Why Your Company Needs an Intranet on Microsoft Teams to Boost Productivity
From startups to global giants, millions of employees use Microsoft Teams every day. While Teams excels in real-time collaboration, employees can sometimes overlook important announcements among the constant flow of messages. That’s why a thriving workplace needs an intranet for managing documents, sharing knowledge, and keeping employees engaged, while also supporting internal communications. A modern intranet platform that is available on Microsoft Teams serves as a valuable complement. It can bring in essential intranet features like digital cards for news, document sharing, employee recognition directly into employees’ familiar workspace and boost overall productivity.
The Case for Bringing Your Intranet into Microsoft Teams
1. Centralized Information Management
A Harvard Business Review study found that employees switch between apps up to 1,200 times a day, leading to about 4 hours of lost productivity each week. An intranet within Microsoft Teams ensures that all critical information—documents, updates, and resources—are organized and easily accessible in one place. This reduces time wasted searching for files across different platforms and ensures that employees are always working with the most up-to-date information, boosting efficiency and minimizing errors.
2. Breaking Down Silos
An intranet on Teams offers a shared space for cross-departmental projects, collaborative knowledge bases, and joint initiatives, facilitating better communication and cooperation across the organization. Frontline workers can often feel left out of team updates or departmental news, an intranet on Teams helps them feel valued as they stay informed and connected. Additionally, using an intranet that is built on SharePoint enhances security as all data stays within your Microsoft tenant.
3. Strong Organizational Identity
Companies can use an intranet on Teams to share weekly leadership updates, celebrate employee achievements, and spotlight community involvement. Creating a dedicated space for announcements and culture initiatives ensures that these messages stand out. Effectively communicating leadership changes, mergers, restructuring, or major business decisions is crucial to supporting employees during times of change. You can use an intranet on Teams to reassure staff by providing clear, timely updates and reinforcing cultural values. Proactive communication helps you maintain stability and build trust within your organization, especially during times of change.
4. Community Building and Employee Recognition
A survey shows that besides compensation, employees prioritize visibility to senior leaders (20%) and value awards (17%) and recognition. With an intranet on Teams, companies can build a culture of recognition and nurture a stronger sense of belonging. By sending kudos or recognizing employee achievements directly in Teams, you build a culture of appreciation. Traditionally, organizations run polls and surveys via email or host them on the intranet, sharing links through email. This approach can lead to low response rates, as employees often overlook emails. However, with the intranet on Teams, employees can quickly access polls and surveys, resulting in higher response rates and increased engagement. For example, with an intranet on Teams, HR can run a poll to gauge interest in a new wellness program or conduct survey to gather input on the company’s hybrid work policy.
5. Enhanced Search
A McKinsey report says that employees typically spend around 1.8 hours per day searching for information. The report also highlights that it adds up to 9.3 hours per week. An intranet integrated into Teams offers robust search capabilities, making it easier for employees to locate documents, guides, and updates. An intranet with advanced search features can help employees quickly find the information they need, including locating colleagues through an employee directory.
6. Targeted Messaging and Updates
An intranet on Teams offers more structured and relevant messaging compared to Teams channels alone. With a modern intranet that is available on Microsoft Teams, you can create dedicated content areas to share department-specific updates, files and more. For example, a marketing department can create a dedicated campaign hub on the intranet to discuss campaign objectives, creative briefs, and key deliverables. Similarly, the HR department can use the intranet to broadcast policy changes directly to all employees to ensure that important updates are seen and acknowledged.
PeopleOne: Synergizing Modern Intranet and Microsoft Teams for Optimal Productivity
PeopleOne, our SharePoint-based intranet is now available on Microsoft Teams. The synergy brings in the structured information management capabilities of an intranet within the real-time communication strengths of Teams, offering organizations a more efficient, collaborative, and engaging workplace.
Here’s what PeopleOne brings into your Microsoft Teams setup:
- A dedicated front page for sharing leadership announcements, news articles, major milestones and team-tailored information.
- Quick links to help employees start their day faster, advanced search, document management, polls, surveys, organization charts, kudos and recognition.
Integrating an intranet into Microsoft Teams is a strategic move that can significantly boost employee engagement and productivity. By combining the best of both worlds, you can create a more connected organization.
