Benefits of Intranets to Business

An intranet is a private computer network that uses Internet Protocol technologies to securely share any part of an organization’s information or operational systems within that organization. Almost every business that operates in an office premise setup intranets nowadays.

What are the things to consider to setup intranet and what are the benefits of intranets to business?

Setting Up Intranets to Business

3 things to consider when setting up intranets to ensure the benefits of intranets to business:

1. Security access
Since everything is centralized and people are connected, it is very important to make sure that there are no security breach.

2. Log setting
If there is a log function, log everything that could help in tracing back any illegal or breach of trust activities that happens.

3. Hardware compatibility
Make sure that the hardware are of at least same level of specs in the intranet environment. For example, you wouldn’t want a PC with 100Mbps of connection speed talking to a PC with 10Mbps of connection speed.

Benefits of Intranets to Business

4 major benefits of intranets to business are:

1. Effective communications
When people are connected with intranet inside a business, there is no such need to use phone calls or walking around to communicate with each other, especially when they are located in different areas of the business or company premise. With intranet, there could be an internal instant messaging system that allows the employee to communicate with each other more effectively and this would save a lot of time and resources.

2. Centralized resources
When you have an intranet, you can dedicate special computers for special purpose. A file server can be setup to serve as a central resource area where all the files are stored, so that it is easy to backup and maintain. While a print server may serve as the place where everybody spool their documents to be printed and thus savings the additional costs to add printer to everyone who needs it.

3. Productivity
There would be faster, easier, more flexible, and open communication, as information can be pulled just-in-time. More productive collaboration could happen due to better learning and knowledge management.

4. Security and log
Different level of users will have different level of access to different resources in the intranet, and since everybody is connected in a centralized system, a business can log every activities that happens in the intranet environment, making sure that no breach of trust or internal unethical business practices happens.

Of course, there may be other benefits of intranets to business but the 4 major benefits listed above are good enough reasons for business to setup their very own intranets.

Bear in mind as well that the benefits of intranets to business and the impact of this transformation is primarily social and organizational, not technical.

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