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Added for You - Intranet Portals - Personalisation and Customisation
The best advice I can give you for writing successful fundraising letters is to act as if your donors are obese. Really obese.Imagine, for example, that they struggle with their weight every single day. Imagine that they hate the way they look. Imagine that they want nothing more than to lose weight and look fabulous.Now imagine that you have the weight-loss program that your donors need to shed those unsightly pounds and return to the weight and energy level they crave.But how are you going to persuade your donors that you have the weight-loss solution they need?With amazing before-and-after pictures.You know the kind I mean. You see them on the covers of the magazines at the supermarket checkout lane. There’s a photo of Tom before his diet and another photo of Tom after his diet. “Before, 357 lbs. After, 168 lbs.” “Tom lost 189 lbs in 12 months! So can you!”I once read through an issue of Weight Watchers magazine that was filled wi
2) Failure of vision and/or lack of confidence in personalisation benefits
Typical problems include (a) a lack of experience of using portals and thus a lack of awareness of the possibilities, (b) a nostalgia for the old-fashioned style of intranet navigation, (c) an unhealthy focus on the intranet simply as a communication channel, rather than as a business tool and – perhaps most interestingly - (d) a perception that personalisation is synonymous with (or otherwise encourages) individuals failing to observe and comply with single, enterprise-wide processes and policy.
Good reasons not to personalise
There are actually several valid objections to personalisation, which you would ignore at your peril. The two most notable are:
3) The
Do you spend so much time working in your business that you never work on your business?The corporate world knows the value of taking time out for a step back, taking time to assess what is going right, what is going wrong and what just plain isn’t going anywhere. As a business owner (or as one who dreams of owning a business), it is critical to take time out to plan for the upcoming time period, be it a year, or even a long-term goal. Otherwise, how can you get where you want to be if you don’t know where that is?I usually plan my retreat in late summer – it’s late enough in the current year to have a good idea of how the year is progressing and yet still have enough time to make changes if necessary. I take a few critical tools and go somewhere alone for a few days where I can sit and reflect on my business as a business, it’s successes and opportunities. It is critical to build a roadmap of where you want to go...here are some of the steps I ta
What typifies a modern intranet portal is that there is a standardised user interface (“UI”) with a built in system for user authentication. In other words, the user signs in to the portal rather than simply accessing it. This brings us to the key difference; an intranet portal knows who you are, whilst with an old-fashioned intranet, the user is anonymous.
If the user authentication is properly linked to your employee data, then the portal will know things like (a) what grade the person is, (b) which department they work in, (c) what location they work at and (d) what job they do.
If the portal authentication is also liked to a metadirectory (along with the authentication for all the other systems the user needs to use in their job) then the portal will additionally know (e) which applications the user needs to do their job and (f) the rights the user has (from their security profile) to access different application functionality.
Finally, if an infocube-based web statistics package has been installed, the portal will know (a) which areas of the portal are accessed by the user and (b) the frequency and depth of that access.
The opportunity to personalise the portal experience
Clearly, given the knowledge above, it is possible to personalise the UI for each individual user. For example, if the user works in the sales function, then the homepage that greets them upon logon could be the Sales team homepage. If they work in Leeds, the facilities link on their homepage could be to maps, traffic, fire orders, etc. about the Leeds office (rather than anywhere else). If their specific job is as a field sales manager, then field sales performance graphs and management dashboard could be displayed on the homepage.
If the user is of a grade that places them on the company insider dealing list, then additional (price sensitive) real-time data might be displayed on the screen (which other users would not see). If statistics tell us that they are not reading important communications, then messages could be served to them that draw their attention to what they are missing. Finally, if they use functionality from three different (legacy) systems to do their job, then these could be brought together and surfaced via a portlet application on the portal page.
The prize is clearly a smoother and more integrated user experience, with key information “pushed” at the user in a way they can’t ignore and always no more than a single click away.
The depressing truth about personalisation today
Many portal vendors have undertaken research with their existing customer base to explore (a) how many customers have made extensive use of personalisation and (b) how many surface key business applications via their portal. The results do not make encouraging reading (with less than 20% achieving much beyond what Plumtree call "the empty portal").
