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Our independent intranets report is here

Independent intranets report. Just launched.

Our independent intranets report is here

The first edition of our independent intranets report is out now and is packed full of reviews to help you explore the intranet market. We’ve spent hundreds of hours researching and writing, and the report will give you the confidence to choose the right product for your business (and save you some money along the way).

What they are and why we’ve written about them

We have defined what an independent intranet is in a separate post but, in summary, it’s an intranet product that doesn’t have a dependency on Microsoft in order to function.

Some independent intranet platforms included in our report defined the entire industry in the 1990s and vendors have been around for a long time. Many have established, enthusiastic customer bases, especially across SMEs that they have worked with for years. This means they have a huge wealth of experience with technology and customers to draw on, which is clear from the strong user experience we’ve seen demo’d. Some vendors also have roots in communications and understand business requirements in a way that SharePoint vendors, coming from an IT perspective, don’t always grasp (especially as their products are so closely entwined with Microsoft).

There are many excellent platforms in the independent intranets space that deserve more consideration from project teams. At present they don’t always get included as part of a shortlist, or even a longlist, as IT departments often either only know about, or automatically make the decision to use, SharePoint. The decision to use it often revolves around perceived ease, which is something we tackle in the introduction to our report, but it is entirely possible to use SharePoint with an independent intranet (the difference is you don’t have to use it).

Overall, independent intranet products have a lot of excellent features, with good user experience, and innovative ways of approaching business challenges. We often include these products as part of our recommendations to clients and would urge you to consider them alongside SharePoint products. Both, or either, of our intranet reports will help you explore the market fully from an entirely vendor-neutral and expert perspective.

Independent intranets report cover.
Indepenent intranets report cover.

The first edition of our independent intranets report is out now and is packed full of reviews to help you explore the intranet market. We’ve spent hundreds of hours researching and writing, and the report will give you the confidence to choose the right product for your business (and save you some money along the way).

What they are and why we’ve written about them

We have defined what an independent intranet is in a separate post but, in summary, it’s an intranet product that doesn’t have a dependency on Microsoft in order to function.

Some independent intranet platforms included in our report defined the entire industry in the 1990s and vendors have been around for a long time. Many have established, enthusiastic customer bases, especially across SMEs that they have worked with for years. This means they have a huge wealth of experience with technology and customers to draw on, which is clear from the strong user experience we’ve seen demo’d. Some vendors also have roots in communications and understand business requirements in a way that SharePoint vendors, coming from an IT perspective, don’t always grasp (especially as their products are so closely entwined with Microsoft).

There are many excellent platforms in the independent intranets space that deserve more consideration from project teams. At present they don’t always get included as part of a shortlist, or even a longlist, as IT departments often either only know about, or automatically make the decision to use, SharePoint. The decision to use it often revolves around perceived ease, which is something we tackle in the introduction to our report, but it is entirely possible to use SharePoint with an independent intranet (the difference is you don’t have to use it).

Overall, independent intranet products have a lot of excellent features, with good user experience, and innovative ways of approaching business challenges. We often include these products as part of our recommendations to clients and would urge you to consider them alongside SharePoint products. Both, or either, of our intranet reports will help you explore the market fully from an entirely vendor-neutral and expert perspective.

How to buy

Pay by card or via PayPal and the 410-page PDF will be yours in a matter of minutes. Don’t miss the special launch price.

$495.00 $395.00 USD special, time-limited, launch price
Approx. £295+VAT / €325 in EU.

How our report helps you make the right choice

The products we review are ones that we consider leading players in the field – either internationally or with a strong regional presence.  Our methodology has evolved from what we’ve learned from our SharePoint intranets in-a-box report, which we’ve published regularly over the last six years, plus our employee apps report that came out in 2020.

Graphic of an independent market stll selling knowledge.

Each vendor demonstrated to us how their product fulfils ten different business scenarios. This is more than a list of features and functions, it is real-life business situations that products should meet head-on. We identified these scenarios after months of research into the products on the market, user needs, and business requirements; each scenario is presented as part of the write-up.

Our reviews are entirely vendor-neutral; nobody pays to be in the report, and we don’t sell any products or accept referral fees. Reviews are based on in-depth live demonstrations against the criteria we set and go through rigorous fact-checking.

We have reviewed 16 products in detail, with seven more products included as a summary listing highlighting key points. In each of the detailed reviews you will find:

  • Around 20 pages of analysis and the essential information you need for an RFP
  • A scoring system and other summarised information that allows you to compare and contrast the products
  • Dozens of screenshots that show off each product’s best features
  • Technical information that shortcuts the fact-finding work normally needed to confirm non-functional requirements.

We believe that our report will give you all the foundation information you need before you consider an independent intranet product. This will save you weeks of research time, as well as provide you with information you simply can’t get from vendors’ websites, giving you the confidence to make the right decisions about these products. If you use it in conjunction with our SharePoint intranets in-a-box report then you will have a complete picture of the intranet marketplace today.

Independent experts

We haven’t written the report alone, we’ve had help from people across the world of internal communications, digital workplaces, and intranets – all of them experts in their fields and excellent voices in our report.

On iPhone? Please rotate your device to landscape to see our six reviewers.

Graphic of an independent market stll selling communities.

We’d really like to hear your thoughts on our report, so please leave a comment below or email us at hello@clearbox.co.uk. Please let us know if you write a blog post about the report, or tag us if you do anything on social media too.

If you’re a vendor and would like to hear more about how to be involved in our reports please get in touch over email – intranets@clearbox.co.uk – and we’ll see what we can do.

Suzie Robinson

I've always worked with intranets, and have practical experience with all aspects of intranet management, including research, implementation, governance, and strategy. My roots are in internal communication and I focus on employee experience and engagement.

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