INTRANET IN CORPORATE COMMUNICATION

Introduction

Large organizations, business corporations as well as public institutions have to adopt internet technologies to improve their internal communication and coordination processes.  A well-established system of corporate intranets and extranets help span the entire organization and connect people and information systems across functional and geographical boundaries.

Intranet

Duane and Finnegan’s (2003) define intranet as “an application of internet technology within an organization for the purpose of information dissemination, communication, integration and collaboration”.

Therefore an Intranet is a way of thinking and organizing people, work and interaction. The primary intended use is for communication and collaboration among organizational members. Managers and employees can publish, search and retrieve information about diverse topics, and collaborate with colleagues anywhere in the organization.

The Advantages of Intranet in Corporate Communication

Intranet provide an interactivity within an organization.

 Interactivity with internal communication can be instrumental in engaging employees. Reading dry material that does not offer any feedback on the part of the employee may not be useful or effective at all.  Corporations use different tools to engage, inform, educate, and even entertain their employees. This meaningful information shared with employees transfers into useable knowledge that helps employees perform in the most productive and cost-effective manner. In return, employees are uploading content, participating in conversations across different departments and regions, and absorbing and sharing information seamlessly across boundaries (Kumar, 2012).

Intranet provides space flow for a corporate communication operations.

Because intranets are secure and easily accessible via the internet, they enable staff to do work from any location simply by using a web browser (Duane and Finnegan’s 2003).  This can help small businesses to be flexible and control office overheads by allowing employees to work from almost any location, including their home and customer sites. These are known as online offices or web offices. Creating a web office will allow you to organize and manage information and share documents and calendars using a familiar web browser function, which is accessible from anywhere in the world. For example, M-POWER Company use the intranet to give assignments and coordinate activities among its employees.

 

Intranet provide the organization with easier, quick and accessible means of sharing information.

It can provide your employees with information on policies, benefits, company updates, and other information which can be time-consuming, expensive, and unproductive. If that information is organized and located in one central database, it will enable your workforce to concentrate on other tasks. Employees and bosses alike can share information across the board and communicate better, leading to less confusion following meetings, when everyone has to take notes and remember everything afterwards (Duane & Finnegan, 2003).

Sharing of resources and best practice

A virtual workspace and community can be created to facilitate information storing, sharing and collaborative working. Reports, images, magazines, videos and sound can be shared over the intranet. An intranet can also act as a training platform when providing online training content to staff.

Intranet preserve the norms and culture of the organization.

This is simply because the same type of information is displayed to all members of the organization on the intranet. Sensitive issues can be raised and norms put into place that can help to control the diversity in an organization.

Conclusion

Successful internal and external communication is attainable if businesses follow a modern communication model of incorporating new media and alternatives to traditional internal communication.

By Lyimo Joseph

BAPRM 42597