Factors that make a successful Extranet

1. Factors that make a successful Extranet presented by: David Strom David Strom, Inc. USA david@strom.com +1 (516) 944-3407 N+I Singapore IE6| (c)1998 David Strom, Inc.

2. Summary • Audience • Purpose • Design • Community • Architecture choices • Example: Tax News Network N+I Singapore IE6| (c)1998 David Strom, Inc.

3. Know your audience • Executives, middle management, staff? • How well do you know these people? • Intended for your customers? New prospects? N+I Singapore IE6| (c)1998 David Strom, Inc.

4. Understand your purpose • Increase sales • Increase visibility • Communicate with clients • Enhance client relationships N+I Singapore IE6| (c)1998 David Strom, Inc.

5. Consider these design points • Keep the user in mind at all times! • Ease of access • Minimum of clutter, gratuitous graphics, menus • Site maps readily available • Browser version, plug-in support • Wide or narrow, deep or shallow content • Membership or public access N+I Singapore IE6| (c)1998 David Strom, Inc.

6. Members-only access • Restrict to customers, staff, management • Keep competitors from downloading your customer file • Maintain customer privacy N+I Singapore IE6| (c)1998 David Strom, Inc.

7. Create layers of information • Different people need to know different things • Makes finding things simple • Match user with appropriate content N+I Singapore IE6| (c)1998 David Strom, Inc.

8. Create a sense of community • Send email to group periodically • Inform users of new content on site • Take the right tone of voice in communications and content • Maintain discussion forums to engage user participation N+I Singapore IE6| (c)1998 David Strom, Inc.

9. Examine your web site from the end-user perspective • Can I really find the answers to my questions? • Do I get lost in web space? • Can I easily search the site? • Is the level of detail interesting and informative? • Will I come back to the site tomorrow? N+I Singapore IE6| (c)1998 David Strom, Inc.

10. Integrate any back end systems • Do you already have databases to publish? • Where do you maintain your customer lists? • Where do you maintain your content? N+I Singapore IE6| (c)1998 David Strom, Inc.

11. Choose the right path • Buy a turnkey system • Build in-house from scratch • Leverage existing IT infrastructure N+I Singapore IE6| (c)1998 David Strom, Inc.

12. Turnkey products • Document management systems • PC DOCS www.pcdocs.com • Notes-based add-ons • Domino www.lotus.com • Intranet software • Livelink www.opentext.com • Intranetics www.intranetics.com N+I Singapore IE6| (c)1998 David Strom, Inc.

13. Turnkey product issues • Expensive (US$50,000+) • Not easy to customize • Don’t always work for your application • Not always easy to use and setup • Read my own reviews at www.strom.com/pubwork/cworld.html N+I Singapore IE6| (c)1998 David Strom, Inc.

14. Example of extranet done right • Coopers and Lybrand Tax News Network • www.tnn.com • article: www.datamation.com/PlugIn/issues/1997/november/11extra.html N+I Singapore IE6| (c)1998 David Strom, Inc.

15. Tax News Network • Audience: corporate tax professionals • Membership and staff sections • Public access to small portion of site N+I Singapore IE6| (c)1998 David Strom, Inc.

16. TNN fee structure • Public site is always free • Members get first month for free • Different tax association members get discounts N+I Singapore IE6| (c)1998 David Strom, Inc.

17. TNN content structure • Leverages existing Notes and Informix databases • Replication and authentication taken from existing IT applications • Staff authors documents as they did before the extranet • Builds upon earlier DOS-based BBS systems N+I Singapore IE6| (c)1998 David Strom, Inc.

18. Conclusion • Q&A • David Strom, david@strom.com N+I Singapore IE6| (c)1998 David Strom, Inc.