Set Up Company Intranet Faster with Intranet-in-a-Box

As a business grows and daily operations become busier, important announcements can get lost in a stream of emails and alerts. Keep employees connected and informed, no matter their location, with a company intranet.

A company intranet helps keep employees engaged by providing a centralized, digital platform to share important announcements, centralize documents and tools, improve collaboration, and build company culture.

With a company intranet, employees know where to go when they are looking for official company resources. Here are some departments that benefit the most from a company intranet:

• Human Resources (HR): Centralize policies, forms and onboarding materials. Streamline communication, host internal job postings and employee benefits info, and facilitate recognition programs
• Marketing & Communications: Publish internal news, coordinate interdepartmental messaging, execute content calendars and promote company culture.
• Finance & Legal: Store compliance documents, track budget approvals and ensure version control for sensitive files.
• IT & Operations: Share tech support resources and FAQs, post system updates and maintenance alerts, and manage access to tools and software documentation.

The need for an intranet often becomes apparent when your team starts to feel the strain of fragmented communication and scattered information. Here are some key milestones that signal it’s time to make the leap:

• Team size grows beyond 10–15 employees: This is typically when managing communication through email, shared drives, Slack or other collaboration platforms becomes chaotic
• Adoption of hybrid or remote work: An intranet serves as a centralized hub where employees can access resources, collaborate and stay aligned, no matter where they’re working
• Information is scattered across locations: When files, updates and policies are spread across email threads, cloud folders and chats, productivity suffers

Whether a company should attempt to build an intranet platform on their own or choose a preconfigured solution (also known as intranet-in-a-box) mainly depends on their technical capabilities and timeline. Here are the two journeys compared:

Pros:

• Full control over design and features
• Tailored to specific business needs
• Potentially lower long-term costs if you have in-house developers

Cons:

• Requires technical expertise, such as an internal IT support team, and time
• Maintenance and updates fall entirely on your team
• Risk of security gaps if not properly configured
• Unexpected costs and complexity may creep in

Pros:

• Faster deployment with professional support
• Built-in security, compliance and integrations
• Scalable as your business grows

Cons:

• Monthly or annual subscription fees
• Customization may be limited by budget

Some other considerations when designing an intranet are whether it will be cloud-based or hosted on-premises, what third-party integrations will be required and if you have any “must-have” features. All these factors will help determine which solution is right for you and how much it will cost your business.

As with any technical implementation, there are some common challenges that organizations face when implementing an intranet platform, such as:

Poor User Adoption

• Employees may resist using the intranet if it feels clunky or irrelevant
• Lack of training or awareness can lead to low engagement
• Solution: Involve users early in the design process and offer onboarding support

Unclear Requirements

• Without a clear understanding of what teams need, the intranet may miss the mark
• Solution: Conduct stakeholder interviews and user surveys before development

Overcomplicated Design

• Too many features or confusing navigation can overwhelm users
• Solution: Prioritize simplicity and intuitive UX design

Lack of Long-Term Employee Engagement

• If the intranet doesn’t feel useful or engaging, it becomes a ghost town
• Solution: Include social features, recognition tools and personalized content

Inadequate Maintenance

• Treating the intranet as a “set it and forget it” project leads to stagnation
• There is no maintenance schedule, leading to broken links, outdated pages, issues with access, security risks and other problems
• Solution: Implement a maintenance schedule that includes ongoing daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly maintenance tasks, feedback loops, and feature enhancements

Security Is an Afterthought

• Not preparing for internal threats, such as weak passwords, overly broad access permissions and human error, or external malware and phishing threats can lead to data risks and other vulnerabilities
• Solution: Bake adequate security measures into the intranet design, such as requiring multi-factor authentication (MFA), establishing appropriate access controls, establish a cycle for regular updates, patching and data backups, and more

Intranet-in-a-box can help prevent some of these challenges by providing pre-built templates and features that have been optimized and tested thoroughly. These solutions are typically faster to launch and simplify maintenance. However, while intranet-in-a-box solutions are often feature-rich and offer some customizations, a business that requires many specifications may find that a pre-built solution is not flexible enough for their needs.  

If your team is growing, working remotely or struggling with scattered information, an intranet could be the solution you need. By centralizing communication, enhancing collaboration and improving engagement, an intranet can help your business thrive.

Working with a trusted partner, such as CDW, can help mitigate these challenges, ensure your intranet is properly secured, and help drive early return-on-investment by finding a solution that aligns with your business needs and budget, focusing on fostering high user adoption, establishing clear key performance indicators and strengthening integration with existing tools.