An intranet can be a powerful tool to streamline internal processes, enhance employee engagement, improve productivity and drive business value fast.
However, to justify the costs and demonstrate the value of an intranet, measuring and calculating its ROI becomes essential.
The evaluation of intranet ROI isn’t as challenging as it might first seem. But It's essential to choose the right metrics and methods for your business when calculating intranet ROI.
In this article, we will explore practical tips and strategies for measuring, improving, and maximising intranet ROI, helping you make informed decisions and unlock its full potential.
Why Measure Intranet ROI?
There are several reasons to measure and evaluate your intranet on an ongoing basis.
Justify Project and Maintenance Costs to Stakeholders
One of the key reasons to measure and focus on improving intranet ROI is to effectively justify project and maintenance costs to stakeholders.
Implementing and maintaining an intranet requires an investment of resources, both in terms of time and money.
By measuring intranet ROI, you can demonstrate the tangible value and benefits that the intranet brings to your organisation.
For example, you might discuss how implementing a new intranet to consolidate systems reduces costs.
This data-driven approach helps stakeholders understand the positive impact on productivity, collaboration, and employee engagement, making it easier to secure continued support and investment in the intranet platform.
Tip: If you're facing roadblocks from financial or C-suite stakeholders who don't want to invest in a new intranet solution, you can also include data on the hidden costs of outdated legacy systems.
Identify Where Improvements Need to Be Made
Measuring intranet ROI provides valuable insights into its effectiveness and performance.
Analysing metrics and data related to user engagement, content consumption, and task completion enables intranet managers to identify areas where improvements need to be made.
For example, low engagement rates or high bounce rates may indicate that certain features or sections of the intranet are not meeting user needs. This data-driven evaluation allows organisations to make informed decisions on optimising the intranet, enhancing its usability, and tailoring it to better align with employees' requirements.
Continuous improvement based on ROI analysis ensures that the intranet remains a valuable tool that delivers ongoing benefits to your organisation.
Improve Business Decision Making
A robust intranet provides a wealth of data that can significantly enhance business decision making.
By measuring intranet ROI, intranet managers gain insights into user behavior, content effectiveness, and overall intranet usage patterns.
This data-driven approach enables organisations to make data-backed decisions regarding content strategy, employee engagement initiatives, and resource allocation.
For example, analysing the ROI may reveal that a specific department or team is benefiting the most from the intranet, leading to informed decisions on expanding its capabilities for other departments or replicating successful practices across the organisation.
Best Methods for Measuring Intranet ROI
There are a number of ways you can measure intranet benefits and ROI. The method you choose to calculate intranet ROI will depend on your own organisation and needs.
Return on Investment: Does the Value of the Intranet Justify the Investment?
Most often when we think about starting the evaluation of intranet ROI we look to profit. Not surprisingly as it is essential to evaluate whether the value it delivers justifies the amount invested.
To calculate ROI, use the following formula:
(Net income from the intranet / Cost of the intranet) * 100 = ROI%.
Through analysing the net income generated by the intranet and comparing it to the initial and ongoing intranet costs, you can calculate the ROI percentage. This method provides a quantitative measure of the intranet's financial performance and helps demonstrate its effectiveness in delivering tangible business value.
For example, if the annual net income generated by the intranet is $100,000, and the initial and ongoing costs amount to $50,000, the ROI would be 200%. This means that for every dollar invested in the intranet, there is a $2 return.
Using this ROI percentage, you can assess the financial impact of the intranet and make informed decisions about its continued investment.
Tip: If you feel that you will be unable to gain buy-in from stakeholders due to budgetary constraints, consider implementing an intranet-in-a-box solution which cost less to implement and maintain on an ongoing basis.
Productivity Metrics: Tracking Growth on Relevant Metrics
Measuring intranet performance metrics is another valuable method for assessing and improving intranet ROI.
You can gauge the impact of the intranet on overall productivity by tracking and comparing relevant metrics such as employee engagement, task completion rates, collaboration frequency, and time saved on routine tasks,
To do this, you should establish a baseline measurement before implementing the intranet, and regularly monitor the changes over time.
Positive growth in these productivity metrics indicates that the intranet is driving efficiency and improving work processes within your organisation, further justifying the investment made.
Let's say before implementing the intranet, the average time taken to complete a specific task was 2 hours. After the intranet implementation, the average time decreased to 1.5 hours. This indicates a 25% improvement in productivity.
