An intranet is a private computer network that uses Internet protocols and
network connectivity to insecurely share part of anmorganization information or
operations with its employees. Sometimes the term refers only to the most
visible service, the internal website. an intranet can be understood as a
private version of an Internet or as a version of the Internet confined to an
organization.
My Workforce productivity: Intranets can 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: With intranets, organizations can make more information available to
employees on a pull basis (ie: employees can link to relevant information at a
time which suits them) rather than being deluged indiscriminately by emails.
Communication: Intranets can serve as powerful tools for communication within an
organization, vertically and horizontally. From a communications standpoint,
intranets are useful to communicate strategic initiatives that have a global
reach throughout the organization. The type of information that can easily be
conveyed is the purpose of the initiative and what the initiative is aiming to
achieve, who is driving the initiative, results achieved to date, and who to
speak to for more information. By providing this information on the intranet,
staff have the opportunity to keep up-to-date with the strategic focus of the
organization.
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, CGI applications). 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.
Cost-effective: Users can view information and data via web-browser rather than
maintaining physical documents such as procedure manuals, internal phone list
and requisition forms.
Promote common corporate culture: Every user is viewing the same information
within the Intranet.
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. |