Editing Intranet strategies (section)

==Role of intranets==

Intranets are generally used for four types of applications:

1) Communication and collaboration
*send and receive e-mail, faxes, voice mail, and paging
*discussion rooms and chat rooms
*audio and video conferencing
*virtual team meetings and project collaboration
*online company discussions as events (e.g., IBM Jams)
*inhouse blogs

2) Web publishing
*develop and publish hyperlinked multi-media documents such as:
**policy manuals
**company newsletters
**product catalogs
**technical drawings
**training material
**telephone directories

3) Business operations and management
*order processing
*inventory control
*production setup and control
*[[management information systems]]
*[[database]] access

4) Intranet portal management
*centrally administer all network functions including servers, clients, security, directories, and traffic
*give users access to a variety of internal and external business tools/applications
*integrate different technologies
*conduct regular user research to identify and confirm strategy (random sample surveys, usability testing, focus groups, in-depth interviews with wireframes, etc.)