With SharePoint Online and add-ons like our very own Lightspeed365, it’s now possible to create a wide range of different intranets – even without custom development. I’m talking about intranets that not only look different, but are adapted to the varying needs of different organisations.

While one business might want to focus on promoting discussion, feedback and collaboration among employees – another might need to place an emphasis on tailored dissemination of processes and compliance.

The approach that suits your organisation will depend on your business priorities and the needs of your employees, but we’ve compiled 10 example SharePoint intranets from 2023 that will hopefully provide you with some inspiration.

1. The all-rounder is finely balanced between communication, task completion, productivity, collaboration and business improvement. This approach is most common among large multinationals with a diverse mix of roles across the business.

  1. The news at the top ensures everyone sees key business information.
  2. My apps helps people quickly locate and launch the apps and services that they need to do their jobs.
  3. The dashboard highlights important tasks that the employee needs to complete.
  4. The middle panel encourages feedback and provides performance data relevant to the organisations’ values.
  5. My news features a personalised set of updates relevant to the individual.
  6. And the Engage panel invites and promotes discussion and collaboration across the organisation.

2. The knowledge base makes the findability of business information top priority. With an emphasis on search and personal content curation. These search and personalisation tools are more typical of an engineering or consulting firm.

  1. The prominence of search says a lot about the main purpose of the intranet. The filter options offer the ability for refining results based on organisation’s own taxonomy.
  2. News is still a part of the experience but is dialled down in significance with no imagery.
  3. Personalisation and curation of the business knowledge is given a large proportion of the homepage real-estate. Each of these panels allowing the employee to store and quickly retrieve information that they need to do their job.

3. The dashboard is a bustling hub of real-time information and to-do lists. The sense of immediacy is palpable, with the countdown clock and milestone tracker keeping employees up-to-speed. There are a number of quick search features too, further emphasising the speed with which you can get to the information you need.

  1. More traditional fare of global news and personalised quick links are still a feature.
  2. But as we go down the page we see personalisation features like the welcome bar.
  3. And various search tools which not only cover colleagues and ‘how do I’ guidance, but also a ‘parts finder’ – something more specific to the needs of this particular organisation.
  4. A milestones dashboard gives a snapshot of where the company sits with current deliveries.
  5. And a task list acts as a mini to-do for each employee, nestled conveniently alongside the other information.

4. The community hub focuses on communication and conversation – both inside and outside of the organisation – with external social feeds alongside the internal enterprise social feed. An approach more typical of a media or marketing business, placing emphasis on bite-size updates and a ‘work out loud’ culture.

  1. A large news carousel at the top gives plenty of room for rich imagery and showcasing the company’s brand and products.
  2. A stock price widget is neatly integrated inside of the news carousel to as not to constrain impact of the look-and-feel.
  3. The events feed is a standard SharePoint feature, but brought to life by the playful iconography and colour selection.
  4. A large proportion of the homepage is then given to a feed of content from the companies external social media feeds – making a point that what the organisation says to those outside is just as relevant to those inside.

5. The media centre evokes modern streaming services like Netflix – presenting a palette of enticing content that it thinks you’ll like. This is based on preferences that you have added to your profile, but also your role in the business – drawn from your Microsoft account.

  1. The main ‘hero’ carousel at the top features the cherry-picked content which is curated by a communications team. This often links through to an article, but can also feature embedded video or audio.
  2. The tiles below are tailored based on your preferences, but will serve up a range of different information types which are presented in different media formats.
  3. Although the homepage starts as compact and concise, the employee can click the see more button multiple times to load additional content without leaving the page.
  4. On the right panel, more functional and community centric updates roll-in via the Noticeboard.

6. The task master places emphasis on productivity – helping employees to get things done and done right.

  1. A welcome bar at the top contains a page tour which loads automatically the first time the employee arrives at the intranet. It explains what information that they can find there, and how to get the most out of the features on offer.
  2. The common tasks panel uses the Viva dashboard to highlight activity that requires the employee’s attention, or allow them to quickly complete tasks like booking a desk or meeting room. These tiles are usually connected to other applications, and can save the employee the need to access them separately.
  3. A comprehensive set of ‘How do I’ guidance is searchable directly from the homepage. But it is also targeted, so employees see the right set of guidance depending on their location and area of the business.

7. The field worker makes it easier for tablet and smartphone users to quickly get to the information they need while ‘on site’ or ‘in the field’. All the while giving them access to the full intranet experience and range of content. Ideal for construction companies where many employees spend time away from a desk, or don’t have one at all.

  1. The icon based app launcher dominates the homepage experience, but avoids being cumbersome by including a contextual quick search feature – similar to that found on smartphones.
  2. The apps and services presented to the employee are targeted based on their role.
  3. Employees can also customise the launcher, just as they would customise the homescreen on their phone or tablet.

8. The newsroom informs employees on a range of topics from across the business, while arming them with useful local info from their global locations.

  1. The header area shares the time and weather across the global hubs for the organisation.
  2. The large news feed has all the latest headlines and events, without hiding anything in a carousel.
  3. Content is tagged with the channel that it is being delivered from, allowing employees to click the tag and see more from that channel.
  4. Tasks and guidance is not forgotten, with a large personalised area at the bottom of the page for getting stuff done.

9. The hyper-focused intranet keenly focuses on a specific area of operations – In this case, project delivery. News, policies and guidance are also available, but only via the navigation – affording a clean and uncluttered space for the prime objective.

  1. The personal notifications feed highlights outstanding tasks and other personally relevant events.
  2. The minimal status dashboard is easy to understand at a daily glance.
  3. The recent documents feed allows the employee to pick-up where they left off.

10. The noticeboard is another example of an intranet that dedicates its homepage to one particular facet. In this case it’s communication – although that is peer-to-peer rather than just top down – with multiple channels being open to any employee for publishing.

  1. Other traditional features and areas of content are covered in the navigation that remains at the top of every page.
  2. The carousel is a reserved area for the communications teams to share their updates.
  3. The feed below is social-media esque and meritocratic, with content that has a higher engagement score more likely to be seen near the top.
That wraps up our 10 SharePoint intranet examples – I hope you found some inspiration somewhere among our showcase. If you’d like help with your intranet then don’t hesitate to get in touch.