What to Consider When Building an Intranet for Your Company
When you have a workforce that spans multiple floors, states, or even countries—or when a large portion of your employees are working remotely—internal communications are incredibly important. Wherever your employees are, you need an effective way to reach them.
Many businesses may be rediscovering the value of a robust intranet. In lieu of in-office gatherings, they’re seeing intranets as a hub for company culture. As a result, branding and design elements have become just as important to your employees as they’ve always been to your customers.
Let’s take a look at why more companies may want to consider building design-first intranets.
The importance of intranet design
Corporate intranets used to exist for function, not flair. Company culture existed around the water cooler and at happy hours. The intranet was for information access and nothing more. Now that the nature of work has changed, building culture into internal assets may be more of a priority. When employees might never meet each other in person, intranet design helps convey the character of a company. With Squarespace Enterprise, you can inject your brand personality into the look and feel of your intranet.
Employee support for your culture is integral to your success. Let’s say you’ve just completed a full brand identity refresh. The first target audience you need to test on isn’t your customers—it’s your employees. Squarespace Enterprise allows you to create and maintain a stylish internal site that puts your new corporate mission and vision on full display.
With its powerful design potential, you can use a Squarespace Enterprise-created intranet to demonstrate what the future of your company looks like to your employees first. Once you have them rallied around it, that message may naturally permeate to your customers and clients.
Account managers—the support you need, when you need it
Defining your intranet needs and translating them for design and technical implementation can be a challenge. That’s where account managers come in. They’re here to help you achieve your goals.
Account managers can help you understand best practices in intranet development, advise on implementing third-party integrations, deliver enhanced quality assurance testing, and more. You can also speak with design consultants to learn the best tips and tricks regarding user experience.
Your account manager will collaborate with you to get a complete understanding of your intranet objectives and advise you on product-related best practices. Have a special holiday project you want to add to your intranet? Your account manager can help you execute the addition. Whether you’re designing your intranet from scratch or updating it on the fly, Squarespace Enterprise has a knowledgeable support team ready to answer your questions and help you succeed.
Keep your messaging secure
When it comes to your intranet, security is paramount. Whether you’re publishing sensitive, company-wide announcements, sharing confidential product plans, or managing your supply chain, you need assurance that your intranet is only in the hands of your employees.
You’ll want to seek out the services of a knowledgeable and dedicated security team that has the ability to provide security evaluations upon request. And you’ll want single sign-on (SSO).
Plus, you’ll need the ability to manage your team by adding and adjusting their site permissions. Squarespace Enterprise comes with a centralized dashboard that simplifies the process of assigning who can do what on your intranet—and what sections they can operate within. This allows for greater flexibility and encourages employee collaboration.
Go live, fast
Building an intranet on your own is no easy task with the wrong tools. It requires networking know-how, full-stack developers, and designers. Squarespace Enterprise packages all of this into a single platform that helps you streamline the process for launching while letting you maintain full control.
Squarespace is renowned for its clean and sleek website templates. When you work on the platform, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. You can modify something that’s already built and fully functional, saving you months of design and engineering.
Instead of focusing on the rigors of implementation, you can redirect your efforts to your project’s overarching vision. You don’t have to worry about the technical side of website management, because we handle the hard stuff for you. This includes access to managed cloud hosting—but, more importantly for intranet needs, it means highly reliable security measures.
Over the course of the build, your account manager will be there for you. They can help you navigate the platform, shortlist templates, understand features, strategize your content, and more.
Get the most out of your intranet
Internal communications are a vital part of any corporation, and a well-designed intranet makes everything navigable, accessible, and secure. Squarespace Enterprise helps you accomplish all your intranet goals with a single, out-of-the-box product.