| EUROPEAN INTERACTIVE DIRECTORIES |
WHAT IS AN INTRANET ?
An Intranet is a network implementing Internet technologies within a corporate organisation. This
Intranet network can be password-protected in part or in whole, enabling specific groups within
the organisation to be able to access information only relevant to them.
The Intranet can also be connected to the global Internet, enabling global access from across the
Internet to parts of or the whole Intranet as per relevant password usage. This means that a
tremendous amount of information can be disemminated at a very low cost and accessed within the
organisation, from different constituent branches irrespective of geographical location across the
globe. The information can also be accessed by the organisation's customers, clients, advisers
and suppliers irrespective of their global location. This information can be disemminated in a
highly efficient and almost immediate manner.
Intranets allow companies to integrate groupware or workflow enabled applications through the
design of Java applets. Companies can now see their workforce as holding multi-disciplinary roles
rather than fixed functions. Access is therefore needed to a wide range of information, as well
as to applications that can only be properly managed through workflow enabled or groupware products.
The impact of an Intranet can be illustrated by considering the following example. Imagine a company
with a workforce of 1000 people who need access to company policy changes, company news, price changes
on products, Human Resource procedures, internal and external phone and fax directories, products
specifications, etc.
The traditional way of providing such information is by employee handbooks, price lists, sales
guides, etc. This type of printed material is expensive and takes time to produce. It also takes time
to access as to be fully efficient and truly multifunctional, employees need to access a great deal
of diverse information.
The biggest problem with the provision of this information by the traditional printed route is that
the information cannot be readily or easily updated, causing problems throughout the organisation,
especially those with units and branches some distance from the core. Indeed, much internal printed
matter is out of date before it reaches the people that need it. Many corporate hours are lost just
confirming and verifying the validity of information.
The cost element of the provision of internal corporate information grows when production, distribution,
reprinting and updating costs are taken into account. The hidden costs can be truly astronomical.
The above example assumed a company with 1000 people. In reality the problems are exactly the same
with smaller companies of 10 or 20 people and of course, greatly compounded in larger companies.
The solution to the above problems require internal networks which possess the following characteristics:
- Ensures that relevant information can be held at a single source.
- Delivers that information on demand as and when needed.
- Guarantees that the information is the latest and most accurate available.
- Allows the information to be maintained by the people who would normally prepare and maintain it.
An Intranet possesses all of the above characteristics. Allied to the considerable cost savings,
it is easy to see why Intranets are becoming so popular and why so many organisations are considering
utilising Intranet technologies.
Intranets are very flexible. Networking technologies enable private Intranets to run through
external lines. Branch offices across the world can be connected across the Internet for the
price of a local telephone call. The data traffic on private systems runs through a secure virtual
network on the Internet, but is invisible to public users on the same wires. The result is a
wide area network crossing continents for a fraction of the cost of a dedicated leased line. It
is also very quick to set up and can be set up within a matter of hours.
An Intranet can host a wealth of information libraries, personnel databases, product descriptions
and specifications, price lists, company and management reports, financial information, bulletin
boards which can act as suggestion boxes allowing anyone connected to the network to contribute to
a number of ideas and issues. The opportunities and applications are limitless, and indeed there
are huge opportunities for organisations in interfacing their Intranets with the global Internet.
This is an extremely efficient way for companies to reap the benefits of the Internet as vast
amounts of information can be provided in an interactive manner as and when needed, to huge numbers
of people who it may otherwise be logistically impossible to reach.
The costs of sale can be kept down and the rate at which revenues are generated can be greatly
increased through automated online order-taking and fulfilment. The interfacing of an Intranet
with the Internet in the provision of such services will ensure that they are provided in a seamless
and efficient manner.
It is clear that companies utilising Intranets will have an edge over their competitors while
companies failing to embrace the use of Intranets will lose out as the competition does business
in a much faster way at reduced costs.
