Beyond the Social Intranet

LKK Health Products Group built a "social intranet" on SharePoint — Facebook for work. Nobody used it.

The Problem

LKK Health Products Group (8,000+ employees) built a "social intranet" on SharePoint.

Like Facebook for work.

Nobody used it.

What I Discovered

Traditional Chinese corporate culture ≠ Facebook culture.

Colleagues didn't want to "share" and "like." They wanted to:

• ▍Apply for IT equipment
• ▍Request vacation time
• ▍Submit reimbursement claims
• ▍Book meeting rooms

The social features were noise. The work features were missing.

Worse: The mainland portal was so customized it didn't use ANY SharePoint functionality. Missed the point entirely.

What I Built

Personalized workstation — each colleague gets a role-based homepage with quick access to relevant systems (single sign-on); documents, contacts, to-do list; and a customizable left menu.

Global search — Microsoft-powered, find anything across the portal.

Modular site templates — pre-designed web parts for departments (HR, Admin, IT). Easy setup, easy updates.

Killed the social features — no more forced Facebook-ification.

Did It Work?

• ▍The overseas portal design was adopted by the Mainland portal for their own overseas sites
• ▍NPS: 8/10
• ▍Pilot satisfaction: 77.8%

What I Learned

A social intranet requires a social culture. Most organizations don't have one.

Build a workstation, not a social network. People want to work, not perform.