Intranet and Internet Fundamentals Class 6 Session B

Topics Intranet Concepts –Various Definitions and Views –Motivation and Business Case Real World Examples

Intranet Concepts Definitions “An intranet is a network of networks that is contained within an enterprise.” -- “The main purpose of an intranet is to share company information and computing resources among employees. An intranet can also be used to facilitate working in groups and for teleconferences.” -- “An intranet uses TCP/IP, HTTP, and other Internet protocols and in general looks like a private version of the Internet.” ---

Intranet Concepts Definitions

Intranet Concepts Definitions The term intranet refers to the fact that the Web (or other Internet applications) are being run completely on the inside of a private network, often without a direct connection to the Internet. There are a number of information resources and transactions that are potential candidates for an intranet… Every corporation has reams of business information that it must distribute to internal employees or external customers and suppliers.

Intranet Concepts Definitions Characteristics –Internet technology TCP/IP especially Web technology –browser as universal GUI heterogeneity –not essential –Private restricted access; usually behind a firewall

Intranet Concepts Motivation Islands of Information –incompatible, proprietary file formats –expensive, incompatible viewing tools –frequent upgrading of publishing and viewing tools –massive printing budgets for documents that are rarely used

Intranet Concepts Motivation Islands of Information (continued) –out-of-date information locked in obsolete systems slow, long update cycles –difficult access to vital business information –redundancy and duplication of information across networks

Intranet Concepts Motivation Better –collaboration improved quality Faster –vital information can be had in a more timely manner Cheaper –negligible cost to move information over long distances –technologies nearly free

Intranet Real World Examples IDC ROI Study Amdahl Lockheed Martin Booze, Allen & Hamilton

Intranets Real World Examples The IDC ROI Study –study of Netscape customers –typical ROI > 1000% much higher than usual for IT investments – week payback –implies very low risk –promises to fundamentally change way workers communicate not since the telephone

Intranets IDC Study: Calculating the ROI H/W & S/W far less significant than personnel costs –application development –on-going support and maintenance Web browser ease-of-use => lower training cost –typical custom application requires outside trainers and time lost in classes

Intranets IDC Study: Calculating the ROI Maintenance Costs reduced if: if content managers identified to take lead employees enabled through simple content generation tools Cost Savings in areas of paper usage increased productivity –immediate access to information

Intranets IDC Study: Calculating the ROI 10 min/day * 3,000 employees = 30,000 employee-minutes/day = –500 employee-hrs/day = –$25,000 / day $50/hr) = –$6,500,000 / year 260 working days / year) Lower Deployment Costs –“In the morning ten people were testing it, by the afternoon 4000 people could use it!”

Intranets IDC Study:Trends Departmental Web Servers –make accessible info previously hard to access –local webmasters assist department personnel in publishing web content Webmaster Guilds IS from Service Organization to Coach –web technologies are personally enabling

Intranets IDC Study: Summary Intranets eliminate communication barriers ROIs greater than 1000% common

Intranet Case Study Amdahl Mainframe Developer Acquisitions –double in size over short period –introduced diverse computing systems and networks Internet technologies natural choice Before Intranet –paper and

Intranet Case Study Amdahl Grassroots in 1994 Web Council in 1995 –cross-functional –usage document –style guide –training and support Further sub-divided into mini-Web councils

Intranet Case Study Amdahl IS evolution –from central gatekeeper to facilitator –from centralized to decentralized / distributed application development

Intranet Case Study Amdahl Lessons Learned –Web council provides structure, avoids bureaucracy –upper management buy-in was crucial one-on-one tutoring of managers and secretaries –middle management overlooked –waited too long to deploy search engine –underestimated requirements of webmaster job

Intranet Case Study Amdahl Bottom Line at Amdahl –2063% ROI –13 Year Payback –3-year savings: $19 M –3-year costs: $4.2 M