USING AN INTRANET IN A FINANCIAL INSTITUTION
A corporate intranet differs from a corporate network in that the information provided on the intranet is typically presented in Web-based form, using HTML, for example, and a physical network layer based on the internetworking protocol (IP). A corporate network, on the other hand, may include a wide variety of content, including Word and Excel documents, and lacks the infrastructure that makes the Web·and an intranet·easy to navigate.
By the nature, intranets link users within a single enterprise with each other. When suppliers are customers are included on the browser-based network, but it remains closed to the public, it moves from being an intranet to being an extranet. Intranets may well give rise to extranets in environments where it makes sense to do so, but many companies can use intranets effectively, as well.
Financial institutions have a wide variety of uses for intranets. One of the most common applications of an intranet is making benefit information available to employees. Intranets can be used by employees to download forms, and updated forms are easily to upload to the intranet site. At the same time, intranets can be used to provide information about upcoming enrollment periods, details of various medical plans that might be available, and information about 401(k) and other benefits directly to employees.
Of course, intranet information need not be limited only to employee information. A financial institution could use an intranet to train employees on new products and services that the institution intends to offer, for example. Or, the company could provide ethics training to employees·an especially critical area since the scandals that rocked the industry in the latter part of the twentieth century.
Intranets can also be used to provide an online library of resources to employees. The various policies and procedures that govern the institution'...