Intranet Development

How often have you struggled to find documents or procedures within your business? Do all of your employees have access to the same documentation or customer records? How easy is it to keep everyone informed about the status of projects or tasks? A good intranet can be an invaluable tool to making sure that your internal business communication is as efficient and streamlined as possible.

What is an Intranet?

At it's basic level, an intranet is a communication tool that is solely for internal business use only. The structure and platform of the intranet can vary and can be whatever makes the most sense for the business. While there are many software solutions and options available to businesses that have a Local Area Network (LAN), we will be discussing Web-Based Intranets today.

A Web-Based Intranet is a website or portion of a website that is private. Access is usually restricted to company employees only. It will typically consist of a number of pages of information, and is usually the responsibility of all employees to continuously use and update the information as needed.

Large corporations tend to have complex requirements and therefore tend toward the use of extensive and custom Enterprise Resource Planning systems like SAP or Oracle. Small to Medium businesses, however, can accomplish many of the same benefits by having their own inexpensive web-based intranet developed.

What are the benefits of a Web-Based Intranet?

There are many, many benefits to using an Intranet within your business. Some typical uses and benefits include:

1. Central Repository for Standardized Documentation
2. Online Database of Procedures and Information
3. Employee Training
4. Customer Resource Management
5. Project and Task Management
6. Employee Contact Information and Schedules
7. Metrics and Statistics and Reports
8. Order Placement and Tracking
9. Inventory Management
10. Access possible from any device with internet access
11. Easy access for all employees

What are the requirements to run a Web-Based Intranet?

First, you'll need a web hosting account that can accommodate the new site. The site's requirements will vary depending on the complexity and scope of the intranet. You may be able to use a subdirectory, like stadiastudio.com/intranet or a subdomain like intranet.stadiastudio.com. You may also choose to use a different domain entirely in which case you may need a second hosting account.

Second, you'll need to outline everything you want to accomplish with your intranet, noting which goals are short-term and which are long-term, and then communicate those to your developer. We are able to provide fully-functioning Drupal CMS platforms as intranet's that can be enhanced and expanded as needed.

Finally, you may or may not need a custom design. If your intranet is solely for internal use, spending resources on a custom design may not be necessary when a straightforward, inexpensive template for the could be used. We will be happy to discuss your specific needs and provide any recommendations we can on ways to save budget.

We hope this has helped you to come up with some ideas for how your own business might benefit from an intranet. If you have questions or if there's anything we can do to help improve and streamline your internal business processes, please contact us.