Chapter II
REVIEW
OF RELATED LITERATURE
Foreign Literature
Description of Intranets
Holtz, Shel (1996). “Intranets: What’s
All the Excitement”. Communication World.
Holtz’s article embarked upon the intranet phenomenon in the late nineties. In his article, he stated that the technology of intranets has made the cover of Business Week, and was number three on Fortune magazine's top-10 list of technology trends. (Holtz, 1996) It has also led to an alliance of Microsoft, MCI and Digital Equipment Corporation. It is the subject of conferences and workshops. According to Forester research, the majority of U.S. companies has it, plans to get it or is studying it. Moreover, the author stated that Netscape claims it is selling more of its wares for it than for the Internet.
The author defined the technology as a duplicate version of the Internet that operates within an organization -- an employee communication tool unlike any other. (Holtz, 1996) She further stated that Intranets provide organizations with unprecedented ability to communicate, but they don't use a traditional model. While one can publish old-fashioned employee information on an intranet, the system empowers employees and departments themselves to become publishers and communication facilitators. An intranet allows anyone in the company to tap into the entire organization's intellectual capital, rather than the limited circle of fellow employees with whom most employees have day-to-day contact.
In addition, she also affirmed that Intranets could improve productivity and save money:
“ They can speed up projects
and enhance quality. They can facilitate two-way and multidirectional
communication. They can improve existing processes and simplify workflows.”
(Holtz 1996: p12)
On the other hand, the author
also discussed the manner in which the technology works. She stated that at
least one of the computers on the organization's network needs to play the part
of a Web server -- the machine that accepts requests for Web pages from
employees' individual workstations and dishes those pages out to the requesting
employees' desktop computer. (Holtz, 1996) On the server, one can store web
pages of every kind, along with programs that allow employees to use Web pages
to interact with databases.
Moreover, she stated several practical uses of the said technology. The author stated that one no longer have to print an employee handbook or manual that is likely to go out of date the instant it rolls off the press:
“Instead, one can store the
manual on the intranet, where employees can find just the information they need
in a flash, without having to study an index or a table of contents -- simply
type in a key word, and all matching entries are suddenly a mouse-click away.”
(Holtz 1996:
p28)
It could make sure that the information is always current. Another use of the intranet is thought the employee phone directory. It could now be interactive -- and far more useful than it ever was on paper. One can look up employees by name, department or geographic location. When one finds an employee, you not only get the data you would have found in the old book, but links to the employee's profile, information about his or her department, and a link that, if one clicks on it, allows one to instantly send an E-mail message.
Likewise the article stated that organizational documents such as organization charts could be up-to-date (and never printed again), and includes links to phone directory listings and other pertinent information. The author stated that:
“Employees can get information
on their benefits and participate in the annual benefits enrollment, all from
their desktops; the interactive capabilities allow employees to produce various
benefits scenarios and explore the associated costs before making a final
decision.”
(Holtz 1996: p34 )
Intranets also can allow you to browse internal job openings and submit their applications. In both cases, information input by the employee goes directly into the appropriate database, eliminating data entry chores for the benefits and recruiting departments. Moreover, company advertisements from around the world can be viewed, enabling employees to see how the organization and its products and/or services are being positioned in different environments as well as contracts and other customer-related information can be stored in searchable databases, allowing customer service representatives to find information and answer customer questions far more quickly than had previously been possible. (Holtz, 1996).
The article also stated that the technology of intranet allows one to archive any organizational information, from product descriptions to sales results, from back issues of employee publications to technical specifications, so that employees can find the information they require quickly and easily, and adapt it to whatever format they need. In addition, the author stated that:
“Managers unable to attend
the quarterly manager's meeting can view a video of the entire proceeding, or
select only those elements of the video that interest them.”
(Holtz 1996:
p40)
They can copy charts and graphs that were used to explain issues to their own computer, where they can adapt them for communication to their own employees. Likewise, employees can listen to the president's address to shareholders live, or call it up later when they have time. They can listen to the entire speech, or select segments that interest them.
Furthermore, departments can make information available about their
efforts, their schedules and the services they provide. Likewise, project teams
can post their objectives, progress and results -- for one another or any other
employee with an interest. (Holtz, 1996) Newsgroups can also be established in
which employees with specific interests can engage in discussions, ask
questions or provide answers to other employees asking questions. An engineer
in California, for example, can submit a problem she's encountering on a
project and an engineer at the company's Chicago facility can read it and post
a solution. The posts of newsgroups can be archived and made searchable.