This prompts an obvious question. If the benefits to the user of personalisation are so obvious, why have companies not taken advantage of them? In fact, based on my experience, there are multiple reasons not to personalise, which I group into “bad” and “good” reasons.
Bad reasons not to personalise
There are a number of typical failings that tend to stem from a lack of courage, poor understanding or personal prejudice:
1) Failure to link through to employee data and/or a metadirectory
This can be due to a number of factors, including (a) the costs of software seen as too expensive, (b) a perception that implementation will be too difficult or prone to failure, (c) a lack of confidence in the quality of employee data and (d) realising too late that this work is important and having failed therefore to include in project scope or business case costs
2) Failure of vision and/or lack of confidence in personalisation benefits
Typical problems include (a) a lack of experience of using portals and thus a lack of awareness of the possibilities, (b) a nostalgia for the old-fashioned style of intranet navigation, (c) an unhealthy focus on the intranet simply as a communication channel, rather than as a business tool and – perhaps most interestingly - (d) a perception that personalisation is synonymous with (or otherwise encourages) individuals failing to observe and comply with single, enterprise-wide processes and policy.
Good reasons not to personalise
There are actually several valid objections to personalisation, which you would ignore at your peril. The two most notable are:
3) The
When you must take on employees for your business, you will have to go through the hiring process. After preliminary interviews, you should be able to narrow the field to three or four top candidates. And that is the time to do a little detective work to insure you have the right (and honest) employees coming in.It's estimated that up to one-third of job applicants lie about their experience and educational achievements on their resumes or job applications. No matter how sterling the person seems in the interview process, a few phone calls upfront to check out their claims could save you a lot of hassle - and even legal battles - later on. Today, courts are increasingly holding employers liable for crimes employees commit on the job, such as drunk driving, when it is determined that the employer could have been expected to know about prior convictions for similar offenses.Unfortunately, getting that information has become harder and harder to do. Fearful of rep
Finally, if an infocube-based web statistics package has been installed, the portal will know (a) which areas of the portal are accessed by the user and (b) the frequency and depth of that access.
The opportunity to personalise the portal experience
Clearly, given the knowledge above, it is possible to personalise the UI for each individual user. For example, if the user works in the sales function, then the homepage that greets them upon logon could be the Sales team homepage. If they work in Leeds, the facilities link on their homepage could be to maps, traffic, fire orders, etc. about the Leeds office (rather than anywhere else). If their specific job is as a field sales manager, then field sales performance graphs and management dashboard could be displayed on the homepage.
If the user is of a grade that places them on the company insider dealing list, then additional (price sensitive) real-time data might be displayed on the screen (which other users would not see). If statistics tell us that they are not reading important communications, then messages could be served to them that draw their attention to what they are missing. Finally, if they use functionality from three different (legacy) systems to do their job, then these could be brought together and surfaced via a portlet application on the portal page.
The prize is clearly a smoother and more integrated user experience, with key information “pushed” at the user in a way they can’t ignore and always no more than a single click away.
The depressing truth about personalisation today
Many portal vendors have undertaken research with their existing customer base to explore (a) how many customers have made extensive use of personalisation and (b) how many surface key business applications via their portal. The results do not make encouraging reading (with less than 20% achieving much beyond what Plumtree call "the empty portal").
This prompts an obvious question. If the benefits to the user of personalisation are so obvious, why have companies not taken advantage of them? In fact, based on my experience, there are multiple reasons not to personalise, which I group into “bad” and “good” reasons.
Bad reasons not to personalise
There are a number of typical failings that tend to stem from a lack of courage, poor understanding or personal prejudice:
1) Failure to link through to employee data and/or a metadirectory
This can be due to a number of factors, including (a) the costs of software seen as too expensive, (b) a perception that implementation will be too difficult or prone to failure, (c) a lack of confidence in the quality of employee data and (d) realising too late that this work is important and having failed therefore to include in project scope or business case costs
2) Failure of vision and/or lack of confidence in personalisation benefits
Typical problems include (a) a lack of experience of using portals and thus a lack of awareness of the possibilities, (b) a nostalgia for the old-fashioned style of intranet navigation, (c) an unhealthy focus on the intranet simply as a communication channel, rather than as a business tool and – perhaps most interestingly - (d) a perception that personalisation is synonymous with (or otherwise encourages) individuals failing to observe and comply with single, enterprise-wide processes and policy.
