In June and July 1996, Grant Tate visited several companies and universities in the United States. This article reflects some of the observations that he made. It has implications for new ways of providing education and training for smaller companies as well as the large corporates and traditional higher education.
In 1995, 11 percent of U.S. corporations had installed an Intranet (an Internet within the walls of a company or institution). That number has grown to somewhere between 25 and 44 percent today, and some research groups have estimated that, by 1997, seventy percent of large corporations will have an Intranet. The wave is sweeping industry.
Why? The restructuring movement of the 80’s and early 90’s eliminated layers of management, unproductive functions, and old communication methods. But managers found that new communication and management techniques were needed to coordinate the resulting distributed organizations. Intranets are an answer to that need.
Intranets are also easy and inexpensive to install and anyone with a browser can access Intranet information. With relatively simple security arrangements, small companies without Local Area Networks can use standard telephone lines to connect their people via Internet technology.
In several companies that I visited, Intranets were growing like weeds in the organized turf controlled by the Information Systems departments. One company’s "official" groupware is based on Lotus Notes, but employees had installed several Intranets without management authorization or encouragement. The Intranets were being administered by the employees and an ad hoc employee committee was setting policy for the nets.
Although this was an extreme case, many companies are rushing headlong into Intranets without thinking through the long term implications of their approach. In addition, their executives and managers are not prepared to deal with the full implications of open and ubiquitous communications. Management methods are lagging technology.
Of course, control-oriented managers are freaked out by this scenario. Human Resource Managers (HRM) are wondering how to set policies to control outbreaks of independent employee communications - and HRM people are shocked to realize that employees can communicate and send documents to each other outside of the official company communication network.
However, security is a huge concern among corporate executives. They worry about intruders into the system and wonder how to control company confidential information in environments where anyone can publish anything.
A Lotus Notes vs. Intranet debate is also raging. Companies with Notes already installed are pondering how the system fits with the applications and open environment offered by Internet protocols. Some of those companies are experimenting with both systems and hoping to make them co-exist. In the meantime, IBM/Lotus is pushing forward with release 4 of Notes that is cheaper than the old version, has a better interface, and includes the ability to produce documents for the web.
Most Intranet applications are focused on provision of information rather than running the mission critical processes of companies. Nevertheless, this is a small revolution in the organization of work in companies. People can get information on demand and when they need it, rather than having it pushed at them. The Netscape web site: http://www.netscape.com.
includes some good examples of company applications, such as National Semiconductor’s Intranet for its R&D people, and Cushman and Wakefield’s support of its commercial real estate sales people.
Of course, companies often allow their customers and suppliers access to certain information on their Intranet. For instance, Federal Express thus lets its customers trace their packages via a WWW connection.
Other institutions are also pushing into the technology. The Americal Red Cross just announced plans to connect its disaster relief workers and volunteers through its Intranet. You can find their current WWW site at: http://www.redcross.org/news/disaster.html.
Training, per se, is a relatively small percentage of applications. But, while saying that, we must recognize that networks are changing the paradigm of training. A close analysis of traditional company training programs shows that most training time is spent in information transfer rather than skill development. In traditional schemes, information is pushed at learners in large blocks and off cycle - that is, when they do not need it. Subsequently, little information is retained after the training programme is completed. The Intranet gives trainers the opportunity to provide the information component when users need it, then use either Intranet or other methods to deliver the skills component. Many applications have the "how to" built into the flow of information: "Click here and learn how to use this new program." You can find good examples of this on Microsoft’s web site: http://www.microsoft.com.
While WWW users wait and hope for fast on ramps to the WWW, Intranets hold the best possibility for multimedia-based training using high bandwidths. Internal networks running over high speed Ethernets have the capacity for true multimedia. Thus, we can look for leading edge multimedia training applications on Intranets. For the first time, trainers have a relatively common platform for which to develop applications, although there will be continuing competition among the various standards and the suppliers of web-based technologies.
With company employees getting more of their information and training on-line, they will likely expect similar service in
their continuing professional education. The aggressive colleges and universities in the US are responding to this demand through alternative paths to certification and by marketing aggressively to companies and individuals. They are also moving rapidly to connect their students, faculty and staff. Networks are opening the boundaries of educational institutions and sparking active debates on policies, practices and the future of universities. Check into some of the distance education email lists on Internet and you will see on-going discussions on this subject. For instance subscribe to DEOS-L at: listserv@psuvm.psu.edu.
Whereas one can conclude that Intranets were an answer to a need
created by company restructuring, we can also observe that introduction of Intranets are dramatically changing the dynamics within organizations. The existence of an open communication and publication system is forcing executives, administrators and managers to confront fundamental issues about how work is performed in their organizations. Once the genie is out of the bottle, top-down management will have difficulty getting it back.
Grant Tate can be contacted at the Bridgewater Research Group, NL, BV, Aalbekerweg 67d, 6336 XN Hulsberg, The Netherlands
Tel +1 804 589 4655 Fax +1 804 589 5695 Email: BridgewaterResearch@compuserve.com.