an approach you are taking based on one of the lessons learned, you will easily save the $248 however you have to account for it. Even more important is avoiding corporate and personal embarrassment through failing to deliver an optimal digital employee experience. 

Part I – trends and insights

Martin White