Feature
In late 2019, employee experience platform provider Simpplr published research that argued a simple point: intranets are failing. The report cited a wide range of reasons for the failure, but one of the biggest offenders was irrelevant content and its subsequent impact on employee engagement.
At a time when generative AI startups that promise to personalize and improve writing workflows are growing like kudzu, the question remains: can generative AI improve intranets?
Where Intranets Are Failing to Meet Employee Expectations
Outdated content and lack of executive involvement were two of the largest triggers for employee dissatisfaction according to Simpplr's 2019 research. The report cited the following four reasons for intranet failure:
- Unclear governance
- Unclear purpose
- Unengaged executives
- Poor user experience
Poor content drives the first three and the fourth is a direct result of the first three. Content may be king, but in the world of the intranet, this appears not to be the case.
Not much has changed since 2019. The Nielsen Norman Group's recent Intranet Design Annual for 2023 points to usability, effective search and enterprise collaboration as some of the key qualities of an award-winning intranet. NN/g also mentions the use of artificial intelligence in intranets as key.
Intranet companies have recently been incorporating AI at a rapid clip, with Simpplr serving as an example. The company raised $70 million in May to expand the reach of its intranet platform. At the time of the funding, CEO and founder Dhiraj Sharma told TechCrunch that AI was key to the development of the company’s platform: “AI is at the core of our platform. Simpplr’s AI-powered employee experience platform enables IT to give business users ownership of their content and the digital experience users need.”
Related Article: 5 Intranet Trends Redefining Employee Experience in 2023
Generative AI, Intranets and the Privacy Question
Asked whether generative AI could raise the profile of intranets in enterprises, Zoho head of labs and AI research Ram Ramamoorthy said yes, but with caveats.
He pointed to the swift progress of large language models (LLMs) and their ability to generate thoughtful, relatively clean copy based on a few simple prompts. In that respect, he said, the technology can save company and employee time when drafting content — be it a presentation, email draft, sales journey workflow or company newsletter.
“The ‘but’ — and it's a big one,” he explained, “is around privacy." Company intranets, by definition, contain discussions and materials specific to one organization, he continued. It's often confidential, perhaps containing customer information or other private data.
By exposing that internal information to a third-party generative AI service, businesses run the risk of handing over their proprietary data, then having that data exposed to the public, or at the very least the generative AI technology provider.
“What happens then?” he asked. “We don't fully know yet. There is a larger conversation to be had around third-party AI and staying in compliance with local and federal laws, hence the call for regulation — but that's also an uphill climb.”
Take it a step further beyond proprietary data, he said. If generative AI is used within business operations — say for recruiting or finance — the risk of personal information falling into the wrong hands is high.
Investing in generative AI tools requires investment in building boundaries for privacy too. If not, companies will find themselves in precarious positions relatively quickly.
“This technology is new, particularly for businesses who are rightfully eager to embrace the power of the tech before anyone fully understands where their data goes, and who has access to it,” Ramamoorthy said.
Related Article: Your Microsoft Copilot Prep List
AI Can Help, But It Also Might Distract
Generative AI can improve intranets, but it can also be a potential distraction for intranet managers, said Cristian Salanti, digital experience and digital workplace architect at Zenify.
The biggest challenge for intranets is they often fail to support business operations in a comprehensive and consistent manner, he said. Intranet managers fail to involve the right kind of people (internal service/topic owners) to provide the right level of details for their intended audience.
To improve the structure of intranets, intranet managers should first rely on "natural intelligence" before introducing AI, Salanti argued. "What [AI] will do for sure — it will divert time, money and attention from this key area that needs to be addressed before anything else.”
Similar to a modern retail outlet, a well-designed intranet has the power to ‘sell’ things people may not be looking for — such as recent changes, better practices or a better mindset about the task at hand, he argued. But this sales pitch needs to land with its audience in order to close the deal. Here Salanti sees AI providing an equivalent service as an unmotivated staff member.
“If people who put information there are not motivated to do that or to maintain the information over time, the answers will not be correct,” he said. "This is why it's so important to engage the right people (internal process/topic owners) in the organization in providing and maintaining that information.”
Related Article: Generative AI Results Should Come With a Warning Label
Generative AI Is a Support, Not a Replacement for Communications
Ultimately, communicators are people movers — and that is a big job given the extreme pace of change, said Michael Rothe, senior in-house consultant at Staffbase. For that reason, Staffbase, will never replace communicators because AI alone cannot transform an organization.
Done right, generative AI in a modern intranet platform can save admins, editors and end-users valuable time in content creation, discovery and analysis, he said. But getting it right means integrating AI only when it truly benefits communicators, having clear guidelines in place, and making sure humans are always in control, with AI playing a supporting role.
“This enables organizations to make the most of generative AI, allowing communicators to focus on what really matter, notably driving change and transformation,” Rothe said.
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What Generative AI Brings to Intranets
So can generative AI help organizations build better intranets? Rafael Trujillo, CEO of digital consultancy Base22, believes that it can. Generative AI services like ChatGPT can help us generate new content, images or even code, he said.
He sees generative AI helping intranet administrators as well as intranet users in a number of ways:
1. Generate First Drafts
Generative AI will not replace content creators, he said, but it will help them be more efficient and deliver news articles, reports or knowledge base articles faster.
2. Summarize Articles
Most intranets host millions of corporate articles and policies that are sometimes lengthy and difficult to consume, Trujillo noted. Generative AI can generate quick summaries to let users decide if they need to read further, saving them time while keeping them informed.
3. Provide Personalized Recommendations
Leveraging analytics about user behavior and their preferences, he says generative AI will create personalized recommendations that include relevant resources and documents.
4. Content Translations
While this is not new, he said that with the latest generative AI capabilities, the quality of localized content will improve.
5. Virtual Assistants
Generative AI will make it possible for organizations to include smart virtual assistants or chatbots in the intranet that employees can use to seek information, answer questions, or even help perform some HR tasks, he said. For content authors, for example, these AI virtual assistants will help with the governance and maintenance of intranets by creating automated reports or evaluating content consumption, content expirations among other things.
6. Image Generation
Photographs and other images have long been used on intranets to increase the visual appeal of content. Authors can now use generative AI to create realistic “original” photos, he argued. The quality and use of such photos is still in question, but the quality will definitely improve.
“Obviously, we are in the early stages of how intranets will leverage Generative AI as a tool, and we must consider the ethical and privacy concerns raised around using these technologies,” Trujillo said. "As intranet professionals, we need to place safeguards to ensure the use of these technologies in a responsible manner.”