The author further argues that if information exists in an organization, it can be made available via the single, common, graphical, multimedia, point-and-shoot interface of the Web. (Holtz, 1996) Some fear that such a wealth of information at employees' fingertips will result in information overload. However, Holtz stated that
“…in a society that craves
information, we want all we can get about topics and issues that are important
to us. Information overload occurs when we are faced with too much information
that doesn't satisfy our needs. Thus, an eight-page newsletter that contains
only a single article of relevance to a given employee will cause more overload
than the entire intranet, which the employee can use to hone in quickly on
exactly what he or she is looking for.”
(Holtz 1996, p64)
She also affirmed that the power of the Internet is the wealth of information that is provided by individuals and institutions that never before had the resources to publish, and the fast and easy access to that information by individuals and institutions that previously could turn to limited information resources. (Holtz, 1996) She however acknowledged that this strength could also be the intranet's greatest weakness. There is the possibility that employees may find information they need notwithstanding the fact that they could also get lost, confused, overwhelmed by the information that they acquire. Likewise, there is also the predicament on how the organization conveys important messages when employees can customize the information they get.
In addition, the article also posited that an effective intranet couldn’t be the sole responsibility of either employee communications or the information technology department. It requires a common effort, a partnership between the two functions that results in an intranet that would be able to function correctly and offers a high degree of interactivity (the information technology role), and provide easy access to information in ways that make sense to employees in that particular organization, maintains fresh content and facilitates the flow and exchange of information (the employee communication role). (Holtz, 1996)
Moreover, the author suggests that one way to use the intranet, as a component of a strategic communication effort is to publish as much detail as possible on it for employees to find when they need it. Likewise:
“When one produce information
on a different medium -- print or video, for example -- it will carry an air of
importance because you will have reserved its use for special messages and
information that begs to have attention drawn to it.”
(Holtz 1996: p 68)
Similarly, the more one let
employees provide information to one another, the more it will be able to
concentrate on those important messages that still require a top-down
communication strategy --messages that address organizational strategy. (Holtz,
1996)
Effects on Organization
Hinzman, Kay W (1999). Intranets: How
Organizations Use Web Technologies To Manage
Internal Information And Communications. Marshall
University Graduate College.
Hinzman’s
work tackles the use of web technologies of organizations in order to
effectively manage its internal affairs. According to her observation,
Intranets have the potential to reshape organizations by shifting the control
of information down the corporate ladder. (Hizman, 1999) Moreover, it has
created an upheaval in the flow of information and communication within
organizations. Information Technology professionals, who are accustomed to
working with inorganic technologies, are particularly challenged by the human
aspects of Intranets.
“Corporate management, traditionally the controllers of information,
is challenged to accept a technology that does not follow top-down rules. However,
if it is implemented incorrectly, Intranets could be as disruptive as any
technology ever introduced.”
(Hizman 1999: p13)
Hizman
(1999) describes intranet as a network based on Internet technology that is
placed on private servers within an organization — a
site intended for the exclusive use of members of the organization. An
organization that has a local area network in place can create an Intranet by
implementing the TCP/IP protocol, adding a Webserver (a server that supports
I-ITTP) and installing a browser on each member’s desktop. (Hizman, 1999) Intranets are distinguished
from local area networks by the presence of Web technologies and a high degree
of interactivity among users. She likewise stated that Intranets originally
started in organizations as an outgrowth of the Internet.
(Hizman, 1999) The earliest Intranets were unofficial, formed by small work
groups for their own use, often without the sanction of management. In large
organizations, it was common for a number of Intranets to exist with no common
planning or standardization. That approach led to information chaos: a
patched-together Intranet with clunky navigation, information gaps and
redundant, conflicting, unreliable or outdated content.
The author
backed-up her arguments further by noting several studies related to her topic.
She noted the study made by Jim Canterucci, of Transitional Management
Advisors. According to her, he found that people favor Intranets over
traditional information channels because information that is more timely and
updated more frequently. He also found that an Intranet’s effectiveness is
hindered when it is viewed as management propaganda. (Hizman, 1999)
Likewise,
she noted Kathleen Kotwica, a researcher for CIO’s Cyber Behavior Research
Center, who found that people view Intranet structure as hierarchical, and
navigates it as if they were exploring the branches of a tree. Her survey
revealed that relatively few organizations allow members to freely post
material to the Intranet; content approval by a review committee is most often
required.
“Survey
results indicate that users consider virtual communities to be a significant
function of Intranets. Respondents to her survey indicate that the quantity and quality of
communications increased within their organizations because of an Intranet.”
(Hizman 1999: p18)
Moreover, a
survey conducted by Kim, Chang and Yoo of Yonsei University in Korea confirms
that information needs differ according to organizational level (top
management, middle management and line workers) and Intranets should be
designed according to which group(s) they will serve. (Hizman, 1999) All
organizational levels agree upon the importance of some Intranet functions.
These ‘unanimously preferred’ functions should be top priority for Intranet
developers. The research team developed a tool called the Analytic Hierarchy of
Intranet Functions to identify unanimously preferred functions. She found that
nearly all middle-sized and large organizations, and about half of small
organizations, have Intranets. Respondents to her survey reported that most
members of their organization are satisfied with their Intranet, use it several
times each day and feel that the Intranet has changed the way their
organization communicates. Only one-third reported that their Intranet has been
involved in office politics and/or power struggles. The most popular materials
to be found on Intranets were Employee Directories, Policies and Procedures,
commonly used forms, personnel information, newsletters, training, technical
support, group calendars and job postings.
The author
asserted that Intranet professionals must pay close attention to organizational
dynamics. The author added that
“They
must design Intranets to accommodate the management style, reflect the social
structures, and enhance the communication systems of organizations. Failure to
do so will result in resistance and possible failure of the Intranet project.”
(Hizman 1999: p24)
According to her the technology could bring
payback in terms of enhanced knowledge sharing, any-to-any connectivity,
enhanced enterprise communication, fresh and updated information, collaboration
among users, quick deployment, integration with legacy systems, immediate cost
saving, minimal software investment, standard client reduces maintenance and
training, multiple data format (html, text, applications and multimedia). (Hizman,
1999)
Lai, Vincent S. (1998). A Study on the Utility of Intranets in Hong
Kong. Department of Decision Sciences and Managerial Economics, The Chinese
University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T.
Lai’s work evolved around the use of Intranets in Hong Kong.
It is a relatively early study of the status of Intranets’ utilization in the
former British colony. According to him, the Intranet is a private corporate
network based on internet's protocols and technologies, including Transport
Control Protocol/Internetworking Protocol (TCP/IP), HyperText Transport
Protocol (HTTP), Simple Mail Transport Protocol (SMTP), Multipurpose Internet
Mail Extensions (MIME), and HyperText Markup Language (HTML) (Lai, 1998). At
the foundation of the intranet is a Web server, which is used as a central,
internal clearing house to manage and disseminate information within the
organization. Using a standard Web browser as an interface, employees can
exchange corporate information seamlessly without the concern of heterogeneous
computing environment.
In his study, he noted a recent survey conducted on Fortune 1000
companies indicated that twenty-two percent of them were already using Web
servers for internal applications; while another forty percent were considering
the implementation of intranets to make their information more readily
available (Lai, 1998). Another survey conducted in 1995 also reported that the
sales of web servers for intranet use has exceeded those sold for Internet use.
The survey also projected that the sales of intranet server will continue and
is expected to account for more than ninety percent of all web servers sold in
the year 2000, indicating a rapid adoption rate of this new information
delivery paradigm among businesses in the next few years.
As stated in his argument:
“In order to reap the full benefits of intranets,
organizations are extending their intranets to reach their key customers,
suppliers, and/or trading partners.”
(Lai 1998: 28)
Some organizations even move a step further and implement intranets
to support team-oriented collaboration, including file sharing, information
exchange, document publishing, and group discussion. He further stated that So
far, intranets still have significant limitations, such as limited integrated
databases, few integrated applications, and lax security, in supporting
collaborative computing. (Lai, 1998) However, their intrinsic advantage as a
powerful and cost-effective approach to support internal and external
applications for both internal information sharing and external marketing on
the Internet will give them an edge over groupware, which are purely an
internal application. Recently, there have been signs indicating that webware
and groupware technologies are starting to merge. This suggests that in the
future webware will also support the functionalities of today's groupware. This
will enable intranets to better serve team collaborations.
