Jane McConnell recently released the 2010 edition of the NetStrategy/JMC Global Intranet Trends report. This year the number of respondents has increased to nearly 300, and so provide a very sound foundation for analysis.  The 2010 report however steps up a gear from previous years, and moves quite significantly from analysis to synthesis, extending the value of the report beyond benchmarking into supporting the long-term strategic development essential to sustain intranet value to the organisation.

The report structure is a little different this year, with the responses to the questions on strategic issues placed at the beginning. Then comes a fascinating section entitled the Workplace Web, which is considered from business, people and enterprise perspectives. This is followed by chapters on social media, the measurement of impact and value, branding issues and finally a very interesting section on the future intranet manager. Jane has a video on YouTube in which she summarises the main trends she sees in intranet development in a presentation she gave to the Brazilian Intranet Portal Awards 2009 event.

The quantitative data is fascinating, but what makes this report so valuable is the way that comments from the respondents are interlaced into the report. If intranets could speak for themselves, this is what they might say. In addition there are segmental analyses on large and small organizations, and on the differences between the public and private sectors. The trends are now becoming very evident and the questionnaire, though inevitably quite long, is clearly one that respondents feel it is important to the community to complete in as much depth as they can. A couple of respondents have remarked to me that they find completing the survey a very effective self-appraisal of how they and their intranets are performing.

Overall there is good news about the positive impact that intranets are having on organisations, but also warnings about expectations that might not be met in adopting social media and horror stories about the performance of search. The quality of the presentation of the results also continues to improve and the overall design of the report is elegant, readable and will certainly gain the attention of the senior managers who should be doing more to support the efforts of under-resourced intranet teams.

This year I feel that Jane has really found her voice, and we would all do well to listen to the messages she sends out in this report. 

Martin White
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