Make a watertight business case for your SharePoint intranet with this checklist
- John Scott
Most intranet and digital workplace teams have to make a business case for investing in intranet and related software from time to time. Sometimes this investment is a shoo-in – there is a consensus and the budget gets released. But at other times teams need to make a careful business case to secure any necessary funds.
What should you include in your business case for a SharePoint intranet? Some organisations have set templates and formats for business cases which will partly what to include. The focus for a business case will also depend on the main business reasons you need an intranet. Although no two business cases will be the same, many will have a lot in common.
Over the years we’ve seen a lot of intranet business cases. In this post we’ve collected our thoughts to produce a checklist for elements you should potentially include to make a watertight business case. Of course, no business case is ever guaranteed, but if you include many of these elements, we think you’ll have a good chance of securing the budget you need.
About the intranet business case checklist
We’ve divided this checklist into three sections:
Let’s explore each of these three areas.
1. What to include in the business case
Every business case is different but there are several elements which are commonly included. Does your business case include the following?
- Mission and vision
Ideally, any new intranet should be accompanied by a strategy that articulates where you want to get to and the benefits this will bring. The business case should include details about the desired future state, all encapsulated by a compelling mission statement or vision. - Problem statement and pain points
Intranets deliver solutions that remedy common problems and eliminate employee pain points. A robust business case will Include details of any issues that the intranet will solve such as poor communications, inefficient processes, or risk concerns. - User research and discovery output
You’ll need evidence to back any argument for investment, particularly around pain points and issues. Carrying out user research and discovery is important both for an intranet strategy and the related business case. Include both quantitative and qualitative data to have the maximum impact. Numbers are important, but stories and feedback that resonate will win over both hearts and minds. - Alignment with organisational strategy
Intranets are a strategic investment that has an impact on the organisational level. Ensure you articulate the contribution of the intranet to specific strategic objectives such as building a one company culture or driving digital transformation. Mirroring the language or these wider company objectives and being explicit about how the intranet helps is the way to go. - Alignment with specific sub-strategies
An intranet may also align with specific sub-strategies owned by key business stakeholders such as HR, IT, Comms, KM, or customer support. Articulating this alignment can also help drive stakeholder buy-in and consensus, especially if different functions can see the “what’s-in-it-for-me.” - Bigger picture trends
Focusing on the bigger picture and wider current and future trends such as demographic shifts, changes in employee attitudes, new working patterns and new uses of technology can provide important context for the argument you present. - Benefits
Obviously, the lion’s share of the business case will focus on the expected benefits and positive impact of a new SharePoint intranet. Here, use both narrative and numbers to get the message across. Intranets deliver value across multiple areas so you may be covering several benefits – view the list of “areas of value to focus on” below as a starting point. - Risks of not acting
What is the impact of not getting a new intranet? Sometimes this can be the strongest reason for getting a new intranet, particularly if there are data or security issues. - Key options (if relevant)
In your business case you may be presenting several different options and making the case for a particular choice. - Related costs
All business cases will need to detail either specific or estimated costs. For intranet software this should focus on the total cost of ownership, for example taking into account not just the licensing and implementation costs, but any custom development, admin or management resources, additional consulting etc. Ideally costs should also be calculated for the short-, medium- and long-term – say one, three and five years. - Intranet examples and case studies
Adding examples of successful intranets and details of case studies can help provide a more tangible picture of value and what success looks like. Including case studies from well-known companies, industry peers, and key competitors can help. - Implementation details and roadmap
Stakeholders want to know that the implementation path for the intranet is realistic and won’t be a heavy burden for them. Including a high-level plan of the proposed implementation and roadmap will help support your business case. - KPIs and measurement details (if applicable)
Adding details about how success will be measured can also help bring confidence and credibility to a business case.
2. Areas of intranet value to focus on
Intranets have a variety of different benefits which can be worth including in your business case.
- Reduced costs
Intranets can reduce costs – usually by eliminating licensing costs of any software it is replacing or making redundant. Process improvements produced by the intranet can also sometimes also trigger cost savings. When detailing any cost reductions, we find it is better to focus on tangible costs rather than say assign a monetary value to time saved, which is not always credible. - Time saved / productivity
Intranets can help save time and boost productivity in a number of different ways including helping people find what they need, improving processes through workflow, integrating other tools and platforms, eliminating wastage and more. - Employee engagement and culture
Intranets play a major role in supporting employee engagement and nurturing a positive company culture. This is done in several different ways including through internal comms, using social tools, facilitating dialogue, helping recognition, and more. - Process improvement
An intranet can play a prominent role in improving various processes – for example through embedding workflows into the intranet, facilitating requests and approvals, or providing a place to distribute data. Processes can range from employee onboarding to requesting equipment to providing access to brand assets. - Employee self-service
Intranets support employee self-service, particularly in areas of HR and IT, helping to take the pressure off busy helpdesk and support teams. Intranets achieve this by providing self-serve resources and information that means employees don’t need to contact a helpdesk. Intranets can also encourage and enable users to log tickets and submit queries rather than picking up the phone. - Standardisation
An intranet can help bring standardisation to processes and approaches throughout an organisation. This is done both by distributing information about how to complete a task or detailing process steps, or also helping to manage the task itself, for example managing the workflow around different requests. - Risk management and compliance
An intranet can play a key role in areas of risk management and compliance, for example being a place to find policies or access critical information on important areas such as cybersecurity. - Supporting internal communications
Intranets have played a major role in facilitating internal communications for over two decades and it remains a key area of value. - Supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion
Intranets often play a role in supporting DE&I – for example through communications but also supporting employee resource groups and communities. - Supporting “one source of truth” for information
Intranets can play a role in being the trusted “one source of truth” for information that is up to date and accurate, helping to reduce risk and also drive efficiency. - Content repository to support better AI
Linked to the idea of being “one source of truth,” is the intranet acting as a repository of trusted content to better support AI initiatives and the use of Microsoft Copilot. Authoritative and accurate content leads to better answers and output from the AI. - Improving findability
Intranets should help employees find the information and resources they need quickly and efficiently, in turn supporting productivity. - Unified digital employee experience
For a while now, intranets have provided a “front door” to the wider digital workplace, with access to personalised links to apps, integrations and more. Increasingly some transactions can also be done through the intranet through integrations, for example being able to view annual leave in Workday or submitting a ticket in ServiceNow. Overall, leading intranets are providing a more unified digital employee experience, meaning employees don’t need to visit multiple tools, saving time and reducing context switching. - Knowledge management
For a long time, intranets have helped deliver knowledge management and related solutions, for example helping to facilitate access to experts via profiles, providing content about products and services to support customer service, enabling communities of practice, and more. - Chatbots
Chatbots that help employees complete tasks, find information and use generative AI are often accessed through an intranet.
