Utilising Internet technology, Intranets are offering substantial business improvements within organisations. The browser is becoming the default desktop for many corporate users. Rather than jump between several applications, information can be quickly accessed and updated using an Internet browser.

Establishing an Intranet can be a major investment for an organisation as the technologies deployed provide a platform for delivering most types of applications to users. An Intranet is more than a particular application. It is an infrastructure and framework that provides a platform for browser based client server computing. Once the infrastructure is in place, the cost of deploying new applications and functionality is significantly less than traditional client server applications.

When your Intranet is in place, you will be able to add new functionality and applications rapidly.  Any Intranet Project should provide an Intranet infrastructure that allows new applications to be launched and new content to be easily added. The Intranet becomes the gateway into all your information resources.

We have seen organisations move through several phases of Intranet development:

• The Intranet as a set of static HTML documents and links
• The Intranet as ancillary to other applications
• The Intranet as the front end to corporate applications, a fully functioning repository of essential corporate information and an integral part of internal systems
• The Intranet as the knowledge management solution and foundation on which organisations operate