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Award winning mobile intranets

Step Two Designs has just published a brand new report on the topic of the moment - Mobile intranets. 

Read on for the full description, or head to the Step Two Designs site to purchase the report.

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As mobile devices continue to transform our daily lives, there is increasing pressure for organisations to provide staff with mobile access and functionality. To date, there have been few examples to follow, making it hard to know what to deliver, and how.

This report provides three compelling case studies of mobile intranets, covering the corporate, government and education sectors. Providing dozens of screenshots and 45 pages of insights and guidance, the report is a must-have for all web, intranet and IT teams.

With some web companies moving to a “mobile first” strategy, mobile devices are transforming how we access information as consumers. Within organisations, the pressure to deliver mobile functionality to staff is becoming overwhelming.

Senior managers now have iPads. Field staff have smartphones in their private lives, and are demanding similar functionality in their working lives. There are a hundred reasons why staff need to access information when they are away from their desks.

The challenge has been knowing what to deliver, and how. This report answers these questions with three real-world case studies:

• UK Parliament delivering key functionality to MPs, who are rarely in their offices.
• Queensland University of Technology providing staff and students with a mobile portal of remarkably simplicity.
• Lafarge, a global corporation, supporting the yearly senior management retreat with a mobile site.

Each of these case studies won an award in the 2011 Intranet Innovation Awards. In addition to the three compelling examples, the report provides further insight from the team at Step Two Designs:

• key themes from the winning case studies
• what staff want on their mobiles
• four types of enterprise mobility
• elements of a mobile intranet strategy

If you are planning to deliver mobile enterprise functionality, this report will give you invaluable ideas and examples to help shape your plans and designs.

(Want to know more about the rest of the winners of the 2011 Intranet Innovation Awards? The case studies are just three of the ten winners this year, and we recommend purchasing the fullIntranet Innovations 2011 report.)

International keynote speakers announced for Intranets2012! May 16-18 2012 - Sydney #Intranets2012 #Intranet

With Intranets2011 having been such a ball, we're eagerly looking forward to Intranets2012, returning to Sydney on 16-18 May 2012.

To whet your appetites, Step Two Designs has announced three keynote speakers for Intranets2012:

• Martin White (UK)
• William Amurgis (USA)
• James Robertson (Australia)

For more on these speakers:

www.steptwo.com.au/conference

Now's the time to put the conference in your diary!

PS. would you like to also be up on stage at Intranets2012? If so, our call for papers closes in a week, and all are encouraged to submit:

www.steptwo.com.au/conference/call-for-papers

Start the new year with a special offer on our in-house workshops #intranet #sharepoint

2012 is rapidly approaching and it looks to be a busy year for intranets, particularly on the SharePoint platform.

To help kick off the new year, Step Two Designs is offering a great package price on our in-house workshops, which will build team knowledge and bring stakeholders together.

This is how it works: Book in an in-house workshop for a date in January 2012, and lock it in this year, and we can offer:

• A discounted price of $2,800 + GST (20% off the normal rate of $3,500).
• Two copies each of Designing intranets: creating sites that work and What every intranet team should know, worth $190 (one for the team, and one to share with stakeholders or content owners).

We can run workshops throughout Australia, and up to 20 staff can attend. There are heaps of great topics to choose from and we’re happy to tailor further to meet your needs. Current workshops include:

• Writing for the intranet – provides intranet content owners with practical skills to deliver better online information, with plenty of hands-on activities.
• SharePoint for intranet teams – build your knowledge of the technology platform that underpins many new intranets, preparing you to work with IT to deliver a great intranet.
• Designing intranets – helps teams deliver an intranet that works for staff, sharing key usability and information architecture techniques, and best-practice insights.
• Intranet governance – get the foundations for a successful intranet in place, and spend time working on key governance documents.
• Intranet alignment workshop – bring stakeholders together into the one room, to clarify where the intranet is at, and where it should go.
• The future for intranets – a forward-looking day that explores the best that intranets can be, and what this means in practice for your organisation.

To get your workshop locked in, or to get more information, email contact@steptwo.com.au or ring Rebecca Joseph on 02 9319 7901.

Call for papers for Intranets 2012

Cross-posted from the Step Two Designs site

Intranets2011 was a huge success, with much of the credit going to the high calibre of speakers throughout the two days. For Intranets2012, we’ll be bringing together another great set of speakers from around the globe. An international call for papers is a key part of this, giving practitioners working in every organisation a chance to submit their ideas.

We encourage submissions from across Australia, New Zealand and internationally. Once we assess the submissions, we’ll finalise the mix of local and international presenters.

Key dates

Call for papers open: 18 October 2011
Call for papers close: 1 December 2011

Conference topics

Intranets2012 will provide a mix of inspiration and practical insight that will help every participant deliver a better site. Key topics will include:

• Practical ideas and approaches for intranet teams
• Innovation and the leading edge of intranets
• Usability, information architecture and user-centred design
• Collaboration and social tools
• Delivering intranets on SharePoint
• Related disciplines that teams should know about (comms, change management, leadership, etc)
• Intranet technologies, including search and CMS
• Building a business case for intranets

Further details

• Most talks will be 40-45 minutes in length.
• There will also be 20 minute show-and-tell sessions, as well as longer keynotes.
• We are interested in a mix of session formats, including traditional presentations and interactive exercises.
• Both experienced presenters and hands-on practitioners are encouraged to submit talk ideas (we can provide mentoring and support for less experienced presenters).
• All presenters will be paired up with a “buddy” to help review and refine presentations before the conference, and we will work with all speakers to help them deliver the best possible session.

