Internet, Extranet, Email in Companies

The ever-changing world of technology is making the world become smaller every day. Businesses and organizations are taking advantage of the advances in technology to improve their organizations. Technology's influence reaches beyond improving relations within an organization to enhancing an organization's ability to service its customers. But even more than that technology is influencing the shape of the organization itself. In order to realize the impact of technology on business organizations, the following paper will focus on how organizations use technology within an organization (intranet, email), how organizations use technology to communicate with and service clients or customers, and finally how organizations are using the current technology to train both employees and customers.

How are businesses utilizing technology with their organizations? Email

Many businesses at the very least are taking advantage of the current technology to implement email systems. Email systems, in addition to traditional methods of communication including telephones, voice mail and face-to-face interactions are increasing the ease of communication between people in an organization. Through the use of email, people are able to send messages on a one-to-one basis, or to send broadcast messages to an entire organization, or to send messages to a specific group or department.

Email provides an alternative to the traditional face-to-face or telephone communication that is necessary in business. With the increased productivity and demands that accompany day-to-day operations, people are always looking for ways to do more in less time. A written message sent via email can be short concise and to the point, eliminating some of the small talk that would normally take place in a face-to-face or telephone interaction. Another advantage of email is that people are able to respond when it is convenient for them. In a society where time is of the essence, people are able to sort through messages and to prioritize which ones should be addressed first. Furthermore, some people prefer sending email messages instead of face-to-face interactions because they are more likely to be intimidated by face-to-face communication. Email gives those types of people the freedom and the opportunity to say exactly what is on their mind.

Electronic messaging systems are also a great asset to a manager in running his/her department. Managers are able to send out messages regarding everything from schedules to changes in departmental policy without having to call a meeting. Employees within the department are given the chance to give feedback without having to schedule an appointment or sending a long voice mail message. Setting up target groups for certain types of email transmissions, much like the reflectors used at UWM, also saves time and money. People are not spending time reading frivolous messages that do not apply to them, and are not spending as much time attending departmental meetings to decide policy issues.

Finally, email systems provide a way to send a message to a large number of people in a very short time. Electronic messaging is a much more practical option for mass distribution than telephone or face-to-face options. Although telephone systems do allow people to send broadcast messages, email seems more efficient when the amount of information to be dispersed is large.

Email systems also provide the opportunity for people in one organization to interact with people from another organization. The ability to communicate effectively and responsiveness to issues are two elements that are key to a successful business organization. Top executives from companies that have a business relationship are able to accommodate busy schedules by using email for correspondence.

Intranets

Within organizations, electronic messaging systems are usually part of a bigger network. To manage the bigger network of an organization more and more businesses are developing intranets. An intranet is an internal web site used in a company to disseminate timely corporate and business related information to employees. Organizations are likely to invest money in technology to create intranets for a variety of reasons. For example, many businesses use their intranets to centralize corporate communications. Companies will post documents for internal use in order to make them easily accessible and to ensure that they are current.

Intranets also give employees easy access to client product and organizational information. Instead of trying to track down information about clients from the sales and marketing departments, client information posted to an intranet is easily accessible to everyone. An intranet also gives users the option of reading it online or printing it out to be read at a later time. People are not forced to share a limited number of hard copies as they have been in the past.

Intranets also foster interaction between departments, which are normally isolated from each other. Online newsletters are one way to let people within an organization know what everyone else is doing. Many times people are so focused on their own work they tend to overlook opportunities to work with other departments in accomplishing their goals.

Another reason companies implement intranets is to provide training for their employees. Training using an intranet is far less expensive than sending individuals to class or even using a CD-ROM. Intranet training allows companies to update and modify information continuously and employees can participate in the intranet training during slow times, rather than having to take training given at a certain date and time regardless of how many hot projects are currently underway.

Intranets are about as diverse as the companies that choose to use them. Intranets vary in complexity from basic (providing company phone lists, forms, etc.) to very elaborate systems that include messaging components, quality and procedural information and forms, product information, and internet access. Implementing an intranet can be a major undertaking depending on the complexity of the system. One of the suggested readings, Intranet Planning Guide, discusses the detailed step-by step process of creating an intranet for a company. The reading includes development considerations, manpower considerations, and safety considerations.

Developing an intranet takes a lot of time and planning, even if the organization has highly qualified people for the implementation. The systems and services that are provided by the intranet must have support from everyone in the company from the executive committee to the new employees. Goal setting is another component of the development process. Defining both short and long term goals will help keep the project focused. Then