What is an intranet?

An intranet is a website that is only available on your internal computer network.
As such it is far more secure than a normal website, as it is impossible to view it outside your company.
Intranets can be setup so only certain staff can see certain areas of the web-site. For example only accounts can see payroll information.

Do I need one?

Intranets can be a cheap and effective way of providing common access to data:

Access to company databases	Excel spreadsheets, Access databases, Sage accounts data etc.. can be made visible to all staff via the intranet. Security can be set so that only authorised staff can see certain areas and/or update the data. Search and reporting capabilities can be added so staff can see data relevant to them, in a format meaningful to them.
Access to company news	The intranet can be a platform for company news and staff announcements.
Internal Software	Applications software can be accessed via the intranet. This makes security and upgrading much cheaper and simpler than with the traditional 'install software on each PC' method.