A corporate intranet has long been the backbone of internal corporate computing. But many modern companies are moving away from legacy intranet systems and choosing something a little different.
If you’re looking for the best corporate intranet system for your company, you may be surprised to find that it’s not an intranet at all, but an LMS.
Learning management systems have many of the benefits of corporate intranets but few of the drawbacks.
Let’s take a look at why corporations are switching from corporate intranets to learning management systems.
What is a corporate intranet?
Corporate intranets are internal networks within organizations that serve as a centralized hub for communication, collaboration, and information sharing among employees. They provide a private and secure platform where employees can access company resources, documents, announcements, and other relevant information. Corporate intranets often include features such as employee directories, news updates, team collaboration spaces, document repositories, and internal communication tools. They facilitate efficient internal communication, promote knowledge sharing, and enhance productivity within the organization.
Does your organization need a corporate intranet?
The simple answer is no. Corporate intranets are old and outdated with little to no flexibility when it comes to company training, tracking and metrics, they appeal to only one learning style, and require multiple tools to compete with an LMS.
Besides its simple functionality and lack of flexibility, there are a bunch of other disadvantages to corporate intranets (like SharePoint).
Here are some other reasons why you should consider a modern learning management system instead of a corporate intranet.
10 reasons to swap your corporate intranet for an LMS
An intranet was mostly used for consolidating company information, files, and documents. However, it’s evolved to be a little more than that and now offers some collaboration and social features.
But, compared to a modern LMS, a corporate intranet lacks a lot of the required functionality to be an “all-in-one” solution.
1. An LMS has everything a corporate intranet does and more
The most compelling reason to switch to a learning management system over your intranet is that an LMS has all the same features and more.
Corporate intranets are simply a consolidation and information management tool for employees only. There really isn’t much you can do with it besides hold all your resources and allow for communication within the organization.
A learning management system comes with the ability to house company information, connect with team members, search for assets, and social capabilities. After switching to an LMS, your organization will be able to use the standard intranet features AND train your entire organization or external users.
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Compared to an LMS, corporate intranets are harder to set up and get going right away. For the most part they require a developer to work with Microsoft’s ASP.NET framework. Same goes when the system is updated, most customized features can break due to being modified from the original version.
Time to call the developer again…
3. Requires dedicated training
Intranets are not “plug and play”, they are typically set up with a ton of moving parts that need to be understood before you get their full functionality. Even after implementing your corporate intranet, your organization will have to go through a dedicated training program to learn the systems.
4. Streamline employee onboarding
Company intranets are not built for remote onboarding or automation workflows to speed up the process of bringing new employees into the organization. Most of the time the only onboarding step within a corporate intranet is reading through a giant list of documents.
Your learning system can provide new hires with welcome packs, important videos, assessments, and initial training courses. This frees up valuable time for your human resources department to improve processes and bring in new employees quicker.
5. Cannot create training courses
Employee training and development is a core component of any business’s enterprise learning strategy. A corporate intranet doesn’t come with the ability to create training courses or learning paths, only house documents and wikis about a topic.
Meanwhile, an LMS will allow your organization to create entire training courses within the system to appease a variety of learning styles.
6. Only for internal employees
Most companies need to offer a robust learning environment for both internal employees and external users like customers or partners. Company intranets typically do not offer external user training due it primarily being an intranet (internal internet).
To solve this problem, an extranet was invented. But, by default, modern learning platforms allow for external users to access learning and training resources. Now you don’t need two different portals for both groups.
7. No assessments or quizzes
Being able to “test” your users on what they’ve learned or read through employee assessments is a great way to tell if your learning materials are effective. Corporate intranets do not come with the ability to design assessments or quizzes. Therefore it’s harder to determine what training your employees need to improve their skill set and knowledge.
8. Unable to host webinars or workshops
Webinars or workshops are a more interactive and engaging way to deliver information and training to your organization. A company intranet doesn’t come with the ability to host webinars or workshops. The only learning materials employees will receive are shareable documents and hosted videos.
Allowing for webinars, workshops, interactive slides, and mixed media learning resources is a guaranteed way to boost employee engagement.
9. Requires multiple tools
Since intranets are primarily used to consolidate an organization’s resources for employee use, you’ll need to implement other online business tools to get the same effect as an LMS.
- Need to create learning paths? Buy a separate tool…
- Looking to train your customers? Find another system…
- Want to analyze employee skill sets? Not on an intranet…
These are all crucial features your company needs for proper organizational development.
10. Can't track training progress
An intranet holds company information, maybe even some learning or training resources, but how can you tell if your employees read them and apply what they learn? That’s where training tracking software comes in, Continu comes with it by default.
Your company’s private network doesn’t have the capability to track training progress of employees. So, that fourteen page training manual your product manager wrote up might have just been a waste of time and effort.
Corporate intranet vs learning management system
The differences between a corporate intranet and learning management systems are how each helps the organization. An intranet will simply house all of the organization’s files, documents, company information, and employee profiles. Meanwhile, a learning management system does all that and allows an organization to develop their entire staff, personalize learning, host webinars or workshops, and train external users.
Continu is way more than a corporate intranet
Whether you’re deciding on implementing a corporate intranet or shopping for an LMS, Continu can solve both problems. Our top-rated learning platform comes with everything a corporate intranet does and more, such as:
- All-in-one enterprise training and development solution
- Course creation, learning paths, and authoring tools
- Host webinars, workshops, and online training sessions
- Track training progress and attendance
- Train both employees and external users (customers, partners, vendors)
- Integrations with popular business tools
- Built-in analytics and custom reporting
- Plus, much more!
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