Best Employee Intranet Software

What is Employee Intranet Software?

Researched and written by Priya Patel

An intranet is a restricted and private communications network hosted online. Each intranet is typically accessible by a specific group of people, such as the members of a team or company. Employee intranets exist to provide staff with a centralized location to work together, share media, communicate, train, provide and receive feedback, or otherwise collaborate on a variety of tasks.

Employee intranet solutions allow companies to cherry-pick or bundle features from other types of software like internal communications software or business content management software. If the intranet doesn’t provide a feature natively, it will often integrate with common or frequently used software solutions and enable users to access it from inside the intranet portal.

To qualify for inclusion in the Employee Intranet category, a product must:

Provide access to, or the ability to create, an online portal with predefined access

Allow for collaboration, communication, and file sharing within defined groups

Be customizable

Best Employee Intranet Software At A Glance

Best for Small Businesses:

Microsoft SharePoint

Best for Mid-Market:

Microsoft SharePoint

Best for Enterprise:

Microsoft SharePoint

Highest User Satisfaction:

Best Free Software:

Best for Enterprise:

Highest User Satisfaction:

Microsoft SharePoint

Best Free Software:

HCL Connections

G2 takes pride in showing unbiased reviews on user satisfaction in our ratings and reports. We do not allow paid placements in any of our ratings, rankings, or reports. Learn about our scoring methodologies.

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Claromentis Intranet and Digital Workplace

(42)4.8 out of 5

Product Description

Claromentis is an integrated digital workplace solution. For 25 years, we have helped businesses reinvent themselves through technology. This is why hundreds of companies worldwide trust us to increas

Claromentis Intranet and Digital Workplace features and usability ratings that predict user satisfaction

9.3

Quality of Support

Average: 8.8

9.2

Ease of Use

Average: 8.8

9.7

Has the product been a good partner in doing business?

Average: 9.0

9.0

Ease of Admin

Average: 8.8

G2 Grid® for Employee Intranet

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What is Employee Intranet Software?
Why Use Employee Intranet Software?
Who Uses Employee Intranet Software?
Employee Intranet Software Features
Potential Issues with Employee Intranet Software

Learn More About Employee Intranet Software

What is Employee Intranet Software?

Employee intranet software provides organizations with a collaboration suite within a private, secure network. These tools can serve as the focal point of a company’s collaboration software stack, combining features like messaging, file sharing, user profile building, and task distribution all on one branded platform. Users are able to access the intranet using a single sign on (SSO) login, and those outside of the organization will not be able to use the platform unless given login credentials.

Key Benefits of Employee Intranet Software

Access company documents and media files
Create a hub for communication and collaboration
Push information company-wide
Integrate with outside software solutions to make them accessible from one interface

Why Use Employee Intranet Software?

Consolidation — Corporate intranets are stocked with features specifically determined by the business in question, allowing the software to be tailor-made for a given organization. This enables businesses to consolidate the features and functionality they would normally get out of multiple solutions and bundle them into a single platform. While the intranet may be expensive to build and maintain, in the long run, a company may save more money simply building one platform for their communication needs rather than buying multiple licenses for a handful of products.

Security — Given the amount of information handled within intranets, they will often require users to set up multi-factor authentication to access the portal. These tools are often more secure than other applications where users don’t need to provide extra credentials to prove their identity. Since users only have to remember one login to access all their communication channels, there is less risk that breach of security will occur because of a weakness in one application.

Communication — Many companies with social intranets will consolidate all their communication and collaboration channels into their intranet either natively or via integrations. Users become more responsive and engaged since they only have to check one portal for all their communication channels. It’s also easier on companies to disseminate information to their entire enterprise because they can rely on employees checking the intranet.

Productivity — Since intranets consolidate multiple functionalities into one product, employees spend less time switching between applications and communication channels. Some intranets can even bundle in native or integrated content management, allowing users to seamlessly communicate and share content all within one application.

Employee Engagement — Some intranets have strong employee engagement emphasis. These tools will offer additional features like employee feedback solicitation and employee recognition, allowing employees to respond to company changes via pulse surveys.

Who Uses Employee Intranet Software?

Employee intranets are a popular staple for large organizations who require a lot of custom functionality within a branded portal. While intranets can be used by any organization, they are particularly commonplace among certain kinds of institutions.

Education — Most universities will have their own intranet where both employees and students can access news, study class materials, and request paperwork. How the intranet will look, and the functions within it, are based on the type of membership the user has. Students will have access to a different set of features compared to professors and administrators.

Health Care — Health care providers require software tools that are HIPAA compliant and will often bundle all the communication functionality they require into one intranet for the sake of convenience. Employee intranets for health care providers will often offer a HIPAA compliant messaging software and clinical communication and collaboration software natively within one platform.

Nonprofit Organizations — Many nonprofit organizations require specific software functionality they otherwise cannot find in disparate software solutions. Instead, they choose to build all the features they need into an intranet portal for administrators, employees, and volunteers. While there are many nonprofit software solutions available, an intranet allows organizations to build in only the features they require and puts all that functionality in one place.

Employee Intranet Software Features

Employee intranet solutions can include, but are not limited to, the features listed below:

Internal Communications — Allows users to engage in 1:1 or group discussion via instant messaging or commenting.

Push Notifications — Platform allows administrators to push company-wide notifications or news.

Calendar — Provides or integrates with a calendar where companies can plan events. This can also include calendars for individuals.

Content Sharing — Platform provides a newsfeed where companies can share and discuss content.

Additional Employee Intranet Features

Pulse Surveys — Distribute short, customizable culture-focused surveys or polls to employees to measure the various factors of employee engagement, including job, environment, and pay satisfaction.

Peer Recognition — Send and receive recognition in the form of digital badges, awards, or messages to colleagues, employees, and managers. Recognition is displayed in real time in the platform on a live activity feed.

Potential Issues with Employee Intranet Software

Redundancy — While some employee intranets are built specifically for a particular company, many are sold as out-of-the-box solutions that don’t require a lot of setup. However, these products may provide features that are either not applicable to a company’s needs or are already provided by another software solution.

This is often the case with intranets that provide an internal communications component. Companies will often already employ a popular internal communications tool prior to implementation of an intranet, and unless the intranet can integrate with it, users are presented with redundant features. This can be confusing for employees, or an entire feature of the intranet will go ignored, reducing cost effectiveness.

Cost — Employee intranets are typically employed by very large organizations that need a singular space to allow communication and host their knowledge base. As a result, they can be very expensive, and midsized organizations may not have the capital to front the cost of an intranet, even if they’re in need of one.

While some products are specifically geared toward the mid-market, intranets still need to scale as an organization grows. The cost of development and maintenance of a social intranet together can scare potential companies away. Many businesses, instead, opt to employ a stack of communication tools that together can simulate an intranet.