Intranets

intranet

An intranet is a private network accessible only to an organization’s staff.

Increasingly, businesses are relying on intranets to deliver tools such as collaboration, scheduling, customer relationship management tools, and project management to increase the productivity of the organization.

Unlike the Internet, an internal intranet provides a wide range of information and services to employees of an organization but these tools and information are unavailable to the public. A company-wide intranet is an important focal point of internal communication and collaboration, and can provide a business with a single starting point to access both internal and external resources. Larger businesses allow users within their intranet to access the public Internet through firewall servers. Because businesses have the ability to screen both incoming and outgoing traffic, they are able to keep the security of the intranet intact.

Advantages of Using an Intranet

• Workforce productivity. Intranets can help users quickly locate and view information and use applications they need.
• Enhanced collaboration. Information is easily accessible by all authorized users which enables teamwork. Being able to communicate in real-time through integrated third party tools promotes the sharing of ideas and helps boost a business’ productivity
• Time Savings. Intranets allow organizations to distribute information to employees on an as-needed basis in real time. Employees may access relevant information as soon as the organization makes it available on the intranet.
• Reduced Costs. Users can view information and data via web-browser rather than maintaining physical documents such as procedure manuals, internal phone list and requisition forms. This can potentially save the business money on printing, duplicating documents, and storage.
• Improved Communication. Intranets can serve as powerful tools for communication within an organization.

Extranets

extranet

When outside parties, like customers and suppliers, are provided access to a subset of the information accessible on an organization’s intranet, the intranet becomes an extranet.

For example, a large construction company may share drawings with architects or inspectors, photographs with their customers, and loan documents with their bankers by using online applications that allow these external parties to access and even make changes to documents. In essence, the company will use an extranet to manage project-related communications. Data such as invoices and orders that were traditionally transmitted via paper can now instantly be shared among organizations. Some of the most sophisticated extranets are run by large retailers like Walmart and Target who constantly transmit data via their extranet to vendors and suppliers, ensuring that merchandise arrives when it is needed, where it is needed.

Advantages of Using an Extranet

• Build customer relationships. Customers who are provided access to timely information about product availability, specifications, and cost increase their efficiency. In business-to-business relationships, the more information a business makes available to their customers, the more likely they are to retain that business. Information sharing also allows greater collaboration with other companies on joint development efforts
• Reduced margin of error. An extranet can reduce a company’s margin of error thereby reducing or eliminating costly errors, especially with something as complex as processing orders from distributors and suppliers. Customers can be given access to their accounts to verify order history, account balances, and payments.
• Timely and accurate information. A business can instantly change, edit, and update sensitive information such as price lists or inventory information. Compared to typical paper-based publishing processes, an extranet offers a unique opportunity to quickly get information into the right hands before it’s out-of-date.
• Reduced inventory. One of the greatest advantages of a business-to-business extranet is its impact on supply-chain management. By linking the inventory system directly to a supplier, businesses can process orders as soon as the system knows they are needed, reducing the stock a business keeps on hand and generally making the procurement process more efficient.
• Flexibility. A well designed extranet allows remote and mobile staff to access core business information 24 hours a day, no matter their location. This allows employees to work remotely or respond to critical requests for information after normal working hours. As businesses expand globally, the ability to work across time zones is enhanced by the establishment of an extranet.