Create Your Own Intranet, Employee Portal, and Other Internal Tools3 min read

Many businesses benefit from having some form of portal that gives their employees, customers, or both quick access to information and resources once they log in.

Some out-of-the-box solutions work for many businesses but getting a solution tailored to your exact needs, along with the flexibility to grow, is ideal.

Thanks to technologies like Progressive Web Apps (PWAs), Sharp Innovations can help your business identify how an intranet or employee portal can eliminate inefficiencies, streamline processes, reduce redundancies, and even present new opportunities through features like custom reporting and more.

What is an Intranet?

An intranet is a system designed to be accessed by specific people only. Gated access allows them to view protected information and obtain utilities that are beneficial for either customers or internal employees. A good intranet will serve as a “one-stop shop” for anything either of those audiences could need, in addition to potentially providing new utilities that can improve your business.

Sharp Innovations helps clients not only eliminate old-school Excel sheets that have “done the job” for many years, but also suggest ways an intranet can help they weren’t aware of.

What is the Difference Between Internet and Intranet?

An Internet is a network of computers connected globally which people can access to share information and communicate with each other. An intranet is local and restricted to users with access only, enabling them to share information, store information, and organize it within their computer network.

Why Would a Company Use an Intranet?

A good intranet or portal can house things like employee time tracking, vacation hours, employee manuals and handbooks, etc., yet keep them private and secure. It can also act as a resource for training documentation, give your clients access to sensitive files or internal messaging, generate reports from stored data, and more.

Sharp Innovations can even integrate your custom portal into other software you may be using to unify multiple sources of information and data automatically into one space.

As mentioned, Sharp Innovations typically develops intranets using Progressive Web App technology, which gives added flexibility while keeping development costs down through:

1. Working across all operating systems and devices, from Windows and Mac computers to iPhones and Android devices
2. Having the ability to be installed on mobile devices without publishing to an App Store, which causes extra delays with updates and requires additional development time to accommodate different systems
3. Not requiring an internet connection by being able to automatically download content for offline viewing
4. Having a notification system built-in that works across multiple platforms for simple communication with whoever is using the system

How to Build an Intranet Custom to Your Needs

Since the sky is the limit, knowing where to start is important. Sharp Innovations will work with you to propose a solution that makes the most sense.

Looking to solve a specific issue? Call for a free consultation and let’s get started.

Sharp Innovations will perform a thorough Discovery Process with you. We’ll identify all system requirements and produce a comprehensive mock-up along with a cost estimate for the project.

No matter the complexity, our programming team will build your portal in a way that is scalable and easy to modify over the long term should you decide to automate processes down the road for budget flexibility or to accommodate company change and growth. Implementing a solution that solves your problems today is important but building the system in a way that future proofs it as your business grows and changes is also vital.

Let’s Create Your Employee Portal

Are you ready to discover how a custom intranet or employee portal could improve your business? Fill out our Free Consultation form to get the conversation started.