When studying how companies are reengineering, I did research on how companies are using intranets. An intranet is an internal internet for companies using the infrastructure and standards of the internet and the world wide web but are cordoned off from the public through "firewalls". Employees can venture off into the net but unauthorized users cannot come in. Forrester Research, Inc. did a survey of 50 corporations where 16% reported that they have built intranets and 50% are planning or considering one. With the internet being so popular, the software industry is jumping on the "hot" opportunity to help companies build intranets. I found the following articles to be helpful in studying how companies are using intranets in their reengineering efforts.
Intranets: Readings and Resources
Here comes the Intranet
The Internet Inside Your Company
META Group's Intranet Study Shows 80% of Companies With Positive Return On Investment
Intranet and client/server- Advice Paper- A New Look at Business Transformation
White Paper: Introduction to Intranets
Case Study Intranet solution makes Geffen shake, rattle, and roll - Record company realizes dream of a fully networked multimedia environment
Weaving a New Web
The Inverted File: From the Internet to Intranets
What % of Your Sanity Do Intranets Take
"Intranets: Readings and Resources" - Carolyn Kotlas of the Institute for Academic Technology compiled this list of articles and papers about intranets.
Cortese, Amy. "Here comes the Intranet." Business Week no. 3464, no. 20 (May 20, 1996): 63.
Cortese, Amy. "Updates? Just a Mouse Click Away." Business Week no. 3464, no. 20 (May 20, 1996): 63
Edmunson, Gail. "One Electronic SOS Clinched the Deal." Business Week no. 3464, no. 20 (May 20, 1996): 63
Gross, Neil. "Oh, What an untangled Web." Business Week no. 3464, no. 20 (May 20, 1996): 63.
Business Week published this series of articles that discussed how companies such as Federal Express, Ford, Compaq Computer Corp. are using intranets. The software industry is rushing out with intranet products. The articles also discuss what future uses of intranets will be such as taking the Web beyond static pages.
Sprout, Alison L. "The Internet Inside Your Company." Fortune 132, no. 11 (November 27, 1995: 161 ff.
This article discusses how companies are using intranets to let computers work the way they are supposed to. It explains how intranets are cheaper than other groupware products. The article explains how US West, Morgan Stanley and Turner Broadcasting are successfully using them.
META Group's Intranet Study Shows 80% of Companies With Positive Return On Investment.
IBM, Microsoft, Novell Sponsor Vendor-Neutral, Cross-Industry Study of End-Users, showed a 38% Average Return in the Meta Group's Study A positive ROI was dependent on the type of applications deployed and the organizational culture of the company and its IT department. 55 companies were interviewed and 41 of these generated viable data for analysis.
IBM. "Intranet and client/server" Advice Paper- A New Look at Business Transformation
Organizations all over the world are reengineering to reduce costs, improve customer service, increase productivity and cut the time to market products and services. In this paper, IBM discusses four reengineering requirements: linking the organization, providing current information, flexible computer systems to respond to change and the use technology to reduce costs and afford a measurable return on investments. The paper also discusses the value of client/servers.
InfoWEB. "White Paper: Introduction to Intranets." 1997.
The paper is written by consultants, InfoWeb, and discusses some key terms when considering an Intranet: communication, collaboration, cost, off-the-shelf tools, widespread dissemination, cross platform, rapid deployment, inexpensive, open and standards based, existing infrastructure, maintenance, security and reliability and proven technology.
Karon, Paul, "Case Study Intranet solution makes Geffen shake, rattle, and roll - Record company realizes dream of a fully networked multimedia environment." InfoWorld Electric, February 12, 1996 (Vol. 18, Issue 7)
The IT director of Geffen Records, which produces groups such as Guns 'n' Roses, Sonic Youth, Weezer, and White Zombie, uses an intranet to support 225 employees. Its called Geffen World, and blends internal and external data resources under a single umbrella. The article discusses some of the ways the intranet is used and what products were used.
Simons, John. "Weaving a New Web." US News and World Report 120, no. 10 (March 11, 1996): 54.
This report discusses how companies such as Levi Strauss and Tyson's Food are using corporate intranets to let employees use web browsers, e-mail or collaboration on documents and other projects.
Garman, Nancy. "The Inverted File: From the Internet to Intranets." Online 20, no. 3 (May 1996): 8.
This was a general article how companies are finding intranets successful. Company's such as Netscape are offering browser software for free but expect to make big bucks on the server software.
Comaford, Christine. "What % of Your Sanity Do Intranets Take?" PC Week 13, no. 20 (May 20, 1996): 63.
The author conducted an informal survey of 10 intranets developers of why intranet applications were being built, and what the total planned expenditures for them. She also discussed difficult technical tasks, unexpected costs, significant management issues and staff transition issues.
This page was put together by me (Susan Smith) as part of my Summer 1997 independent study.