Intranet analytics – get started now

In addition to the suggested tools and solutions for intranet analytics at this site, we’d also like to point out that the chapter on analytics in the book Intranets ‐ handbook for intranet managers now is freely available. Below is a taste, but the full chapter is to be found at intranetanalytics.com

Introduction

The time when major design decisions were made based on subjective measures, like someone’s personal taste, is behind us. At least it should be. Now you can, and should, evaluate almost everything based on data. Previously performed tests, and the insights gained from working with analytics are now readily available to intranet teams. Instead of attending pointless meetings about what shade of blue you ”like”, you can evaluate alternatives based on real users of your intranet. Users, through their clicks, provide signals on what works, how they find things and which routes they take.

This chapter is about how to get started with using analytics in an initial review of an intranet. Often no one knows the usefulness of most of the intranet content and there is little effort toward measuring the impact of the intranet on the performance of the business beyond noting the number of users. For many teams the reason is they do not have a training in basic analytics and which of all the statistics to make use of.

This chapter is a guide for those who want to start evaluating their intranet in a structured way and set tangible business goals for measuring what success looks like on their intranet.

About intranet analytics

The intranet is not just a collection of pages, images and documents. Rather, it is there to support employees in their daily work efficiently carrying out work tasks like; reserving a place on a training course; filing an application for leave or finding the phone number of a person in the human resources department. Working with web analytics for an intranet is about improving or simplifying activities like these, activities that the intranet should support. Intranet analytics is not about accumulating vast amounts of data, it is about using the data to gain insight into the users’ experience of the intranet – with the intent of improving that experience.

Brief description from Wikipedia on analytics on a public website:

”Web analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis and reporting of web data for purposes of understanding and optimizing web usage.”

It is easy to focus on analyzing the collected traffic data, however, all kinds of tools can contribute to getting an overview of your intranet performance and should be included in the concept of intranet analytics. Problems such as not fulfilling accessibility requirements, using unnecessarily high resolution images, and many more may be easy to identify without using statistics.

Keep reading about intranet analytics at intranetanalytics.com ›

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