Getting your intranet focused: 7 tips for effective personalisation

An average intranet portal of a large international organisation can consist of millions of pages. Key is to increase the relevancy of content. Give employees the opportunities to select the information they need themselves or offer information based on their role in the organisation. Six tips for effective personalisation.

In fact, there are two ways of offering tailored information, commonly referred to as personalisation. We will distinct two varieties:

• Personalisation: offer role-based information depending on the employees’ job or role, the organisational unit he works in or the country in which he is based. The organisation sets the criteria for filtering information and can decide who is authorised to get specific information. You can think of individual HR information for management.
• Customisation: allow users to select and adapt the content as they like.

Many companies offer a combination of personalisation and customisation. The organisation sets up a generic filtering system and the user can customise the information to his personal preferences. The effectiveness of these functionalities highly depends on the way they are implemented.

1. Keep the user needs as a starting point

This may seem obvious, but do you know what your employees really want on their intranet? What helps them to do their job? Make a thorough analysis before you start implementing different features. Conduct an online survey and arrange group discussions to get profound knowledge of what your employees need and what they are interested in.

Consider using the following format for filtering and structuring content.

From Nordea: Analysing the options for filtering information from a user point of view

2. Tell employees that they get personalised information

Inform employees that they get personalised information and what the consequences are. Some staff will generally appreciate the idea that it gets personalised information, others will be afraid that they miss news or other crucial information. For these employees it is important to explain the selecting criteria you have used. Consider to give these employees the opportunity to select other non secured information as well.
 
Another reason why you should explain that you are offering personalised content could be language. As a result of personalisation you could get a mix of languages, for example corporate content in English and local content in the local language, like DaimlerChrysler in the example below. You have to explain the situation, as they will not automatically understand it.

DaimlerChrysler personalised homepage
From Nielsen Norman Group: Intranet Design Annual 2007

3. Offer a variety of customisation options

Give employees the opportunity to customise content, display of content, language and features like favourite links, e-mail or calendars. Investigate what features are relevant. If nobody wants to check his e-mail via intranet for example you can save yourself the trouble.
 
PricewaterhouseCoopers offers its employees of their Dutch intranet portal several options to adjust content and the way it is presented:

• Choice in different types of content
• Display of introduction texts or not
• Choice of links
• Language (English or Dutch)
• Possibility to display incoming e-mail or not

Before customizing the Intranet of PricewaterhouseCoopers (see above) and after (see below).

 Nordea offers a section of favourite links and applications at its home page (see below)

Favourite links section at Nordea’s intranet homepage 

4. Keep it simple

Although you want to offer different options, do not exaggerate it. Employees simply do not take the time to spend twenty minutes adjusting their preferences. Focus on the basic elements:

• Content (what kind of information do employees need?)
• Presentation content (how do employees want to have the information displayed?)
• Tools (what tools and applications do employees need?)

5. Make customisation options visible

Disclose customisation options in the supporting navigation, or another place where it is constantly visible. This way employees can easily edit their preferences at any time, wherever they are. Also clarify what preferences the employee has in use.

 
PricewaterhouseCoopers uses a widely accepted standard for displaying texts

6. Communicate the customisation options for employees

Don’t forget to explain the possibilities you offer. Many users will not be aware of what they can adapt themselves. Do this for newcomers, but don’t forget current staff. A one-time news article at the introduction will not suffice. Stimulate employees to update their preferences regularly (e.g. every three months or every year) and help them if needed.

7. Keep track of the usage of the possibilities

Investigate if employees actually use the possibilities for adapting content. Also check if the criteria for assigning roles is appropriate.