In 1992, just as the Internet was coming into vogue, the project needed a champion to move it throughout the company. Scott Guthery, a scientific advisor, traveled to engineering centers around the world, in one case lecturing a staff of five on a small island in Finland. Guthery would present a one-hour lecture, then spend the rest of the day surfing the Web with people from the company. His hands-on demonstration gave people examples of how they might use the intranet themselves. If I had been able to clone myself a couple of times, the word would have spread a lot faster.
Intranets demand that IS both take and give up control.
Most experts agree that IS should allow departments to publish information on their own internal Web sites in whatever manner they choose, as long as the business objectives of the intranet are carefully defined and followed. However, the decentralization of information can become a concern. Or, if they understand the importance, there will be turf wars over who gets to run and manage it. Easing those concerns requires coordination within an organization. An intranet becomes an integration of a company's groupware, Web and e-mail applications.