Article Written by : SEO Dictionary
Choosing a platform for your businesses intranet can be harder than it sounds. There are many stakeholders who need to be kept happy. Due to technical requirements that need to be made first, the choice of the platform falls onto web development team. Fortunately, there are some guidelines on how to narrow down the platform from the hundreds of choices available. Here are five ways to trim the list:
Cost
The number one concern is cost. There are open source (read: free) and commercial products available. The commercial products can run from a one-time charge to a per-user license fee paid annually.
Authentication
Once the choice has been in terms of a paid or free platform, the next step is to identify what sort of authentication options are available. Smaller businesses will be content with authentication based on a registered email address. Larger organizations will want to have Active Directory or some form of directory authentication.
Features
Make a list of features that are in use in the current intranet. In addition, poll the users of the intranet for a wish list that can be used when comparing platforms.
Mobility
Nearly everyone has a smartphone and mobile access will be a definite plus. Especially if there are a lot of mobile staff.
Hosted
Finally, there is the location of the intranet. The options are self-hosted or cloud-hosted or privately hosted by the vendor. They all come with their pros and cons and will largely depend on organizational preference.