
With the changing needs of modern workplaces, organizations are constantly looking for a robust digital solution that can align with their operational requirements. In this context, a customizable SharePoint intranet has emerged as an ideal solution to empower workforce collaboration and streamline operations.
Still, how to create an intranet and what features must be leveraged to address the industry-specific challenges that still need to be addressed for modern businesses. Below are some of the use cases that demonstrate how various industries can leverage different features to create a fully functional intranet, which significantly impacts their operational efficiency.
Healthcare Industry: SharePoint intranet has greatly impacted modern healthcare by improving patient care and coordination. While an intranet allows medical staff to easily communicate with patients and find their records, it also helps them coordinate or seek advice from subject-matter experts without even leaving the intranet environment.
An intranet, with its ability to integrate with Microsoft 365 productivity applications coupled with features like automated workflows, document management, dedicated sites, and more, empowers a multidisciplinary team (doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and caretakers) to effectively collaborate on patient care, compliance, and treatment plans. An ideal healthcare intranet must allow users to:
- Create, manage, and access patient records, medical protocols, and patient care guidelines.
- Broadcast policy changes and healthcare trends or showcase internal achievements or milestones.
- Quickly find and connect with the healthcare personnel and share information with them.
- Visualize key metrics for patient care, incidents, staff performance, and more in easy-to-understand charts and graphs.
Retail Sector: The retail sector largely depends on seamless collaboration across departments, corporate offices, and store locations. Managing updated product catalogs and compliance guidelines, broadcasting sales events and promotions, and visibility into inventory levels are some of the many operations that can be effectively tracked and managed with an intranet. However, the must-have features of a retail intranet are:
- Unified platform with Outlook, Teams, discussion boards, employee directory, and more to improve coordination between sales strategies and customer service
- Automated workflows to streamline employee onboarding, record keeping, stock levels, campaign approval and scheduling, etc.
- Centralized document repositories with document control features to easily manage, access, and share inventory and audit reports, vendor contracts, promotional materials, pricing guides, and more.
- Bookmarking tool to facilitate one-click access to frequently used policies and reports, forms, stores, and vendor or supplier portals.
- A dedicated calendar to stay updated with promotional activities, corporate events, project timelines, and key meetings.
Evidently, the range of features offered by SharePoint-based intranet makes it an obvious choice for businesses of all sectors. However, fully leveraging its potential relies on the level of customization the service providers offer. Intranet-in-a-box, a customizable solution, offers robust control over an organization’s branding, navigation, workflows, site structure, and security features.
Furthermore, defining the purpose of your intranet, engaging cross-functional teams, planning a robust intranet architecture, and seeking regular feedback from end users can help you create an intranet that serves both employee needs and organizational objectives.