How To Hire An Intranet Consultant

Like intranets, not all intranet consultants are created equal. Building or redesigning an intranet requires a lot of work that usually requires months, or often, years. The average intranet redesign requires 12 to 18 months. Perhaps more in larger organizations (or much less if you choose a hosted, out-of-the box solution). Additionally, if you decide to build or rebuild the intranet, who will be minding the store?

An intranet requires:

Employee input (research)
Executive engagement
Best practices intelligence (benchmarking)
Business requirements analysis and documentation
Strategic planning (mission, objective, goals, CSIs)
Functional planning (structure, content, etc.)
Governance and an management modelling
Policies and guidelines
Business case and ROI
Content
Content management & migration
Information architecture
User Experience (Design)
Tools and applications (social, collaboration, business)
Staffing
Software (and hardware or cloud hosting)
Technology implementation and administration
Network and database administration
Application integration
Etc.

Hiring an intranet consultant will free-up the necessary time to stay on top of the day-to-day job such as the daily news, benefits enrollment, new application rollouts, etc. Consultants also bring years of experience, best practices, and top-line skills. However, of course, they cost money.

intranet project methodology

Prescient Digital Media’s Intranet Project Methodology

However, does your team have the skills? Have they ever developed a governance model, an editorial policy, or an LDAP integration plan?

How to hire an intranet consultant

If you have a budget and a work culture that recognizes the value of an outside intranet expert then proceed with caution.

Caution: an Internet consultant is not an intranet consultant. A web design firm has deep creative skills, but rarely has any business acumen and intranet expertise. A big-five consulting firm has very smart people but is very expensive.

What to look for in an intranet expert:

Intranet client case studies
Detailed biographies with demonstrated project experience
Experienced individuals that will be assigned to your project
Client references with names and numbers (not just unnamed anonymous testimonials)
Detailed pricing
Corporate strength and documented financial viability
Proven and detailed project methodologies

Be cautious if a consultant only has:

Screenshots and mock-ups
One or two paragraph bios that focus on favorite movies and hobbies with a cute or too-cool-for-school photo
People on a list in some far flung office that won’t actually be working on your project
Unnamed and anonymous testimonials
Vague pricing or guess-timates
Tiny shops with no documented financials (P&L)

Prepare a thorough and detailed RFP (request for proposal). Invite companies that have proven experience and case studies. If you don’t know one (though you should know several if you read this news blog) then look for a recommendation:

Ask a leading company or partner
Sniff around your local trade associations like IABC or PRS
Phone your IT analyst at Garner or Forrester
Google the phrase “intranet consultant” or “intranet consulting” with or without geographic locations (if that’s important to you)
Post a comment here and I or another reader will help steer you

The RFP responses from any intranet consulting firm should contain the following:

Line by line details of every process and deliverable
Intranet consulting history and overview
Detailed client case studies
Solution functional specifications
Consulting, licensing (if applicable) AND implementation costs
Project team resumes, skills overview & experience
Client references and contact information
Detailed timeline and schedules
Ongoing service & support commitment
Solution technical specifications (if applicable)
Product demonstration (if applicable)

A final word: Google before you hire a particular intranet consultant or intranet consulting firm. Start with the top results… A great intranet consultant is not only experienced, but a leader with published credentials to support it.

Top intranet consulting firms: