Hello @Laurel Burns and thanks for asking!
Yes, it's possible to create/use an intranet within Confluence - and it's quite effective, too, if I may add.
Confluence-based intranets
Confluence-based intranets have one big advantage: the Confluence wiki as their backbone.
Combining useful intranet features and a wiki / knowledge management system is pretty much a perfect fit. Organizing your work, documenting meeting and processes, creating content and even communicating becomes pretty easy with Confluence + an intranet.
Having a Confluence-based intranet cuts down on time waste, since almost all ~ all communication (depending on the company, of course) AND work can happen in your Confluence-based intranet. Create a proof of concept, plan the promotion, mention your colleagues, get your feedback, continue editing your prototype, share (again) --> all of that happens in one system, which is nice.
You can pretty much replace your office, if you wish to do so, with Confluence + an intranet because together they should provide all the tools neccessary to work effectively and stay in touch & up-to-date. I know this because I speak from experience. :) We are in fact using our own intranet day to day (and have our fair share of completely remote workers who remain happy, so far :p).
Linchpin Intranet Suite for Confluence Data Center
(Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2S-HX7MBVU)
At Seibert Media, we created the Linchpin Intranet Suite for Confluence Data Center (& Server).
(You can always test Linchpin for free for 30 days or view our public demo intranet.)
Linchpin turns Confluence into a fully fleshed out intranet, expanding native Confluence functionalities and adding many useful new ones. Linchpin is capable of scaling with your company and convinces with multilingualism (store translations for various functions and content) and personalization. We are also working hard to make our Linchpin intranet as accessible as possible.
Linchpin puts you and your colleagues in focus - that's why user profiles are a very central part of the intranet. Linchpin allows you to extend Confluence profiles by giving you the option to freely create new profile fields and profile sections (the visibility of which can be configured).
The profile data is then used to personalize the system experience for you and your colleagues. This can happen based on information like the spoken language, your team/position or any other data you deem fit for this task. The personalization aspect makes it possible to:
- create navigation menus unique to certain teams, departments, locations, etc.
- create multiple, personalized dashboards and store them in the Default Welcome Message. Linchpin will then check the personalization config and decide which dashboard version to display to which user
- display news/blog articles in a personalized way, using one macro to cover hundreds of different news sources
- offer users personalized app packages in our Launchpad to ensure that every team and department has quick access to their most needed tools
- personalize your communication using the Microblog (lightweight forum macro, with topics, text styling options and attachment upload) by subscribing to topics that you might find interesting or relevant
- find experts of any field (certifications, app knowledge, spoken languages, ...) in just a few seconds
and more ...
The Linchpin Intranet Suite also gives you the opportunity to create (& easily promote) stunning events, making socializing easier and enabling your teams to grow and get to know each other better (especially nowadays). You can, of course, also use events to organize events with external guests.
We are currently developing a time slots feature for our events, for an even better and more precise event management.
Org Charts allow you to display the hierachy in your company or even team in a dynamic, low-maintenance and user-friendly manner.
(And if you ever need more, Linchpin offers integrations, for example with MS Teams.)
Of course, there is a mobile app for Linchpin intranet so that you can take your office (including Confluence pages) with you, wherever you might be heading.
Linchpin, as Confluence, can also be freely adapted to your Corporate Identity. Our theming can be adapted in many ways - upload your logo, change the colors of links, diverse buttons, our macros, footer etc. You can even let teams design their own team spaces with unique layouts to grow their identity.
Intranet for Confluence Cloud
Now, you tagged your post as "Cloud", so let's start talking about it now. If Data Center isn't an option for you, we've got some great news nonetheless!
We are actually developing cloud apps that are heavily inspired by our Linchpin apps for Data Center and that allow us to bring intranet functionalities to the Atlassian Cloud.
Creating an intranet for Atlassian Cloud is not quite the same as for Atlassian On-Premise, that's why the solutions differ, but combining all those apps should bring you a big step towards a proper intranet in the Atlassian Cloud.
Available (and currently free) intranet-oriented apps inspired by the Linchpin Intranet Suite:
- Navigation Menus - Quick & Easy Orientation
- Language Manager for Confluence Cloud
- Enterprise News for Atlassian Cloud
- Easy Events for Confluence Cloud
- Contacts
We also got an Cloud apps overview page containing more info about these Cloud apps if you wish to learn more.
We look forward to answering any of your questions, regarding both your cloud and on-premise options. :)
Greetings from Wiesbaden, Germany
Lukasz Pecherczyk
________________________
Product Marketing Manager
Linchpin
Seibert Media
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