4 Things to Consider While Planning an Intranet for Small Business

The time of startups and small companies is here. If you don’t believe it, then consider these stats:

“The United States was home to 30.7 million small businesses in 2019”, says U.S. Small Business Administration. Today, that number has grown even more significantly, with small businesses continuing to be the backbone of the American economy.

“64% of American small business owners are currently hiring”, reports National Federation of Independent Business

“More than 78% of small businesses reported profits”, says U.S. Small Business Administration

Small businesses are growing like never before, and the reason is the leap in technology. Custom websites, modern intranet for startups, global integration of economies through globalization and trade norms have all made it easier for individuals to avail capital to start the business they want. A digital workplace for SMB has become essential infrastructure rather than a luxury.

Startups are taking up the business landscape by capturing new app ideas and services. Mobile apps and the internet have made online buying of goods to grocery very easy. Even food, tickets and rides are available online. The personalization revolution is on, and people are flocking to these comfortable alternatives to a manual life.

SharePoint Intranet and Small Business Adoption

Now, if we look at the adoption rate of SharePoint intranet based on company size, it is astounding to note that small companies with 10-50 employees and 50-200 employees are the major users of Microsoft SharePoint and associated tools. This emphasises the relevance of SharePoint among small businesses and startups as it helps to complement the work of a larger workforce within a software framework. Many SMBs are also exploring affordable intranet solutions that integrate with modern collaboration platforms.

Even among large companies, intranets remain the common working spaces. Major companies like Google, Ford, and Oman Air use intranets and digital workplaces to handle their work. The large size of the employee base, multiple branches and the overarching number of offices make it essential to have a common platform to communicate and collaborate. An intranet for small business provides this unified space, enabling seamless internal communication tools that scale with growth.

Do Small Businesses Need Intranet Software?

The common perception in the corporate world is that intranet software is needed only for multinational companies with full range businesses, clients and employees. But the reality is far from this. Small companies are definitely in need of an intranet for small business. Today’s remote and hybrid work environments make internal communication tools more critical than ever.

The common reason for the poor adoption of intranet in small businesses is their reluctance to accept that they need it. Here are a few compelling reasons for small businesses to deploy an intranet:

Helping new hires

New hires are the very way of startups as setting the right team is a long drawn process of trial and error in startups. And every time new employees come in, a lot of resources in the form of time is spent in familiarizing and feeding the newbies. And for a startup, time is money.



An intranet helps the newbies to quickly grasp the way of the organization, the work culture and other unexplainable behaviours and norms in the organization. This is crucial for intranet adoption in growing teams.

Common Workplace

A small business usually has most of its employees multi-tasking, and numbers cut short to the bare minimum. But the real problem arises when this extra work in the hands of few people needs to be communicated and made sense. It is here that intranet software becomes essential. The intranet provides an everyday workplace for all the teams to collaborate and share ideas, suggestions and progress with ease. A modern intranet for startups creates this collaborative environment that fosters productivity.

Brings Consistency

The primary issue with failing startups and small businesses is that they couldn’t align their various employees for the purpose they had hired them. Most of the joiners are experts and talented, but collectively they fail.

Why? Simply because the individuals never aligned with the goals of the organization. They all were centered around their minimalist view of work and could never rise above them to produce a team relevant outcome. So, it was not the lack of talent but the lack of coordination that did them in. The intranet for small business can pave the way for more coordination and synergy in team activities with individual goals.

Now that you realize the necessity of having great intranet solutions for small businesses, it is time to move on to the relevant discussion on choosing the right intranet.

How to Choose Your Small Business Intranet?

The world of intranet portal providers is quite overwhelming. It includes SharePoint intranets, Bitrix, G-Suite, Microsoft 365, and so on. Choosing affordable intranet solutions that fit your SMB needs requires careful consideration of your specific requirements and budget constraints.

To choose the right intranet solution, its build, its type and such things are quite confusing for those who are new to intranet software development. So we have drawn up some factors that a small business in particular and other companies, in general, should consider before locking on their final choice of the intranet.

