When looking for the right intranet solution for your company, the price is a major factor. But, there are a lot of variables when it comes to the cost of designing and implementing a corporate intranet. It is important to understand the factors that play a role in the intranet cost. That way you can sure that you are signing up for a solutionthat is able to cover all your needs but that you don’t pay for unnecessary extras.
Keep reading to discover the different factors that will affect your cost for setting up a corporate intranet solution.
Cloud vs. On-Premise
The decision to go with a cloud-based intranet vs. an on-premises solution is going to dictate many other costs. Cloud systems are hosted and don’t require investing in an infrastructure, which can be a significant expense. On-premises systems need servers, support, space and many other related costs to keep the intranet running.
Customization
Customization is another important factor that will impact the cost of an intranet. If you plan to do everything out of the box and go with a straightforward solution without any customizations, you likely won’t have any extra costs associated with it. However, this may not work for every organization, and there’s a possibility that you will need to custom-tailor your solution to meet your specific needs. The degree to which you customize will significantly affect the upfront cost and maintenance of your intranet.
Migration
Many customers underestimate the costs involved with migration. It’s likely that when setting up an intranet, you’re starting with data in other places that have to be efficiently migrated into a new solution. The cost to migrate includes experts to execute this move, as well as any third-party tools you might need to accomplish the migration.
Communication and Rollout
Once the solution is in launched, there are often additional costs involved in the internal support necessary to get it up and to run. User training and education, as well as communication in a typical rollout, are costs that should be factored in up front. User adoption is essential to your Return On Investment “ROI” so a clear plan and budget is critical for your ultimate success.
Ongoing Support
An on-premises intranet will require additional resources and ongoing support at your location in order to keep the intranet running fluidly. With a cloud solution, this support is less costly — but it still requires an administrator to update settings, add users and take care of other basic services.
Annual Fee
The ongoing licensing cost is an annual fee for intranet services that also adds on to the total. Licensing third-party applications and integration of these to the intranet should also be considered if these are being put into place.
Business Size and Complexity
An organization of 100 people may be spending much less for intranet services than a company with 1,000 employees. However, it’s a good idea to think about this in terms of the cost per user: larger companies might end up getting more for their money, even though the cost is higher.
The Bottom Line
While the overall intranet cost will vary based on many factors, it is important to make sure you have evaluated these key factors when comparing your options. Once you have outlined the full costs, it will be easy to compare the price to the benefit to your organization.
Learn more about how you could benefit from a ready-to-go corporate intranet solution by downloading our free tip sheet, 5 Signs A Ready-To-Go Intranet Is Right For Your Firm.
