Publication
Cost Saving. Many companies are replacing the
publication of paper documents, company newsletters,
and employee manuals with electronic multimedia
versions published on intranet Web servers. Elimination
of printing, mailing, and distribution costs
is a major source of cost savings. Companies
are also electronically publishing telephone
directories, human resource materials, company
policies, job openings, and many other former
paper-based communications on intranet websites.
Companies that use web technology to distribute
documents may experience monumental gains in
productivity and incredible cost savings. Like
the reengineering craze that has marked the other
half of the client/server revolution, converting
many paper-based systems to web systems can save
both labour and overhead costs within an organisation.
Training
and Development Cost Savings. Developing
information access and Web publishing applications
for an intranet is a lot easier than many traditional
methods. Learning how to use a Web browser for
the company intranet is fast and easy. Many employees
already know how to use a browser anyway, from
surfing the World Wide Web. So training and development
costs for many intranet applications are low,
especially for communication, collaboration,
and information sharing.
In addition, putting electronic putting electronic
versions of training materials on intranet websites
can reduce the amount of costly classroom training
in business.
Measuring
Costs and Benefits. For most businesses,
the benefits to be gained from intranets far
outweigh their limitations. Justifying the initial
cost of investing in an intranet does not seem
to be the problem for many organisations. Costs
savings can include putting helpdesk call logs,
corporate newsletter, employee benefit plan changes,
and customer queries on the intranet Web servers.
The impressive returns, quick payback, and endorsements
of intranets by companies have not gone unnoticed.
So the consensus advice of many corporate intranet
users and consultants to the global business
community has been that companies should quickly
expand any current intranet initiatives.
back
to top ^