Similarly, if employee engagement scores increased from 70% to 85%, it showcases the positive impact of the intranet on employee satisfaction and collaboration.
By regularly monitoring these metrics, you can measure the tangible intranet benefits and identify areas for further improvement.
User Surveys: Gathering Feedback on the Intranet's Impact
Conducting user surveys is a practical way to measure the effectiveness of an intranet and gather feedback from the employees who use it daily.
Use surveys to understand whether users perceive the intranet as a helpful tool that enhances their work experience, as well as the intranet's strengths and weaknesses and make targeted improvements based on user needs and preferences.
The feedback received through these surveys not only provides insights into the intranet's effectiveness but also helps identify any shortcomings or areas for improvement. User surveys serve as a valuable qualitative measure of the intranet's value and can guide future enhancements.
For instance, you can ask employees to rate their satisfaction with the intranet's usability on a scale of 1 to 5. If the average rating is 4.5 or above, it indicates a high level of user satisfaction.
Additionally, ask specific questions about the intranet's contribution to their work, such as whether it has improved information accessibility, streamlined collaboration, or enhanced communication.
Cost-Benefit Analysis: Weighing the Positives and Negatives
Performing a cost-benefit analysis helps assess the overall impact of the intranet by comparing its benefits against the associated costs.
Identify the positive outcomes of implementing the intranet, such as improved communication, streamlined processes, increased employee engagement, and cost savings.
Simultaneously, consider the negative aspects, such as implementation and maintenance costs, training expenses, and potential challenges during the adoption phase.
By weighing these factors, you can make informed business decisions regarding the intranet and determine its overall value proposition.
For example, consider the positive outcomes such as time saved on manual processes, reduced printing and distribution costs, and improved employee engagement. Let's say the intranet implementation resulted in $50,000 savings per year in printing and distribution expenses. On the other hand, consider the costs associated with the intranet, including implementation, maintenance, and training expenses. By weighing these factors, you can determine whether the benefits outweigh the costs and make informed decisions regarding the intranet's ongoing investment and optimisation.
Tips for Measuring Intranet ROI
There are a lot of considerations for effectively determining the evaluation of intranet ROI. Here are tips for measuring intranet ROI to ensure you gather the right data and use the right methods for your needs.
1. Set Clear Goals at the Start of the Project
Setting clear goals at the outset of your intranet project is crucial.
Defining your objectives enables you to lay the foundation for measuring ROI effectively.
Identify what you want to achieve with your intranet, whether it's improved collaboration, streamlined communication, or enhanced knowledge sharing. These goals will guide your measurement efforts and help you select the appropriate metrics and methods.
Ensure they are specific and measurable intranet KPIs.
For example, if your goal is to improve internal communication, you can set a measurable objective such as increasing the number of news article views by 30% within six months.
2. Choose the Right Metrics
Not all metrics will be relevant to every intranet project.
It's essential to align your chosen metrics with your specific goals. That is, the metrics you choose should provide meaningful insights into the impact of your intranet.
For example, if your goal is to enhance employee engagement, metrics like active user participation, comments on articles or posts, and social interactions can provide valuable insights.
On the other hand, if your focus is on efficiency and productivity, metrics such as task completion time, reduction in email overload, or time saved on routine processes may be more relevant.
If you want to enhance collaboration, you can track metrics such as the number of shared documents, the frequency of team interactions, or the usage of collaborative features like social or project workspaces.
3. Choose the Right Analysis Methods
Once you have selected your metrics for measuring intranet ROI, it's crucial to choose the appropriate analysis methods. Different metrics may require different analysis techniques.
For example, if you are measuring engagement levels, you can use statistical analysis to identify trends or conduct sentiment analysis on user feedback to understand the overall sentiment towards the intranet.
Selecting the right analysis methods, enables you to derive deeper insights from your data and uncover valuable information about the effectiveness of your intranet.
Here are a few practical examples:
- User Surveys: Implement surveys to gather feedback from employees about their experience using the intranet. Use rating scales or open-ended questions to capture their satisfaction levels, ease of use, and suggestions for improvement.
- Heatmaps and Click Tracking: Use heatmaps and click tracking tools to visualise user behavior on the intranet. This helps identify popular sections, areas of high engagement, or pages with low interaction, allowing you to make informed decisions for optimising content placement and navigation.
