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Make your organisation more efficient with a Quiet Storm Intranet

Quiet Storm can provide you with intranet solutions that will increase the efficiency of information flow throughout your organisation. An intranet is simply a website, which is located on your internal network and which uses web based technology to publish information, making files and standard documentation more accessible.

Below is a summary of the key functions of an intranet together with the benefits. These key functions and benefits almost mirror those listed within the extranets page on this website. That is because the only real difference between an intranet and an extranet is where the system is located.

Both intranets and extranets have the ability to control what information is viewed by who through the user group administration - for instance the Managing Director, Finance Director, etc may be able to see all information published, yet a sales person within the same organisation may only view a more basic level of information.

Information publishing

This is probably where you will get the major benefit out of an intranet. Through using the intranet to deliver news and other information in the form of directories and web documents. This could be anything from the minutes of a meeting to the holiday closure dates.

Quiet Storm has twenty-two employees and the intranet is like the right hand of everyone within the company - here are just a few of the ways we use it to publish information:

• Telephone/contacts directory - a single directory featuring all contacts and enables anyone calling in to the company to be quickly identified (together with a list of all of their outstanding quotes, jobs currently in production and all past work).
• Profit share - every employee can see exactly how the company is doing, what is expected from their department and what impact that has on their pay packet.
• Policies and procedures - everything from how specific work should be undertaken to health & safety (including all of the statutory information which company directors are legally obliged to make available).
• Stakeholder pension information.

E-mail

Implementing an e-mail system that integrates seamlessly with the intranet, allowing information to be both 'pushed' and 'pulled'.

Email addresses are saved within our Quiet Storm contacts directory, so when creating a new email to one of the people listed, we can simply start typing their name and the email address is automatically completed. Should there be two people within our contacts directory then both email addresses are displayed so that the correct one can be selected.

Document management

Using the intranet to allow users to view, print and work collaboratively on office documents (word-processed documents, spreadsheets, presentations, etc.).

Many of our clients have large sales teams all of whom should be singing from the same hymn sheet, having a central location where template documents are located provides them with the control over the information being sent out.

In some cases, we have developed an enhanced tool which allows their 'Quotes' department to select key products from their website when creating a proposal document. The product information is automatically collated into a document including all other standard information, T&Cs, etc. This is personalised to the client and a PDF created. This can then be emailed to the client or printed. The benefit is absolute consistency of information and an automatic record of every document created, the date and who it was created for.

Training

Using the intranet to deliver training at the desktop - from the induction of new staff to how to use the new photocopier. Training manuals online ensure that everyone has access to the relevant information and if there are any common mistakes, that they are published to avoid (or reduce) the chances of them being repeated.

Workflow

Using the intranet to automate administrative processes.

As you can imagine Quiet Storm's workflow is controlled through our intranet and job bag system. This provides us with the visibility on all contracts undertaken and instant access to a client's records when they call to enquire about the progress of their work.

On top of this, it allows us to view who has done what at the click of a mouse. This has helped Quiet Storm to refine processes and identify log jams in the system before they become a problem.

Databases and other bespoke systems

Using the intranet as a front-end to organisation-specific systems, such as corporate databases.

This could be anything from customer profiles and spending power, to prospect filters and the measurement of lead generation tools -  i.e. who is responding to what marketing initiative, how much each lead costs, etc.

Discussion

Using the intranet as a means for users to discuss and debate issues. Larger organisations, especially those with multi-site operations find this invaluable. It means they can provide a platform where those operating in the same or similar job roles can communicate, ask advice, or bounce ideas to a wider audience before making a major decision.

Diary

Providing a company wide diary can help plan events or just manage who is where, when.

Quiet Storm's intranet lists details that are of company wide importance, such as client visits, meeting room usage, holidays, etc so that everyone has access to what is going on. It also allows individuals to record their own diary events, which are only viewable when logged in personally. This means that people don't have to manage two systems and hope they keep them in sync! It also has the ability to import from PDA's and mobile phone diaries so that those who are not office based can easily update the main system with their schedules.

There are many more ways in which the intranet for your organisation can be developed to make your people more productive, take a look at the case studies on this page to get more of an idea of our capabilities in providing this service.

To arrange a no obligation FREE consultation please complete our enquiry form - stating which days and times would be most convenient for us to call you for a brief and informal chat about your requirements.