How to choose the best small business intranet solution

Intranet solutions aren’t exclusively for startups or enterprise businesses, as some people might believe.

Small businesses can benefit significantly from having an intranet system in place. Not only does it make collaboration and communication easier, but it can also help improve productivity and efficiency.

When choosing a small business intranet solution for your company, there are key factors to keep in mind. You want something user-friendly but flexible. Affordable but robust. Most importantly, you want an intranet solution to help your small business grow.

Here are some tips on choosing the best small business intranet solution for your company.

Are intranets useful for small businesses?

Small business intranet solutions can be extremely useful.

In fact, any business that wants to improve collaboration, communication, and engagement will benefit from creating an intranet. Not only does an intranet make it easy to find information, but it also provides a central location for sharing and storing information.

This makes it easy for employees to interact and engage with each other, and studies show engaged employees put more effort into their daily tasks. An intranet is especially helpful if you have a remote or distributed workforce.

Creating an intranet allows you to connect all your employees, regardless of location.

Small businesses can use intranets to:

• Improve communication between employees
• Increase engagement and collaboration
• Share and store information in a central location
• Improve employee productivity
• Support remote and hybrid workforces

How do small businesses benefit from intranet software?

There are many benefits of using an intranet for small businesses. Here are a few key highlights.

Improved employee productivity

Small business intranet solutions act as a centralized knowledge hub.

This means that employees can quickly and easily find the information they need without searching multiple channels or asking other colleagues for answers. This improved access to information leads to increased employee productivity and efficiency.

Increased collaboration

Collaboration is an essential part of small business culture. An intranet can help facilitate collaboration by giving employees a place to share ideas, provide feedback, and work together on documents and projects

Support for remote workers

If you’re working remotely or have employees in different locations, an intranet can help everyone stay connected.

With a cloud-based intranet for small business, it’s easy to search for colleagues and find contact information. You can also start video calls and join online meetings with a few clicks.

7 key features of an intranet system for small businesses

Now that you know the benefits of an intranet for small businesses, let’s take a look at some key features to look for when choosing the best intranet software for your team.

Tool and workspace integrations

The best intranet software for small business will integrate seamlessly with the tools your team is already using, like Google Workspace or Microsoft 365.

This way, employees can find information, collaborate on shared files, and even set up meetings or video calls from one central location. Choosing a cloud-based intranet for small business like Happeo will also give you access to integrations with Slack, Zapier, Trello, and more.

Cross-app search functionality 

Did you know a McKinsey study found that the average worker spends 19% of their time searching for and gathering information?

That’s why the best intranet software for small businesses features a powerful search function to help employees find what they need quickly. With Happeo’s Universal Search function, you can even search across multiple apps simultaneously, including email, shared drives, and the intranet, all in one go.

So, you can rest assured that your employees will have more time to focus on their work, not hunting for information.

Personalized homepage

A personalized homepage is an effective way to keep employees engaged with the company intranet.

By showing relevant content for each user, you can ensure that everyone has the information they need right at their fingertips. With Happeo, small businesses get access to drag-and-drop widgets that make it easy to customize the homepage for each user.

For example, you can add a news widget that pulls in company news from your channels or a widget that shows employees the most important places on the intranet.

Employee directory

Employee directories are especially important for remote teams.

But they also offer benefits for in-office workers. By creating a place where employees can see contact information, photos, and job titles for their co-workers, you can help everyone feel more connected to the company.

With Happeo, you can create an employee directory with photos, titles, departments, groups, and contact information. You can also customize the homepage for each user so that they see the most relevant information for their role in the company.

And, of course, video calls, instant messages, and email are just a click away. Plus, our employee directories integrate with Google Workspace, so you can be sure that the contact information is always up-to-date.

Social collaboration

These days, socialization doesn’t just happen in person.

Modern workforces are more diverse than ever, with employees working remotely from all over the world. Even with a small business, you’re likely to have employees who come in on different days or work different hours.

Social collaboration features allow employees to connect regardless of location or time zone. Employees can use a company intranet in the same way they would popular social media platforms by liking, commenting on, and sharing peer content.

It also helps build team morale and keep everyone up-to-date on company news, events, and more.

Content management

People often think of content management systems (CMS) as only for large businesses or enterprises, but that’s no longer the case. Small businesses can now take advantage of the same content management features that were once only available to big companies.

A good small business intranet should include a CMS so that administrators can easily format and publish content without the need for development or design skills. In a perfect world, you’ll be able to find a platform with templates for intranet pages, a customizable login page, and upgrade options so your brand can be front-and-center.

Analytics and reporting

Finally, the best intranet software for small business should also include reporting features.

This will allow you to see the content employees are reading and using the most, what devices they use to access your intranet, and their location. While this may seem like overkill with smaller teams, the sooner you implement analytics into your company culture, the more equipped you’ll be to scale and grow.

Happeo’s search analytics can show you detailed reports on the most-searched keywords, the average time to find results, success percentages, and more. With this data, you can make informed decisions about your bottom line.

What to look out for when choosing a small business intranet

Your small business intranet is the backbone of your company’s digital transformation. Here are the best qualities to look out for.

Fast rollout time

As a small business, you likely don’t have much time to get your intranet up and running.

The best intranet software for small businesses will have a fast rollout time, so you can start seeing results sooner. While many intranet solutions take over a year to roll out, Happeo’s average rollout time is six to eight weeks.

Ease of use

Small businesses often don’t have the time or resources to train their employees to use complicated intranet software.

The best intranets for small businesses will have an easy-to-use interface that is intuitive and user-friendly. Happeo’s interface is easy to use, so your employees can start using it right away with little to no training required.

Fully customizable

Your brand matters. That’s why the best intranet software for small businesses will allow you to customize your intranet to match your company’s branding fully. 

Happeo lets you customize every aspect of your intranet, from the logo and color scheme to the content and navigation. You can even create custom pages and add your own HTML and CSS.

Best small business intranet solutions

Here are the three best small business intranet software solutions on the market.

Happeo

Happeo is the leading cloud-based intranet software for small businesses.

It’s easy to use, fully customizable and comes with all the features you need to get your team onboard quickly. We offer social networking, collaboration, communication, and knowledge management all in one tool.

Plus, our open application programming interface (API) makes it easy to integrate with your existing apps and tools.

Workplace from Meta

Workplace from Meta is the business-oriented version of the social network Facebook.

Small businesses can use Workplace to create an intranet for their employees. Workplace includes features such as a newsfeed, automatic translation, project discussions, document sharing, and instant messaging.

While Workplace is an excellent tool for employee engagement, it lacks some essential features for a small business intranet. For example, Workplace doesn’t integrate with Google Workspace, so you need to use two separate tools for your productivity needs.

Additionally, Workplace doesn’t have a page builder, so adding static information to your intranet is challenging.

Google Sites

In 2021, Google Sites transitioned from classic Google Sites to the new Google Sites. The switch confused some users, as there are significant differences between the two site builders. New Google Sites is easier to use than classic Google Sites, although it lacks some of the features that the classic Google Sites had.

Google Sites offers many features essential for a small business intranet, like document sharing and project discussions. It also integrates with other Google Workspace products like Gmail, Drive, and Calendar, which is helpful for businesses already using their products.  

Choose the right intranet for your small business

The best intranet software for small business will make it easy to stay connected and motivated as a team. With a cloud-based intranet, you can search for colleagues, start video calls, join online meetings, and more – all with just a few clicks. Plus, you can access your intranet from anywhere in the world, anytime.

If you’re looking for small business intranet software to help create cultural cohesion and keep your team connected, cloud-based is the way to go.

Learn more about Happeo today.