What is intranet and extranet and their importance in corporate communication

                                         

Intranet is the tool of communication used by an organization to facilitate communication between people or employees and also an intranet includes content and information that is only of use and value for the members of that organization, the need to have an intranet is driven by the need for security, privacy and controlled access. Much of information within an organization is private; it is intended for use only within the organization or only by certain members of staff.

An intranet is essentially a private version of the internet that organization is responsible for the content and maintenance and the users are solely the staff. Because it is a private website aimed at an organization internal staff. Beside company e-mail and intranet access, an intranet generally incorporates internet website, documents, databases, company news and personal information.

The following are the importance of intranet in corporate communication.

Productivity an intranet technology it helps to provide fast information to employees and helps to perform their various tasks with the employee’s example an employee can access any data from any database of the organization without wastage of time. Employee within an organization working and undergoing different project can collaborate easily and ensuring better and fast results.

In corporate communication you can use intranet to provide new employees with quick access to information about the company structure, policies and operation, as well as training and completing human resource paper work. And for a company that has grown extensively by acquisition, the ability to bring new employees up to speed quickly was of critical importance. Intranets can also be used to provide access to meeting minutes, key presentation that might be used by different sales people, and information on the current status of manufacturing operations and in short we can say that intranet help the corporate communicator to communicate with its people easily and it’s a powerful tool for communication within an organization.

Cost effective an intranet it’s important to corporate communication practitioner because it serve money which can be used for publishing so it’s paperless and as intranet support online publishing and it cuts down the printing and distribution cost as well because all document of the company can be published through the intranet using web pages as compared to spending money on printing document and also the information can be accessed from the respective work station of the employees.

Knowledge management in its very broaden sense, knowledge management means capturing, organizing and retrieving corporate information. With all tools and information within the intranet, and employees constantly adding new information in the form of comments, discussions, blogs, documents; the intranet serves as a centralized place to capture important corporate information. Tools like search ensure that employees across the company network can find just the information they need to perform their jobs.

Time saving, an intranet technology is so important to the corporate communication personnel because it saves time through allowing the distribution of variable information among the employees in a fast and efficient manner and also intranet saves time by interactivity example employees can access information at relevant time that suit them, rather than sending and waiting for email and emails to replies and also can serve time through intranet where by the employees could quickly locate information and application relevant to their roles and responsibilities.

Extranet and its importance in corporate communication

New Jersey (2009) describes the extranet as a private network connection which utilizes the internet technology and the telecommunication system to share certain information of the organization with the customers, vendors and business partners.

It can be explained as an internet that can be partially accessed by authorized external stakeholders and this enables both internal and external stakeholders to exchange information over the internet in a secure way by using Internet technologies to interconnect the intranet of a business with the intranets of its customers, suppliers, or other business partners.

Also its necessary to secure information, to make sure that only intended stakeholders gets information example Tanzania breweries when want to inform something their wholesalers so they use extranet and it will be secured to avoid unintended people to be reached with information.

The following are the importance of extranet in corporate communication.

It helps to improve the security in corporate communication between an organization and business partners since exchange can take place under a controlled and secured environment

Because information is the key of any company or an organization and with security the documents of customer and organization will be up to date and stored securely and that only those individuals in any given working group who need access to any particular document have the relevant permissions example password.

Extranet it helps in improving relationship with main or potential consumers  through getting an opportunity to attract new customers, clients, or business partners and to retain existing potential trading partners or customers and also extranet is that it enables the organization to respond to competitive new businesses entering the marketplace.

 The use of extranet for quality services and provision of information to the potential customers help to promote good corporate identity and image of the organization. Moreover, the successful use of extranet can help the organization gain positive relationship building and maintenance, from which trading partners can opt to remain loyal to the organization

Conclusion

As we already see the importance of  intranet and extranet in corporate communication also intranet and extranet has the following challenges like system access should be controlled and checked properly to protect the system and information going into the incorrect hands and also it can decrease personal face to face contact with clients and business partners.

By JOSHUA HELENA M

BAPRM 42571