Good reasons not to personalise
There are actually several valid objections to personalisation, which you would ignore at your peril. The two most notable are:
3) The
It’s the same old story. You don’t spend as much time together as you used to. You’re trying to get that “loving feeling” back, but, as usual, you’ve got too much on your plate. There are leads to follow, faxes to send and business trips to plan. It doesn’t leave room for much else.Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be that way. You can fall in love all over again – with your business. And doing that means that you’ll be able to spend more time at what you’re really good at – which means you’ll also be making more money! And isn’t that the whole point? But in order to do that, you’re going to need to free up some time.Here are a few tricks:· Put systems in place to save you time. Even looking for passwords or addresses can eat up valuable hours. A system can be as simple as getting into the habit of always sending new customers a thank you note. To be certain the system will work, make sure you get in the habit of inputting new customers in your marketing d
The prize is clearly a smoother and more integrated user experience, with key information “pushed” at the user in a way they can’t ignore and always no more than a single click away.
The depressing truth about personalisation today
Many portal vendors have undertaken research with their existing customer base to explore (a) how many customers have made extensive use of personalisation and (b) how many surface key business applications via their portal. The results do not make encouraging reading (with less than 20% achieving much beyond what Plumtree call "the empty portal").
This prompts an obvious question. If the benefits to the user of personalisation are so obvious, why have companies not taken advantage of them? In fact, based on my experience, there are multiple reasons not to personalise, which I group into “bad” and “good” reasons.
Bad reasons not to personalise
There are a number of typical failings that tend to stem from a lack of courage, poor understanding or personal prejudice:
1) Failure to link through to employee data and/or a metadirectory
This can be due to a number of factors, including (a) the costs of software seen as too expensive, (b) a perception that implementation will be too difficult or prone to failure, (c) a lack of confidence in the quality of employee data and (d) realising too late that this work is important and having failed therefore to include in project scope or business case costs
2) Failure of vision and/or lack of confidence in personalisation benefits
Typical problems include (a) a lack of experience of using portals and thus a lack of awareness of the possibilities, (b) a nostalgia for the old-fashioned style of intranet navigation, (c) an unhealthy focus on the intranet simply as a communication channel, rather than as a business tool and – perhaps most interestingly - (d) a perception that personalisation is synonymous with (or otherwise encourages) individuals failing to observe and comply with single, enterprise-wide processes and policy.
Good reasons not to personalise
There are actually several valid objections to personalisation, which you would ignore at your peril. The two most notable are:
3) The
Writing a Business Plan for your next entrepreneurial endeavor is crucial. You will need sufficient capital and a guide to keep you on track. One important part of any business plan is to size up the Industry and attempt to figure out your pecking order and specialty niches for your best chances of profitability. Having written more business plans than I care to admit and having read hundreds of others, it always amazed me how easy it was to attempt to “wing it” when it came to the Industry Analysis section. You know read a trade journal and look at a graph put it into Microsoft Excel and shove it into the business plan. If you have done this or are tempted to, you are not alone. But let me warn you that the Industry Analysis section is crucial. As a serial entrepreneur I have had some great successes and victories in the market place and of course as Babe Ruth will tell you, some strike outs also. You must know the truth and understand the trends of your Industry to properl
This prompts an obvious question. If the benefits to the user of personalisation are so obvious, why have companies not taken advantage of them? In fact, based on my experience, there are multiple reasons not to personalise, which I group into “bad” and “good” reasons.