- A/B Testing: Conduct A/B tests to compare different versions or layouts of the intranet. By tracking user interactions and engagement with each variation, you can determine which design or functionality changes lead to better outcomes.
4. Collect Data Regularly
Regular data collection is essential to measure intranet ROI effectively.
Determine the appropriate interval for data collection based on your specific needs and the pace of change within your organisation.
Why? By collecting data consistently, you can track trends, identify patterns, and evaluate the progress of your intranet's performance over time.
Regular data collection also allows you to make informed decisions and adjustments based on the insights gained.
For instance, you might choose to collect data monthly, quarterly, or annually, depending on the frequency of intranet usage and the rate of employee engagement.
Make use of analytics tools within your intranet platform our via integrating Google Analytics to track metrics like page views, unique visitors, or time spent on specific intranet sections.
5. Analyse User Feedback
User feedback is a valuable source of information when measuring the ROI of intranets.
User feedback can provide qualitative data that complements quantitative metrics and helps you understand the user's perception of the intranet's value.
By actively listening to user feedback and incorporating it into your measurement process, you can uncover areas for improvement and make data-driven decisions to optimise your intranet's effectiveness.
Conduct surveys or focus groups to gather insights directly from your intranet users. Ask them about their experiences, challenges, and suggestions for improvement.
For instance, you can inquire about the ease of finding information, the usefulness of collaboration tools, or any pain points they encounter while using the intranet.
6. Compare Against Baseline Measurements
Establishing baseline measurements is critical to understanding the impact of your intranet. Before implementing the intranet, collect data on relevant metrics to create a baseline for comparison.
This could include metrics such as employee satisfaction, communication efficiency, or information accessibility.
For example, measure the average time taken to complete specific tasks or the number of support tickets related to information retrieval. After the intranet launch, periodically revisit these metrics to see how they have changed.
Comparing against the baseline enables you to quantify the tangible impact of your intranet, such as reduced task completion time or decreased support requests. This comparison provides concrete evidence of the ROI your intranet delivers and helps you demonstrate its value to stakeholders.
7. Gain Insights, Take Action
Measuring and calculating data is only part of the process. To truly realise the benefits of measuring intranet ROI, it's essential to take action based on the insights gained.
Review the data, identify areas for improvement, and formulate action plans to address any shortcomings. This enables you to maximise its value within your organization.
For example, if the data reveals low engagement levels in certain areas of the intranet, you can introduce targeted communication campaigns or enhance the user experience to encourage higher participation.
Here are some practical insights
- Address User Pain Points: Analyse user feedback, such as complaints or suggestions, to identify common pain points. For example, if employees frequently express difficulties in finding information, consider implementing a robust search functionality or reorganizing content to enhance discoverability.
- Enhance Training and Support: If the data reveals a lack of user engagement or low adoption rates, it may indicate a need for additional training or support. Offer targeted training sessions, resources, or FAQs to help employees understand the intranet's benefits and encourage usage.
- Collaborate with Stakeholders: Share the measured data and insights with relevant stakeholders, such as internal communication professionals and department heads. Collaboratively discuss the findings and strategize on actionable steps to improve the intranet's performance and align it with organisational goals.
Intranet Success Requires Objective Measurement
Intranets have become indispensable for modern organisations, providing a centralised platform for communication, collaboration, and knowledge sharing.
However, to ensure the continued success and effectiveness of your intranet, evaluating its ROI is crucial. Don’t rely on feeling like the intranet is helpful, engage in objective measurement.
Through measuring and analysing the intranet's impact, you can identify areas for improvement, justify the intranet costs incurred, and align it with your organisation's goals.
Remember, an intranet is not just an expense but an investment that can deliver significant returns when harnessed effectively.
With the practical tips and insights shared in this article, you are equipped with the knowledge to start calculating intranet ROI, improve its performance, and maximise its benefits for your workforce.
Need more insights?
Check out our free guide ‘The Ultimate Guide to Measuring & Improving Intranet Success’. In this guide, you will find actionable insights and example metrics to effectively perform an intranet health check and improve its overall success. Plus, there's a handy checklist with summary information and space to add your own notes.
We’ve also introduced a free Intranet ROI Calculator with accompanying eBook which looks at how you can build out your list of unique metrics for measuring success.
