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124 Part 1 Introduction

Activity 3.3 Overcoming limited use of intranets and extranets in a B2B company

Purpose
To illustrate solutions to limited usage of intranets and extranets.

Activity
A B2B company has found that after an initial surge of interest in its intranet and
extranet, usage has declined dramatically. Many of the warning signs mentioned in the
KM (2002) article listed above are evident. The e-business manager wants to achieve
these aims:
1 Increase usage.
2 Produce more dynamic content.
3 Encourage more clients to order (extranet).
Answers to activities can be found at www.pearsoned.co.uk/chaffey

Web technology

World Wide Web The World Wide Web, or ‘web’ for short, has proved so successful since it provides a stan-
(WWW) dard method for exchanging and publishing information on the Internet. The main
The most common
technique for publishing standard document format is HTML (Hypertext Markup Language, Chapter 12), which can
information on the be thought of as similar to a word-processing format such as that used for Microsoft Word
Internet. It is accessed documents. This standard has been widely adopted since:
through web browsers
which display web pages it offers hyperlinks which allow users to move readily from one document or web site to
of embedded graphics
and HTML/XML-encoded another – the process known as ‘surfing’;
text. HTML supports a wide range of formatting, making documents easy to read on different
access devices.
Hyperlink
A method of moving It is the combination of web browsers and HTML that has proved so successful in establish-
between one web site
page and another, ing widespread business use of the Internet. The use of these tools provides a range of
indicated to the user by benefits including:
an image or text

highlighted by underlining It is easy to use since navigation between documents is enabled by clicking on hyperlinks
and/or a different colour.
or images. This soon becomes a very intuitive way of navigation which is similar across all
Browser plug-in web sites and applications;
An add-on program to a Interactivity is supported by web forms which enable discussions through social networks
web browser, providing
extra functionality such and purchase on e-commerce sites;
as animation. It can provide a graphical environment supporting multimedia which is popular with
users and gives a visual medium for advertising;
Browser extensions
The standardization of tools and growth in demand means information can be exchanged
The capability of a
browser to add new with many businesses and consumers;
services through new Flexibility in the style of designs and tailoring them for using on different access devices
add-ons or plug-ins or
customizing through from desktop computers to wireless devices;
different visual themes, Browser capabilities are extensible through the use of browser plug-ins, extensions and
particularly used in toolbars which enable users to access standard services.
Mozilla Firefox browser.
Browser extensions and toolbars can be useful for site owners to add value through new
functionality and encourage continued usage of their services. Think of examples such as
the Google Toolbar (http://toolbar.google.com) and the Facebook toolbar for Firefox. Gadgets
within Windows Vista (http://vista.gallery.microsoft.com/) provides similar opportunities.