Net Age Design and Consulting has implemented global intranet and extranet applications for large distributed organisations. We are the sole distributor in NSW for the leading Intranet Publishing product 'Net-It Central' that enables self publishing and easy updating of your intranet without recourse to a web/HTML specialist.

When implementing an Intranet/Extranet the highest returns are generated by mission-critical applications that support line-of-business activities and processes. These tended to be more complicated applications that, in general, were integrated with existing legacy applications.

Many studies of Intranet deployment have been made. A typical study (META Group Analysis) showed that 80% of companies surveyed generated a positive ROI, with an average annualized return of 38%.

Importantly:

• The type of applications enabled by intranet deployment were critical to generating a positive ROI;
• Organizational culture, of the overall organization and of the information technology department, has a significant impact on the success or failure of intranet technology deployment;
• Vertical market is of minimal importance as a predictor of intranet ROI; and
• Organization size, in terms of revenue, has no apparent causal relationship to returns generated as a result of intranet investment.

Winners will be those that carefully select applications for intranet deployment, and have the cooperation of line-of-business management.

Publishing-based applications are the most widespread, followed by collaborative applications. These applications range from departmental applications for information sharing and productivity enhancement to enterprise wide initiatives. In general, the closer the application comes to supporting mission-critical, value added line-of-business applications (for both internal users and supply chain partners), the greater was the return. The following table delineates the major intranet applications users are deploying and their returns:

Intranet Return on Investment - from the META Group Study
Publishing	27%
Order Management	39%
Collaboration	40%
Commerce	44%
Customer Service	47%
Inventory Management	53%
Database Access	68%

When these applications drive cost reduction or generate incremental revenue they have the highest returns on average.

Benefits
META Group's research indicates that the nature of incremental benefits fall into a finite number of categories:

• Cost savings;
• Incremental revenues (either in terms of new revenues or more rapid realization of existing revenue streams); or
• Productivity increase (increased leverage of existing resources).

Businesses can realize these benefits as a result of one or more of a number of circumstances, including, but not limited to:

• Head count reduction;
• More rapid time-to-market for either new or existing products;
• Reduced information printing, access, distribution, or management costs;
• Increased productivity;
• Improved customer or employee retention; and
• Increased employee collaboration/communication.

The particulars of an organization's industry, principal product(s), structure, culture, and geographic distribution dictate the relevancy of various combinations of the above.

Net Age has a detailed application checklist that examines potential intranet applications and projects cost savings or increased revenue. Should you wish to apply this to your organisation please contact us.