The definition of insanity, according to Steven Covey, is to keep doing the same things and expect different results.

When it comes to web strategy—for both internal and external web presences—some people behave as if Covey’s definition doesn’t apply. Cool new technology keeps coming along that, by its nature, enables us to do things differently, guaranteeing that we will see different results.

The latest wave of this game-changing, new-results-generating technology is social media, or intranet 2.0 when utilized within an organization. The promise is substantial, especially when costs are factored in.

According to the results of Prescient’s Intranet 2.0 Global Survey (561 organizations of all sizes from across the planet), for example, 46% of those with 2.0 tools have spent nothing or very little on the solution.

So are these inexpensive, powerful tools delivering satisfactory results? Not yet:
• Satisfaction rates with executives is dangerously poor: 38% of executives rate the 2.0 tools as poor or very poor; a lowly 23% rate them as good or very good.
• Employee satisfaction is almost as poor: 35% of organizations say employee satisfaction with the 2.0 tools is poor or very poor; only 27% rate the tools as good or very good.


These results do not reveal intrinsic flows in Intranet 2.0 technology, but rather suggest that some people are forgetting George Santayana’s observation that those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

In the case of intranets, for example, it wasn’t that long ago when organizations saw an opportunity to deploy the same cool web technology that had revolutionized external communications to enhance internal effectiveness by building an intranet.

While some organizations enjoyed strong results from their intranets, many others discovered that easy-to-use technology created site proliferation which resulted in the number one complaint of intranet users: I can’t find what I’m looking for.

The lesson from successful intranets is the importance of measuring success and linking the site to an organization’s unique business objectives, rather than simply building and launching without a plan.

One company that has developed a strong set of metrics to prove intranet success is Sodexo. Their intranet dashboard, which is visible to all intranet visitors, presents such data as: the percentage of employees that view the intranet as a valuable resource that helps them do their job; and the percentage that thinks their division makes good use of the intranet to communicate with the field.

While this data is important for proving the need for an intranet, according to Angelo Ioffreda, who was Vice President, Internal Communications, Sodexo, for a team that wants to gain the perception that the intranet will address a company’s unique challenges the best advice is: “look at your business.”

In Sodexo’s case, that meant adding value to a dispersed workforce by contributing productivity, effective and efficient communications (including reducing print) and enabling people to find one another.

The lesson for intranet 2.0 is clear: those organizations that develop a strategy founded on clear business value and a measurable plan for execution will achieve breakthrough success with the technology.

Those who ignore their history lesson and repeat their mistakes will start to experience Covey’s symptoms of insanity