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RSS on an Intranet: Looking to the World Wide Web for Inspiration
RSS, or “Really Simple Syndication,” is just a simple tool used by the world of bloggers that exists on the internet. But how can we benefit a locally-shared intranet from a popular tool on the internet? Simple: RSS is one of the leading tools used to keep readers (in our case, employees) aware of new and updated content.
Why use RSS over Conventional Means?
RSS works with what is called a “feed.” This feed is what internet users (and perhaps your employees) look at to view new content or updates. Let’s throw an example at you: we have a classic portal-styled homepage on our intranet. It has clean navigation, easy to find material, and is cleverly efficient. The problem: how will new users know when there is new content?
Yes, we could implement a news section, but there is a certain problem with this. First, it won’t tell employees when new content is added. Rather, it only serves as an attention grabber for employees who are already browsing the homepage. What if instead of praying the employee in question checks the homepage regularly, we told the employee directly?
Now theoretically we could march down to the marketing department, find the right office, and scream that there is new content everyone needs to read. It would surely turn a few heads, but it might not be the best for our vocal chords. Instead, we implement the RSS to tell every single employee there is something new they may wish to view.
How RSS Works - and Why
RSS will automatically check for updates each time new content is added. This does take some extra work by the intranet development team, but not a whole lot. Once this is done, you may publish new content and get it heard by the entire company instantly. There are several means of doing this, specifically.
You may wish to install an RSS reader on every single web browser in the company’s network. This would enable us to tell employees via the web browser that new content is available - on every single computer. This is nice, but this requires that the employee already be on the intranet, or even that they are accessing the internet. Both of these instances may undermine the whole point of the operation to a certain extent.
More cleverly, we could implement a desktop RSS reader. This will output the updates straight to every single computer’s desktop. There are some paid software companies who put out great software to do just this, but not to worry - it can be had for completely free. Be on the lookout for open source software, and other freeware RSS software - you’ll be amazed at how closely they resemble paid alternatives.
So - is this something that is going to annoy employees? The short answer is no. It isn’t like we are configuring these updates to trigger an army of pop-up advertisements. Sure, some news might be just that important - but we can leave the marketing to the RSS software itself. RSS software can discretely notify of an update, or just offer access to the RSS feed in case an employee is curious about new content. After all, isn’t that less annoying that searching the intranet homepage for news?
Practical Uses and Benefits
Got a fire on the fourth floor? Send out an RSS update. Got an intruder holding hostages in the lobby? Send out an RSS update. Ok, things probably won’t get that serious - but the relative ease of use of an RSS feeder makes efficiency improve exponentially. If an employee isn’t constantly checking the intranet for news, they are (hopefully) doing something productive elsewhere.
One of the interesting paths this technology is leading is the mobile market. If you just happen to have a database of employee cell phone numbers, you might want to take advantage of it with an RSS feed application. It may take some setting up to do initially, but it is a good service for employees to stay updated on an instant timeframe.
We like the idea of instant notifications via cell phones. Something about having your entire company under the influence of constant updates puts efficiency concerns out, and sparks interest in other areas of improvement.
Closing Comments
The intranet world is ever-evolving, and ever-changing. It has grown very close to the world of the internet, and we are only bridging that gap with the RSS tools available to us.
If you haven’t thought about implementing an RSS, it would be a good subject to review in the next business meeting. If you ever needed a real-world example to help prove your point, you can always refer back to the fires and armed intruders we reviewed earlier. After all, it’s the extremists that get the most attention.
If there was ever an easier way to continually update and employee on work related information, we haven’t found it yet. Until then, you’ll find the RSS feeds next to our web browsers, and taking up well-deserved space on our desktops.
