Intranets

What is an Intranet?

Simply put, an Intranet is an internal website that your company can use to share information and collaborate within the company. People outside the company do not have access to an Intranet. To get a general idea of what an Intranet is, you can visit my Intranet Demo Site.

Collaboration is the name of the game.

What kind of information goes in an Intranet?

I have worked at companies that have used Intranets for posting policies and procedures, human resources information, company news, department news, file libraries, and even customer account information. Their Intranet is the way they share information within the company in order to meet the needs of their clients.

What can an Intranet do for me?

First, let me point out that not just any Intranet will do. It has to be easy to maintain and contain valuable information for your employees. Besides improved communication and collaboration, an Intranet can help you reduce the time it takes to bring new employees up to speed. Once you flesh out your Intranet, it allows your new hires to easily find the resources they need to get their job done.

Recommended Intranet Sites

Why these sites?

You may be wondering why I recommend external websites to run an internal Intranet. The reason is simple. Most of my clients are small businesses. You have other plans for your resources, i.e. your money. You need something that can be up and running quickly rather than require months of development. Furthermore, you need something that is easy for your employees to adopt. You don't want to invest a great deal of time and energy on a system that is not used.

If you need something more powerful or flexible, these services are a great intermediate step to sell your workforce on the need for an Intranet. Once they learn the power of an Intranet, they will be able to tell you more specifically what they need one to do for them.

Furthermore, a traditional Intranet requires more than just software, it requires hardware to run it. Do you want to invest in a server? What about the additional resources to back up your data and provide technical support? The tools I listed above eliminate much of that overhead. You get the benefits without the headaches. All your company needs is a working internet connection.