More and more of us are logging onto the internet using our phones, both at work and at home. Websites are now seeing more than 20-30% of their web traffic coming from mobile phones and tablets. This means it’s never been more important for websites to be accessible on mobile devices.
If you’re creating an internal intranet site, you need to make sure that all of your colleagues are able to access it. As colleagues want to be more flexible in the way they work, they need to be able to access content easily on their mobile devices so they can do their job whilst on the move.
The old way of doing this would be to design and develop a dedicated mobile application, or to develop separate versions of a website for different screen sizes and devices. Of course, planning, developing and maintaining lots of different version of a site can be costly. Also, as intranets projects traditionally have lower budgets and smaller teams than public-facing website projects, creating multiple intranet offerings is just not a realistic option.
Here is where responsive design comes to the rescue. If you’re new to responsive design, it’s where the websit detects what type of device is being used to visit your site and adapts the size and capabilities of the site accordingly.
Still not convinced? Here are five reasons why you should make sure your site is responsive.
1. Mobiles are convenient
We expect a lot from our mobiles now – as they become increasingly important, users are expecting to be able to research, shop, and entertain themselves on their phones, using content which is customisable to them. Those who don’t make their sites responsiveness will increasingly look old and outdated!
2. Giving users flexibility
Office hours are a thing of the past: employees want to work everywhere, and not always from 9 to 5. Make sure that you give your users the opportunity to get their content at a time that suits them in a way which works for their particular device.
3. It’s cheaper
Having one responsive site means you don’t have to develop one for desktop, and one or more for applications. The research work needed to make a responsive site is tiny compared to the time and money it would take to create multiple applications.
4. Bypass office politics
Which teams and information deserves to have their own mobile app? Avoid the hassle by giving everyone a place on your responsive mobile intranet.
5. Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)
The days of everyone having a company Blackberry are over; workplaces are now often allowing colleagues to bring their own devices. They’ll get frustrated if sites are only designed for one type of phone or tablet.
Conclusion
Hopefully this has persuaded you that responsive design is the way forward! If you make the necessary steps to make it secure and cost-effective, a responsive site could transform the experience for your users and make your site sparkle.