Your intranet probably didn’t start out this way. It was organised, information was easy to find, and employees knew where to go for the documents and resources they needed.
Then the organisation grew.
More people. More departments. More documents. More systems.
The intranet grew too—but not in the right way.
What was once a valuable business tool slowly became harder to navigate, harder to search and harder to maintain.
If any of the following sounds familiar, your organisation may have outgrown its intranet.
- Employees ask a colleague instead of searching
When people stop trusting search, they stop using it.
Instead of looking for information, they ask someone who “probably knows.” It might feel quicker, but it creates interruptions, inconsistent answers and unnecessary duplication.
- Nobody knows which document is current
Multiple versions of the same document. Old policies. Duplicate pages.
When employees aren’t confident they’re looking at the latest information, trust in the intranet quickly disappears.
- Finding information takes too many clicks
Menus continue to grow as new content is added.
Pages become buried several levels deep, making even simple information difficult to find.
A modern intranet should reduce effort—not increase it.
- The homepage feels abandoned
News from last year. Broken links. Outdated announcements.
An intranet doesn’t need daily updates, but it should give employees confidence that the information they’re seeing is current and maintained.
- Search doesn’t return what people expect
Search is often blamed, but it’s rarely the real problem.
Poor information architecture, inconsistent content and missing metadata all affect how easily information can be found.
The hidden cost
None of these issues exist in isolation.
When employees stop trusting the intranet, they work around it. They email colleagues, save duplicate documents, bookmark old pages and rely on tribal knowledge instead of one trusted source. Over time, those small workarounds become part of everyday work, reducing productivity and making it even harder to find accurate information.
So what does a modern intranet look like?
A modern intranet isn’t simply a better-looking homepage.
It helps your organisation:
- Find information faster
- Trust the information they find
- Communicate more effectively
- Access resources from anywhere
- Complete everyday tasks with fewer clicks
Behind that experience are the foundations that make it possible:
- Clear navigation
- Information architecture
- Metadata
- Consistent page layouts
- Content ownership
- Governance
Technology is only one piece of the puzzle.
Build an intranet that grows with your organisation
Every organisation changes. Teams expand, new systems are introduced and information continues to grow.
A modern intranet should grow with it.
That’s the thinking behind FiveP’s SharePoint Foundations approach. By establishing strong information architecture, governance, user experience and content ownership from the outset, organisations create an intranet that’s easier to manage, easier to navigate and continues delivering value long after launch.