It’s no secret that employee engagement has been dipping over the last few years. According to Gallup, it fell in 2021 and 2022. The combination of the pandemic, the shift to hybrid work, and the ever-increasing number of workplace apps has created new challenges for HR leaders seeking to keep their teams engaged and productive.

Out of this situation, a new wave of tools has emerged to help companies solve these issues in new ways. Intranet software is one such tool. Well, ‘modern intranet software’ to be more specific. After all, intranets have been around for a while. But the market is now awash with fresh and innovative intranet solutions, many of which are leveraging the latest in AI technology.

In this guide, we’ll explore the best intranet software solutions on the market today, outline must-have features, and share guidance on how to determine which intranet is the best fit for your company. Let’s dive in!

What Is an Intranet Software Platform?

An intranet software platform is an internal network that allows employees to communicate, collaborate, and access information within an organization. With companies becoming more technology-driven and workforces more distributed, having a robust intranet platform is crucial for many businesses in 2024.

An employee intranet can enhance communication by giving organizations a centralized place for employees across locations and departments to access company news, policy documents, org charts, and more. Rather than relying on long email chains or network drives some teams have access to, a well-managed intranet ensures every employee is on the same page.

What Are the Most Important Features of Intranet Software?

When evaluating intranet platforms, there are a few key features that have become table stakes in recent years, as the category has evolved. These features play an essential role in enhancing communication, collaboration and knowledge sharing between employees and teams. 

Homepage and Announcements

A customizable homepage is essential. This acts as a central landing page for employees to get organization-wide news and access key resources. The ability to send announcements is also crucial as it allows leadership teams to push time-sensitive messages to all employees.

Document Storage and Sharing

A central repository for storing, organizing and sharing documents of all types is one of the main reasons companies invest in an intranet. However, with the volume of collaboration tools now starting to overwhelm workers, many companies now seek a knowledge repository that’s accessible in employees’ workflows–removing the need to open a new tab or log into a different portal.

Corporate Directory

An up-to-date org chart with contact information, departments, locations and reporting structure is hugely valuable. It can help with internal communication, make it easy to identify experts, and improve cross-team collaboration. Leading intranet platforms integrate with HR systems so information is kept up to date, all the time.

Knowledge Management

Knowledge bases, wikis and online training modules allow companies to capture institutional knowledge that might otherwise be lost. This is great for onboarding, ensuring consistency and reducing basic questions to IT and HR.

Access Controls

Managing access and editing abilities is important for security and organizing information in an intranet. For example, HR documentation should only be visible to certain staff and sensitive information should only be available to team members who need to access it.

App Integrations

With employees today using more and more tools daily, it’s critical that an intranet has a wide range of integrations. The ability to embed everyday business applications like Office 365, G Suite, Salesforce, Dropbox and project management tools goes a long way to creating seamless workflows.

Analytics

An intranet is only as valuable as its adoption rate. Analytics provide insight into actual intranet usage patterns compared to assumed needs. This allows platforms to be fine-tuned over time, ensuring continued use across the organization.

Top 9 Platforms

1. Guru

Guru offers the features of a modern employee intranet, along with enterprise AI search and wiki capabilities–all in one platform. With Guru, companies can customize their intranet homepage to give every employee a familiar experience, highlight important updates, and seamlessly track engagement on company- or team-wide announcements. Employees can also instantly access and capture information from Slack, Teams, and any web-based app in their tech stack.

Thanks to Guru’s robust suite of integrations, teams can integrate their org chart and employee profiles with HRIS syncs and supercharge processes by connecting their most popular tools with Guru via Workato and Zapier.

Check out our on-demand demo video to learn more!

2. Workvivo

Workvivo is an employee experience platform designed to improve company culture by unifying communication, engagement, and analytics features into a single app. Designed to build connections between distributed teams, Workvivo empowers employees to have a voice while providing oversight to senior leaders.

Key value propositions include less distraction and greater engagement through a familiar social interface, fast adoption and integration with existing tools, and content analytics to understand audience behavior. Acquired by Zoom in 2023, Workvivo is used globally across industries like healthcare and aviation to deliver a unified employee experience.

