What Is Intranet-as-a-service And Its Benefits
It is the age of “SaaS” or Software-as-a-Service! Owing to the flexibility and simplicity of getting a software solution up and running at an extremely low financial risk, organizations worldwide are catering to their technological and IT infrastructure needs via the SaaS model.SaaS has become a common delivery model for major enterprise applications including CRMs, ERPs, Business Intelligence systems, HR management and so on.
And the next big trend in this area is the rise of Intranet-as-a-Service.
But what is Intranet-as-a-Service?
Simply put, it is a cloud-based intranet offering, which involves paying a monthly subscription fee for the service (your company’s Intranet) instead of investing upfront in the resources and manpower required to build an Intranet solution from the ground up. The service vendors are well equipped with the hardware, software, and other resources needed to develop and deploy an Intranet for your organization.
Intranet as a service comes with its own set of advantages, and this article walks you through the reasons why this model is gaining popularity amongst businesses of all sizes.
5 Benefits Of Intranet As A Service
1. Eliminates the need for a large upfront investment
Implementing an Intranet as a service solution does not require costly capital expenditures. Instead, you need to pay monthly for the service from your operating budget, depending on the number of users in your company.
A subscription model frees up capital for spending on your core business functions. Intranet as a service is a great option, particularly for companies, which do not have a lot of extra capital at their disposal.
2. Reduces maintenance costs
Maintaining an in-house intranet is cumbersome and requires a lot of money, effort, and resources. It also is an additional responsibility for your IT team.
What if the maintenance part is taken off their plate? When you implement an intranet as a service, your vendor handles maintenance, periodic backups and upgrades. You are always up-to-date with the latest version without much additional efforts, which isn’t possible in the case of a traditional intranet delivery model.
3. Offers a predictable cost structure
The cost you incur on an Intranet as a service solution is predictable in the form of a monthly subscription fee that varies directly with the number of users your organization has.
Even if you scale up or reduce your workforce, you will always be able to forecast the monthly expenses of subscribing to the Intranet service.
4. Brings flexibility
SaaS is a scalable model that renders flexibility to your organization’s Intranet. Organizations, particularly startups and growing enterprises, undergo frequent structural changes in the form of recruiting or letting go of employees or adding new locations.
Since Intranet as a service is a cloud-based solution, it infuses agility and allows enterprises to modify their Intranet subscription plan based on the evolving needs. Moreover, you can access your Intranet on any device, be it a laptop, mobile, or tablet, with an equally responsive user interface.
Such flexibility enables companies to withstand competition and face unpredictable changes in the business landscape.
5. Security comes first!
Don’t let the fear of a potential data breach stop you from implementing an Intranet as a service solution. Most cloud-based Intranets, especially those built over SharePoint, deploy a robust security system that is hard to break into.
Intranet As A Service Is The Future Of Corporate Intranets
A study has shown, “the global intranet as a service market was valued at USD 10.1 billion in 2018 and is expected to register a CAGR of 14.2% during the forecast period to reach USD 25.5 billion by 2024.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light the pressing need for organizations to go digital and adopt cloud-based tools to enhance communication, collaboration, and employee engagement. Additionally, it has emphasized yet again that only resilient organizations can survive and thrive in a storm.
Resilience demands agility; and what is better than a cloud-based Intranet solution that not only unifies company-wide knowledge, applications, and tools for easy collaboration but is flexible enough to transform with changing organizational needs. Couple it with the cost advantages, the future of Intranet as a service is bright.
And while you are exploring this upcoming trend, make sure to look at Acuvate’s Mesh 3.0, our AI-enabled SharePoint Intranet that is also offered as a subscription service hosted on your cloud tenant, to ensure you have full control on your data.
Mesh is the world’s first autonomous intranet solution, built with the best of Microsoft technologies, including Azure, LUIS, Graph, and MS Natural Language Stack, and used by several large and medium companies across the globe.
Some of the popular features of Mesh include:
- Cognitive enterprise search
- Content personalizers and recommendations powered by AI
- Intelligent idea management
- Content management system
- Integrations with LoB and legacy systems
- Knowledge mining with Azure
- Intranet chatbot
