INTRANETS: PLENTY OF BANG FOR THE BUCK TWO YEARS AGO, AS INTERNET mania swept the land, corporations saw a way to harness the power of the World Wide Web to share information among employees, customers, and suppliers, while keeping uninvited Web surfers out. They spent millions creating these private Nets, known as intranets. But have those investments paid off? According to a new study by META Group Inc., a research firm in Stamford, Conn., the answer is yes. META interviewed 55 companies that had spent anywhere from $50,000 to tens of millions of dollars building intranets. It found that 80% had generated a positive return on their investment. The average return: 38% a year, or $1.38 in cost savings or new revenue for every dollar spent. Results varied, depending on how companies used their intranets. Simple publishing applications, such as putting up information for employees to peruse, generated a modest 27% average return. Collaborative applications brought a solid 40% return. But the real payback came with intranet applications designed to handle key business functions, such as customer service and inventory management. EDITED BY AMY CORTESE RELATED ITEMS CHART: Intranet Payoff

Updated June 27, 1997 by bwwebmaster
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