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Intranet strategies

In business, an intranet strategy is the use of an intranet and associated hardware and software to obtain one or more organizational objectives. An intranet is an access-restricted network used internally in an organization. An intranet uses the same concepts and technologies as the world wide web and internet. This includes web browsers and servers running on the internet protocol suite and using internet protocols such as ftp, TCP/IP, HTML and email.

Role of intranets

Intranets are generally used for four types of applications:

• 1) Communication and collaboration
  • send and receive e-mail, faxes, voice mail, and paging
  • discussion rooms and chat rooms
  • audio and video conferencing
  • virtual team meetings and project collaboration
• 2) Web publishing
  • develop and publish hyperlinked multi-media documents such as:
    • policy manuals
    • company newsletters
    • product catalogs
    • technical drawing
    • training material
    • telephone directories
• 3) Business operations and management
  • order processing
  • inventory control
  • production setup and control
  • management information systems
  • database access
• 4) Intranet portal management
  • centrally administer all network functions including servers, clients, security, directories, and traffic
  • gives users access to a variety of internal and external business applications
  • it integrates many different technologies

Potential advantages of using Intranets

• - 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 whole 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

Potential disadvantages and limitations of Intranets

• - it is an evolving technology that could require 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
• - some media such as video is slow
• - maintaining content is time consuming
• - some employees may be without PCs at their desks

See also:

• Information technology management
• extranet
• internet
• web portal
• marketing
• strategic management
• strategic planning
• management
• management information systems

Finding related topics

• list of information technology management topics
• list of management topics
• list of computing topics
• list of marketing topics
• list of Internet topics
• list of economics topics
• list of finance topics
• list of accounting topics
• list of human resource management topics
• list of business law topics
• list of production topics
• list of business ethics, political economy, and philosophy of business topics
• list of business theorists
• list of economists
• list of corporate leaders
• list of companies

Further reading

• N. Cox, Building and managing a Web services Team, New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1997)