Addressing intranet usability requires an in-depth understanding of how target users function in their job responsibilities, and their level of technical acuity. Usability and ROI are so tightly linked that any intranet functionality designed for CSRs must be extremely intuitive. Involving target users early in the planning process is essential to ensuring usefulness and usability. Their perspectives on what they'd like accomplish on the intranet, and how they would go about achieving their goals, will eliminate hours of guesswork for those outlining the basic site structure, functionality, and content. It's important to never lose sight of the fact that the exchange of information is the primary goal, and that the quality of the content will drive the site's success.
Content management is, without a doubt, one of the biggest challenges in any Web environment.
The sheer volume of information, and the effort it takes to keep intranet information fresh and dynamic, requires the distribution of content contribution responsibilities across an organization. This will keep the content management system itself user-friendly, without needing to involve the IT staff at every turn. By setting realistic metrics at the outset, one can measure how well the intranet is meeting both business and user needs. Simple, quantifiable goals might be to reduce printing costs and shorten response times between business units. Without metrics and a time-frame to measure against, there is neither a basis upon which you can claim your intranet is succeeding, nor is there a basis upon which to implement necessary changes that all tie into your original business goals and initiatives.