Business Week - 3/31/03

New Technology Speeds Information Sharing

Companies today utilize the Internet in a multitude of ways to enhance their business operations. Yet, many still fail to exploit the opportunity it offers to reduce the costs of sharing information with field salespeople. A staggering amount of money is spent on overnight mailing of hardcopy marketing and promotional materials which could more easily and cost effectively be transmitted in digital formats.

Extranet software programs enable companies to post such information, in a variety of file formats, in an online repository, designating who may access the information and allowing employees anywhere in the world to retrieve and download it easily, swiftly, and securely. Global online access to company information allows employees to utilize sales data, marketing materials, and audio video presentations to maximize the success of important business meetings and key account calls.

Such extranet programs work with all mainstream operating systems and support virtually any file type – Word ® documents, PDFs, Excel ® spreadsheets, databases, image and sound files, and video – as well as web links allowing integration of web-based resources. The extranet navigates like a website, with a simple point & click interface, and can incorporate a search engine allowing users to quickly access the information they need. The search engine updates automatically when files are added, modified or deleted.

The extranet typically is managed by a system administrator, who creates group-based access to folders and files in order to control who can view, add, edit and delete them. The extranet ’s user interface can be customized so graphics match the look and feel of the company’s website.

As a result, salespeople are spared calling company headquarters in a panic at 3 p.m. requesting overnight delivery of a brochure, point-of-sale display, or print ad to present to a customer the next morning. Instead, they log onto the company extranet and download a digital version. The employee makes a professional presentation and the company saves overnight mailing charges, a win-win benefit of Internet technology.