Benefits of intranets and extranets

What is an intranet?

In essence, an intranet is a business' own private website. It is a private business network that uses the same underlying structure and network protocols as the internet and is protected from unauthorised users by a firewall.

Intranets enhance existing communication between employees, and provide a common knowledge base and storage area for everyone in your business. They also provide users with easy access to company data, systems and email from their desktops.

Because intranets are secure and easily accessible via the internet, they enable staff to do work from any location simply by using a web browser. This can help small businesses to be flexible and control office overheads by allowing employees to work from almost any location, including their home and customer sites.

Other types of intranet are available that merge the regular features of intranets with those often found in software such as Microsoft Office. These are known as online offices or web offices. Creating a web office will allow you to organise and manage information and share documents and calendars using a familiar web browser function, which is accessible from anywhere in the world.

Types of content found on intranets:

• administrative - calendars, emergency procedures, meeting room bookings, procedure manuals and membership of internal committees and groups
• corporate - business plans, client/customer lists, document templates, branding guidelines, mission statements, press coverage and staff newsletters
• financial - annual reports and organisational performance
• IT - virus alerts, tips on dealing with problems with hardware, software and networks, policies on corporate use of email and internet access and a list of online training courses and support
• marketing - competitive intelligence, with links to competitor websites, corporate brochures, latest marketing initiatives, press releases, presentations
• human resources - appraisal procedures and schedules, employee policies, expenses forms and annual leave requests, staff discount schemes, new vacancies
• individual projects - current project details, team contact information, project management information, project documents, time and expense reporting
• external information resources - route planning and mapping sites, industry organisations, research sites and search engines

Subjects covered in this guide

• Introduction
• What is an intranet?
• Benefits of an intranet
• What is an extranet?
• Benefits of an extranet
• Planning for extranets
• Maintaining intranets and extranets using content management systems
• Here's how an extranet for clients freed up time and improved customer service

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