1. Outline Your Goals

The first things first, make a detailed outline of the goals you wish to accomplish using intranet software. For example, if you are thinking about migrating to an intranet software to increase the efficiency of your team, then “enhancing efficiency”, becomes a goal. Similarly, there could be other reasons you want to have an intranet specifically.

A lot of it will depend on the nature of your business and the way it is panning out currently. Then there are some other common goals which you can consider:

• Create a central place for teams to work
• Evolve the community feel in the employees
• Motivate employees
• Enable remote and hybrid work collaboration
• Streamline internal communication tools
• Monitor how the individual goals align with overall goals

2. Type of Intranet

One of the crucial decisions you need to make while choosing your intranet is its type. Cloud intranet and on-premise intranets are a type. The cloud intranets are the best if you have a scattered office spanning over distinct locations. Also, cloud-based SharePoint intranets can leverage many of the features of Microsoft 365 to integrate file sharing in your organization.

Another type is off-the-shelf and custom platforms to design engaging intranets. An off-the-shelf solution is a general intranet solution that will serve your overall expectations of an intranet like personalized homepages, video playing features, newsfeeds, document libraries, activity streams, team stories, blogs and all this in a mobile interface.

On the other hand, a custom SharePoint intranet or similar platform being a web-based platform lets you add more sophisticated tools like financial or bank related analytical tools. The final word on your choice of the intranet type should stem from your understanding of your internal requirements. For SMBs exploring a digital workplace for SMB, cloud solutions often provide the best balance of functionality and cost-effectiveness. 

A real-life example will help you understand this difference better. Just look at this employee intranet that the international pizza maker Domino’s made for its employees. The intranet helped Domino’s franchise team members to get a first-class user-experience with the help of three home pages viz. store, franchise and corporate. The three websites outlined the three groups within Domino’s and enriched them with their role-based content. The intranet site also became a pathway for secure communication of Domino’s confidential information.

3. Mind Your Budget

The cost is something that takes the main stage when it comes to startups. Many startups find it hard to meet their annual budgets and usually depend on venture capital funds and other external sources. So a small business should focus on some specific aspects like whether they would like to go for an entire intranet that is wholly owned and carrying all the extra costs of maintenance and revamping or avail an annual subscription-based model.

Affordable intranet solutions for SMBs often come in various pricing tiers. The overall financial situation of your business should guide you in choosing the right category of the intranet. It is often seen that small companies and startups go for a pay-as-you-go model of the intranet as it puts very less stress on your budget. This approach to intranet adoption helps smaller teams get started without significant upfront investment.

4. The Best UX

What’s the most significant plus point for your employees in having an intranet? There could only be one answer to it and that is to feel the best about the organization. A modern intranet for startups should provide an engaging user experience that employees actually want to use.

An intranet from an employee’s perspective is about associating with a visibly organic unity called the company, and they have a wide range of interactions, for example, a user may be working under a project manager, but his overall loyalty lies for a brand that his enterprise wields. So the nature of interactions is both personal and official.

Further, an intranet which is customizable allows the employer and management team to create beautiful and engaging intranet portals that give the vibe of the company’s general outlook and how they become an essential part of it.

Finally, the intranet is a very efficient and secure way to cultivate a creative workspace with robust internal communication tools, and it can act as a stimulant for SharePoint-like platforms in paving the way for future workplaces. A digital workplace for SMB equipped with modern features can significantly improve team engagement and productivity.

The Future of Intranets for Small Businesses

Modern intranet platforms continue to evolve with AI-powered collaboration features, advanced analytics, and enhanced mobile experiences. For small businesses looking to implement an intranet for small business, the combination of affordability, ease of use, and scalability has never been better. Whether you choose a SharePoint intranet small business solution or explore other platforms, the investment in proper internal communication tools pays dividends in team alignment and operational efficiency.

The latest developments from Microsoft and other enterprise software leaders demonstrate a commitment to making sophisticated workplace solutions accessible to businesses of all sizes. Whether you’re implementing a modern intranet for startups or upgrading your digital workplace for SMB, the key is selecting a solution that aligns with your organizational goals and budget constraints.

Aufait Technologies, a Microsoft Gold partner, has expertise and vision of 17+ years to offer your workplace design and planning a new turn, helping small businesses successfully navigate intranet adoption and implementation strategies.

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