Questions?

If you have any questions about the conference, and what would be suitable as a topic, drop us a line at conference@steptwo.com.au.

October's articles from Step Two Designs - Tree Testing information architecture / What's a social intranet?

This month's articles have now been published on the Step Two Designs website. They are:

• Tree testing for effective navigation by Stephen Byrne
• What's a social intranet? by James Robertson

As always, articles are free to read and download as PDFs. We'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback. 

The Step Two Designs website features over 250 free articles on almost every aspect of intranet strategy and design, from CMS selection to needs analysis techniques, homepage policies to SharePoint methodologies. Don't forget this ultra-valuable intranet resource.

Intranet Innovation Award 2011 Roadshows in Sydney / Canberra / Melbourne / Brisbane

As you’d be aware, the winners of the 2011 Intranet Innovation Awards have just been announced.

Each year, we run a free roadshow throughout Australia, where you will hear all about the winning entries, see screenshots and hear what set these entries apart from the rest.

These afternoons will be presented by James Robertson, Australia’s own intranet expert. With teams from every type of organisation attending, it’s also a great opportunity to make connections that will last.

Dates:

• Brisbane: 25th October (register online)
• Canberra: 2nd November (register online)
• Sydney: 8th November (register online)
• Melbourne: 30th November (register online)

Since these are free sessions, book fast before places run out!

Congratulations to the 2011 Intranet Innovation Award winners!

The day has come for us to unveil this year’s winners of the Intranet Innovation Awards. 

Congratulations to all of this year’s winners, from around the globe:

Plat
inum award winner

• Visual effects project management tool
  Framestore (UK)

Gold awards winners

• Mobile intranet
  Queensland University of Technology (Australia)
• Mobile intranet
  UK Parliament (UK)
• Just in time content
  CRS Australia (Australia)
• Expertise location and LinkedIn connector
  Lundbeck (Denmark)
• Personalisation
  Malmo Stad (Sweden)
• Alu TV video sharing platform
  Alcatel-Lucent (France)
• SportsAid Amazing Race
  Arup (UK)
• Customer-centric intranet
  ScottsMiracle-Gro (USA)
• Online and mobile conference tool
  Lafarge (France)

Commended entries

• Find-o-meter
  Vancity (Canada)
• Daisy the intranet
  RSPCA Victoria (Australia)
• Social intranet
  RPC (UK)
• Faceted search
  CSIRO (Australia)

It’s been a hugely enjoyable process for all the judges and editorial team working on the awards. Yet again, we’ve surfaced remarkable, surprising and impressive ideas that will be of interest to all intranet teams.

This year we’ve got three mobile intranet solutions, core business systems, just-in-time information delivery, social intranets, video, and much more.

Grab a copy of the Intranet Innovations 2011 report for more.

 

September articles from Step Two Designs: Commenting on news / Helping intranet authors write quality content

We've just published our latest articles on the Step Two Designs site. This month: 

• Enable commenting on intranet news by James Robertson
• Helping intranet authors write quality content by Rebecca Rodgers

As ever, all articles are free to read and download as PDFs. We'd love to hear your thoughts!

[Article archive]

Step Two Designs 'Intranet Design' workshop in London - 17 October 2011

Step Two Designs has just be able to confirm the details of James Robertson's only European 'Intranet Design' workshop this year - London, October 17 2011.

The biggest complaint from staff in many organisations: I can’t find anything on the intranet! If intranets aren’t easy to use, with great navigation and search, there’s little point in having them. To ensure that new or redesigned intranets really are easy to use, we need to involve staff in the design process.

Delivering a great intranet involves following a best-practice methodology that uses structured techniques to research and test with staff. Taking this "user-centred design" approach to the intranet gives teams a range of practical usability techniques that get beyond opinions and arguments.

Techniques covered during the workshop include card sorting, tree testing, and usability testing. Hands-on activities with a number of these key techniques ensures you will walk away with practical skills that can be immediately put into practice. You’ll also receive detailed how-to guides on intranet design techniques.

One of the greatest challenges for intranet teams is how hard it is to see other intranets, and to uncover design ideas. The workshop will share many examples, as well as screenshots of good designs, providing a wealth of ideas to draw upon.

See full details over on the Step Two Designs site, or register online. 

New workshops from Step Two Designs: Governance / SharePoint / Intranet Design

Step Two Designs just launched another brand new workshop: 'Practical intranet governance', sitting alongside "SharePoint for intranet teams' and 'Designing intranets that work'. This is now our full calendar of workshops for 2011:

• Designing intranets that work (Melbourne, Aug 17) -- one place left!
• SharePoint for intranet teams (Sydney, October 19)
• SharePoint for intranet teams (Melbourne, November 15)
• Practical intranet governance (Sydney, December 1)

You can see a full list of events at: http://www.steptwo.com.au/seminars/

These will all be great, practical and insightful workshops for people working in the intranet field. Places are limited due to our aim of keeping the sessions big enough for interaction, but small enough to ensure any questions are surfaced! 

If you're a member of the Intranet Leadership Forum, a healthy discount is also available.