However, the author also recognizes that business managers in a
number of industries are beginning to identify strategic opportunities for
using intranets to shift the balance of power and competitive position of their
organization. Some are thinking of adopting intranets as a tool to unify their
geographically dispersed work force, empowering them (especially telecommuters
and sales forces on the road) with a complete communication tool for
collaboration, interaction, and real-time sharing of information across
functional boundaries and organizational levels. This new form of distributed
information infrastructure may even enable corporate managers to redefine their
computing strategy and organizational control to better accommodate the
challenges of managing speed and complexity in today's business environment.
(Lai, 1998)
Lai, Vincent S. (2001) “Intraorganizational
Communication with Intranets,” Communications of the ACM, Vol. 44, No. 7.
Another study by Lai (2001) likewise tackled the use of intranets
for intra-organizational communications in Hong Kong. He stated that since most
studies of the intranet have been more on the theoretical side, his article is
based on empirical data collected from the 500 largest organizations in Hong
Kong where the overall goal was to gather information about five aspects of
Intranet use in these organizations. He noted the five aspects as the reasons
for intranet adoption and diffusion, the problems and benefits related to the
use of intranet, the effect of organization size on the use of intranets, the
extent of intranet use and application performance, and the collaboration with
intranets and overall business performance. (Lai, 2001)
The study found out that of the 500 companies that were surveyed,
surprisingly, only 8% had already adopted intranets but 90% were potential
adopters with the majority planning to evaluate the option. (Lai, 2001) For the
organizations that were already using the intranet in their organization, the
main reasons for adoption were open standards (such as TCP/IP, HTTP, and HTML),
ease of use and multi-platform compatibility and support. These
organizations were looking for a way to improve their internal communication
and the adoption of the intranet was apparently more appealing to smaller
organizations that have less of a budget dedicated to sophisticated network and
IT projects. Obviously, intranet implementation has a strong impact on
any organization’s process for handling data and documents.
“A number of business
applications were checked and the results showed that there were areas of use
that were more common than others. In Human Resource arenas, more than
80% application rate was found. HR was able to put corporate documents,
guidelines and manuals on the Web instead of printed material that was sometimes
distributed to every individual employee.”
(Lai 2001: p5)
This not only supports a paperless environment, but also leaves more
time for employees to invest in employee development and productivity.
Another significant application was in the sales and marketing arena (~70% use)
where on the low end of application use, manufacturing and product development
was around 20%.
According to the respondents, the use of intranets as a tool for
communication among the organizations has brought about several benefits. The
author stated that the general consensus among IT managers is that the intranet
relieves communications bottlenecks. (Lai, 2001) Additionally, in further
detail, there were four main factors that were seen as benefits of the
intranet: data access, cost savings, communication and management. The
data access and cost savings were the major benefits but it was also found that
the intranet also improves communication especially among companies that had a
high geographical dispersion of employees.
“It also facilitates
organizational learning and bonding and improves collaboration
opportunity. On the management side of things, the study showed that
managers saw a great benefit out of the intranet due the improvement in a
number of areas: ability to be proactive, customer service, intellectual
capital and decision quality.”
(Lai 2001: p23)
On the other hand, the main issues that were associated with the
intranet were management of intranet contents, design of intranet pages,
performance of networks, coordination of different intranet workgroups and
finally, the security of intranets. According to the author, all are
self-explanatory. (Lai, 2001)
Moreover, the study also pointed out that one of the key factors
here is obviously getting the employees to use the intranet. (Lai, 2001)
The study investigated 3 areas: business process reengineering, employee
collaboration and overall organizational performance. The results showed
that in terms of reengineering, there was a significant change in the document
management process plus additional processes related to data management,
communication and business processes in general. Regarding employee
collaboration, the study found that the intranet did not foster more employee
cooperation perhaps due to the lack of knowledge pertaining to the technology’s
capabilities or a lack of incentive. Finally, the research found that the
intranet allows employees and organizations to perform better due to the
technology infrastructure that brings employees closer to decision processes
/support and interaction.
Likewise, the author also stated that:
“Although there are other
file-sharing, information exchange and group discussion applications (such as
Lotus notes), the survey respondents reported that they preferred to use the
intranet over other applications. The only issue found here is getting
Web pages to be redesigned to support more collaboration, which is successful
only in large organizations that have the critical mass needed to realize the
benefits.”
(Lai 2001: p 30)
The article finished affirming that intranets are turning out to be
alternate technologies/means for organizational communication and information
management. (Lai, 2001) By investing more resources toward intranet
implementation, companies will quickly find that it is a cost-effective and
efficient approach to promoting organizational business strategies and
enhancing overall competitiveness.
