Corporate intranet, designed like a product.
Most corporate intranets are launched with a memo and abandoned within a year — because they were built as a document store, not designed for the people who open them every morning. We design and build intranets the way we build products: around real tasks, integrated with the systems employees already use, and governed so they stay current.
An intranet is the one interface every employee shares. When it works, it is where people find colleagues, policies, news, tools and answers in seconds. When it does not, the same questions go to email, chat and HR — at a cost nobody measures. For groups with many companies and locations, it is also where a shared culture becomes visible.
Communication from leadership and between teams; news that people read because it is relevant to them; a directory that actually finds the right person; policies, forms and knowledge that are current; access to HR, IT and business tools from one place; onboarding that works on day one. Everything else is secondary.
We start with research: who uses the intranet, for what, on which devices, in which languages. Then we design journeys and screens around those tasks — personalised by role, company, location and language — with the same care as a public website. Search, navigation and mobile use are designed, not assumed.
We build intranets custom on Umbraco or WordPress — with single sign-on, granular permissions and a content model designed for internal publishing — rather than adapting a public-website theme or accepting the limits of a generic portal. Where an organization runs Microsoft 365, we integrate with it rather than duplicate it.
Single sign-on and identity (Azure AD, Okta and others), HR systems for the directory and org chart, document management, ticketing and IT service tools, calendars, analytics — connected through documented services so the intranet reflects the organization automatically.
Editors per company, department and location; workflows and approvals; content that expires and owners who are reminded; several companies or brands from one installation with shared and separate areas. Governance is designed with the content model — see content governance.
We designed and built the group intranet for Norm Holding — a manufacturing group with many companies and locations — alongside its corporate website and brand system. See the case study.
- 01.Research and objectivesEmployee interviews, task analysis and a definition of what the intranet must do.
- 02.Information architectureStructure, search and personalisation by role, company, location and language.
- 03.UX and interface designScreens designed for daily use on desktop and mobile, in your brand.
- 04.EngineeringUmbraco or WordPress built custom, with SSO, permissions and integrations.
- 05.GovernanceEditors, workflows, expiry and ownership designed with the content model.
- 06.Launch and adoptionRollout, training and measurement; improvement with a named team.
Tell us the objective, the markets and languages involved, and your timeframe. A senior member of the team replies personally.