Make sure your new intranet will easily integrate with the company's core systems. And plan to deliver a cohesive, well-integrated platform that will automatically refresh company dashboards whenever underlying data changes.

Also, make sure to integrate the intranet with external sources. RSS feeds that deliver current stock price, news, press release alerts, local traffic and more, will enhance the perceived value of your IT investment, and provide users with a full 360-degree view of the world, helping them make better, more informed decisions.

Mistake #6: Overlooking the importance of workflows.

Business Process Intelligence (BPI) is commonly ranked the number-one priority for CIOs. What's driving these changes? Improved productivity, reduced cost and accelerated processes, to name a few.

Companies everywhere are eager to turn time-consuming, paper-pushing tasks into streamlined, online processes that help to eliminate paper forms, file folders, manual forwarding and the inefficiencies associated with them.

Pick an Intranet product that supports workflows, and plan to offer a few streamlined workflows as part of your initial launch. Automating common processes like vacation requests, expense report reimbursements and purchase approvals will catch the user's attention, and give them a vested interest in using the intranet.

Mistake #7: Dismissing Web 2.0's role in the enterprise.

Corporations struggle to see how social networking can have a positive impact on the business, and they're fearful of lost productivity. But a growing number of companies (Dow, Wachovia, and even Uncle Sam) have jumped in with high expectations, after realizing the power of social sites like LinkedIn.

It's important to recognize the underlying reality that business is social. When employees feel more connected to the people they work with, they are more connected with the company as well, which is good for business. A social network allows employees to discover people, workgroup associations, trends and resources that help them become more effective in their role.

Ideally your intranet will become a massive collaboration platform, driven almost completely by the community. Users will flock to the intranet to access a high volume of quality information, appreciating the simplicity of the experience.

Furthermore, an intranet that enables cross-enterprise collaboration can also have an immediate, positive impact on productivity. Workgroups give employees, business partners, suppliers and customers an online place for the work to happen. Central online meeting places make it easy for people to connect to share ideas, store project-specific information, establish procedures, review and discuss documents and deliverables, resolve issues, make decisions and get work done.

Let them use the intranet as their meeting place, and you'll avoid the "ghost town" syndrome.