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Benefits of intranets and extranets

A key requirement in today's business environment is the ability to communicate more
effectively, both internally with your employees and externally with your trading partners and
customers.

An intranet is a private - internal - business network that enables your employees to share
information, collaborate, and improve their communications.

An extranet enables your business to communicate and collaborate more effectively with
selected business partners, suppliers and customers. An extranet can play an important role
in enhancing business relationships and improving supply chain management.

This guide explains the benefits that intranets and extranets can bring to your business and
reviews some of the key issues you will need to consider when planning to introduce them.

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What is an intranet
In essence, an intranet is a business' own private website. It is a confidential business
network that uses the same underlying structure and network protocols as the internet and is
protected from unauthorised users by a firewall.

Because intranets are secure and easily accessible via the internet, they enable staff to do
work from any location simply by using a web browser. This can help small businesses to be
flexible and control office overheads by allowing employees to work from almost any location,
including their home and customer sites.

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Online office intranet or web offices

Other types of intranet are available that merge the regular features of intranets with those
often found in software such as Microsoft Office. These are known as online offices or web
offices. Creating a web office will allow you to organise and manage information and share
documents and calendars using a familiar web browser function, which is accessible from
anywhere in the world.

Common intranet components

Intranets can host far more than just company information and policies. Types of content
commonly found on intranets include:

administrative - calendars, emergency procedures, meeting room bookings, procedure

manuals and membership of internal committees and groups
corporate - business plans, client/customer lists, document templates, branding
guidelines, mission statements, press coverage and staff newsletters
financial - annual reports and organisational performance
IT - virus alerts, tips on dealing with problems with hardware, software and networks,
policies on corporate use of email and internet access and a list of online training
courses and support
marketing - competitive intelligence with links to competitor websites, corporate
brochures, latest marketing initiatives, press releases, presentations
human resources - appraisal procedures and schedules, employee policies, expenses
forms and annual leave requests, staff discount schemes, new vacancies
individual projects - current project details, team contact information, project
management information, project documents, time and expense reporting
external information resources - route planning and mapping sites, industry
organisations, research sites and search engines

Read about benefits of an intranet [2].

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Benefits of an intranet
If implemented successfully, an intranet can bring many benefits to your business. Some of
the main advantages of an intranet are:

Better internal communications - intranets can act as communication hubs for staff.

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Corporate information such as memos, staff news and announcements can be stored
centrally and accessed at any time.
Sharing of resources and best practice - a virtual workspace and community can be
created to facilitate information storing, sharing and collaborative working. An intranet
can also act as a training platform when providing online training content to staff.
Improved customer service - better access to accurate and consistent information by
your staff can lead to enhanced levels of customer service.

Business efficiency and intranets

Your business' efficiency can be improved by using your intranet for:

publishing - delivering information and business news as directories and web

documents
document management - viewing, printing and working collaboratively on office
documents such as spreadsheets or databases
training - accessing and delivering various types of e-learning to the user's desktop
workflow - automating a range of administrative processes, including dealing with
holiday requests, staff performance reviews and appraisals, meeting room and
equipment booking, etc
front-end to corporate systems - providing a common interface to corporate databases
and business information systems
email - integrating intranet content with email services so that information can be
distributed effectively

It is a good idea to give your intranet a different image and structure from your customer-
facing website. This will help to give your internal communications their own identity and
prevent employees confusing internal and external information.

Read about the common types of intranet content in what is an intranet [4].

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How to set up an intranet

Any business, regardless of its size, can benefit from creating a simple company intranet to
store important information and documents - see benefits of an intranet [5].

Planning an intranet

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There are many important questions to consider when planning an intranet, including:

what size should it be

what functionality should it have
how much will it cost
who will be using the intranet eg all staff or specific teams or departments
what will you use it for eg file storage, collaborative working, bulletin board, etc
what type of documents or databases will it feature
what content will it hold and who will create, publish and manage it

Look at your requirements carefully to make sure your investment is worthwhile. It might help
to speak to your staff and see which features they would find most useful in an intranet.

