Extranet: Definition; What is an Extranet?

Extranets are private web sites that provide secure environments for a select group of users to share documents and information. Although you access an extranet through a web browser, such as Internet Explorer, it differs from a public web site in that it can be used only by an audience that has permission to access it through the use of IDs and passwords.

You use a company extranet to provide access to selected outsiders, typically clients, partners or co-workers in remote locations. It allows you to customize levels of access, and to manage the amount and type of information made available. Because it is hosted on the web, an extranet can allow you to share text documents, graphics, audio, video, message boards, and data.

Essentially, a secure extranet allows you to share almost anything, and give you control over who can see them.

For example, you can post a Microsoft Word document to an extranet that is available to your clients, key vendors and your sales force. Let's assume that you only want one client contact at each client, and the sales director to see the document. The extranet allows you to grant viewing permission to those select few, and restrict viewing to all others. If at a later date you want to make it available to the larger group, you simply change the permissions.

Extranet solutions may also be used to support workgroups, with functions that support capabilities such as project management, document management, and knowledge management. These functions may include calendaring, document archives and links to databases.

Often, extranets are used to replace email as a means to communicate within and across work groups. With an extranet, all communication is secure and any size document can be exchanged. Unlike email, an extranet provides a system for filing all the documents into project related folders as part of the exchange process.

As an extranet's complexity increases, the risk of reducing usability can become a critical issue. A simple collaboration extranet can dramatically enhance client service, and provide significant cost savings, because people will want to use it. An extranet that provides a high level of functionality can become so difficult to use that it is simply ignored. Care should be taken to assure that the intended user groups have the technical skill and motivation to use it.

Some benefits of extranets can include:

  • Shorter development cycles through enhanced collaboration, faster approvals, instant access to information, and reduced travel and training time

  • Cost savings associated with more efficient employee training, reduced cost of mailing and distribution of materials, faster invoicing, and reduced person-to-person service calls.

The bottom-line is that the right extranet can enhance relationships and lower costs. The key is to have clear objectives, understand the needs and capabilities of the user groups, and assure that the extranet is maintained and monitored for top performance.







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