Intranets: A New Breed of IT System?

Abstract

Corporate Intranets — the use of Internet technology to build internal computer networks — are a relatively recent phenomenon initially made possible by the advent of web browsers such as Mosaic and Netscape in 1993/1994. Since then there has been tremendous growth in the number of companies using Intranets and if forecasts are to be believed, soon every company will have an Intranet. This chapter presents some of the findings of an in-depth case study looking at the early take-up and subsequent expansion of an Intranet within a large UK company.The case study examines the role and impact that the use of an Intranet has had to date. In addition to the cost savings that have resulted there are also ‘unplanned’ benefits such as enabling new ways of working, and the breakdown of barriers to communications and collaborative working. However, from an academic perspective, little work has been done on investigating the role and impact of Intranets in organisations. In an attempt to address this, this chapter treats the Intranet as just another IT system and explores the relevance and value of the existing literature. Issues addressed include the integration of IT into corporate strategy, planning and implementation, and approaches to the evaluation of the system. Each of these issues is illustrated with data from the case study.