What is the Intranet Platform Evaluation service?

It’s a structured, vendor-neutral approach to evaluating intranet platforms. We help define requirements, assess platform fit, and support objective decision-making.

Which platforms do you evaluate?

We evaluate SharePoint, SharePoint-based solutions, and a wide range of SaaS intranet platforms including Unily, Interact, Staffbase, and others.

How are requirements gathered?

We work with stakeholders to define around 40 requirements, using MSCW prioritisation, and evaluate each platform using a Red/Amber/Green scoring model.

Is SharePoint usually a good fit?

Not often. For large or complex organisations, SharePoint often ranks poorly due to limitations in governance, branding, and personalisation.

Do you provide cost comparisons?

Yes. We collect indicative pricing data to help you understand both upfront and ongoing costs, including implementation and licensing.

What is the outcome of the evaluation?

A documented comparison of shortlisted platforms, clearly aligned with your requirements and priorities — along with support in making a final decision.

Intranet Product Evaluation

Choose the intranet software product that’s right for you: When it comes to selecting the right intranet product, you need to look before you leap. If you choose unwisely it could prove a costly mistake – from increased costs and delays to your project launch, to not having the functionality you need to keep stakeholders happy.

We've got a product evaluation framework that helps us objectively gather your organisation's intranet requirements and then prioritise them. Then we find the intranet software products that we think will work for you and winnow them down to a shortlist, complete with likely costs from vendors so you can directly compare functionality and compare costs.

We’re independent, objective and vendor neutral.

Getting the right tool for the job

The intranet product marketplace is a confusing place. All the different tools have different functionality, sweet-spots and price-points. Some work with your technology and some don't. How do you gather all the requirements from your different stakeholders and give the process some structure without spending months fending off sales people wanting to give you endless demos? And if you get it wrong? You're going to be stuck with it for a long time.

This is what we do

Document your requirements, choose the right product: Drawing from our experiences of multiple intranet products and our links throughout the industry, we've come up with a way to independently and objectively document your requirements and match it with technology that is available in the market, saving you time while guiding you towards a sustainable and valuable new intranet. It's proven and ready to go. On behalf of clients we have recently conducted deep dives on platforms such as: SharePoint Online, AppSpace Intranet; Atlas; Oak Engage; Interact; Involv; LumApps; Omnia Intranet; Powell Intranet and many more.

How it works

Our intranet product evaluation matrix starts typically with around 40 functional and non-functional requirements. Based on discovery research with you, we adapt these requirements to ensure that you've got a documented requirement for how you want your new intranet to work. Then we:

Prioritise those base requirements with you using a MSCW rating (Must have, Should have, Could have, Won't have).
Select a longlist of suitable products from the marketplace. This may include existing products available to you (such as SharePoint Online or web CMS products).
Conduct a preliminary analysis based on high-priority requirements to cut the longlist to a shortlist of three.
Engage with the shortlisted vendors to thoroughly understand their products and to get likely costs and implementation methods.
Document each requirement for each product and assign a support rating, providing you with a detailed presentation and the completed evaluation matrix.

Diagram showing Spark’s product evaluation consulting process across three stages:
1. Initiation – Includes discovery work with the project team, documenting approximately 40 base requirements, and an MSCW prioritisation workshop.
2. Longlist – Spark researches eight relevant products, delivers a longlist presentation, and holds a review meeting.
3. Shortlist – Involves deeper vendor exploration for three products, followed by a shortlist and evaluation matrix with cost estimates, and a final review meeting.

We then pass our recommendation back to you to work with your procurement and technology teams to engage with the vendors directly. We are completely objective, technology neutral and independent from all vendors.

Get in contact with us for a more detailed walk-though of the product evaluation process. If you'd like to go ahead we'll issue you with a statement of work and we can start as soon as we've got a signature.

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Product evaluation resources

Explore resources to help you choose the right intranet software product.

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