Explained : Intranets

The corporate Intranet has been hailed as the most important business tool since the typewriter. Intranets help employees to exchange information in a closed network, collaborate business processes such as product development or order fulfillment, which create value for a company and its customers. Closed networks within your organisation, allow your business operations, cross department communications and interactions to become as automated as possible. It provides an effective means for distributing information and a flexible infrastructure for team collaboration.

A typical Intranet would include any of the following components or combination of components:

• Online training area

• Collaboration of information and ideas

• Calendar schedules and time management

• Project management

• Sharing and adding information to databases

• Custom applications, etc

As each user is required generally to logon to the intranet, the information presented can then be tailored to each users specific needs, for example a manager might require more access to potentially sensitive areas whereas the local sales representative might not need such information. Intranets allow businesses to work much more efficiently, they enable companies to build up databases of knowledge and to share this knowledge with all or select staff members. Intranets can and should reduce your operational costs whiles increasing the efficiency of your staff members.

The Intranet contains web pages just like the Internet, but is surrounded by a firewall to prevent outsiders from gaining access. Secure Intranets are the fastest growing segment of the Internet for several excellent reasons.

• They are much less expensive to build and maintain than proprietary protocol networks

• They improve internal communication and productivity

• They cut down on paper and files, saving office space and generating greater efficiency

• They are a safer method of protecting and storing information

While each department of a company may have its own virtual space, intranets should be organised primarily around the business processes they help employees carry out, rather than the organisational chart of the company. Focusing on processes rather than departments is a widely recognised business trend. The Intranet is the ideal vehicle for creating and empowering process-based corporate communities.

Intranets bring together employees and partners who are geographically dispersed to work on common problems. Travel costs are eliminated, and employees can increase their productivity by sharing knowledge. The effective Intranet is not only a tool, it is also a model for an efficient, process-centered enterprise – a machine for doing business!