Ward, Toby (2002). Measuring the ROIs of Intranets: Mission
Possible? Prescient Digital Media. Toby Ward ~ Page of stuff, http://www.intranetjournal.com.
The article of Ward
revolves around the manner on which intranet technology’s return on investment
is measured. Ward (2002) asked two-hundred and seventy-five (275) survey
participants to rank in order of importance almost 70 different intranet
investment benefits organized according to 12 broad categories including Hard
Costs, Sales, Communications, Competitiveness, Application Access,
Infrastructure utilization, Collaboration, Time To Market (Cycle Time),
Customer Service, Human Resources, Procurement, Content management.
According to the author
the findings were somewhat surprising:
“…
softer, harder to measure benefits such as competitiveness, communications and
content management (the big ‘C’s’) were rated the most important.”
(Ward
2002: p9)
Traditional areas of
focus for ROI benefits, including procurement, sales and time to market were
rated among the lowest benefit categories. Most important benefit categories
includes enhanced competitiveness 90%, content management 87%, enhanced
communications 87%, hard cost reduction 86%, and enhanced customer service 85%.
On the other hand, the
respondents stated that the least important benefit categories includes
enhanced procurement (eProcurement) 63%, reduced cycle time (time to market)
71%, enhanced infrastructure utilization 75%, enhanced human resources 77%, and
sales process enhancement 81%. (Ward, 2002) Moreover, when survey participants
were asked to rank specific line item benefits (almost 70 in all), access to
and increased sharing and accuracy of information led the benefit parade. The
lowest ranking benefits related to procurement and time to market.
Similarly, the most
important ROI benefits includes improved information sharing (customer svc.)
97%, enhanced communications and information sharing (communications) 95%,
increased consistency of info (customer svc.) 94%, increased accuracy of info
(customer svc.) 93%, reduced or eliminated processing 93%, easier
organizational publishing 92%. (Ward, 2002)
The author concluded
that:
“The
specific benefits relate to customer service, communication and content
management – access to and accuracy of information. (Ward, 2002) While the
results may be somewhat unexpected given the emphasis on softer benefits, the
results were appreciated by some of the experts.”
(Ward
2002: p29)
Thannickal, Jolly Joseph (2002). Intranets for Knowledge-Based Organizations. Transversal e
Networks Private Limited, India.
Thannickal’s
study is all about the employment of intranet technology in knowledge-based
organizations. According to the author, Intranets are
effective platforms for knowledge management and people development.
(Thannickal, 2002) Intranets
help in creating boundary-less organizations by
connecting all the stakeholders.
He also pointed out that intranets have also emerged as platforms for
e-learning, virtual collaboration, and for integrating other applications like
e-business and customer relationship management. He coined these integrated
systems as Enterprise Information Portals. In addition, he summarized the uses
of the intranet into the several factors. He stated that:
“The intranet makes it easy
for employees and other stakeholders to get the required information, thereby
empowering them to take decisions and solve problems. Likewise it seeks to
improve communication and collaboration.”
(Thannickal 2002: p16)
It also allows the
employees to share best practices and avoid duplication of efforts as well as
to capture and disseminate knowledge among employees and other stakeholders.
And lastly, he stated that intranets are capable of integrating applications
like e-learning, e-business and customer relationship management. (Thannickal,
2002)
Thannickal (2002) also pointed out that Intranets come in
different forms and sizes, starting from a 10- minute download to a 10-month
project. Nonetheless:
“There are
certain functionalities, which can be mentioned as the hallmarks of a good
intranet system. In this light, he presented several requirements for a good
intranet system.”
(Thannickal
2002: p16)
He stated that a system must have personalization of
information presentation and intranet tools to meet individual needs.
(Thannickal, 2002) Likewise, it must also have a single login access to various
modules and services as well as an integrated communication and collaboration
tools. A proper intranet system must also have authoring and publishing
capabilities for creating departmental web pages as well as a stress-free
customization and extensible repository for documents.
In addition to meeting the above requirements, a good
intranet system will score high on other parameters such as security,
usability, maintainability and ease of administration. He also noted that
“Security is
often ranked highest in priority among these requirements. According to the
author, in most cases one would already have the hardware and network required
for an intranet.”
