Consultancy
Jacco van den Berg
December 10, 2024
As businesses continue to evolve in the digital age, the demands placed on websites and extranets are increasing. In 2025, success will require more than just a good-looking website or a basic extranet for internal communication. To stay competitive, companies must adapt to new trends that prioritize user experience, security, and seamless integration. Here are the trends that will be vital for ensuring your website and extranet remain not only relevant but essential to your business’s growth in 2025.
In 2025, users will expect more than just a tailored experience—they will demand hyper-personalization. This means your website and extranet must be able to deliver highly relevant content, recommendations, and user journeys, all based on real-time data and past behavior. As AI and machine learning technologies continue to evolve, businesses will have the tools to collect and analyze massive amounts of user data, creating individual experiences for each user, whether they’re customers or employees.
For websites, this could mean personalized landing pages, dynamic content that shifts based on the user’s interests, or AI-driven chatbots that can offer personalized assistance. For extranets, personalization will focus on enhancing internal user productivity, providing employees with immediate access to relevant tools, documents, and insights that are specific to their role or current project.
Example: Think of an extranet that automatically presents each employee with the specific documents, messages, and deadlines they need to act on that day, based on their department and priorities. This minimizes time spent searching for information and maximizes productivity.
As businesses rely more on cloud-based applications and software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms, seamless integration will become a critical factor for success. In 2025, websites and extranets will need to function as the central hub of a much larger ecosystem of tools, rather than isolated platforms.
For your website, this could mean integrating with customer relationship management (CRM, like MS Dynamics) systems, marketing automation platforms, or e-commerce tools to create a unified experience from browsing to purchasing. On the extranet side, integration with third-party collaboration tools, project management systems, and employee resource platforms will ensure that employees can access everything they need from one place.
Tip: Ensure that your website and extranet are built with APIs and modular frameworks that allow easy integration with new platforms as they become available. Bureau Berg therefore likes to use the Strapi CMS, which allows us to build the CMS of websites and extranets with APIs.
Flexibility will be key to staying competitive as new tools emerge.
With data breaches and cybersecurity threats increasing year by year, security will remain a top priority in 2025. However, businesses will need to go beyond basic firewalls and encryption. Enhanced, multilayered security will become essential for both websites and extranets to ensure not just compliance with stricter data regulations, but also to maintain trust with users and employees.
For websites, enhanced security will include zero-trust architectures, ensuring every interaction is authenticated and authorized to prevent malicious activity. On the extranet side, protecting sensitive employee and company information will require robust encryption, multi-factor authentication (MFA), and advanced user access controls.
Tip: Regularly update your security protocols and conduct vulnerability testing to stay ahead of evolving threats. Consider integrating AI-driven cybersecurity tools that can identify suspicious activity in real-time.
In 2025, websites and extranets that fail to meet accessibility standards will not just risk legal penalties—they will lose users. Accessibility will go far beyond adding alt text or making sure buttons are large enough to click. It will require a deep understanding of how users with disabilities interact with digital platforms.
For websites, this means ensuring content is available to everyone, including those with visual, auditory, motor, or cognitive impairments. For extranets, making internal tools accessible to all employees is equally crucial, particularly as remote and hybrid work models become more prevalent. Accessibility will directly impact employee productivity, satisfaction, and overall retention.
Tip: Adopt Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2 or higher, ensuring your digital properties meet or exceed international accessibility standards. Regular audits and usability testing with real users will help catch accessibility issues early.
"Bureau Berg thinks along with you and works with you to find the best options regarding visibility, appearance and look & feel. We have always experienced our 14-year collaboration as very pleasant."
C. Vergeer
Head of Communications Association Hendrick de Keyser
Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) will continue to grow in importance as they offer a more app-like experience on the web. PWAs are fast, secure, and function offline, making them ideal for both websites and extranets. They provide the user experience of a native app without the need to download anything from an app store.
By 2025, more businesses will embrace PWAs as a way to provide their customers and employees with an immersive, high-performing experience. For websites, PWAs allow for instant loading, even in areas with poor network connectivity. For extranets, they provide offline functionality, ensuring that employees can access vital documents or tools even without internet access, which is crucial for those working in remote locations or on the go.
A PWA-based extranet can allow field employees to access critical project data even when working in areas with limited or no internet connection, syncing their work once they’re back online.
Interested? Then check out the case of a PWA that enables people to save bears in distress around the globe.
AI and automation will continue to transform how businesses interact with their users in 2025. Websites and extranets will increasingly incorporate AI-driven tools to improve user experience and efficiency. Chatbots, recommendation engines, and predictive analytics will all play a central role in delivering smarter, more efficient digital platforms.
For websites, AI can be used to dynamically adjust content based on user behavior, offer real-time support, and analyze data to provide actionable insights. On extranets, AI can streamline internal workflows, automate routine tasks, and deliver predictive insights that help employees make faster, more informed decisions.
Tip: Consider adopting AI-powered customer service chatbots and internal help desks for your extranet to address user queries in real-time, reducing workload on your support teams and improving user satisfaction.
By 2025, the bar for website and extranet performance will be higher than ever. User expectations, data security needs, and the push for greater integration and personalization will make it vital to adopt the right trends early. From leveraging AI and automation to building accessible and secure digital platforms, the future demands businesses to be both agile and strategic.
At Bureau Berg, I believe the key to success lies in not just adopting these trends, but in strategically applying them to your business needs.
And did you know that you don't always have to use Microsoft or Google to set up a good and scalable extranet? Contact me if you want to know more about that.
Let’s work together to future-proof your website and extranet, ensuring they don’t just meet the standards of tomorrow but lead the way.
