It’s not easy to place a dollar value on a staff intranet. There are so many intangible benefits like improved engagement through events and social updates, targeted communications helping everyone feel informed, better transparency and connection with senior leaders and overall warm and fuzziness.
Is this enough for your CFO? Probably not. While it can be challenging to quantify all of the benefits of your intranet, there are many cost-saving outcomes that can be measured and reported. Some might require a bit of research, some a bit of creative thinking.
Here are 5 ideas to demonstrate cost savings delivered by your intranet:
1) Process automation
Of all potential intranet features, process automation is the easiest to calculate and demonstrate cost savings. Building a business process flow is relatively easy using Power Automate and results in immediate, measurable benefits.
Processes that lend themselves to automation include access requests, policy & procedure approvals, incident reports, travel requests and reimbursements plus onboarding and offboarding.
If you want to get serious about process improvement, consider leveraging AI with a bot or digital assistant to manage these interactions via a conversational interface.
COST SAVINGS = (Old process time) – (New process time) x Frequency x $ Resource cost
2) Self Service
Internal service departments like IT Helpdesk or HR spend a lot of time answering very similar questions or assisting with repetitive processes like granting access to systems, setting up new employees, troubleshooting technical problems and managing performance reviews.
A policy or process hub on the intranet providing clear process maps and supporting information – particularly for frontline employees or those with high turnover – can save hundreds of hours for the HR department. Similarly, a clear self-help interface for IT troubleshooting or e-forms for equipment or access requests will reduce incomplete or erroneous requests, make IT’s lives much easier and allow them to focus on more value-building projects.
COST SAVINGS = Time saved x Frequency x $ Resource cost
3) Reduced churn
Frequent voluntary turnover has a significant effect on costs as well as other important areas like morale, organisational knowledge and effective customer service. If you can demonstrate that your new or improved intranet has positively impacted staff retention, this can add real dollars to your value calculation.
While costs of turnover tend to vary according to the seniority and scope of the role, a good rule of thumb is 30%.
COST SAVINGS = (Baseline churn rate) – (New churn rate) x # Employees x $ Average Salary x 30%
One way to connect the intranet with improved retention is onboarding. Employees who participate in a structured onboarding program are 69% more likely to stay with an organisation for 3 years[1]. Especially when some new staff have never worked in the office, onboarding is critical and the logical home for it is the intranet. It may also be worth looking at absenteeism. If engagement really has improved, you may be able to show a decrease in sick days.
4) Surfacing information
An oft-repeated McKinsey statistic has the average knowledge worker spending 19% of their time searching for information. “…businesses hire 5 employees but only 4 show up to work; the fifth is off searching for answers, but not contributing any value.”
Now that information can be found across even more channels – chat histories, Teams channels, emails, OneDrive, slide decks, 3rd party apps, and meeting recordings to name a few – this statistic starts to look conservative.
At the very least, an intranet must function as the single source of truth that people need to do their jobs. Document templates, policies, procedures, brand files, project plans, pitch presentations, client processes… the list is endless. Organised effectively with a decent search configuration, these resources will make everyone less frustrated and more productive.
COST SAVINGS = # Knowledge Workers x $ Average Salary x 20%
5) Application access
With teams working from anywhere, it’s extremely valuable to provide a one-stop shop to access workplace apps:
- M365 suite: Teams, Planner, OneNote, Power BI
- HR, Finance and IT ticketing systems
- Training and education
- Booking and reservation systems
A cloud-based digital platform ensures that people working remotely have the same access as those in the office and provides a clear path to reach them.
Driving adoption this way leverages the software and services that the organisation is already paying for and reduces security risks associated with shadow IT. Providing access to seldom-used tools can drive productivity improvements and prevent business areas from purchasing their own, poorly integrated solutions.
COST SAVINGS = (estimated reduction in discretionary software spend) + (potential productivity time saving) + (reduction in security breach management costs)
These five ideas are a start, but there are many more opportunities for cost saving and value creation within your intranet and digital workplace platform. If you have not already considered these modules, they may help drive even greater ROI:
- Online learning modules for example leveraging Microsoft Viva Learning
- Policy hub with attestation improving staff knowledge and minimising risks
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- Power BI integration sharing important KPIs like sales, safety or customer service.
Want to chat about these or any other ideas? Call us on 1800 022 990 or message us today.
[1] 18 Jaw-Dropping Onboarding Stats You Need to Know, Clickboarding, March 24, 2021
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