Intranets - help your business make more money
How an intranet can help your business improve information flow, reduce management costs,
increase productivity and save you money.
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What is an Intranet?
Simply put it is the functions of the Internet used internally within your company.
This might include an internal web site, news feeds and electronic mail.
Advanced systems will use web browsers to access corporate data systems, such as
databases, sales figures, contact management and so on.
Implementing an Intranet is suprisingly simple, since the web and internet tools are so
widely available. For example, Microsoft NT comes free with an Internet/Intranet server
and you can simply add news and mail with Microsoft Exchange.
What can I do with an Intranet?
More than you would ever think possible...
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Typical Intranet Applications
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Sales
Price Lists
Product and Service details
Customer database
Supplier database
Contact Management
Graphical Product Catalogues
Technical Specifications
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Human Resources
Bulletin Boards
Announcements
Job Vacancies
Suggestions Box
Staff Photo's
Organisation Charts
Training Materials
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Operations
Standards Guides
Operational Procedures
Quality ISO 9000 documentation
Statutory documentation
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Marketing
Announcements
Adverts
Newsletters
Press Releases and clippings
Sales Promotions
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Customer Service
Problem logging and tracking
Shipping queries
Order queries
Manifests and shipping recipes
Sales order and despatch
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Finance
Purchase Orders
Budget reporting
Budget consolidation
Historical Data
Expense Claims
Mileage Claims
Mgmt support for payroll
Time Sheets
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Information & Library
Catalogues
Bibliographic databases
On-Line information feeds
News Feeds
Policy Documents
Statutory Documents
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General Office
"While you were out"
In/Out Boards
Telephone Lists
Location Lists
Organisation charts
Social Newsletters
Events Calendars
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Management
Meeting Agendas
Meeting Minutes
Public Minutes
Team Briefings
Missions Statements
Strategy Documents
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Technical
Software Archives
Technical Library
Help Desk
Knowledge Base
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Benefits of an Intranet
Why it works for you
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Ease of Use
Your standard web browser is the interface to all areas, this cuts training time and costs
and allows new applications to be introduced simply and quickly.
Speed of Implementation
Web sites allow new tools to be added at low costs. You only build on skills, not introduce new
skills all the time. Roll-outs can be modular, bit-by-bit. You can also implement
trial systems rapidly. The Intranet is a Rapid Application Development framework.
Low Cost
Nearly all the components are available at low-cost or even free. An Intranet sits
alongside your existing systems, so there is no replacement costs. Deployment to
the desktop is often free.
Caters for Small and Large
Just like other web sites an Intranet works for both small and large companies,
the benefits can be found for 6 or 6,000 staff.
The return of the paperless office
OK, we know you've heard it all before, but it really does help! Internal publishing
saves photocopying costs if nothing else! That 100 pages sales manual - costs you nothing
on the Intranet. Save on photography, typesetting, printing, paper and distribution.
And, if you made a mistake in the first version, it only takes seconds to fix it, you don't
need to reprint or issue erratta.
Fast Return on Investment
Studies have shown remarkable ROI's, upto 1500% in 8 weeks! The point is that the
roll-out is fairly cheap, but the productivity improvement so great.
Open Systems
The Intranet is fully open (like its big brother the Internet) so there is no
vendor lock-in, no proprietary grip. You are free to choose the best of breed
packages.
Available across the organisation
The Intranet is available across all computer platforms, PC's, Macintosh,
Unix and even more obscure machines. Nobody is cut out of the system
with an Intranet. And there is no high cross-connectivity costs either.
New technologies also let you use the web browser to access your old ASCII terminal
software from the PC desktop.
Accessible around the world
Your Intranet can be made available to users in other offices, even if they are on the
far side of the world. You don't have to, and you can make it secure. But imagine
working from home or on the road using your standard office documents. With new
NT technology you could even use your office applications over the Internet.
Graphical Environment
The web is intrinsically graphical, so staff photos, product shots, technical diagrams,
company logos... they all appear in full colour. And of course the user interface
to the system itself is graphical and easy to use.
