Top 6 Benefits Of Cloud Based Intranets

Intranets have been the standard method of team communication and employee engagement for nearly two decades. But let’s be real. Our workplaces have changed significantly since then. Your employees expect access to work-related information outside of the traditional office setting. Especially employees that are constantly moving around—for example, those who make deliveries, visit patients in their homes, or work in factories or retail settings—all these people need to be able to stay in touch and get access to information to perform their jobs well. That's why cloud-based intranets are essential to the modern workplace.

What Exactly Is a Cloud Intranet?

A cloud-based intranet is a web platform that uses on-demand cloud computing technology to allow employees to collaborate and communicate at work. Employees can access everything at work from a single location. Cloud-based intranets also include dedicated employee apps that use cloud-based technologies, allowing workers to easily download the app, access work-related information, and chat with colleagues from anywhere.

What does a Cloud Intranet offer?

Cloud-based intranets and employee apps give you the flexibility and accessibility that your workforce needs. You can’t count on your employees being in one physical place every day. Giving them access to their tasks, shifts, or company updates from either their cell phone or their desktop gives them the freedom to choose how and when they access that information. Even if it's while they're on the train, in the warehouse, or working from no desk-based locations, cloud-based intranets ensure that all employees can stay connected and productive.

Just imagine a delivery driver who needs to quickly check an order's status while on the road. With a cloud-based intranet, they can securely access real-time data from their employee app or chat with distribution from their cellphone, which speeds up operations and gives customers seamless service. Home healthcare workers can also benefit from this secure cloud-based technology by using a dedicated employee app to access patient records and communicate with other care providers.

Even in retail settings, where employees are constantly on their feet, cloud-based employee intranets empower employees to access product information, communicate with colleagues, and handle customer inquiries without being tied to a stationary computer. This enables them to deliver exceptional service while staying connected to the broader organization.

Companies that embrace cloud-based intranets and employee apps, are more successful at bridging the gap between different work environments, creating a more cohesive culture, and giving their employees the right tools that help them thrive in the workplace. If you want to embrace flexibility, mobility, and accessibility at work, cloud-based intranets are the best option for improving communication, collaboration, engagement, and work outcomes, regardless of where your people work from.

Here are the top 6 benefits of a cloud-based Intranet.

1. Lower cost of entry

Cloud-based applications typically follow a month-by-month payment model, allowing organizations to procure software as an operational expense rather than an upfront capital commitment. A cloud based Intranet removes the complexities associated with paying for the solution, and enables organizations to move fast in launching a new Intranet.

On-premise software is encumbered with steps in deployment, configuration, testing and training people in how to use the software before anything meaningful can be undertaken with the platform. This ultimately delays the time to launch and adds cost to the overall effort.

A cloud based content & intranet also offer organizations to ‘try before you buy’ as the effort in creating a new sandbox environment for you to evaluate the solution is a straightforward process.

2. Improve Workforce Engagement and Collaboration

Cloud-based intranets and mobile employee apps have been designed to meet the constantly changing needs of remote, hybrid, and deskless workers. They make it possible for employees to actively participate in their work, whether that is by participating in important conversations, checking off tasks on their to-do lists, quickly accessing and sharing documents, or checking their shift schedules. But cloud intranets and employee apps provide much more than just work collaboration. Cloud intranets and employee management apps actually increase a sense of belonging and inclusivity for employees by offering social feeds for interaction, feedback opportunities, recognition of employees' contributions, and anonymous well-being check-ins. This fosters a supportive workplace culture in which employees feel valued and connected even when they are physically separated.

3. Infrastructure as a service

Traditionally the primary costs of an Intranet are in the procurement of the software and the hardware. As the Intranet grows over time, or you choose to release it to more users, an impact to the performance of the hardware could become apparent.

Cloud-based applications have democratized this hardware cost by rolling the infrastructure into the overall cost of the solution. You now rent the infrastructure as part of the monthly access fee. Additionally, the vendor will also ensure the underlying hardware is improving overtime so you are not burdened with this effort or expense.

There is a growing divide between those who choose to build and maintain on premise infrastructure, compared with those who choose to use the software within a secure cloud environment.

4. Focusing on the things that matter

Why burden yourself and the rest of the Intranet team focusing on how much memory the Production server should have, or which team member will be responsible for running the backup and restore process. Now these are important aspects for running a stable Intranet, but leave it to the cloud provider to ensure your solution

Your time is best spent in preparing a new Intranet that has a well-considered site architecture, appropriate metadata and adequate time for preparing your Intranet content are just a few examples of why getting caught up in the nuts and bolts of how the Intranet will run could quickly extinguish valuable time that should be set aside to ensure staff find the new Intranet thoughtful, helpful and ultimately valuable.

5. Distributed Onboarding and Training

A cloud based Intranet offers everyone the ability to access the latest training assets. If the Intranet is cloud based then it more readily enables training authors to publish training content from any location, and with CentricMinds, they can even capture and publish photos and video from their phone and publish directly to specific audiences on the Intranet.  

The challenge with delivering training via an on-premise Intranet is the accessibility by team members who increasingly represent a mobile workforce. The Intranet and Employee App should be at the center of your corporate training and onboarding. A cloud based solution offers unique opportunities to positively influence how people are trained.

6. Connect with your other apps

There’s a good chance your organization has already employed other cloud-based applications to support operational parts of your organization. Many work oriented application vendors covering verticals such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Business Intelligence (BI), HR and Payroll have all been in the cloud for years. Intranets and Employee Apps provide you with even more power when you expose data from these apps to staff via the Intranet. A cloud based Intranet enables this data exchange to occur more easily.

Experience the Power of CentricMinds Cloud Solutions

To sum it all up, cloud intranet solutions are key tools for all businesses in today's constantly evolving work landscape. Intranets and employee management apps provide your company and employees with the flexibility and access they require to stay connected and productive, regardless of their location or work style. With features like real-time data access, and seamless integration with other applications, cloud intranets enable organizations to create a more collaborative, transparent and welcoming workplace culture.

If your goal to improve teamwork and output in your workplace? Then CentricMinds is the best way to experience the benefits of a cloud-based intranet. See how CentricMinds Intranet and Employee App can transform your team's output, enthusiasm, and communication by requesting a demonstration today. Don't pass up the chance to bring your business to it’s full potential. Now is the time to launch CentricMinds.