Intranet services

The key issues for intranets are:

	avoiding information overload
	managing consistency and growth
	getting employees’ to use them
	ensuring applications are user-friendly

Improved usability can increase usage, productivity levels and user satisfaction.

You can now tap into a wealth of expertise – as much of it as you want, use it how you want and at any stage of a project, although ideally usability should be a consideration from day one. Contact us to find out specifically how we can help you get the most of your intranet for your business.

Services

	Information architecture - i.e. content structure, navigation and labelling. This should start with identifying the areas that will pull in users voluntarily and establishing ground rules to prevent cognitive overload, considering how much info the users will have time to read or will want to read
	Intranet site usability evaluations - reviews in any measure and at any stage, from walk-throughs of paper prototypes to tuning copy and intranet applications – even half a day’s consultancy and the smallest changes can make a huge difference. See example evaluations
	Pre-launch interface testing – don’t let your users be out off by dead links, etc. The closer you’ve been to a project the less likely you are to pick up problems with it
	User testing with or without video – the user is always right. Testing just three users will provide you with valuable lessons. Video is used primarily to persuade a third party for the need to redesign an aspect of the site, to settle internal disputes or to review the learnings at a later date
	Interface design company selection - for those new to the internet / intranet. The web is still ‘new’ and creating a web site is within everyone’s reach, but few do it with real understanding of the medium or its usage. This service helps you make the best choice. If you also choose to use meleniak at appropriate points in the project lifecycle, it will save on time teaching the agency and produce an exponentially better product. (If you’re a web design company we also offer you a range of services to enhance your site and capabilities)
	Advice on web accessibility issues – The 1995 Disability Discrimination Act has required both web-based services (internal and external) to be accessible to those with disabilities since 1 October 1999. This is a key issue for intranets. Meleniak helps you comply with legislation. “One in thirty people in the UK has a sight problem that cannot be corrected. Ninety per cent are aged over 60. In reality, there are around 2 million people in the UK with a sight problem.” Source: RNIB
	Facilitation of site kick off or content structuring meetings – planning an intranet well, the helicopter view or just one site within the intranet, is the most crucial step to secure its success. Initial discussions set expectations around the business. It can really help to have an expert steer the course away from internal politics and a melting pot of subjective preferences, onto meeting objectives and user satisfaction in a coordinated fashion
	User training and road-shows – many intranet projects fail to recognise the importance of promoting, explaining and demonstrating the intranet to the users. Huge amounts of money are often spent building an intranet with the expectation that it will be switched on and the whole company will be using it when they turn their computers on the following day. Meleniak has experience of conducting European wide intranet road-shows. We’ve seen time and time again how just 10 minutes spent with the most techno-phobic user using their computer, can turn them into an Intranet Ambassador ready to teach their colleagues. This is just one of many ways we can help increase the usage of your intranet

We occasionally do other web related, marketing and business strategy work where we can add value to a company.

Got an internal team to create and / or maintain your intranet?
Would you like to learn more about usability so you can apply the principles yourselves? Need help creating user interface guidelines in line with your brand identity and web best practice, that your team and employees building their own intranet sites can follow? See our DIY services.

How usability on intranets and internally developed software increases productivity and decreases costs
Examples from www.upassoc.org

"To build a model intranet, Bay Networks spent $3 million and two years studying the different ways people think about the same thing. The result: all think alike about the $10 million saved each year." (Fabris, 1999)

"On a corporate intranet, poor usability means poor employee productivity; usability guru Jakob Nielsen estimates that any investment in making an intranet easier to use can pay off by a factor of 10 or more, especially at large companies." (Kalin, 1999)

"At Microsoft several years ago, Word for Windows's print merge feature was generating a lot of lengthy (average = 45 minutes) support calls. As a result of usability testing and other techniques, the UI for the feature was adjusted. In the next release, support calls 'dropped dramatically'; Microsoft recognized 'significant cost savings." (Bias & Mayhew, 1994)

"In another company, business representatives did a cost-benefit analysis for a new system and estimated that a well-designed GUI front end had an Internal Rate of Return of 32%. This was realized through a 35% reduction in training, a 30% reduction in supervisory time, and improved productivity, among other things." (Dray & Karat, 1994)

Contact us for a no obligation discussion to understand how meleniak’s brand of usability can work for and with you.