Do not rely on "Messages in Bottles" !!
When it is necessary to communicate efficiently and effectively within an organisation, an Intranet is a critical tool.

An Intranet will provide a central portal for staff to communicate and receive regular updates about your company.

See out Portfolio of Intranet Clients, or contact us today for a FREE Consultation, on how we can help you business.

What exactly is an Intranet?

An intranet is a network within an organisation that uses Internet, Web Browser based, technologies to enable users to find, use, and share documents and Web pages. Corporations use intranets to communicate with employees.

In some large companies intranets are used as the primary way for employees to obtain and share work-related documents, collaborate on designs, access e-learning, share a knowledge-base, enter Project Timesheets, see a calendar of events and learn about company news.

With the appropriate security features in place, authorised users, external to your organisation (EXTRANET) such as your remote workers, suppliers, partners or clients can also use it to collaborate, access policies and proceedure, communicate and share information.

Extranets are networks that connect companies with customers and partners. When it comes to extranets, a company has to work with the other organisations on the network, so that it’s available to specific people or groups outside of an organisation. Extranets require more security and technical consideration because they have to send private information securely over public networks.

Benefits of using an Intranet

• Managing a Contact Management system, of Customers, Suppliers & Colleagues
• Managing Meetings, Tasks and Telephone Calls
• Central repository of Project Timesheets and expense sheets
• Catalog of Customer Presentations, Project Documents, Product Specifications and brochures
• Display Company news, available jobs, new initiative or even the cateen lunch menu
• Company Safety Statements, Policies & Procedures & HR related documents
• Scheduling meetings and sharing calendars with colleagues and remote workers
• eLearning and access to online training materials
• Managing and delegating action items and project tasks
• Perform staff wide surveys and online polls
• Centrally manage and maintain company databases and information stores

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Why build a corporate intranet? Developers will tell you because we can. A better answer is that it is an effective tool to combat the waste of time, effort and materials within an organisation at the same time generating new opportunities for collaboration and productivity. For the first time, an organisation has the ability to put one, open-standards, thin client (the Web browser) as the interface to their corporate data and business processes.

The genuine benefits of intranet creation can be summarised below. A good example of a tangible benefit is the reduction in paper cost from moving processes online. Certain statistics quote that 18% of corporate printed material becomes outdated after 30 days. Imagine, that after 60 or 90 days. Now, imagine if that material were always online and current.

Genuine Benefits

• Inexpensive to implement
• Easy to use, just point and click
• Saves time and money, better information faster - reduces the need to Print or even  Email documents, which clogs up mail servers.
• Scaleable and flexible
• Based on open standards
• Connects across disparate platforms
• Puts users in control of their data

Intangible benefits of an intranet
It is not only the removal of paper that leads to organisational benefit. What is done with that information in this new Web-enabled environment, or as Bill gates would say - "A Company's Digital Nervous System") has a huge impact. Intranets allow an organisation to spend less time on things that bring no value such as chasing down the right information to solve a problem.

Productivity increases as company-wide knowledge is more accessible and the data is more accurate. Flexibility in time of delivery of knowledge is gained as information is always a click away. Intranets allow for a place where boundaries are lowered and information exchange is encouraged. This leads to more informed employees with the ability to make better, faster decisions. This in turn leads to better productivity and more time for revenue generation.

Intangible Benefits

• Improved decision making
• Empowered users
• Builds a culture of sharing and collaboration
• Facilitates organizational learning
• Breaks down bureaucracy
• Improved quality of life at work
• Improved productivity

more information about Intranets can be found on www.intranetroadmap.com