Corporate intranet: 20 benefits of moving to CSR

By Grégory Coste.

Published: October 30, 2024

The corporate intranet has evolved: human resources and communications managers are now opting for the CSR. This modern version of the collaborative intranet offers the advantages of centralizing and promoting the circulation of information for productivity purposes. The organization's website is the showcase, the CSR platform, the user-friendly internal communication tool par excellence.

Why set up a corporate social network? Let's take a look at the 20 benefits of using a CSR for all employees.

See all software Enterprise Social Network (ESN)

Definition of an intranet: what's it for?

The aim of an intranet is to facilitate communication within a company. It represents the flow of data accessible to all company employees via a computer network.

Unlike an extranet, which can be accessed from outside the company, an intranet can only be consulted on a local network. The intranet is characterized by a good organization of resources to facilitate access to information according to the type of user, and the maintenance of the user's connection throughout his or her activity.

Andrew Rybalko

A repository is pre-established to set up a corporate directory, the functionalities required to meet usage requirements, and the management of user rights. The IT infrastructure of an intranet must therefore meet security, confidentiality, accessibility and speed requirements.

The primary benefits expected from a CSR are :

improve information flow and sharing for 80% of companies,

improve organizational agility and responsiveness for 54% of companies.

Source: CSR - intranet study by the Observatoire des réseaux sociaux d'entreprise, 2016.

Companies are tending to abandon complex intranets in favor of a simple corporate intranet, i.e. a more powerful information system that gives internal communication more space and scope for expression: the corporate social network (CSN).

Advantage no. 1: an easy-to-use interface

How do you choose a CSN? It's all a question of filters! And the best filter is that of your employees, whatever the size of the company: if your employees adopt the tool easily and intuitively, that's a very good sign.

On the other hand, if they get lost in the collaborative intranet and don't spontaneously find the answers they're looking for, you'll face the worst possible disadvantage: disaffection (or even demotivation)!

Advantage no. 2: a personalized news feed

The advantage of a corporate social network is that it places the employee at the center.

In concrete terms, this means a global company news feed, enriched with information from the private or public discussion groups to which the user belongs.

Benefit no. 3: real-time access to information

The term " intranet site " seems a little obsolete today compared with the use of an ESN: an enterprise social network is a type of collaborative platform that centralizes all information and functional applications to streamline corporate communication within the same space. Exchanges are no longer made a posteriori by exchanging e-mails, but live, in real time.

Benefit no. 4: communicate like never before

Chat, private messaging, article writing, commenting, liking, sharing: whatever the space, there's no shortage of features to foster internal communication.

The range of reaction and interaction channels available is wide: the tool adapts to your desires and availability.

Benefit no. 5: Decompartmentalize departments

The new-generation corporate intranet aims to develop teamwork: good communication between employees is the key to greater agility and responsiveness.

Breaking down silos and compartmentalized working methods requires a collaborative spirit, as well as a tool tailored to the size of the company. This is the whole point of a CSR: to enable a horizontal mode of communication, favoring exchanges and collaboration, rather than a vertical one, immobilizing interactions through its countless hierarchical layers.

Benefit no. 6: sharing knowledge and skills

Teams specializing in a given field can set up a dedicated space where they can share documents, videos, images and presentations to pool their knowledge and enhance their expertise.

In a corporate social network, everyone can enrich this shared knowledge base by creating dedicated tabs on a private group.

Benefit no. 7: find the right person or the right information

A simple company intranet offers a directory of all company contacts. An internal social network allows you to go further in your search, using an intelligent search engine: the search is enhanced, as it is contextualized to help you find the best information or the person you're looking for as quickly as possible.

Benefit no. 8: no technical skills required

The nicest software to use is the one that works for us: it centralizes tools so that we can connect to them simply and whenever we need to, for example on Google Drive, the Office365 suite, Sharepoint or Dropbox.

It's a lot more user-friendly, isn't it?

Benefit no. 9: no more searching for your password

When you're working, you don't want to spend all your time logging in to your workspace again and again. Single Sign On (SSO), integrated into an internal social networking solution, provides a contextualized, secure and permanent connection: you can continue to communicate without worrying about the 45th password you've forgotten.

Benefit no. 10: Tools to encourage interaction

An idea to submit? A notion to pass on about internal security? A skills assessment to implement?

Combine the useful with the pleasurable, with tools that are both fun and educational , and that offer interaction, such as quizzes or surveys.

