For Eckert Seamans and other early adopters, the challenge now is staying ahead of the curve while not getting too far out in front. As Parks puts it: "We're going to be very judicious about what we implement. We have to ask, 'Are we letting the technology drag us? Or are we dragging the technology in a way that's beneficial to us and our clients?' "
But intranet evangelists believe the potential drawbacks -- security concerns, cost, and the constant challenge of keeping current -- pale when compared with the rewards gained from creating new partnerships and strengthening existing ones. Especially in a tough economy, the ability to forge new and stronger links offers small companies the best kind of competitive advantage.
Anne Stuart is a senior writer at Inc. Jill Hecht Maxwell is a staff writer. Send your comments to editors@inc.com.
Spin Your Own
Why not? It's getting cheaper.
The companies mentioned here got transformational results from their intranets, but they spent a bundle. You don't have to pay your way into intranet nirvana. There are less costly ways to get a little closer to the light. As more small businesses have started using private Web sites, software vendors and application service providers (ASPs) have found ways to reduce the pain of building them. Their offerings range from robust software packages to cheap, basic ones that a monkey can set up online in minutes.
So how do you decide which path to follow? James Parks, who led the intranet project at Eckert Seamans, offers a few suggestions.
BEEF UP SECURITY. Parks won't touch a system that doesn't force users to pass through three electronic checkpoints to enter. But if you don't run a law firm, you may not need security worthy of the CIA.
CREATE MULTIPLE LEVELS OF USER ACCESS. Some users need to read files; others need to edit them. Only a few should be allowed to delete them. So you should be able to determine whom you'll allow into each part of your intranet and what they can do once they get there.
DO AN INVENTORY OF YOUR EXISTING DATA. Can you easily move information from your company databases onto the intranet? When Parks started his firm's project, Eckert Seamans already had 40-plus years' worth of data living on its systems.
CONSIDER STORAGE. If you've got 40 dedicated databases on seven mammoth servers, as Eckert Seamans does, don't even consider the intranets that you can rent for a few dollars per user monthly. They won't provide anywhere near the storage space you need.
So if you need high security and have lots of users and mountains of information, you should start by looking at midpriced software packages -- and perhaps talking with a consultant who's built at least a few intranets before. For less than $6,000, you'll find software from more than a dozen vendors, like Planet Intra, in Mountain View, Calif. Planet Intra's software lets regular nontechie people create multiple levels of security access. All employees can use it to publish Web-ready content on a site, even if they don't know HTML from TCBY. Of course, if you have a decent techie on staff, you can build your own simple intranet with a program like Microsoft FrontPage. You won't need a firewall if you're not letting anyone outside your office log on.
Finally, if your needs are simple -- say, you want a group to share a calendar, swap documents, and hold online discussions -- you can set up an intranet for practically nothing. Intranets.com, the King Kong of off-the-shelf intranet ASPs, charges between $3 and $6 per user per month. Competitor InfoStreet charges $3 per user per month. Or try Microsoft's SharePoint Team Services, which comes free with Office XP Professional Special Edition.
Intranet gurus say that no matter which method you elect, there's at least one thing you should do to ensure that your intranet doesn't turn into the electronic equivalent of Euro Disney. Find out what would make your employees' lives easier. People won't use the intranet if it doesn't help them. "Think about human needs as opposed to technology," says Jakob Nielsen of the Nielsen Norman Group. --Jill Hecht Maxwell
Still want more information on building your private Web site? Visit www.inc.com/keyword/intranet.
Please E-mail your comments to editors@inc.com.
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