7 Tips for Choosing the best Intranet Vendor for Your Company

Forming and maintaining successful business relationships takes time, understanding, and introspection. Choosing a lasting and reliable intranet vendor should be about more than just modules and features. At Creative Social Intranet, we believe in fostering open communication between businesses, employees, and anyone else in the business world. So it only makes sense to pass on our intranet vendor expertise.

We’re thrilled to present the top seven tips for selecting the best intranet vendor for your company:

1. Understand Your Company’s Requirements

Trying to find the right intranet vendor without knowing what you want is like looking for a needle in a haystack. It’s nearly impossible. To increase your chances of success, take some time to think about your organization’s goals and how an intranet can help you achieve them. Additionally, get acquainted with different types of intranets (e.g. on-premise and SaaS) so you can more easily communicate with vendors and understand how they can support your organization.

2. Consider the End-User

When it comes to choosing an intranet for your business, it’s important to keep the end-user in mind. Ask yourself: are the features what your employees need? Will they be easy to understand? And will they integrate well with your business style? Every business has its own unique work styles and preferences, so you’ll want to make sure that your intranet is able to accommodate and even increase those behaviors.

Different types of workplaces have different needs when it comes to their intranets. For example, workplaces that are more creative and artsy generally need an intranet that is less rigid and more flexible. This is because ideas tend to come unexpectedly in these types of workplaces, and projects often start quickly and finish slowly over time. Intranets for this type of work need to be fluid, adaptable, and accessible at all times. In contrast, workplaces that are more systematic and organized, such as accounting firms, benefit more from a rigid structure and organization. It might take some reflection to understand your company’s style, but choosing an intranet vendor that matches your workplace’s needs will help you build an intranet that employees will actually use.

3. Give Special Attention to Your Intuition

A good intranet should be intuitive. While you will need a basic introduction to its features, your intranet should feel easy and natural. Just like you learned how to use email or countless kinds of social media without detailed training or instruction, the right intranet for your company should be clear and easy to understand right from the start. If your intranet doesn’t feel natural, especially when you are learning how to use it, it’s not very likely to last.

When it comes to your intranet, you need a system that works for you. But that’s not all – you also need to be aware of any shady or unusual fine print in your contracts. Sometimes vendors try to disguise important information, making a great-looking service turn into something completely different. We all know the frustration of a “free” app or a phone provider’s “encouragement” to upgrade. That’s not the kind of nonsense you should be dealing with on your intranet. So read your contract terms carefully and listen to your intuition about what seems right.

4. Evaluate Existing Methods

An intranet can be incredibly handy for a company – think of it as an electronic way of sharing, collaborating, and communicating information between employees. However, in order for an intranet to truly be effective and be used to its full potential, it needs to integrate easily with the products that your company already uses on a daily basis.

An intranet that meets all of your company’s needs should be highly customizable. After all, you shouldn’t have to change the way you work just to suit the software. Instead, the software should be able to adapt to how you work. This level of customization can make all the difference in whether or not an intranet is truly useful for your company.

5. Take a Look at Your Budget

Company budget can be a make-or-break factor when it comes to choosing an intranet vendor, or even deciding whether to go without one altogether. It can be disheartening to realize that even the most promising tools, services, and innovations might be out of our reach because of budget constraints. That’s why it’s so important to evaluate vendors carefully and find the best tools that won’t break the bank.

6. Analyze Their Experience

Part of your success with intranet vendors comes from their own experience with your business and industry-specific needs. Take some time to look into their similar experience. Have they worked with clients like you before? Are they familiar with your unique challenges? Do they have a specialty? While specialties and specific experience might not be a deciding factor alone, they can contribute to an overall decision.

A strong customer service culture is key for any good intranet vendor. They should be able to handle questions and concerns efficiently and effectively. Try to have at least one experience with your potential vendor’s customer service team before committing. Ask them any questions you have, as well as what to do in a few plausible problems and scenarios. Having a least a little experience with customer service gives you a window to what your future encounters with the company will be like, especially when trying to resolve a concern or fix an issue.

7. Investigate the Organization

The last thing you want to think about before choosing an intranet vendor is how your relationship with them could affect your business. Your values and company culture should align with the vendor, and you should feel good about the partnership. Although a vendor may provide an excellent intranet, it’s important to consider how your company will be perceived for working with them. Consider the vendor’s brand and company culture to get a sense of what it would be like to partner with them.

No business is perfect, and that includes the ones that provide the services you rely on. It’s important to take some time to evaluate the potential risks of working with a specific company. This includes looking at their business reputation and culture. By doing your due diligence, you can help protect the reputation of your own business.

Creative Social Intranet

Choosing an intranet vendor is an important step for your business, but it doesn’t have to be intimidating. With a little forethought and some simple evaluation, you’ll be sure to find the perfect vendor.

At Creative Social Intranet, we understand the importance of combining useful tools with outstanding service. We are committed to offering our customers the best intranet products with the best possible experience.

To learn more about how Creative Social Intranet can help your organization, schedule a personalized demo today.