3. Reasons specifically for a SharePoint intranet
So far, we’ve focused on items to include in a business case that will work for any intranet. But what about elements that specifically cover why SharePoint should be the base technology for your intranet? Here are some areas to focus on.
- Flexible set of features
SharePoint is a flexible, scalable, and feature-rich platform that includes many of the core features that an intranet needs, although there are also some significant gaps which products such as Lightspeed365 address. - Market leader
SharePoint has been the main base technology for intranets for decades and has a strong track record of powering many of the world’s leading intranets. For this reason, many teams decide to use SharePoint to power their intranet. - Build on your investment in Microsoft 365
Many teams have invested in Microsoft 365 so have already paid for the licensing costs for SharePoint, so using it as the base technology for an intranet is often considered an obvious move, and a way to get additional ROI out of Microsoft 365. While it is a mistake to believe that a SharePoint intranet is “free” as there are likely to be additional costs, it is an important element to add into any business case. - Integration with Microsoft stack
Organisations investing in Microsoft 365 are able to use SharePoint to integrate seamlessly with other tools including Teams, Viva Engage, the Power Platform and so on. This means it is possible to deliver a more integrated digital workplace experience through the intranet, all underpinned by single sign-on, and all supporting good adoption across Microsoft 365. Microsoft 365 also comes with a set of out-of-the-box connectors to other enterprise platforms. - Reduced time to value and easier implementation
Many organisations are already using SharePoint for document management, communication, and collaboration. Introducing a SharePoint intranet has a reduced time to value and an easier implementation path due to the product already being in situ, as well as related governance and administration processes already being in place. - Familiar interface for users
A SharePoint intranet will have more familiar interfaces for users and also content owners and publishers. They may have already used and managed SharePoint sites and / or intranets either in their current or in a previous company. Microsoft interfaces will also be familiar to anyone who has used Microsoft 365. This can help support adoption by reducing a key barrier to usage. - Familiar for admins and IT resources
A SharePoint intranet can involve a lesser learning curve for administrators and IT resources already used to managing SharePoint and Microsoft 365. - Fits into existing security, compliance and authentication set up
Most IT functions using Microsoft 365, Azure, Microsoft Entra ID, and other Microsoft technologies will have already set up security, governance, and authentication to tick all the necessary compliance, regulatory and security boxes. A SharePoint intranet fits into this existing system and significantly reduces efforts required to integrate a new system. - SharePoint ecosystem
SharePoint and Microsoft 365 have an extremely mature global ecosystem of products, partners, developers, and more, allowing teams to expand, build upon, configure, and customise a SharePoint intranet. - Products that fill gaps in native SharePoint
One of the advantages of the SharePoint ecosystem is that there are a multitude of intranet products that integrate with it and build on its value, including Lightspeed365 which fills all those essential gaps in native SharePoint with the features that are required to deliver a world-class intranet. - Integration with AI and Copilot / active roadmap
A good SharePoint intranet will include up-to-date, accurate and valuable content that will be Copilot-ready and also stay aligned with Microsoft’s AI and Copilot roadmap.
Making the business case for your SharePoint intranet
There are many points to consider when making the business case, but we’re confident that if you include many of the elements outlined in this article then you’ll be making a strong argument for investment.
If you’d like to discuss making a business case for a SharePoint intranet and accompanying product like Lightspeed365, then get in touch!
Frequently asked questions
What should I include in the business case for an intranet?
There are multiple elements to include in a good business case for an intranet including a mission and vision statement, details of user research, pain points, how the intranet supports organisational strategy, areas of value, details of costs, any potential options, and an implementation roadmap.
How does an intranet deliver value?
An intranet delivers value in many ways including supporting internal communications, improving productivity and efficiency, reducing costs, improving processes, helping employees find information and driving employee engagement. It achieves this through a mix of content, features, and integrations.
Is SharePoint the best base technology for an intranet?
In our view it is. SharePoint is the world’s most popular intranet technology, and it is a highly flexible and scalable solution. It contains many intranet-ready features and integrates with the rest of Microsoft 365. There is also a huge ecosystem of implementation partners as well as products that add value to a SharePoint intranet.