(Thannickal
2002: p26)
What is additionally required is to meet the costs of the
intranet software, customization, training and support. Good planning and
meticulous implementation can ensure that there are no budget overruns. The
cost of a software (for that matter other products and services as well) is not
just the cost of initial purchase. What you need to consider is the total cost
of ownership (TCO), which includes the cost of maintaining the system and
running the services. That means you need to ask questions about
maintainability and reliability. You will also have to consider the skill
requirements for using and administering the system. If the system is
complicated and you end up spending additional amounts on training or wage
bills, the TCO increases considerably. Another factor to take into account is
whether the proposed intranet uses proprietary technologies, which limits your
options for upgrades or inter-operability with other software systems.
Proprietary technologies often increase the TCO in the long run.
The study also placed great importance on the technology’s
return on investment on the organization. The author asserted that ROIs are
often inflated because they do not take into account the costs of maintaining
the system over the long term. (Thannickal, 2002) More conservative estimates
put the figure at 40% to 60% ROI over one year. Even with these estimates, it
is clear that an intranet is a wise investment for any organization. In
calculating ROI, it is easy to quantify the hard returns such as the savings in
communication costs, printing and stationery, travel, etc. Especially in cases
where information content has to be frequently refreshed and distributed
widely, the cost savings can be substantial, running into millions of dollars
per year. Several studies have reported productivity increase through faster
access to information. The harder part to quantify are the soft returns, such
as better teamwork, improvement in the quality and timeliness of information
and increase in competitive advantage through identification of new growth
opportunities, reduced time to market, etc.
Thannickal (2002)
concluded that:
“There
is so much that an intranet can do for your organization, that it will
virtually be impossible for one to tap its full power right from the beginning.
To get started one does not have to wait for the ideal intranet that meets all
the requirements of the organization.”
(Thannickal
2002: p39)
Take into account the
objectives and broad requirements of the corporate intranet, and then define
the scope of the intranet project within the given budget and timeframe. When
one adopts this approach, ensure that the underlying technology used for the
intranet enables addition of new modules and is scalable to meet future
requirements.
Pros and Cons
Foust,
Courtney M. (2000). Organizations of All Sizes
Should Be Using Intranets. http://filebox.vt.edu.
Foust’s work dwelled on the drawbacks that Intranets provide in
organizations. In her article, she stated that the use of computers by
organizations has become increasingly widespread. (Foust, 2000) Organizations
that do not utilize computers are considered to be the minority in today's
technologically advanced society. The author defined an intranet as an internal
corporate network that utilizes Internet technology. Employees within an
organization can utilize the intranet for purposes of communicating,
collaborating and coordination. To illustrate, the author provided scenarios
such as in employees in a large consulting firm might access an intranet to
determine future job assignments or to obtain various forms needed on an
engagement. Rather than having to contact various individuals to obtain this
type of information, employees can do so on their own and save a lot of time
and effort.
She also stated that the intranet is a spin-off of Internet
technology and spending on intranets is projected to be 10 times greater than
money spent on the Internet by the turn of the century. (Foust, 2000) Likewise,
she also affirmed that although there are an abundant number of benefits associated
with intranet use, they might not be suited for all organizations. More
specifically, she stated that intranets are very useful tools for large
organization but a cost benefit analysis may show that intranets are not suited
for all small and medium size organizations.
She argued that despite the fact that the costs associated with
intranet use are relatively inexpensive, there are various other aspects of
intranet use that can become very costly to a small or medium sized
organization. (Foust, 2000) For
companies with an established network infrastructure, intranets are very
inexpensive to build and run. While there is a vast number of organizations
that use computers to run their business, there are still a great number of
organizations in the United States and the world that do not utilize computers.
For these organizations, it can become very costly to establish a computer
system to support an intranet.
She further discussed that before an intranet can be established,
the organization will have to make substantial changes to their organization in
order to adapt it for computer use. Alone, this reengineering and planning is
very costly. (Foust, 2000)
“On top of these costs, the
organization will have to take on additional costs to purchase and implement a
computer system suitable to the organization. Additionally, the organization
will incur costs associated with computer maintenance and replacement as
systems become outdated.”
(Foust 2000: p2)
In some instances a new employee will need to be hired in order to
provide system support and to maintain the organization's intranet. Employee
training may also be required because not all individuals are computer
literate. Employees will have to be trained on how to use the new system and
every time an update occurs, additional training may be necessary.
