Igloo Review

Businesses that want to build websites quickly and easily now have plenty of options, from WordPress to Wix. Managers who want to keep virtual staff informed and engaged can use Slack and a whole range of other tools to share tasks, post files and keep everyone informed of progress.
But building a complete intranet, creating an entire platform that the company can use to store its information, share news and communicate with staff? That requires a very different tool.

That’s what Igloo is trying to provide. It offers an entire digital workplace on one platform, connecting people, information and processes. Built properly it should function much like a digital office, a space where staff members can interact with other employees, swap ideas, share files and catch up on corporate news.

The good news is that creating the space is remarkably simple. A free trial provides room for ten users, five team spaces and 10 GB of data, so it’s possible to play before you need to pay.

A template is already in place, complete with a logo showing the “Corporate intranet.” You’d want to change that. A menu offers space to read news, download files, view events, read policies (as if), and scroll through staff members. A small (and easily missed) plus-button lets the administrator add content but also create new pages and build workspaces.

Next to the little plus-button is an even smaller arrow which leads to editing options. You can add all sorts of widgets to pages, including photos, lists of members and blog articles. Apps cover blogs, calendars, file-sharing, even tasks, wikis and forums. Designing the layout of the platform is as simple as drag-and-drop.

Administrators can see the site as they’re building it, which is useful. Less useful are the SEO options. You’re not going to want anyone outside the business to see the Intranet, and unless the business is huge, staff should be able to find their way around and to the content they want easily enough without searching. There’s also plenty of work to do managing permissions so that some staff can post content or write in the forums while others can only read content.
That ease-of-use is Igloo’s biggest sales point. The platform is simple enough to put in front of an intern or administrative assistant rather than having to fork out millions for an IT specialist.

But it does come short in at least two areas. First, while changing the company logo is simple enough, Igloo has few branding tools. Staff are unlikely to be in a position to confuse one company intranet with another company’s intranet, but businesses would like to make the space feel more like home.
And second, Igloo’s biggest competitor isn’t so much Wix or WordPress as task management tools like Slack. If you want your staff to be organized and working instead of reading blogs and chatting in forums, you might well find that Slack actually gets more stuff done.