Make your intranet mobile

Excited to see my ‘eight tips’ published in Melcrum’s SCM magazine this month.

A short while ago I was asked to pop into Melcrum’s offices in London; I mention this rather dull fact because for me, it was like being beamed aboard the mothership!

imageI still find London exhilarating, because of all the hustle and real-life networking – I just don’t experience such in my cathedral town in the Midlands.

Anyway, Luke was fab enough to ask me to pop in, and so we had a chat and as Luke knows I’m keen on intranets and good communication, he suggested I tackle the challenge of mobile intranets.

I must thank Luke for his editorial prowess and also Jonathan Phillips of Coca-Cola for the stats and details of the Coca-Cola Enterpise mobile intranet, which rather strongly supports my points.

So, if you’re a Melcrum subscriber, look out for September’s edition of SCM (Strategic Communication Management) magazine. Update: article now published within the Melcrum blog.

Eight tips to make your intranet mobile – read the full article in SCM

  • Have one – it’s going to be normal for field workers to need mobile access.
  • Offer appropriate features – respect the context of the people using the mobile intranet.
  • Test – the user experience is crucial.
  • Make it easy to access – people want quick access, so get your IT and security teams to agree on the best way.
  • Include ‘in-page’ menus – help people navigate long pages.
  • Use images appropriately – download times matter.
  • Consider the launch and maintenance carefully – provide new features and improvements over time.

Coca-Cola Enterprise’s mobile intranet

Ninety seconds, all the work of Indy B.

I am so very chuffed to have my work in SCM, partly because Melcrum featured my blogsite in SCM several years ago. I was leafing through the mag at my desk, as you do, and I came across a screenshot and write up about my blogging, and it was a total surprise. It made me feel ‘heard’ back in the days when I wasn’t sure why I was writing so much about internal communications, back before social media brought larger audiences. So, sincerely, thank you to Melcrum for encouraging this little writer.

Thanks to Rachel Miller for tweeting the photograph.

Actual P.S. I’m a fan of HTML 5 (but respect mobile apps) and responsive web design (RWD). Now I find that RWD has come to intranets, and that the ‘mobile version’ does not have to be a separate CCS or cut-down version. Please excuse me if this techy distinction means nothing to you. I’ll talk about responsive intranet design in the future.

[ Wedge ]

If you’d like to share or tweet this article, try:
Make your intranet mobile: http://kilobox.net/3055 – by @Wedge

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