Skip to main content
UsabilityNews.com - for all the latest in usability and human-computer interaction
BCS Interaction
 
 
The All the Latest section presents all general usability news articles


 
  advanced search
 

All the Latest

Innovative Intranets create a big Impact


Source: unknown, 30 October 2007
Submitted by Patrick Kennedy

Almost all organisations have a corporate intranet, and yet many are taken for granted. The winners of the inaugural Intranet Innovation Awards, just announced, challenge this view.

Fiat, this year's Platinum Award, used its ‘Avanti e Veloci’ (‘Fast and Forward’) web portal to help turn around the fortunes of the whole organisation. A major cultural change programme was launched to establish a new leadership culture within the organisation, and to revitalise business practices. The web portal played a key role in supporting the program, helping to turn around a loss of 2 million euros a day to an operating profit level of 5 million euros per day.

The Intranet Innovation Awards were established by Australian-based intranet experts Step Two Designs, supported by a global network of intranet-savvy organisations. James Robertson, managing director of Step Two Designs highlights that the awards recognise individual intranet improvements, and not intranets as a whole. “While almost every organisation has an intranet, it is often gets little visibility. This is about bringing the true value of these sites into the light” says Robertson.

- QBE, a Gold Award winner based in Australia, demonstrated that the corporate intranet can directly support key business processes, through the creation of an online ‘Investigator Wizard’. This has raised the standard of referral letters to investigator firms markedly, helping to address the impact of fraudulent claims, a vital issue for any insurance business.
- Perkins Eastman, a major architectural firm based in the US, uses the intranet to support ‘Practice Area Communities’ which bring together specialists in a collaborative environment. This underpins the innovative designs delivered by the firm, as well as providing staff with a key source of information and knowledge.
- The City of Casey in Australia, and SunGard AvantGard (USA and New Zealand) both demonstrated innovative enhancements to the corporate ‘phone directory’, helping to keep track of staff movements and improving communication.
- The Environment Agency in the UK developed a rich set of staff personas to support the delivery of better intranet content and functionality.
- Nycomed, a global pharmaceuticals business based out of Switzerland and Denmark, has brought product information together in a single location, no small challenge for a firm of this size.

The common theme behind all these winners is that technology can play a vital role not just in delivering products and services to customers, but in enabling improvements within organisations. Formerly invisible tools such as intranets have now come in from the cold, and are playing their part in the pursuit of innovation.

Entries for the 2008 awards will open in March 2008, and all organisations are encouraged to submit their intranet projects. Click the link for details of current winners and 2008 submission procedure.

Intranet Innovation Awards

 


External link to another web site Associated Link:
Intranet Innovation Awards 2007


Other News

All change at the top for System Concepts
Source: System Concepts Ltd, 3 July 2009
 
Leslie Fountain has been promoted to joint Managing Director of leading usability consultancy System Concepts.

Life in UCD immortalised in fiction: you couldn't make it up
Source: UN, 2 July 2009
 
Sarah Herman's fictitious book on life in a user-centred design company has hit the shelves and The Guardian's book pages...

Interfaces Magazine - Issue 79: The Education Issue
Source: Interaction Group, 1 July 2009
 
The latest issue of Interfaces is now available as a free download from the Interaction Website.

Two new Behavioural research Tools from Noldus
Source: UN, 30 June 2009
 
Tool updates make on-site behavioural data collection easier.

Cell Phones that Listen and Learn
Source: MIT Technology Review, 29 June 2009
 
New software tracks a user's behavior by monitoring everyday sounds.

Top Six Don’ts for Usability Testing
Source: FutureNow Inc., 27 June 2009
 
Six tips for creating quality usability tests to ensure useful feedback from testers.

Usability: ‘Lovely software. But I can’t work it’
Source: FT.com, 26 June 2009
 
In a recent survey by Global Graphics, 77 per cent of office workers estimate they lose up to one hour a week because business software is difficult to use.

And what do you do?
Source: Dexo Design, 25 June 2009
 
How do you describe your job role? Here are the results of a recent 'Preferred UX/UI Title' Poll.

Most Doctors cite Usability as critical to Electronic Health Record Adoption
Source: TMCNet, 24 June 2009
 
It's all about 'meaningful use'.

Glossy monitors look good but can hurt
Source: QUT, 23 June 2009
 
A new advisory cites research which suggests high gloss monitors make users sit awkwardly.

 
 

 

home | contribute | subscribe | news feed/RSS | search | contact us | disclaimer

UsabilityNews.com (version 1.41), along with its associated web site and content,
are all strictly © Copyright of the BCS Interaction 2001-2009. All rights reserved.

Joanna Bawa (editor), Dave Clarke (founder, designer and developer). Ian Parry (graphics).