From Column Two:

The intranet market is broken

There are a huge number of intranets within organisations worldwide. By Martin White’s estimate, for example, there are over 300,000 intranets in the UK alone. Yet the intranet marketplace is almost non-existant.

For example, there is only one blog devoted to intranets, less than a dozen serious websites, and no active mailing lists. What is happening here?

Borrowing loosely from economics, what we have is a very inneficient marketplace. There is a need, and suppliers, but no easy mechanism for connecting the two.

I’ve been researching intranet design and solutions lately and it is true: there is not a lot of information out there.

I wish there were a trade or professional association for intranet software and design that could help create standards and foster discussion about best practices, innovation, product directories, etc. (This kind of market inefficiency is a common reason for forming an association.)

I did find an intranet association located in Quebec called API but no other credible organizations. Here is a post from Intranet Focus about API.

API could probably pick up a lot of new members if they started translating their material and programs into English.