Again, imagine the reduction in costs in circulating presentations or technical information
over the intranet.
Improved Internal Communication
That elusive goal of so many organisations, but when corporate information is
hot-linked, cross referenced, fully indexed and available at the push of a button then
communication and understanding improves.
And there is a knock-on effect, it enhances job satisfaction and increases people's
effectiveness. It improves decision making at all levels.
Information is up to date
It is always current when published, no chance of an out of date price list being used.
So you can avoid:
Wrong prices or margins
Wrong technical specifications
Wrong delivery forecasts
Using wrong forms and policies
No, "I'll just need to check..."
So your service internally and externally improves and reduces costly errors.
Instant Information without the middle man
Because the Intranet cuts out the middle man there are no more time wasting calls
trying to hunt down the right answer. You can also eliminate the whole wasted time
retrieving and relaying information using paper distribution.
Easy to grow
And once the core technology is in place, you can continue to add to it, quickly and simply.
Want more information? No problem.
Want new applications? No problem.
Adding more users? No problem.
Indeed just think, you might previously have emailed a document using thousands of kilobytes
of disk space and network bandwidth. Now you post it once, available on demand, when needed
and only when required.
How to put it together
The components you need are what they do.
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Web Server
The hub of the system, this can run on your NT or Unix machine. A fairly light-weight
application itself it can comfortably sit alongside other applications and does not need its
own machine.
Proxy Web Server
If you also have connection out to the Internet, then a proxy web server will manage and
reduce access costs. A proxy server does this by storing frequently accessed pages locally
improving the speed and capacity of your network.
E-Mail Server
The e-mail server routes mail between users within the organisation. It can also
send and receive mail to the outside world via the Internet if you want.
Again your email server can run on NT or Unix.
News and Forum Server
Forum servers manage group discussions, making it easy to run bulletin boards
and share information widely. These systems only really make sense in larger
organisations. But a forum server can also be used for functions such as helpdesk
and technical libraries.
Web Browser Software
The web browser handles the display of text and graphics on each individuals desktop
computer or terminal. There are browsers available for (almost) any platform, including
PC's, Mac's and plain ASCII green screens.
Current browsers will often support email and news forums from within the browser.
Web Authoring Software
There are many ways to generate web pages, ours are usually hand crafted, but you
can dump pages straight out of MS-Word and MS-Office. Most packages now support some
kind of HTML, web export facility.
Web Management
Your IT staff will need some tools to ensure the web is kept up and error free, this
are usually fully automated and will call for help only when needed.
Database Integration
A common requirement is to link the Intranet to an existing database. There are
many standards based tools which support most of the common formats, whether they
are PC based, or industrial strength like Oracle or Informix. Again the MS NT/BackOffice
environment comes fully integrated with SQL-Server.
Firewalls and Security
A firewall prevents the open access to your web server turning into open access
to all your corporate information. You can protect your Intranet from external access.
You can prevent internal users crossing over into secure or protected areas. So even
with an Intranet there is no chance of staff being able to read the chairmans payroll data.
There is a lot of talk about security and the Internet/Intranet. The core truth is that
the problems are fixable, but the issue is overhyped and your security problems probably
lie elsewhere (like walking out with a computer in a briefcase!).
Similarly there has been a lot of hype about computer viruses. This is a real world
problem and again is fixable. You are also more likely to be infected through diskette
drives on users desktop PC's though than through an Internet connection.
Although we feel the hype is overstated, security is important and should be addressed.
Want to know more?
Interesting so far, but how will it work for you?
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We are happy to provide further information, we can answer your simple queries
through to developing your entire Intranet strategy. Watch out here for tools
to be announced shortly to support Intranet functions.
If you already have Microsoft NT or BackOffice you are nearly there, if you just
need the final push to get it all started we can help.
Whatever you need, please call 01242 25500 or mail
intranet@c2000.com.
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