Workplace Web – 3 models

Alex Manchester triggered a long, interesting conversation on his blog when he quoted Janus Boye in a session at Online called “Death of the intranet”.

Part of the discussion was about the usage of the term “intranet” versus a different term such as “workplace web”. I was the one who originally suggested that the word “intranet” is out-of-date and even inappropriate in a blog post here last April 1st: A new word for the intranet

The date of April 1st was a coincidence, but some of the discussion triggered by the post on my blog and on Column Two  where James Robertson referred to it,  made me think some people thought the date was appropriate! (Just joking.)

In my comment on Alex’s blog, I refer to one of the 5 future trends identified in this year’s report: “Global Intranet Trends for 2010: Towards the Workplace Web”.

We proposed 3 models of the workplace web to the 300 participating organizations. The rest of this post is an extract of the diagrams and text from the chapter “Future Intranet: the front door intranet”

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The front-door intranet

The intranet is becoming the entry point into the “workplace web” – the ensemble of resources and information needed by staff . This includes applications, intranet sites, specialized portals, team spaces, collaboration spaces and so on. Today, 15 percent of the survey participants have achieved a “unified workplace web”.

The fragmented workplace web

The “fragmented” workplace web means the employee has many different entry points to the range of intranets, portals, applications and spaces available. 30 percent of the survey participants currently have this model.

The hybrid workplace web

The “hybrid” workplace web is an intermediary stage where the intranet or enterprise portal is the accepted entry point into the “intranet landscape”. A few country or specific portals still exist outside this system. In particular, collaboration spaces and business applications tend to be outside the system, and accessible via separate entry points. 55 percent of the survey participants currently have this model.

The unified workplace web

The “unified” workplace web means the intranet or enterprise portal is the front door to the organization’s information, business and collaborative resources and places.  15 percent of the survey participants currently have this model.