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Corporate intranets ‘useless’ to business

social media for collaboration growing in popularity, but UK firms still failing to realise potential of intranets, according to Concentra

March 02, 2010

40 per cent of workers believe their company intranet isn’t accessible enough, according to research from UK business consulting and technology services company, Concentra. The survey results revealed that 24 per cent of employees don’t believe their intranet is easy to access, and 17 per cent of firms don’t have any intranet at all.

The study also reported that email and telephone are still the preferred communication channels in business when it comes to collaborating on projects, although a significant minority – 13 per cent – now use social media as well.

Earlier this month, Gartner predicted that by 2014, email will be replaced by social networks as the primary form of business communication for twenty per cent of businesses. According to Concentra, developing the right ‘social’ applications to integrate into corporate intranets will be crucial to this development.

Executive quote

“Intranets have the potential to be a very powerful tool, but businesses have got to understand how to use them first. Collaboration in the workplace today often takes place across borders, time zones and cultures – people need to build relationships quickly, and email and phone calls just aren’t enough to cope with these demands,” said Goetz Boué, director at Concentra.

“ ‘Generation Y’ is in the workplace now, and expects simple, effective communication technology. Businesses holding on to outdated tech could be missing out on valuable talent,” continued Boué. “The social media functionality available in SharePoint 2010 will help social media to move from a consumer audience into an effective business tool.”

“A successful intranet is not just a corporate comms platform, but a collaborative working tool that enables staff to be more efficient. It should bring together knowledge, expertise, information, people and process,” continued Boué. “We simply can’t keep relying on email to do the work for us. This time next year, we’d expect to see a much higher number of employees using social media to collaborate.”

About the company

About Concentra
http://www.concentra.co.uk/

Concentra is a UK-based business consulting and technology services company, serving clients across a number of economic sectors. Founded in 2005 as a software development company it has since evolved, leveraging the experience of a team of analytical driven management consultants based on the need for technology to fuse with business strategy to deliver quantifiable, ongoing business benefit.
Our teams deliver value to customers by designing, building, deploying and supporting customised and integrated products that can boost profitability, streamline operations, and improve collaboration.
Solutions from Concentra use the latest management consultancy, advanced analytics, application development techniques and support in order to help companies manage complexity. We work with a wide range of companies across many industry verticals, with a particular expertise in healthcare and financial services.

Contact details

For more information please contact:
Lisa Gillingham / Ellen Spenceley at LEWIS PR
Concentra@lewispr.com

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Corporate intranets ‘useless’ to business

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