In the context of an internal SharePoint solution I think that branding, in any more detail than basic colour and logo could be considered as a waste of investment.
I question whether an organisation can justify the investment required for awesome branding based upon the following questions:
- Does it help the organisation move towards its vision?
- What is the ROI of the branding work?
- Does the branding deliver clear and measurable business value?
- Does branding support and encourage user adoption?
Discuss….
In my opinion, branding is paramount to the organizational adoption and ultimately the success of a SharePoint Intranet. Okay, that may have been overstating it a bit but I do believe it plays a vital role in portraying and enforcing a cohesive brand throughout an organization. SharePoint branding efforts really don’t require as large an investment as many believe. A basic, custom-branded master page to conform to an organization’s branding guidelines can take as little as a few hours and the outcome can be drastic and tremendously successful.
ROI is tough to measure in many Intranet scenarios (I think) but the plan truth is that organizations want to make it their own. They want to provide a thoughtfully-designed, engaging Intranet to their users. You only have one chance to make a first impression, right?! The look and feel of the Intranet will ultimately determine the interest level of the users. Content is king, don’t get me wrong, but well-presented content is much more effective than poorly presented content (imo).
