Virtually everyone knows what the internet is, but not so many can define an intranet. Though the two sound alike, they’re entirely different concepts.
We’ll talk about intranets in the following article, and we’ll also describe what they can do for businesses. Many companies can utilize them to their advantage, and yours might be one of them.
What Exactly is an Intranet?
The Hubley website mentions that you should learn how “an O365 intranet could be another transformative change” for your business. But what is this technology all about, and how can you best utilize it to meet your needs?
An intranet is a computer network variety. Organizations generally use them to share resources, tools, and information. It is an exclusive network, meaning that your workers can use it, but you keep it private from outsiders.
Why Should You Get One?
The reason it makes so much sense for companies to get an intranet setup is that when you do so, your workers can communicate with one another without having to worry about anyone intercepting those messages.
You might work in a field where hackers try to steal trade secrets or proprietary information. An intranet setup can prevent them from doing that, as long as you have some robust security measures and your workers follow the protocol you set up.
The modern intranet option is also a very user-friendly interface. You might hire some individuals who don’t have the best tech skills. With an intranet setup, though, they don’t need to be the most tech-savvy.
They can learn how to use the various tools and functions within a couple of days at most. When you hire someone and have them go through the onboarding process, they can accept assignments and start working on them diligently using your company’s exclusive intranet setup in no time at all.
What Else Can You Do with It?
You can also share information faster via your intranet than just about any other way. If you’re about to merge the company with another business entity, you can let all your workers know about that at the same time.
If you’re going to take the company public and you want them to know about the upcoming IPO, you can use the intranet to share that information with them. You can use it to let them know if you have a dissatisfied client.
You can utilize it to congratulate a worker who did an extraordinary job that week, or you can send them some birthday wishes. You might send the message that you’re approving everyone’s overtime hours if you have a rush job on your hands.
An Intranet’s Foundation
At its core, you use an intranet because it encourages teammate interaction. Once the framework is in place, your workers will come to regard it as necessary. They can reach each other at all times during the workday without having to send out a mass email or any running from desk to desk.
Remote workforces love intranets. They can log onto them from various locations, and many companies dispense with a central office entirely once they find out what one of these setups can do for them. That saves money and props up the bottom line since you no longer have to rent or buy a building to house your company.
The security features are another key selling point. If you know that everyone is following the protocols, such as changing their password every week and only using secure Wi-Fi connections to log in, that will let you sleep much easier at night. If you have an R&D department that regularly shares its findings through this network, you don’t want anyone without clearance seeing those results.
How Can You Get One?
If you feel like all of this sounds great to you, and you’re ready to look for the right intranet solution to meet your company’s needs, you should know that getting one is not that challenging at this point. Some companies design them using the software as a service model.
In other words, you’re paying a monthly subscription fee to set up the intranet solution you need. The companies that make them can customize them for you depending on what your business does. You might not have the exact needs as another company, so you might require a slightly different software suite with fewer or more tools.
The other option open to you is hiring a computer programmer to create a unique intranet option to which you will own the proprietary rights. This is going to be a lot more expensive than the software as a service model, where you are basically renting the intranet, usually on a monthly basis.
Aside from being more expensive, though, if you commission and purchase your own intranet product, you’ll also have to take care of all of the updates and upgrades yourself. Either that, or you’ll need to hire a permanent staff member or a freelancer to do it for you.
You can look at the intranet solution that you receive like a living organism. You can’t just set it up, start using it, and expect it to remain healthy indefinitely. Eventually, it will need various service upgrades, just like a car you take to the mechanic every few months.
You probably will want to go with a SaaS intranet option because of this
When you rent one, the company from which you get it will do all of the service upgrades as a matter of course. They will probably stipulate that in the contract, and that’s part of why you’re paying them.
It’s remarkable what a company can do before they get an intranet solution vs. what they can accomplish afterward. This purchase will give your employees a lot more confidence, and their communication will be easier than it ever was before. You can often take on new clients and expand once you take this one simple step.
