Intranets for SMBs: Picking the right one for your company

Keeping everyone in your small to medium business (SMB) up-to-date is no easy task. Once you have 50, 100, 300, or even more employees, what’s the best way to make sure everyone is on the same page with everything happening inside the company? Many people reach for email to share updates and ask questions, but email is pretty lousy at that job. An intranet platform is a smarter choice. But there are many to choose from—which one will work best for you? Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of some of your options.

GroupNews

GroupNews is the Incredibly Simple Intranet. It is purpose built to be an SMB’s single source of truth for everything happening in your organization. Designed to be easy to use, powerful, and cost effective, GroupNews is an excellent intranet platform for your company.

Pros

• Updates, events, and deadlines are all pulled together into one familiar news feed that everyone has access to.

• Know when events and deadlines are happening with a unified global calendar.

• Discussions on every post add clarity while reducing the need for dreadful email chains.

• Get acknowledgement from everyone on any post to ensure visibility.

• No generative AI slop—the content you post is created by you and your team, not a hallucinating robot.

• Weekly digests give everyone in your Group a clear and concise overview of everything happening that week.

• Transparent and affordable pricing.

Cons

• May lack features that larger enterprise customers expect.

SharePoint

Microsoft SharePoint is widely used, as it is the default choice for companies that are invested in the Microsoft 365 suite of products. However, configuring SharePoint for the needs of your SMB can come with a steep learning curve and require specialized staff.

Pros

• Deeply integrated with other Microsoft 365 tools like Teams, OneDrive, and the Microsoft Office suite.

• Highly customizable.

• Robust document management.

Cons

• Can be complex to set up and manage.

• May require specialized IT staff dedicated to administering it in order to take full advantage of all of its features.

• Can get expensive for SMBs, especially if you need dedicated staff.

Axero

Axero is a feature-rich intranet platform with a focus on employee engagement. It offers a wide variety of tools which are aimed at increasing employee productivity and collaboration.

Pros

• Highly customizable, so you can tune the platform to your needs.

• Rich feature set including social networking tools, a knowledge base document repository, and gamification features.

• Strong analytics and reporting capabilities.

Cons

• Having so many features to choose from can be overwhelming to SMBs who would prefer a simpler, more focused platform for sharing company happenings in one place.

• Opaque pricing requires meeting with the Axero sales team to figure out what it will cost for your company.

LumApps

LumApps is a powerful enterprise class intranet platform which aims to connect and empower employees. It is particularly attractive to companies which are already utilizing the Google Workspace suite, with which it integrates closely.

Pros

• Integrates tightly with both Google Workspace tools and the Microsoft 365 suite.

• Targeted profile-based communications, delivered in context via each employee’s preferred channels.

• Extremely flexible configuration allows you to tailor the platform to your needs.

Cons

• Feature set is tailored for Enterprise clients, which may be overkill for SMB clients.

• Its high degree of flexibility means it can be challenging to really dial it in for your organization’s needs.

• Opaque pricing means having to negotiate with LumApps to figure out what it will cost for your company.

Simpplr

Simpplr leans heavily into its AI capabilities in order to deliver what it calls amazing employee experiences. It aims to unify employee engagement, enablement, and services, leveraging AI models to deliver a cohesive, personalized employee experience.

Pros

• Straightforward for employees to use without training.

• Strong analytics reporting.

• Numerous integrations with other apps available.

cons

• Geared towards Enterprise clients with dedicated internal communications staff.

• Opaque pricing requires meeting with the Simpplr sales team to figure out what it will cost for your company.

Haystack

Haystack is a “modern intranet that employees love”. It combines the ability to publish updates and events with robust employee directory features.

Pros

• Lots of flexibility in how you configure the platform.

• Modern and clean design makes it approachable for end users.

• Integrates with other popular tools like Google Drive and Slack.

Cons

• Feature set may be more than more than some SMBs need.

• Opaque pricing requires meeting with the Haystack sales team to figure out what it will cost for your company.

Jostle

Jostle bills itself as an “employee success platform,” where everyone connects, communicates, and celebrates at work. It allows companies to publish relevant and targeted content, as well as connect with your colleagues.

Pros

• Simple for employees to use and easy to navigate.

• Employee engagement features are well liked by end users.

• Transparent pricing that scales with your organization size.

Cons

• Limited customization options

• Search functionality can be frustrating for some users.

Keep your Group in the loop with GroupNews

There are many intranet platforms available for you to choose from for your business, and the list above is far from exhaustive. As you can see though, most of them are tailored for the requirements of enterprise sized organizations, and that might not be what you’re looking for.

If your business is smaller to mid-sized, you might not require all of the integrations and features that some of the larger intranet platforms offer. And you might not want the enterprise-targeted pricing that comes along with them. Perhaps all you need is a central repository for internal knowledge and updates, as well as a forum in which everyone in your company can discuss them.

In that case, GroupNews may be just the platform you’re looking for. If so, give GroupNews a spin with a no-obligation 7-day free trial today.

Cover photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash.