In the closing keynote of Intranets2012, James Robertson is talking about intranets that surprise and delight. James is the Managing Director of Step Two Designs – the company that presented the Intranets2012 conference.

Key points:
– three key themes of this conference – (a) making intranets work, (b) new technology, and (c) social and collaboration.
– the big question: so what are we aiming for? We should deliver intranets that surprise and delight. It needs to be more than a sense of satisfaction.
– four principles of delight:

– … (1) generate an emotional response
– … … ugly doesn’t cut it. Needs to be more than just useful. Ugly says that the organization doesn’t care about staff.
– … … the design of things make a difference.
– … … beauty is in the eye of the beholder … and the culture of the company.
– … … an intranet that shows craftsmanship is great. Eg., the intranet from AEP.
– … … method – involve great designers when producing intranet solutions. If you’re spending half a million dollars on SharePoint, spend $20,000 on designers too.

– … (2) make things simpler (“probably the most important of the principles.”)
– … … reality – it’s not easy to get your job done. Sometime, it’s really difficult. It’s “appalling” what some people have to put up with.
– … … ideas – usability (pages that bring together links about the work that someone does)
– … … idea – elegant simplicity.
– … … … Eg., the BAT intranet. Designed 6 years ago. It just works. Staff can’t believe how easy it is to do the things they need to do.
– … … … Eg., CRS Australia – brings all the tasks people have to do in a single list.
– … … … Eg., the UK Parliament with mobile access to specific intranet pages.
– … … … Eg., from paper based processes to tablet based processes, at Logan City Council.
– … … see the Step Two report, A Week in the Digital Workplace. Let the systems adapt to what people need to do.
– … … fundamental principle – ruthlessly focus on eliminating complexity. Challenge everything in the design. “Clarity, simplify, implement.”

– … (3) use technology in smart ways
– … … modern technology platforms are hugely powerful. And yet, we recreate the old terrible sites in the new platform. “Something is going terribly wrong here.”
– … … eg., process automation using out-of-the-box capabilities in SharePoint. From email to a SharePoint list.
– … … eg., Janssen-Cilag and IT’s asset management system. Point-and-click, “I need a new laptop.” Aim was to make it easier to get stuff through the IT department than going to the local retail shop.
– … … eg., tell people about changes in policy at the point of need. Not six monhts before in an all staff email.
– … … rethink processes. Don’t just re-create what you’ve always done.
– … … make it easy to get work done.
– … … eg., the Dutch Senate – moved from printing reports and couriering them out, to iPads and PDFs. Saved €110,000 in the first year, and €80,000 per year going forward.
– … … principle – make the technology really sing.

– … (4) put people at the centre
– … … people are king, not content.
– … … eg., the IDEO profile pages. People sit in a “living context.”
– … … eg., the REA Group – and its social intranets. See Melissa’s presentation about REA from Intranets2011.
– … … eg., Stockland – “what does collaboration mean for us as a property developer?” They ruled the technology – SharePoint and NewsGator – for serving people.
– … … eg., QUT’s work around mobile access for students.
– … … get the systems to start surfacing and suggesting connections.
– … … idea – if we help staff, they’ll help the business.

– What can you do?
– … forget about intranets as a whole, focus on the next feature.
– … key questions for all changes: (1) can this be made more attractive? (2) simpler? (3) smarter? (4) does it meet the needs of staff?