Corporate intranet creation 2026: complete guide

Corporate intranet creation: the 2026 picture

A corporate intranet in 2026 is no longer the dusty 2010 SharePoint portal. It has become a central platform combining documents, HR, internal messaging, project management, workflows and directory — with a UX comparable to consumer apps. Without a proper intranet beyond 50 employees, information gets lost in WhatsApp and email attachments.

Realistic budget: 2 M FCFA (~3K EUR, ~3,300 USD) for a well-configured Notion or Confluence setup for 30-50 people, 15-50 M FCFA (~22K-75K EUR, ~25K-83K USD) for a custom Next.js + Prisma + Neon intranet with SSO, workflows and integrations.

5 business needs to cover

Needs 1 + 2 + 3 are 70% met by off-the-shelf solutions. Needs 4 and 5, as soon as they involve specific business rules (multi-level hierarchical validation, payroll integration, local compliance), often justify a custom intranet.

4 paths in 2026

Path 1 — Notion (the fastest)

• Cost: 8-15 USD/user/month (Team) or 20 USD/user/month (Business)
• Setup: 2-4 weeks with a consultant
• Ideal for: SMEs 20-100 employees, light structure, lots of documentation
• Limits: limited advanced workflows, degraded performance beyond 200 users on a single workspace

Path 2 — Microsoft 365 + SharePoint + Teams

• Cost: 13-37 USD/user/month depending on plan
• Setup: 4-12 weeks with integrator
• Ideal for: companies 50-5,000 already on Microsoft ecosystem
• Limits: less modern UX, learning curve, complex to customize

Path 3 — Confluence + Jira + Atlassian Suite

• Cost: 5-25 USD/user/month depending on tools
• Setup: 3-6 weeks
• Ideal for: tech teams, R&D, agile project management
• Limits: less suited to non-tech functions (HR, sales, ops)

Path 4 — Custom Next.js + Prisma + Neon intranet

• Build cost: 15-50 M FCFA
• Setup: 12-24 weeks
• Ideal for: SMEs 100-1,000 employees with specific business rules (multi-level hierarchical validation, payroll integration, OHADA compliance, industry workflows)
• Advantages: tailored UX, data on your side, custom integrations, no per-user license
• Limits: 3-6 months of build, internal maintenance or agency

Security and SSO: non-negotiable beyond 50 people

Deployment: 3 options

• Public cloud (Vercel, AWS, Azure, GCP) — immediate deployment, automatic scaling, ideal for 95% of SMEs
• Private cloud (VPS DigitalOcean, OVH, Scaleway) — full control, fixed cost, requires DevOps team
• On-premise (server in your offices) — required by some regulated sectors (banking, defense). Rare and costly.

Kolonell 2026 recommendation: Vercel or Cloudflare Pages for Next.js frontend + Neon Postgres for DB + Cloudflare R2 or Uploadthing for files. Covers 90% of Senegalese SME cases.

Detailed budget (Senegal 2026)

SME examples that worked

• SME 35 employees (Dakar services) — Notion Team 11 USD/user × 35 = 385 USD/month + 3 M FCFA consultant setup. ROI: 6 h saved per person per week on info search.
• SME 120 employees (Thiès industry) — SharePoint + Teams + custom Power Automate workflows. Build 18 M FCFA + 22 USD/user/month.
• Mid-cap 380 employees (BTP group) — custom Next.js + Prisma + Neon intranet with Azure AD SSO, directory, leave, expense reports, project management, e-signatures. Build 42 M FCFA in 22 weeks + 800K FCFA/month maintenance.

Kolonell frequently supports Senegalese mid-caps on the custom Next.js path when off-the-shelf solutions do not cover their specific workflows.

FAQ

How much does corporate intranet creation cost in 2026?

Between 2 M FCFA for a well-configured Notion setup for 30-50 people and 50 M FCFA for a full custom Next.js intranet with SSO, workflows and integrations. The Senegalese mid-cap sweet spot is 15-25 M FCFA for a custom MVP intranet in 12-16 weeks.

Notion, SharePoint, Confluence or custom intranet: which to pick?

Notion for SMEs 20-100 with priority on documentation. SharePoint + Teams for 50-5,000 companies already on Microsoft. Confluence for tech teams. Custom Next.js as soon as you have specific business workflows (multi-level hierarchical validation, payroll integration, OHADA compliance) that market tools do not cover.

What business needs should an intranet cover?

Five basic needs: documentation (procedures, FAQ, onboarding), HR (directory, leave, expense reports), internal messaging (announcements, channels), project management (backlog, kanban), workflows and validation (requests, signatures). The first three are covered by market tools. The last two often justify custom development.

What security level for a corporate intranet beyond 50 people?

Mandatory SSO (Google Workspace, Microsoft Entra ID, Okta, Clerk), MFA for everyone, granular RBAC (viewer/editor/admin/dept-specific), audit log of sensitive actions, daily encrypted backup tested quarterly. GDPR compliance (Europe) and CDP Senegal (law 2008-12) depending on location.

How long to deliver a corporate intranet?

2-4 weeks for a well-done Notion setup, 4-12 weeks for SharePoint + Teams custom, 12-16 weeks for a custom Next.js MVP intranet, 16-24 weeks for a full custom intranet with SSO, workflows and HR/payroll integrations.

Let's talk about your intranet

If you want to precisely scope your corporate intranet creation project, we can run a 1h audit of your current needs and produce a plan + budget + timeline over 12-24 weeks. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.