Intranet
A well-organized intranet allows an organization to effectively facilitate internal operations from a "private" Internet interface. With an intranet, organizations' employees can collaborate on and access information over a consistent medium.
Intranets can be as simple or complex as an organization sees fit. Many organizations use intranets to house electronic documents pertaining to human resource procedures. This can include company benefits, leave information and forms, employee manuals, and possibly even training materials. With the right tools, automation systems can be put in place to integrate multiple human resource applications, making the task of managing many employees simpler.
Human resource applications are only the tip of the iceberg. Intranets can aid project collaboration and management, streamline legal processes, and aid in day to day business procedures.
Establishing an effective intranet can be time consuming, but once in place the benefits are numerous:
- Intranets aid workforce productivity by helping users quickly locate and view information. The information is available anywhere the user has access to the intranet, depending on security settings, increasing the user's ability perform jobs faster and more accurately.
- Intranets help organizations save time by making more information available when the information is needed. Unnecessary phone calls and emails are eliminated.
- Intranets can serve as powerful communication tools within organizations. Using an intranet, an organization can provide global information, announcements and initiatives, keeping staff up to date and focused.
- Intranets allow large bodies of corporate documentation to be housed and accessed through common formats, such as pdf files, news feeds, and Flash files. In addition, these documents can be updated in one location, yet made available to the global organization.
- Businesses benefit by deploying applications to support business procedures over a common interface.
- Once established, intranets are cost effective, eliminating the costs associated with producing and distributing paper documentation.
