Inside the Intranet

An intranet shares most of the characteristics of the Internet, but in at least one way, it's fundamentally different. And just as the Internet has had a profound effect on how we communicate, intranets have transformed the business world as well. Both Fortune 500 corporations and small businesses have implemented this communication network, improving productivity while reducing costs.

Just what is an intranet? Think of it as a mini-Internet designed to be used within the confines of a business, university or organization. What distinguishes an intranet from the freely accessible Internet, is that intranets are private.

A New Way of Working

Organizations thrive on information, yet access to it is not always easy to come by. People tend to rely on informal networking – the old “who do you know” routine. With an intranet, there is an enterprise-wide repository, an easy way to consult annual reports, benefits handbooks, schedule a conference room, locate an expense report form, and review company vacation policies. This information is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to anyone who has access, whether on the road, working at home or in a remote office. No more waiting for the answer to a question as it winds its way through traditional company channels. More sophisticated intranet feature a wide suite of tools that help companies work smarter.

Improving Workflow

While a wide variety of technologies and applications can be used as a foundation for building an intranet, Microsoft Sharepoint commands the largest portion of the market, and powers around 50% of all intranets according to some estimates. A few popular alternatives to Sharepoint include products such as Interact Intranet, Intranet Connections, Plone, and IBM Notes (formerly Lotus Notes).

Sharepoint, and it’s many competitors, are designed to improve workflow. They do this by promoting better collaboration, creating a space for document sharing and versioning, and providing a suite of project creation and management tools. Companies that implement this sort of intranet can better manage the flow of information between employees and departments, ensuring that data loss is minimized, and that the product or service finally delivered meets the customer’s original intent.

Company Benefits

In addition to managing projects and collaboration, intranets can be used for much more mundane tasks. For instance, many companies distribute printed documents such as newsletters, handbooks, and reports. However, the printing costs, not to mention the environmental impact of all that paper, can be eliminated by using an intranet to distribute these documents. Another advantage is the ease of updating information. Career moves render internal phone directories obsolete before they can be printed. Once the directories are online, phone numbers can be changed with just a few keystrokes.

Collaboration within an organization's intranet isn't restricted to text documents. Two-way video conferencing, as well as the hosting video and audio content in a private, but corporately-accessible environment, is made possible by an intranet. This is a good way to shared an update from a top manager to an entire team, or the entire company, in a private environment, without requiring a face-to-face meeting. It's also valuable for company training, and can be used to enable employees to learn new skills at their own pace, and on their own schedule.

Another benefit of using an intranet is that intranet developers will have fewer cross-platform compatibility concerns to address. When a company decides to develop an intranet, they will be able to define exactly how the intranet is accessed. This means that they only have to build the intranet to suit the platforms they choose to enable. In addition, since intranets require authentication in order to be accessed, each user’s experience can be customized based on their role, and individual preferences.

Another potential benefit to using an intranet to deploy applications used by many different employees, is that the company’s IT department will not longer have to worry about installing and updating software on multiple employee computers. Once the software is hosted on the intranet, any employee who has been provided access to the application can use it as needed, while the IT staff can centrally manage access and performance.

A Change in Attitude

Companies that embrace the use of intranets for collaboration report that making the switch can have a profound impact on the amount of time employees spend managing email since messages are saved in a centralized location, and are attached to the project itself. This makes getting new employees up to speed much easier, and saves the time of having to dig through old email files to find a specific message.

Democratizing collaboration can have a profound impact on traditional companies with a top-down management style. While some may perceive this as a threat, better sharing of information, improved document access and versioning, and a centralized location for project management, can only have a positive impact on a company’s bottom line.

As competition in the global marketplace drives the need for ever greater efficiency, intranets have become the neural network for business. A study by International Data Corporation on return on investment (ROI) for corporate intranets reveals why. “Typical implementations are achieving ROIs well over 1,000 percent.” That's a powerful incentive for any business to invest in this new technology.

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