Bad reasons not to personalise
There are a number of typical failings that tend to stem from a lack of courage, poor understanding or personal prejudice:
1) Failure to link through to employee data and/or a metadirectory
This can be due to a number of factors, including (a) the costs of software seen as too expensive, (b) a perception that implementation will be too difficult or prone to failure, (c) a lack of confidence in the quality of employee data and (d) realising too late that this work is important and having failed therefore to include in project scope or business case costs
2) Failure of vision and/or lack of confidence in personalisation benefits
Typical problems include (a) a lack of experience of using portals and thus a lack of awareness of the possibilities, (b) a nostalgia for the old-fashioned style of intranet navigation, (c) an unhealthy focus on the intranet simply as a communication channel, rather than as a business tool and – perhaps most interestingly - (d) a perception that personalisation is synonymous with (or otherwise encourages) individuals failing to observe and comply with single, enterprise-wide processes and policy.
Good reasons not to personalise
There are actually several valid objections to personalisation, which you would ignore at your peril. The two most notable are:
3) The
According to the experts who conduct sales coaching and sales training courses, most of the sales objections take place when a sales rep has failed to show to the client the usefulness of the product. Overcoming these objections is a very important lesson for a sales rep. It is important to remember that the customer may not always give the actual reason for objecting to the sale. Sometimes it is actually the customer wants to know more about the product and so puts forward objections to know more about it. Even the customer may not realize this, but a good rep can make it out.Sales coaching and sales training courses can show the different strategies of dealing with the objections. Here are some strategies to do that.1. Establish trust. This of course has to be mutual. If you have established trust then the client is also going to have confidence in you. Make the client understand that you are the expert as far as the product is concerned. In the process if yo
2) Failure of vision and/or lack of confidence in personalisation benefits
Typical problems include (a) a lack of experience of using portals and thus a lack of awareness of the possibilities, (b) a nostalgia for the old-fashioned style of intranet navigation, (c) an unhealthy focus on the intranet simply as a communication channel, rather than as a business tool and – perhaps most interestingly - (d) a perception that personalisation is synonymous with (or otherwise encourages) individuals failing to observe and comply with single, enterprise-wide processes and policy.
Good reasons not to personalise
There are actually several valid objections to personalisation, which you would ignore at your peril. The two most notable are:
3) The whole is more than the sum of the parts
Many portal projects are built on the concepts of (a) increased knowledge sharing between teams, (b) better awareness of the “big picture” of what is happening in the company and (c) a sense of belonging to a single, enterprise-wide community. By personalising teams and individuals into “ghettos” where they only see information and applications directly relevant to them, the opportunity is lost to have them explore the intranet presence of other colleagues.
4) Log-in as a barrier to user adoption
A (valid) concern that requiring people to log-in each time they access the portal will act as a deterrent to them doing so, thereby reducing the portal benefits through a reduction in intranet usage. This has lead to some customers disabling the log-in feature! Of course, such problems can be overcome through the implementation of a single sign-on application, where rights to access the portal (without a separate log-on procedure) are granted when the user logs onto the network. However, companies often fail to plan or budget for such changes.
So is personalisation the right thing to do? If so, how can I make it happen?
On balance, of course, the benefits of personalisation, for most organisations, far outweigh the risks and costs. After all, why buy a Ferrari, then only use it to do the school run? If you were never going to use the portal for these advanced functions, why did you buy one? It would have been much cheaper to invest in your traditional intranet!
If you are looking to make it happen, however, you must recognise the organisational, financial and technical challenges inherent in the work. Firstly, you should ensure that your business case contains the full costs of integrating the portal with employee data and metadirectory capabilities. Ideally, you should also extend this to a single-sign-on solution if you can afford it. Secondly, you should showcase to sponsors what personalisation looks like, so that they can improve their understanding of the opportunity. Finally, you should not underestimate the technical grunt work involved in cleaning up your employee data and systems rights.
Do not neglect customisation
I define customisation as the ability for users to customise their own portal settings and appearance (as distinct from how I am defining personalisation, where the portal provisions information and applications authomatically, based on the user’s profile). By letting users “do it themselves” you allow for the possibility that they may wish to share knowledge and collaborate with people outside their immediate role. You can also learn (by observing their behaviour in customisation) where you could improve upon your personalisation.
Some final thoughts
Personlisation should be a key element of your early visioning work with sponsors and drive costs and benefits in your business case. If you find at that stage that the return on investment (ROI) is not there, then you should perhaps question whether a portal investment is really for you! A mini is adequate, after all, for the school run!
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