The following scenarios illustrate just some of the productivity, communication, and collaborative benefits associated with next generation intranet solutions.  While each of the scenarios is presented as a functionally discrete application of the intranet, greater productivity gains are achieved through the bringing together of knowledge from unrelated areas of an organization: marketing can find value on the R&D intranet site, finance can make use of the sales intranet, HR could learn from the manufacturing site, and so forth.  By removing barriers between functions and creating connections between departments, enterprise-wide intranets afford opportunities for truly creative and collaborative knowledge work. 

Sales

The sales process is as geographically distributed and information intensive as it is dynamic.  Sales organizations need rapid, unfettered access to a variety of updated information at any time and in any location.  A sales intranet may contain current or past requests for proposals, sales tools, details on sales initiatives, target forecasts, lead aggregation information, and real-time sales tracking data.  Consumers of this information might include field sales, management, manufacturing or production, and benefits teams.  The sales intranet streamlines processes, enhances operations, tightens management, and generally improves customer responsiveness.  One key benefit of a sales intranet is the ability to mine for competitive and comparative information.  The sales professional can drill down through categories of products, services, reports, and analyses and harvest very useful information to close a sale.

Marketing

Marketing is extraordinarily information intensive, whether developing market research initiatives, planning advertising campaigns, designing promotional activities, or tracking competitors’ products and performance.  A variety of collateral and sales support content can be made available on a marketing intranet to describe both proprietary and third-party positioning, strategies, and tactics including brochures, fact sheets, news stories, white papers, case studies, videos, reports, business forecasts, and internal documents.

The information is consumed by marketing and sales teams, product development, and the attorneys responsible for legal review.  The marketing intranet can provide rapid access to information and facilitates the easy reuse of knowledge and the self-service collaboration on ad hoc projects.

Finance

Financial information must be dynamic yet support archiving of historical performance data.  Finance intranets have typically included payroll, revenue forecasts, budgets, profit and loss statements, sales reports, accounts payable and receivable, financial statements for specific business divisions and product lines, cost statements for cost centers, cash flow forecasting, exchange rates, tax rates and compliance information, and performance reporting data such as sales volumes and marginal profit by customer.  All employees consume the information, but with roles-based permissions the security of confidential data is guaranteed.  The finance intranet can disseminate information rapidly to the entire organization and obviates the need for one-to-one support to management and employees.

Operations

The operations group delivers a variety of dynamic information to the whole organization.  Operations intranets might include status information on voice mail, unified messaging, the network and phones, fulfillment and distribution, purchasing, security, facilities, the helpdesk, and other departmental support functions.  The entire organization consumes this information.  For the operations function of an organization, an intranet disseminates information rapidly at low cost and provides access to dynamic information such as support resolution and tracking.

The operations group delivers a variety of dynamic information to the whole organization.  Operations intranets might include status information on voice mail, unified messaging, the network and phones, fulfillment and distribution, purchasing, security, facilities, the helpdesk, and other departmental support functions.  The entire organization consumes this information.  For the operations function of an organization, an intranet disseminates information rapidly at low cost and provides access to dynamic information such as support resolution and tracking.

Manufacturing

Manufacturing is all about process improvement.  Manufacturing intranets may contain inventory, component data, quality assurance, product specifications, material safety data sheets, order tracking, and fulfillment and scheduling information.  Users of this site include manufacturing teams, management, and operations.  A manufacturing intranet delivers tight inventory control, just-in-time support, and effective management insight.

Human Resources

Human Resources (HR) is information intensive.  HR intranets are used by the entire organization and may contain career planning tips and sites, the company handbook, benefits forms and programs, and training information.  Some organizations have also included “lifestyle” sections on their HR intranets that incorporate advice on substance abuse, health prevention, parenting, caring for seniors, moving, and the like.  The HR intranet delivers rapid, self-service information dissemination at low cost as well as legal compliance.

Research and Development

Research and development (R&D) is process and information intensive.  R&D intranets may contain test tools, business plans, budgets, research methodologies, project schedules, and team-specific data, along with third-party alerting services that track new developments in selected fields.  This information is used by R&D, marketing, and manufacturing.  Benefits include improved information dissemination, enhanced collaboration in the R&D cycle, and tighter project coordination and management.

Live Broadcast

Broadcast delivers live or on-demand Web-based audiovisual communications to the desktop.  Broadcast improves employee productivity and focus; reduces costs via economies on travel, events, or CD replication; and increases return on investment through delivery of supplementary services on existing infrastructure.