Benefit no. 11: exploit the integrated agenda

If everyone's agenda isn't integrated into your corporate intranet, it's a drawback, or rather the last straw for a tool that's supposed to encourage collaboration.

On most CSRs, agendas are integrated , and you can also retrieve the e-mail addresses of people registered following an event (handy for keeping in touch with customers or external members you've invited).

Benefit no. 12: preserve your e-mail inbox

You've already saved 543 e-mails by applying the first tips in this article, and your motivation capital remains intact. Where an "old-school" corporate intranet can consume your energy unnecessarily, the CSR gives it to you.

And to make matters worse, some solutions offer additional modules such as videoconferencing. Ain't life grand?

Benefit no. 13: Streamlined organization

Why should you have to make 8 phone calls or send 15 e-mails to reserve a room? An RSE worthy of the name integrates this functionality directly into the collaborative communication space, especially when the respective agendas are already connected to it: in just a few clicks, the room is reserved and the team notified by invitation. Hup.

Benefit no. 14: Involve other employees

No effective communication without the possibility of dialogue - that's the secret of effective internal communication . The collaborative solutions provided by a CSR are dedicated to cross-functional communication.

This enables managers to delegate in complete confidence, and to manage projects under hierarchical constraints. This is what a collaborative enterprise is all about: developing collective intelligence.

Advantage no. 15: integrate information from elsewhere

A CSR generally enables external information to be retrieved. For example, the interoperability of an information system makes it possible to retrieve a post from Yammer and integrate it directly into the internal social network's news feed, providing a comfortable read for the reader.

Benefit no. 16: Strengthen team cohesion

An ESN can also be used to create more informal spaces, more conducive to other forms of exchange around the notion of leisure: cultural outings, events such as farewell parties, sports groups for jogging enthusiasts, organization of internal events, and so on.

Disadvantage at the outset: nobody knows you. Long-term disadvantage (good-natured laughter): everyone recognizes you. Advantages for all: getting to know each other in a different way, forging stronger bonds of trust.

Advantage no. 17: our power to react

A glue gets stuck in the information flow, and then it's drama (or at least it can be): everyone passes the hot potato back and forth, avoiding the hot topic of a delicate issue, such as a highly technical or specific customer request.

On an internal social network, you won't be up all night: everyone is involved, and the question is easily forwarded via a publication to the most competent experts, so that they can react as quickly as possible.

Benefit no. 18: increased productivity

Infobesity is the new evil of the century, with the advent of new technologies. The dynamic home page of a corporate social network and the various dedicated spaces allow you to sort through information and avoid drowning in data.

Less information to process and smoother collaboration mathematically increase employee efficiency and productivity.

Advantage no. 19: set usage rules upstream

You can define whether you want to give a voice to all employees, or prefer a hierarchical pyramid with authorized contributors in dedicated areas.

The CSR tool must adapt to the configuration of your organization, whatever its size and objectives.

Advantage no. 20: setting up your CSR with no drawbacks

How do you set up a company intranet? When it comes to setting up your next-generation corporate intranet, it's not just a question of embarrassment, but also of choice.

And there's no shortage of choice on the corporate social networking market. Here are three examples.

Jamespot

Communication managers and directors recommend Jamespot for its ability to unite teams in a user-friendly environment.

This collaborative platform integrates easily with your information system, and adapts to your processes by creating specific workflows , for example.

And last but not least, Jamespot's support team is particularly attentive to customer needs.

Lively

It's advisable to choose a publisher with a serious consulting dimension and a tailor-made offering. With its Lively software suite, for example, publisher Inspheris knows how to adapt to the needs of companies of all sizes and in all sectors, to deploy your corporate social network in SaaS (Software as a Service, i.e. entirely online) or On Premise (on site) mode :

Cloud, with secure data hosting in France,
On Premise, hosted on your servers, with outsourcing at your charge.

Talkspirit

As a collaborative working medium, talkspirit offers a comprehensive solution that exceeds the expectations of an RSE. A true workspace, talkspirit encourages team collaboration and communication thanks to features such as :

document management,
label management
task assignment management according to dedicated groups.

What's more, with a connection to a thousand applications (such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Trello and Zendesk), the talkspirit platform centralizes information and accelerates sharing within the organization. The software can be configured and customized to suit your needs, and even enables login for employees who don't have an email address. Last but not least, talkspirit guarantees security and confidentiality by hosting your data in France.