Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Why set up an intranet

Companies are looking for an open-architecture, cost-effective solution for distributing information throughout their organization. Employees want better information faster. The intranet offers this solution.

As on the Internet the Web browser is the universal interface for the intranet. Never before has a company had the ability to set up a network where all the operations run from one interface that can run on disparate platforms. Now the UNIX user can communicate with the MAC user who can then communicate with the Windows user.

This universal interface will decrease the learning curve of new applications, decreases the need for costly proprietary software upgrades at the desktop and provide a common look and feel to all applications.

An intranet is surprisingly inexpensive to implement. Browsers such as Netscape Navigator and the Microsoft Internet Explorer are almost free. A simple Web server can be set up for a few thousand dollars and someone can even download free server software from the Internet. Many companies can maintain an intranet with only one person. With the advent of many HTML authoring tools the publishing of content for the intranet grows ever easier.

The intranet provides a way for employees to gain better access to more time-sensitive information. The intranet can end the paper trail of many office applications. Now that information is published on the intranet instead of printed in a company paper newsletter the employee can make faster more informed decisions. In summary, the benefits on an intranet include:

  1. Easy to set up and administer
  2. Open Architecture
  3. Universal interface
  4. Inexpensive
  5. Connects all operating system platforms
  6. Cost effective
  7. Faster access to information
  8. Better Decision making
  9. Build and share knowledge