Intranet

An intranet is a private website that only a company's own employees can reach. It holds documents, policies, process pages, directories and news. Access runs through a corporate login on a work computer.

The intranet is the oldest surviving format in internal communication. It remains useful as an archive, and weak as a channel, because it waits for people to come to it.

What does an intranet contain?

Four types of content dominate. Reference material: policies, handbooks, templates, forms. Process support: how to book leave, order equipment, escalate a fault. People data: the directory, org charts, team pages. And news, usually a feed on the homepage.

The first three age well. The news feed is where most intranets fail, because publishing there does not notify anyone.

What is the difference between an intranet and an employee app?

An intranet is pull. Employees go to it when they need something, from a browser, usually at a desk. An employee app is push. It delivers to a phone and notifies.

The practical split is archive versus channel. Policies and forms belong on the intranet, where search and structure matter. Announcements belong in the app, where delivery matters. Organisations with a large frontline population often add the app first, because the intranet never reached those staff.

Do companies still need an intranet?

If most staff work at desks and need document access daily, yes. The intranet remains the cheapest place to keep a searchable single source of truth.

If most staff work on a floor, in a vehicle or in a shop, the intranet solves little on its own. It cannot reach people without a work computer, and it cannot notify. In that case it becomes the back office to a mobile channel rather than the main system.

What makes intranets fail?

Three patterns repeat. Content ages because nobody owns it, so people stop trusting search results. Structure mirrors the org chart rather than the tasks people are trying to complete. And there is no notification, so anything time-sensitive goes unread.

The fixes are unglamorous: named owners per section, a review date on every page, and a separate channel for anything urgent.

FAQs: Intranet

What is an intranet in simple terms?

A private website only employees can open. It stores documents, policies, process pages and company news behind a corporate login.

Is an intranet the same as an employee app?

No. An intranet waits for people to visit it from a browser. An employee app delivers to a phone and notifies. Many companies run both.

Can an intranet reach deskless staff?

Rarely. It assumes a work computer and a corporate login, which most deskless employees do not have.

What should stay on the intranet?

Documents, policies, forms and process pages, where search and structure matter more than delivery speed.