The impact of an intranet upon a business

An intranet is built from the same concepts and technologies used for the Internet, such as clientserver computing and the Internet Protocol Suite (TCP/IP). Any of the well known Internet protocols may be found in an intranet, such as HTTP (web services), SMTP (e-mail), and FTP (file transfer). Internet technologies are often deployed to provide modern interfaces to legacy information systems hosting corporate data. An intranet can be understood as a private analog of the Internet, or as a private extension of the Internet confined to an organization. The first intranet websites and home pages began to appear in organizations in 1990-1991. Although not officially noted, the term intranet first became common-place among early adopters, such as universities and technology corporations. Increasingly, intranets are being used to deliver tools and applications, e.g., collaboration (to facilitate working in groups and teleconferencing) or sophisticated corporate directories, sales and customer relationship management tools, project management etc., to advance productivity. Intranets are also being used as corporate culture-change platforms. For example, large numbers of employees discussing key issues in an intranet forum application could lead to new ideas in management, productivity, quality, and other corporate issues. In large intranets, website traffic is often similar to public website traffic and can be better understood by using web metrics software to track overall activity. User surveys also improve intranet website effectiveness. Larger businesses allow users within their intranet to access public internet through firewall servers. They have the ability to screen messages coming and going keeping security intact. When part of an intranet is made accessible to customers and others outside the business, that part becomes part of an extranet. Businesses can send private messages through the public network, using special encryption/decryption and other security safeguards to connect one part of their intranet to another.

Benefits:

Workforce productivity: Intranets can also help users to locate and view information faster and use applications relevant to their roles and responsibilities. With the help of a web browser interface, users can access data held in any database the organization wants to make available, anytime and - subject to security provisions - from anywhere within the company workstations, increasing employees' ability to perform their jobs faster, more accurately, and with confidence that they have the right information. It also helps to improve the services provided to the users. Time: Intranets allow organizations to distribute information to employees on an as-needed basis; Employees may link to relevant information at their convenience, rather than being distracted indiscriminately by electronic mail. Web publishing allows cumbersome corporate knowledge to be maintained and easily accessed throughout the company using hypermedia and Web technologies. Examples include: employee manuals, benefits documents, company policies, business standards, newsfeeds, and even training, can be accessed using common Internet standards (Acrobat files, Flash files). Because each business unit can update the online copy of a document, the most recent version is always available to employees using the intranet. Business operations and management: Intranets are also being used as a platform for developing and deploying applications to support business operations and decisions across the internetworked enterprise. Promote common corporate culture: Every user is viewing the same information within the Intranet. Enhance Collaboration: With information easily accessible by all authorised users, teamwork is enabled. Cross-platform Capability: Standards-compliant web browsers are available for Windows, Mac, and UNIX. Knowledge of your Audience: Being able to specifically address your "viewer" is a great advantange. Since Intranets are user specific (requiring database/network authentication prior to access), you know exactly who you are interfacing with. So, you can personalize your Intranet based on role (job title, department) or individual Immediate Updates: When dealing with the public in any capacity, laws/specifications/parameters can change. With an Intranet and providing your audience with "live" changes, they are never out of date, which can limit a company's liability. Supports a distributed computing architecture: The intranet can also be linked to a companys management information system, for example a time keeping system.

Pros and cons of an intranet:

PROs:

reduces printing, distribution, and paper costs - particularly on policy manuals, company newsletters, product catalogs, technical drawings, training material, and telephone directories easy to use - no specialized training required inexpensive to use (once it is set-up) moderate initial set-up costs (hardware and software) standardized network protocol (TCP/IP), document protocol (HTML), and file transfer protocol (ftp) already well established and suitable for all platforms can be used throughout the enterprise reduces employee training costs reduces sales and marketing costs reduces office administration and accounting costs ease of access results in a more integrated company with employees communicating and collaborating more freely and more productively

Cons:

it is an evolving technology that requires upgrades and could have software incompatibility problems security features can be inadequate inadequate system performance management and poor user support may not scale up adequately maintaining content can be time consuming some employees may not have PCs at their desks The aims of the organisation in developing an intranet may not align with user needs

In my opinion it is fair to conclude that an intranet is extremely useful (although not imperatively necessary) in any business. Besides the fact that employees will access data more easily, its main benefit is that time is saved drastically. If an intranet solution is set up and it is able to interact with specific software (let's say for example stock evidence) in a way it will enhance productivity. At the moment only big companies have implemented an intranet in Romania, but as time passes more and more companies will adopt this system as its popularity increases.