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Chapter 3 E-business infrastructure 117

Intranet applications
Intranets are used extensively for supporting sell-side e-commerce from within the marketing
function. They are also used to support core supply-chain management activities as described
in the next section on extranets. A marketing intranet has the following advantages:
Reduced product lifecycles – as information on product development and marketing
campaigns is rationalized we can get products to market faster.
Reduced costs through higher productivity, and savings on hard copy.
Better customer service – responsive and personalized support with staff accessing customers
over the web.
Distribution of information through remote offices nationally or globally.

Intranets are also used for internal marketing communications since they can include the
following types of information:
Staff phone directories;
Staff procedures or quality manuals;
Information for agents such as product specifications, current list and discounted prices,
competitor information, factory schedules, and stocking levels, all of which normally have
to be updated frequently and can be costly;
Staff bulletin or newsletter;
Training courses.
Intranets can be used for much more than publishing information, as shown in Box 3.1.
Web browsers also provide an access platform for business applications which were tradi-
Total cost of tionally accessed using separate software programs. This can help reduce the total cost of
ownership (TCO) ownership (TCO) of delivering and managing information systems. Applications delivered
The sum of all cost
elements of managing through a web-based intranet or extranet can be cheaper to maintain since no installation is
information systems for required on the end-user’s PC, upgrades are easier and there are fewer problems with users
end-users, including reconfiguring software on their PC. For example, at Chrysler Corporation the Dashboard
purchase, support and
maintenance. intranet aims to increase the productivity of 40,000 employees by simplifying information
access while reducing TCO. Applications include tools for workgroups to collaborate on
projects, self-service human resources (e.g. to book a holiday or arrange a job review), finan-
cial modelling tools and a vehicle-build tracking system. More traditional information is
available to competitive intelligence, company news and manufacturing quality statistics.

Box 3.1 12 ways to use your intranet to cut your costs

This guidance is from the Intranet Benchmarking Forum (IBF), the world’s leading
intranet and portal benchmarking group.
1 Build bridges with internal customers. The IBF recommend that intranet initiatives
are driven from the business units that will benefit. They say: ‘Where intranets are
achieving cost-savings, the impetus often comes from business units or functions,
not the central intranet team. From HR and finance to manufacturing units and
customer service operations, it is these business areas that are best placed to iden-
tify inefficient processes and practices in their area, and then approach the intranet
team for help.’
2 Research users’ needs. This is, of course, a prerequisite of any successful infor-
mation systems project. The IBF advise: ‘The leaders in the field carry out research
with the aim of building a picture, for each of their main employee groups, of their
working patterns, the processes they follow and where the frustrations, blockages
and inefficiencies lie, as well as finding out in detail about how they currently use
the intranet and where they think it could help them work more efficiently.’