06-09-2017, 12:50 PM
An intranet is a private network accessible only to the personnel of an organization. Generally, a wide range of information and services from the organization's internal IT systems are available and would not be available to the public through the Internet. An enterprise-wide intranet can be an important focal point for internal communication and collaboration, and can be a unique starting point for accessing internal and external resources. In its simplest form an intranet is established with technologies for local area networks (LAN) and wide area networks (WAN). Intranets began to appear in a range of larger organizations from 1994.
Increasingly, intranets are used to supply tools, eg. collaboration (to facilitate group work and teleconferencing) or sophisticated corporate directories, sales and customer relationship management tools, project management, etc., to advance productivity.
Intranets are also used as corporate culture change platforms. For example, a large number of employees discussing key issues in an intranet forum application could lead to new ideas in management, productivity, quality and other business issues.
In large intranets, website traffic is often similar to public website traffic and can be best understood by using web metrics software to track general activity. User surveys also improve the effectiveness of the intranet website.
Larger companies allow their intranet users to access the public Internet through firewalls. They have the ability to display messages that come and go while keeping security intact. When part of an intranet becomes accessible to clients and others outside the business, that part becomes part of an extranet. Businesses can send private messages over the public network, using special encryption / decryption and other security safeguards to connect one part of their intranet to another.
Intranet expertise, writing, and technology teams work together to produce internal sites. Most commonly, intranets are managed by the communications, human resources or CIO departments of large organizations, or some combination of these.
Because of the breadth and variety of content and the number of system interfaces, many organizations' intranets are much more complex than their respective public Web sites. Intranets and their use are growing rapidly. According to the annual design of the 2007 Intranet of the Nielsen Norman Group, the number of pages in participants' intranets averaged 200,000 during the years 2001 to 2003 and has grown to an average of 6 million pages during 2005-2007.
Increasingly, intranets are used to supply tools, eg. collaboration (to facilitate group work and teleconferencing) or sophisticated corporate directories, sales and customer relationship management tools, project management, etc., to advance productivity.
Intranets are also used as corporate culture change platforms. For example, a large number of employees discussing key issues in an intranet forum application could lead to new ideas in management, productivity, quality and other business issues.
In large intranets, website traffic is often similar to public website traffic and can be best understood by using web metrics software to track general activity. User surveys also improve the effectiveness of the intranet website.
Larger companies allow their intranet users to access the public Internet through firewalls. They have the ability to display messages that come and go while keeping security intact. When part of an intranet becomes accessible to clients and others outside the business, that part becomes part of an extranet. Businesses can send private messages over the public network, using special encryption / decryption and other security safeguards to connect one part of their intranet to another.
Intranet expertise, writing, and technology teams work together to produce internal sites. Most commonly, intranets are managed by the communications, human resources or CIO departments of large organizations, or some combination of these.
Because of the breadth and variety of content and the number of system interfaces, many organizations' intranets are much more complex than their respective public Web sites. Intranets and their use are growing rapidly. According to the annual design of the 2007 Intranet of the Nielsen Norman Group, the number of pages in participants' intranets averaged 200,000 during the years 2001 to 2003 and has grown to an average of 6 million pages during 2005-2007.