In addition, the author believed that an intranet alone is too
limiting therefore it is necessary for and information system to complement an
intranet network. (Foust, 2000) Intranets exist as pre-designed screens of
information and if an employee wishes to access information for which there is
no pre-designed screen then the information is not accessible via the intranet.
She stated that if organizations need also to implement information systems in
order to have an efficient network than costs can really skyrocket.
Moreover, the possibility for hackers to cause destruction increases
significantly. (Foust, 2000) Because intranets are usually connected to an
Internet, security becomes a serious issue of concern. Organizations employing
an intranet connected to the Internet will have to take into account the
various security issues and take the necessary precautions. She also noted that
the use of firewalls to protect intranets does keep nonmembers out of the
intranet network, but it does not protect the system from internal employees
who are connected to the network. Hostile employees should become a concern to
organizations when utilizing an intranet. It becomes very easy for employees
with access to the system to cause damage. If an employee has access then
he/she has easy access to implement viruses that can cause serious damage.
Organizations implementing an intranet should closely analyze employee turnover
rates to determine if this is a serious threat or not. The higher the turnover
rate, the more serious the issue becomes and proper security measures need to
be implement.
Furthermore, she argued that Intranets are installed for the
purposes of sharing information within an organization. (Foust, 2000) She as
well stated that people are naturally inclined to share information. However,
her article stated that while this is generally a good thing, it could
seriously undermine efforts to regulate access to internal information. As
intranets increase the sharing of information within an organization, the
possibility exists that more trade secrets with be shared and possibly with the
wrong person.
The author pessimistically stated as well that it has become very
common for outsiders such as suppliers to have access to corporate intranets
for purposes of obtaining information as needed. (Foust, 2000) While this is an
efficient way of dealing with suppliers and consultants but it also leads to
outsiders discovering information that may be secret information that should
not be shared.
She also acknowledged the fact that the purpose of intranets is to
create an environment for employees within an organization to exchange ideas,
share information, and work together on common projects and assignments
regardless of their physical location. (Foust, 2000)
“For large organizations this
works out great because employees are disbursed around the world and the
intranet offers a simple and efficient means for various employees to
communicate and share ideas. For smaller organizations, on the other hand, the
implementation of an intranet may lead to more individualism and less employee
face-to-face interaction.”
(Foust 2000: p12)
Utilizing an intranet to solve problems by seeing how other
employees solved a similar problem eliminates the need for face-to-face
interaction and the potential arises for small close-knit organization to lose
its closeness.
It is therefore her stand that the sharing of information is
generally easy in small organizations therefore the implementation of intranets
is not always cost beneficial. (Foust, 2000)
Higgins,
Cynthia (2000). Organizations
of all sizes should be using Intranets. http://filebox.vt.edu.
Higgins (2000) defines intranet as an in-house Web site that
serves the employees of the enterprise. Although intranet pages may link to the
Internet, an intranet is not a site accessed by the general public. Similarly,
she defined it as a private network inside a company or organization that uses
the same kind of software that you find on the public Internet, but this is
only for internal use. The author stated that the main purpose of an intranet
is to share company information and computing resources among employees. An
intranet can also be used to facilitate working in groups and for
teleconferences.
The primary
thrust of her paper is to provide several disadvantages of the said technology
specifically in terms of information dissemination, cost, security,
productivity, maintenance, accessibility, and cost.
According to her:
“The technology has the possibility to provide information overload.
She mentioned that predominantly outdated information stored on the
Intranet. Similarly, there would be an
increase in the number of information that is irrelevant to the employee is
published on the Intranet.”
(Higgins 2000: p3)
On the other
hand, the author also acknowledged the possibility of the technology affecting
the productivity of the employees. She stated that there is a hidden cost
involved in Intranet specifically, the loss of productivity due to poorly
organized Intranets. (Higgins, 2000) Moreover, the author stated that the
technology quickly gathers dust when curiosity runs out. Likewise, with access
to the Internet, employees begin "surfing".
Furthermore, the
article as well noted the drawback in terms of maintenance. The author stated
that:
“The Intranet "techie" does not collaborate with the user
therefore users do not see the information that they need or require. Likewise,
a small company many not have the personnel to update their Intranet on a
routine basis not to mention the limited bandwidth for the business.”
(Higgins
2000: p7)
In terms of
security, the article stated that there might be potential security risks if
sensitive information is not restricted. (Higgins, 2000) The author describes
not restricted if the secure servers, firewalls and passwords are not utilized
for protection as well as the unavailability of physical security.
