1. Intranets solve the problem of information overload.
   Ironically, too much information doesn't cause information overload, and the solution isn't to reduce available information. Problems arise when individuals have little control over the information that comes at them. They're buried under a mountain of data. And it takes mental energy to filter, sort, store and later retrieve all this information, most of which is irrelevant.
    
2. Intranets are cheap.
   One advantage of using Internet tools to distribute company information is low cost. Your networked PCs are all perfectly capable intranet clients, and browsers are cheap or free. Even the server hardware, software and middleware is affordable. Any employee with access to a TCP/IP backbone can publish. Perhaps best of all, roll out can be gradual, modular and minimally disruptive.
    
3. Intranets are cross-platform.
   Most organizations are as heterogeneous as hell on the client side. Macs here. UNIX boxes there. A couple of OS/2 machines in the corner and, of course, Windows, Windows  everywhere (in all three flavors: 3.1x, 95 and NT). Intranets are the easiest way to get everyone talking.
    
4. Intranets are robust.
   Even though the Web is just seven years old, and the first graphical browser just three, much of the underlying technology has been in use on the Internet for a decade or two, and it's robust and reliable.
    
5. Intranets are fast.
   You've seen Web sites with large, spectacular graphics, cool videos, neat Netscape forms, and other bells and whistles.  And you'd probably enjoy them even more if they took seconds, rather than minutes, to download. That's one of the great advantages of an intranet: Videos and sound can load in less than a second. You can really push the envelope with the hottest available Web technologies without  worrying about performance.
    

Once companies discover how useful intranets are, they'll start thinking about making some of the content available to customers on the Web. One shining example is Federal Express, which has placed its package-tracking database online for all the world to see. Even if you're not in the overnight delivery business, you still may be able to reduce costs by letting customers get at your information themselves rather than through a telephone operator you have to pay.