Convinced of these advantages, companies in industries ranging from aerospace to entertainment and banking to manufacturing have already implemented intranets and report significant savings in operations costs and improvements in staff productivity. Although the range of applications that can be developed to meet industry-specific or general needs is virtually limitless, intranet applications generally fit into one of three categories:

• Communication occurs on a one-to-many basis between teams, departments, or entire corporations by posting of information on web pages, reducing bulky, easily outdated paper-based documents. This use of an intranet brings an immediate payback to organizations, eliminating the costs of producing, printing, and shipping corporate information.
• Applications enable two-way interactions, such as logging help desk requests or enrolling for benefits. Whether an employee needs to develop a report, analyze data, or learn about the company's customers, using web technology linked to legacy data can be an intuitive and efficient alternative to the frustrations of "telephone tag" or paper pushing.
• Collaboration represents many-to-many interactions. This category includes newsgroups that facilitate direct exchanges of information between members, with posted information available to others, resulting in a corporate "knowledge base." People subscribe and can view a screen with subject lines, authors, and news article numbers. Each of these items is the beginning of a "thread" that starts when someone sends out an article or email; then readers can trace these threads deeper as they wish.

SALES AND MARKETING APPLICATIONS

• product specs, pricing charts, and new collateral
• sales leads
• competitive information - by means of immediate access to accurate information on company World Wide Web sites
• lists of key customer wins, including win/loss analysis
• program calendars documenting marketing activities and sales forecasts
• online training materials
• sales presentations

Transaction applications with a web browser client, coupled with industry-standard databases, help marketing departments maintain and access a database of key customers and references. Salespeople can use transaction applications to place orders, check order status, and complete the paperwork surrounding a sale.

For example, by publishing multimedia files on the intranet, is saving thousands of dollars previously incurred for printing, duplication of videocassettes, and distribution of marketing campaign materials among 200 to 300 sales representatives. The intranet eliminates the time and effort involved in distributing these materials and gives the sales force instant access from any location.

In collaborative applications, sales and marketing teams share expertise that improve their success rate in specific sales situations. Newsgroups might focus on

• issues surrounding winning deals against a particular competitor: weak points, rebuttals, and the latest tactics of the competitor as experienced by sales people in the field;
• feedback and discussion of various marketing programs, working solutions, and suggestions for improvement; and
• threaded discussions about specific accounts or issues to help sales representatives exchange information about the challenges of a particular segment or customer.

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT APPLICATIONS

• product specifications, designs, schedule milestones, and changes;
• team member listings and responsibilities;
• customer issues; and
• features of key competitive products.

Multimedia entertainment company Electronic Arts uses newsgroups to enable teams to discuss projects and collaborate by means of a web. This way, Electronic Arts can quickly assemble virtual workgroups to tackle a project regardless of where employees are located. Employees can access the information they want, review the history of discussions, and come up to speed quickly if they're starting on a project already in progress. Web-based client-server applications enable Electronic Arts team members to request or submit specific information. Used in conjunction with a database, intranet applications allow team members to log and query product test results. These applications can also be used to submit a request to patent a recent development, and send the appropriate forms and information directly to the corporate legal department.

Collaborative applications facilitate the discussions and exchange of ideas that are such a critical part of product development - for example, in threads focusing on

• expertise on specific issues in product development;
• forums for brainstorming new ideas and critiquing proposed approaches; and
• customer feedback from sales, marketing, and customer service.

CUSTOMER SERVICE AND SUPPORT APPLICATIONS

• share up-to-date status reports on problems so that all team members can respond to customer calls;
• get the most up-to-date information on the status of customers' orders;
• be alerted immediately to any important changes, such as special offers or issues; and
• train online to respond to customer queries and complaints.

Community applications enable service and support staff to delve more deeply into specific issues. Newsgroup threads provide a forum for detailed discussions of underlying factors with recurrent customer problems and an open exchange about which solutions have succeeded or failed thus far. In addition, newsgroups alert particular staff members to changes or other significant information.

HUMAN RESOURCES APPLICATIONS

• benefits information and enrollment
• corporate policies
• company mission and goals
• job postings and internal job transfer forms
• searchable telephone directories
• the annual report
• employee development
• departmental and personal home pages
• classified bulletin boards of items for sale, housing, etc.
• medical referrals

Client-server applications eliminate much of the routine paper processing that HR departments typically handle while providing employees with immediate access to their personal information. Access can be restricted to certain departments or users. Secure applications can enable

• online employee enrollment in benefit plans, such as 401K programs;
• employee surveys;
• employee lookup of vacation balances, options, etc.; and
• online submission of employee status change forms by employee survey managers.

Newsgroups hosted by HR departments are particularly valuable within large companies because they deliver a quick and cost-effective way of communicating with specific groups of people such as senior managers, people with 401K accounts, and employees with dependents. Such newsgroups simplify the task of informing employees about changes in corporate policy that would affect them, and provide a forum for discussion among those with shared interests.

FINANCE APPLICATIONS

Carefully monitoring financial indicators helps a company set clear objectives for its managers. It has always been a significant challenge to provide access to important financial information securely, in an easy-to-use, online manner. But with intranet applications, finance departments can more easily disseminate this information to key managers by securely posting corporate financial data or by providing simple forms-based query capabilities.

The purchasing side of financial operations can also benefit from intranet applications. Using the same products that enable "cybermalls" on the public Internet today, companies can simplify electronic software distribution, billing, and purchasing of supplies by providing an internal web-based mall that offers all company-approved products.

OTHER APPLICATIONS


Numerous other corporate departments, such as legal or MIS groups, currently using paper-based forms or policies can reap the benefits of making transaction applications available through intranets. Not only does an intranet automate request processing and eliminate the possibilities of lost paperwork, but it completely erases the costs associated with paper printing and distribution.