In terms of
accessibility and cost, the article questioned the accessibility of computers
to employees. (Higgins, 2000) The author presented a predicament concerning the
lack of computer units to cater the number of employees in a company. On the
other hand, the issue of costs was presented through the expounding of
potentially difficult and expensive to integrate data resources from different
platforms into corporate LANs. In view of this, she presented alternate means
of communication, such as mail, phone, fax machines, and e-mail, that may be
used instead of Intranets. However, they may not be the best means of
communicating for the company or the user. Yet, they are typically low cost.
The author thus
concluded that she feels most organizations can increase the communication
between employees and customers by implementing an Intranet. (Higgins, 2000)
Nonetheless:
“The issues concerning the size of the company and the company's needs
will have to be considered before implementing an Intranet. In many cases,
implementing an Intranet may hinder the growth of your company.”
(Higgins 2000: p19)
Arya,
Anubha. (2000). Organizations Of All Sizes Should Be
Using Intranets. http://filebox.vt.edu.
The article of Arya (2000) dwells also in the use of intranets by
organizations. In this article he discusses his own definition of the said
technology and presented several practical aspects of it. He defined the
technology as a network of computers, software, documents, and databases,
which generally works just like the Internet except that it is only accessible
to employees and selected guests. Because of this access restriction, an
INTRANET can be used to publish information that is proprietary, confidential,
under development or otherwise not ready for public viewing by customers and
competitors.
The author also described the composition of an intranet. He stated
that an INTRANET uses local area networks (LANs), connections between LANs, and
other means to connect the same Web, FTP, News, and other servers as seen on
the Internet, but will restrict usage to internal users only. (Arya, 2000)
The author stated that most medium sized or large sized organizations have
accumulated a variety of computer systems as computing technology has evolved.
Mainframes, minicomputers, workstations, and PCs often are linked together via
a potpourri of operating systems, application programs, and user interfaces.
Many corporate workers have become so sick of new systems and new applications
that they are openly revolting and failing, or sometimes even refusing to use
new software systems. Comprehensive training for such diverse systems is nearly
impossible. The amount of information available has expanded tremendously. It
is not unusual to have large organizations having millions of documents and pieces
of electronic information that required many more million dollars to produce.
In this light, the author suggests that the corporate intranet, more
than any other concept since the invention of a computer, makes it possible to
easily and economically put this information in front of people who need it
without requiring impossible amounts of training. (Arya, 2000) He noted that:
“The World Bank was a pioneer in using the Internet to realize its twin
organizational goals of supporting developing countries and reducing poverty.”
(Arya
2000: p13)
Today, the World
Bank has full TCP/IP connectivity for every worker and every PC in its head
quarters, and many of its offices located throughout the world.
According to the author, the Bank maintains an online directory of
all personnel, searchable by phone extension, location, unit, first or last
name, email address, and other common variables. (Arya, 2000) The directory
includes up-to-date information on every staff member, including security ID
photos. One can obtain this information in about 15 seconds.
SOURCES:
Hinzman, Kay W. (1999). Intranets: How
Organizations Use Web Technologies To Manage Internal Information
And Communications. Marshall University Graduate College.
Lai, Vincent S. (1998). A Study
on the Utility of Intranets in Hong Kong. Department of Decision Sciences
and Managerial Economics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T.
Lai, Vincent S. (2001). “Intraorganizational
Communication with Intranets”. Communications of the ACM, Vol. 44, No. 7.
Thannickal, Jolly Joseph. (2002). “Intranets for Knowledge-Based Organizations”. Transversale
Networks Private Limited, India.
Foust,
Courtney M (2000). “Organizations of All Sizes
Should Be Using Intranets”. http://filebox.vt.edu.
Holtz, Shel. (1996). Intranets: What’s All
the Excitement. Communication
World.
Ward, Toby. (2002). “Measuring the ROIs of Intranets: Mission
Possible?” Prescient Digital Media. Toby Ward ~ Page of stuff, http://www.intranetjournal.com. .
Higgins,
Cynthia. (2000). “Organizations
of all sizes should be using Intranets”. http://filebox.vt.edu.
Arya,
Anubha. (2000). “Organizations Of All Sizes Should
Be Using Intranets”. http://filebox.vt.edu.
No comments:
Post a Comment