Technical considerations for intranets

Once you define the functionality you want, look at the technical aspects of developing an
intranet. Think about things like:

how will it look and what templates will need to be devised

what content management system will you use
what other applications it needs to support
what security precautions need to be in place
how much bandwidth you will need

The biggest consideration will be whether to create and host your intranet in-house or go with
an alternative solution, such as cloud hosting, external hosting, or 'pay as you go' and
commissioning solutions. Consider the pros and cons of internal or external intranet hosting
[6].

Intranet costs

There are a number of costs you will need to take into account when setting up and running
your intranet. These include:

server costs
server administrator services, especially if contracted
intranet development and design
intranet software costs
application development
content management systems
security hardware and software
staff training
ongoing maintenance

Once you know your budget, functionality and technical requirements, you should define your
specifications and approach potential suppliers. Find out how to choose and manage your IT
supplier [7].

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Internal or external intranet hosting

You can host your intranet internally (in-house) or externally on a third party server or in the
cloud. There are pros and cons to each of the options.

Hosting your intranet in-house

To set up a secure and reliable intranet in-house, you will need five main components:

web server to host it on, including server hardware and software

a computer network
security mechanisms, such as firewall hardware and software, and back up systems
content management software for creating, publishing and managing content on the
intranet
other web-based business applications, eg for conferencing, customer relationship
management, e-learning, etc

Setting up servers and software to run the intranet in-house will require a certain level of
technical expertise or, alternatively, involving an IT supplier or consultant to help with the
project. See how to set up an intranet [8] and choose and manage your IT supplier [9].

However, once you have the expertise and the infrastructure in place, hosting your intranet
in-house will most likely deliver an effective system, with good controls and security options. It
will also give you assurance that all the confidential data held on the intranet is kept safe
on-site, minimising the risk of misuse and data breaches.

External intranet hosting

Third party intranet hosting and cloud hosting may be good options to consider if:

you don't have your own intranet infrastructure or expertise to set it up

you are running a small business with no dedicated IT staff
your network server has limited capacity
you dont want to commit to a large investment in new hardware and software

Some of the concerns with external intranet hosting include:

security your data is exposed and handled by a third party

costs initial set up fees may be lower in comparison to in-house hosting, but
additional costs for technical support, maintenance or exceeding upload/download
quotas can arise
customer support you are relying on their technical support in case of any issues
technical support the third party provider may not support all the technologies and
applications you would ideally wish to have

See more on cloud computing [10] and website hosting options [11].

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What is an extranet
An extranet is similar to an intranet but it is made accessible to external partners such as
business partners, suppliers, key customers, etc, for exchanging data and applications and
sharing information.

An extranet can also be used by staff working remotely, eg those in sales or customer
support, or home workers.

Extranet users should be a well-defined group and access must be protected by rigorous
identification routines and security features.

Four main reasons to use an extranet

An extranet can be a useful tool for the following business needs:

1. Using online ordering, electronic order tracking and inventory management internally or
externally, with selected partners.
2. Working flexibly to meet the demands of larger companies, by adopting new
technologies and enabling the exchange of business information and transactions.
3. Facilitating a cheap and efficient way for businesses to connect with their trading
partners and suppliers, and allowing them access to the information they need 24 hours
a day.
4. Automating the trading tasks between you and your trading partners, in order to
strengthen business relationships and integrate your business firmly within their supply
chain.

See benefits of an extranet [12] and how to plan for extranets [13].

Key issues to consider

Bear in mind that once you make parts of your business data available to trading partners,
they will expect it to be:

available
up to date
secure at all times

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Availability and security are key factors in the success of an extranet.

Significant resources may be required to keep the content of the extranet accurate and up to
date. This might involve staff training and using CMS to manage intranets and extranets [14].

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Benefits of an extranet
An extranet can offer a range of benefits to your business from lowering costs, to producing
faster results and improving the quality of service to customers.

