Intranets: Collaboration and Knowledge Management Made Easy

Did you know that you can have private websites for internal use by your employees? Track clients, schedules, and information to make your business more effective.

For many organizations, their websites are broken down into two groups: The internet and the intranet.

The internet is what you generally associate with websites. Pages and applications meant for all users. Intranets, however, are different. These sites are intended to be used only by employees of an organization. Examples include calendars, human resources data, client tracking, and company address books.

Most companies use intranets as a knowledge warehouse. This enables any employee, at any level to effectively learn or find information with a few keystrokes. This allows the secretary, answering the telephone, to find information for a customer without having to transfer a call. It allows sales staff to find detailed technical information on a product without having to track down a developer. It allows the CEO to track the overall development of the company's clients, knowledge, and day-to-day affairs.

Many companies are using standard technologies to make intranets viable and easy to use. Content Management Systems (like Movable Type) lower the barrier for new information to be added to the intranet. Weblogs maintained by staff offer an intimate look at their work process and make it easy to account for hours spent. Company-wide shared calendars make it easy to find employees and schedule events. Wikis allow company-specific knowledge bases to grow organically, with the input of dozens of users.

At Heideldesign, we use weblogs, calendars, and project tracking tools to keep us on track and in sync with our customers, timelines, and expectations. How can intranets help your business? Give us a call and let's count the ways.