3. Simpplr

Simpplr is an AI-powered employee experience platform used by companies to boost engagement and productivity. The software provides personalized experiences designed to inspire teams whether they have an in-office, hybrid or fully remote workforce.

Core capabilities include no-code integrations, smart search, and prescriptive analytics, all of which are designed to help companies improve employee engagement across their entire organization.

4. Jive

Jive provides an interactive intranet platform that connects employees to the information and people they need to excel at their jobs. Their software acts as a collaboration hub, integrating fragmented systems into one common environment accessible via desktop and mobile.

Capabilities like sentiment analytics, urgent notifications, and adaptive intelligence aim to proactively connect employees to vital resources–all with a view to helping companies harness their collective knowledge to gain a competitive edge.

5. Happeo

Happeo is a next-generation intranet software platform that helps teams manage knowledge sharing and internal communications in a unified workspace. It offers page builders with templates and integrations with popular tools like Gmail, Google Drive, and more to help companies keep employees informed, aligned, and productive.

Key features include native mobile apps for on-the-go connectivity, social networking capabilities to facilitate free flow of information across the organization, and smart search to surface relevant content from internal and external sources.

6. LumApps

LumApps is an employee experience platform that aims to boost workforce engagement, collaboration, and productivity. Its web and mobile apps are built to help organizations provide a personalized, media-rich experience to every employee, including frontline and remote workers, tailored to their role, location, language, and device. 

LumApps seeks to improve collaboration by empowering employees to easily share knowledge via rich community spaces, videos, and more. It also guides workers through key moments like onboarding with integrated journeys. Integrations with Microsoft, Google, and other popular business apps maximize individual and team productivity by connecting employees with the people, tools, and information they need.

7. Blink

Blink is an employee engagement software solution designed specifically for frontline workers. Its mobile-first platform offers features like chat messaging with searchable history, document sharing, customizable activity feeds, and team calendars. 

Blink integrates with apps like Office 365 to offer a unified search and task management experience. With robust security features like AES-256 encryption and multi-factor authentication, Blink keeps data safe while facilitating communication and collaboration.

8. Igloo

Igloo offers a digital workplace platform that seeks to enhance communication, collaboration, and culture of distributed workforces. Its cloud-based solution serves as a digital hub that aims to boost employee productivity regardless of location - whether in corporate offices, remote sites, using mobile devices, or working from home.

The platform integrates with popular tools to create a centralized destination for all employees, all with a view to creating more engaged teams.

9. Microsoft Viva Engage

Microsoft Viva brings together communications, knowledge, learning, resources, and insights into an integrated employee experience platform. Embedded within Microsoft Teams, Viva aims to break down silos and help employees connect, find information, develop skills, and measure engagement.

Key capabilities include Viva Connections for company news and resources, Viva Learning for training content, Viva Topics for access to organizational knowledge, and Viva Insights to provide analytics on collaboration patterns and work trends.

How to Select the Best Intranet Software Platform

Selecting the right intranet platform for your organization's needs requires careful evaluation across a number of factors. Follow these best practices when going through the intranet solution selection process:

Identify Must-Have Features

Start by gathering input from stakeholders across departments to develop a comprehensive list of must-have intranet features. Prioritize capabilities like document storage and search, corporate directory, news and announcements, access controls, and analytics. Consider integrations with your existing software and desire for a customizable homepage catered to different employee groups.

Evaluate Total Cost of Ownership

Don't just look at license fees in the vendor quote. Calculate the total cost of ownership including implementation services, change management training, platform upgrades, customizations, and ongoing support. A lower-cost platform could require more IT resources for configuration and increase operational costs over time.

Define Success Metrics

Align on what success looks like for the intranet early in the buying journey. Identify key adoption, engagement, and performance metrics aligned to specific business goals like improving company communications, increasing productivity, or reducing operational costs. This serves as the baseline for measuring ROI.

Bottom Line

Finding the best intranet software platform for your team can be difficult, but we hope this guide has given you a jump-start on your journey.

The category has evolved dramatically in recent years and there are now many excellent intranet platforms available on the market, each capable of streamlining communications, collaboration, and knowledge sharing across your teams. According to recent studies, HR leaders are continuing to prioritize employee engagement. With this in mind, we can expect intranet software to continue to improve for years to come.

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