Advantages of extranets

Benefits can depend to a large degree on your reasons for introducing the extranet in the first
place. However, the types of benefits that organisations using extranets typically experience
include:

more integrated supply chains through the use of online ordering, order tracking and
inventory management
reduced costs by making manuals and technical documentation available online to
trading partners and customers
more effective collaboration between business partners - perhaps members of a
project team - by enabling them to work online on common documentation
improved business relationships with key trading partners because of the close
collaborative working that extranets support
improved customer service by giving customers direct access to information and
enabling them to resolve their own queries
a single user interface between you and your business partners
improving the security of communications between you and your business partners,
since exchanges can take place under a controlled and secure environment
shared news of product development exclusively with partner companies
flexible working for your own staff, as an extranet allows remote and mobile staff to
access core business information 24 hours a day, irrespective of location

See how to plan for extranets [13].

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How to plan for extranets

If you are considering introducing an intranet or extranet into your business, you should
ensure that it is flexible enough to meet not only your immediate requirements, but also your
needs as your business grows.

Identify your objectives

Make sure your objectives are clear. Ask yourself:

Will you restrict access to your site, or will you allow all of your customers to use it?
Do you want to promote flexible working in your business by catering for your remote
workforce?
How will you measure the success of your investment?

What information will it contain?

Identify the information that will need to be made available in order to meet your objectives:

What kind of company information do you need on your intranet? For example,
company policies, news, forms and corporate branding.
Do you need to make all of your production and sales information available to your
partners via your extranet, or will discrete sub-sections be sufficient?

Technical considerations for extranets

For your extranet, you will need:

web server hardware and software - the size of the server will depend on the number of
potential users and whether or not you will need a lot of bandwidth to support
audiovisual content, eg video feeds
computers connected via a local area network - a closed, private network
firewall software and hardware - to prevent unauthorised access from outside your
organisation
a content management system - to add and update intranet content

Alternatively, you could commission an external provider to design, maintain and 'host' your
extranet for a monthly fee - users log on to the extranet via the provider's website. This might
be a good arrangement if your business is just starting up - you can develop your own intranet

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once your business has grown and you have more funds available. See how to choose the
right internet service provider [15].

Support costs

Identify the support costs that will be required to run the site on a day-to-day basis. Will you
require technical support - if so, at what level? You should also consider how the content will
be managed.

Security

Remember that security is paramount, since any security incident will directly affect not only
you but also your key business partners. You should establish what levels of security are
provided when choosing a technology solution. Read about IT security [16].

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Using a CMS to manage intranets and

extranets
Any information on an intranet or extranet must be kept up-to-date and accurate. The easiest
way to ensure this, is to use content management systems (CMS) for managing and updating
information.

What is a CMS?

A CMS is a system for adding, managing and publishing content to an intranet, extranet or a
website. The system has a simple web-browser interface, which makes it easy to use even for
those without prior IT expertise.

Content is created within the CMS using templates, which allow you to:

input data easily

ensure that content is displayed consistently across the site
manage existing content more effectively

CMS features that are particularly useful when managing intranets and extranets include:

user rights administration to define who can publish, edit, review and manage

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information
password control leading to a high level of data security
high performance search solutions
integration with other systems such as customer or corporate databases, or internal
platforms

Find out more about content management systems [17] and advantages of using a content
management system [18].

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Links:
[1] https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content-category/it
[2] https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/benefits-intranet
[3] http://www.investni.com/support-for-business/operating-efficiencies/it-and-commerce.html
[4] https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/what-intranet
[5] https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/node/4971
[6] https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/node/16847
[7] https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/node/1995
[8] https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/how-set-intranet
[9] https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/choose-it-supplier-your-business
[10] https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/cloud-computing
[11] https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/website-hosting-options
[12] https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/benefits-extranet
[13] https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/how-plan-extranets
[14] https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/using-cms-manage-intranets-and-extranets
[15] https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/choose-internet-service-provider-your-business
[16] https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/protect-your-business-online
[17] https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/content-management-systems
[18] https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/advantages-using-content-management-system

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