An intranet can be a valuable and effective business
tool for an organisation.
It can be a strategic asset that supports key
business processes, improvements in efficiency as well as greater staff and
customer satisfaction.
An intranet is a
private computer network based on the communication standards of the
Internet.
It is smaller version of the Internet that only the
members of an organization can see.
Companies can create, within their walls, a manageable, secure
version of the World Wide Web.
These internal Webs are growing from an
explosion in the use and understanding of Internet technology.
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Why build a corporate intranet?
Developers will tell you because we can. A better answer is that it
is an effective tool to combat the waste of time, effort and
materials within an organization at the same time generating new
opportunities for collaboration and productivity.
For the first
time, an organization has the ability to put one, open-standards,
thin client (the Web browser) as the interface to their corporate
data and business processes.
The tangible benefits, those that
executives can wrap their arms around, of intranet creation can be
summarized below. A good example of a tangible benefit is the
reduction in paper cost from moving processes online.
Certain statistics quote that 18%
of corporate printed material becomes outdated after 30 days.
Imagine, that after 60 or 90 days.
Now, imagine if that material were
always online and current.
Tangible Benefits.
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Inexpensive to implement
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Easy to use, just
point and click
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Saves time and
money, better information faster
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Based on open
standards
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Scaleable and
flexible
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Connects across
disparate platforms
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Puts users in
control of their data
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It is not only the removal of
paper that leads to organizational benefit.
What is done with that information
in this new Web-enabled environment has a huge impact.
Intranets
allow an organization to spend less time on things that bring no
value such as chasing down the right information to solve a problem.
Productivity increases as
corporate knowledge is more accessible and the data is more
accurate.
Flexibility in time of delivery of
knowledge is gained as information is always a click away. Intranets
allow for a place where boundaries are lowered and information
exchange is encouraged.
This leads to more informed
employees with the ability to make better, faster decisions. This in
turn leads to better productivity and more time for revenue
generation.
Intangible Benefits.
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Improved decision
making
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Empowered users
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Builds a culture of
sharing and collaboration
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Facilitates
organizational learning
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Breaks down
bureaucracy
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Improved quality of
life at work
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Improved
productivity
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Many have argued
that having an intranet is becoming a necessary component of
competing in today's marketplace.
This type of
attitude along with the long list of intranet benefits has lead to
an explosion of development.
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Appoint a business-technical Web
strategy team.
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Develop
a written vision and a strategy.
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Outline necessary costs and work.
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Hire or outsource.
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Build a prototype.
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Work with existing corporate
culture.
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Get executive support.
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Start small: Sell a target user
group.
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Educate
everyone.
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Consider security trade-offs.
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Measure progress.
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Update
the vision, strategy, budget and work plans as needed.
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You will be able to
quantify some benefits such as savings in operating cost, reduction
in paperwork.
The other benefits
of an intranet solution like, improved customer service and faster
and better access to up-to-date information.
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This will include
the cost of hardware (web server, network adapter and related
hardware), software (server OS, add-on software, utilities) & labour
(setup & maintenance).
A Linux based server and the
correct software would start from $3,500.
Experience shows that the foundation you build
on must be stable and must be expandable.
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Include these
factors when calculating your long term intranet related costs.
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Server
and network upgrades to handle traffic.
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Management
tools and manpower required.
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Software
licenses and upgrade fees.
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Information
publishing and archiving costs.
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An intranet is one
of those things which is east to start and can be a
management nightmare as it grows. Be prepared to spend a lot of
resources
for the management of your intranet if you have not planned the
growth well in advance.
Some of the things to be prepared for are increased traffic and an
increasing number of publishers and users.
Try to use web and network management tools to reduce the amount of
manual work involved. To add new users provide online forms that
will automatically setup the required accounts.
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Find out if your
legacy systems will work with your intranet solution.
Legacy systems do not necessarily mean mainframe systems.
Newer client server based applications will also need to be tweaked
to work with an intranet solution.
A number of database and application vendors are working on intranet
interfaces to their data.
Until this is available you will have to figure out a way of moving
your data between your legacy systems and the intranet.
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The developers will
need to be trained in the art of web publishing. Break up your group
of developers into two subgroups.
The first one will
be your core intranet development team which will take care of the
server management, application development and technical aspects of
the intranet.
The second less;
technical team will handle simpler tasks like publishing documents
to html, converting existing data sources like spreadsheets. &
databases to a format acceptable for your intranet.
Each group will need
different kind of training, find people that will be able to adapt
to the new methodology easily.
For example, people
with good Word-processing and Desk top publishing experience will
adapt easily WYSIWYG html editors like FrontPage.
Network
administrators will make good web server administrators and your
programming team will help you develop applications for your
intranet.
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Its an option.
The advantages will
be a faster development cycle and you will be able to use the
expertise and experience of professionals in this field.
You will also be
relieved of the headaches associated with intranet management and
support.
If you decide to use
consultants to give your intranet project a jump start, make sure
your staff is trained and ready to take over the project after the
consultants leave.
Also make sure that
the consultants have provided enough room for growth for your staff
to use when the intranet takes off and grows rapidly.
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If done right, an
intranet can enhance productivity to a great extent.
A lot depends on the
type of system the intranet is replacing. If an intranet solution is
replacing a traditional paper based information access methodology
(ex. printed manuals) the improvement in productivity will be
tremendous.
On the other hand,
if it is introducing a completely new process you may not be able to
measure the productivity in an accurate manner.
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Your intranet will
be as secure as its weakest link, which is usually the people
managing and using your intranet.
If you do it by the
book and use a secure server, firewall, password protected access
and physical security for the server machines; you are covering all
the bases.
Also have a policy
in place to check for creeping links to unsecured locations,
backdoors from the internet to your intranet, proper use of
passwords and other security mechanisms provided by your intranet
setup.
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Not much if you do
it right.
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Unlike most other IT
ventures, an intranet can be setup real fast.
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All you need to get
started is an existing network (preferable TCP/IP based) and a spare
machine which can act as your web server.
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Once you install a
web server package on this machine, install browsers on your client
machines, and connect the clients to the server you are on your way.
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Intranets usually
grow and improve with time.
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The initial phase
does not take up a lot of your time or a huge financial commitment.
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Customer Service Intranet
This is one area where many an intranet can find itself peering over
the company firewall to directly interact with customers.
A good example of
how intranets are being leveraged for customer support is the
extension of internal package-tracking databases of UPS and FedEx
over the Internet.
An intranet or extranet can allow a customer to help themselves or
allow support personnel to find an answer faster. Gone are the days
of putting a customer on hold while you research the file cabinet
for that part number or other solution.
Examples of other possible content and applications
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Customer
information entry and update |
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Order entry and
tracking |
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Online
information (databases on customers, inventory, supplies)
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Problem entry
and tracking |
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Customer FAQ's |
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