As with any critical business system, an intranet or portal must be delivering measurable performance and remain accountable to the investment. If the site's value is not being measured, then it risks failing the needs and demands of employees and management.
When asked how executives determine whether an intranet or portal is delivering value, they typically point to reducing costs and improving productivity.
Of course, IT budgets are increasingly tied to company-wide business and strategic initiatives. The cost justification for any expenditure, including IT must have a clear bottom line that answers the question, What’s the payback?
In recent years, business challenges and subsequent solutions/applications have been the driving force behind intranet investments. They will continue to play this role in the future. Executives will make investments in intranets and portals if such investments spur growth, cut the cost of operations, and/or help enhance the customer experience (retaining and building the customer base). The challenging economic climate of the past few years means that more and more organizations will allocate dollars to IT systems and applications that can demonstrate a measured solution and ROI to a business problem or provide enhanced service and growth.

ROI ANALYSIS:

AGGRESSIVE STUDIES:
ROI: > 1000% payback in 8-24 weeks

CONSERVATIVE STUDIES:
ROI: 23% to 88% payback in 1-2 years

Measuring the precise value of an intranet or portal is likely impossible. It is, at best, an imperfect science. However, more and more organizations are measuring the ROI of their intranet investment.

While only a handful of technology companies measured intranet ROI three years ago, there are encouraging signs of change. A recent study finds that 6% of organizations undertake ongoing, specific measurement of the ROI of their intranet. Occasional measurement is undertaken by 26% of the respondent organizations. While extensive ROI measurement has not yet become mandatory at a majority of organizations with intranets, ROI is a priority in 76% of the survey respondents.
Rather than attempt to measure the intranet or portal’s entire value, those companies that are successfully gauging value are measuring specific benefits. This paper lists intranet benefits in 10 key categories including hard costs, increased revenue, etc. with two supporting categories: content management and procurement.

The precision, scope of work and execution required to build and maintain a successful intranet or portal is massive, from
governance to content management, and from technology to business processes. At the heart of a successful intranet is the
strength of the underlying plan. Failure to develop an integrated plan that accounts for an organizations structure, stakeholder, and user requirements will almost certainly ensure failure and, with it, a loss of significant time, money and jobs.
Finally, while appraising the ROI of an intranet or portal is critical for most executives, there exists a great deal of untapped, intangible value that is perhaps even more critical than the measured dollars and cents. When properly deployed, intranets improve
communication and collaboration and improve employee satisfaction, which in turn can improve productivity. All benefits are clearly important to any organization, but not always a measurable ROI.

How important is the ROI of your intranet or portal to your organization?
» Unimportant 6%
» Somewhat unimportant 6%
» Neither important nor unimportant 6%
» Somewhat important 36%
» Very important 40%
» Don't know 5%
» Total 100%

Source: Prescient Digital Media