What is an Extranet?

An extranet is defined as a private network or platform enterprises use to give their business partners and third parties limited access to their internal information and processes typically reserved for their own employees. This article explains the fundamentals of the extranet and lists best practices for an optimized extranet experience.

What is an Extranet?

An extranet is an organization’s private network and it is available only for selected users. It’s a way to connect to third parties like vendors, customers, and partners in a secure and controlled way. The users typically have a login mechanism such as a username and password to access the network. Extranet in simple terms provides a secure network for an organization to share information with relevant people outside the organization. It is part of an organization’s intranet divided via a firewall.

Examples:

• An e-commerce site exchanges information with its retailers, a suppliers through an extranet network.
• Multinational organizations handle their project information, and clients and communicate with other organizations over an extranet network.
• University provides an e-learning platform for their students over the extranet network.

How it can benefit your business

As companies increasingly rely on geographically dispersed teams, finding efficient ways to communicate and collaborate across borders becomes essential. Enter the world of extranets. If you’ve ever asked yourself, “What is extranet?”, you’re about to discover the key to unlocking untapped potential in business operations.

Improved Collaboration with Partners and Suppliers

What is an extranet network in the world of modern business? Imagine a digital space where your organization can seamlessly connect with its partners, suppliers, and other third parties. No more time-wasting email threads or miscommunicated directives.

Extranets allow for real-time collaboration on documents, clearer communication channels, and a centralized space for all collaborative operations.

Consider a retail business that sources products from multiple suppliers globally. An extranet can offer a dedicated space where suppliers upload their inventory in real-time, product specs are shared, and collaborative edits on product designs are made seamlessly. Instead of lengthy email chains that could lead to oversight, all communications are centralized, and everyone remains updated.

Enhanced Customer Service

From providing customers with a portal to view real-time order statuses to facilitating direct communications, an extranet system ensures your customers are always in the loop. This transparency not only enhances trust but also minimizes potential misunderstandings and errors.

Take a real estate company, for instance. They could use an extranet portal where clients can log in to view property documentation, check the progress of their property transactions, or even schedule viewings. Such a system reduces miscommunication, builds trust, and provides customers with a sense of involvement and clarity in the process.

Increased Efficiency

One of the significant advantages of an extranet is its power to streamline processes. Instead of toggling between various platforms or waiting on responses from external partners, an extranet centralizes interactions and necessary data. This reduces the time spent on administrative tasks, allowing teams to focus on what they do best.

A large consultancy firm working on a nationwide project can use an extranet to consolidate research data from various regions. Instead of multiple regional teams sending in reports in varying formats, they could update a unified template on the extranet. This would ensure that when the head office collates data, it’s uniform, comprehensive, and ready for analysis.

Reduced Costs

While setting up an extranet might require an initial investment, the long-term savings are notable. Think about the reduced overheads: fewer physical meetings mean less travel. Digitised and streamlined processes mean less paperwork and quicker turnarounds. Over time, these savings can be substantial.

Imagine a multinational corporation conducting quarterly review meetings with regional heads. Instead of flying in executives from around the globe, an extranet can host virtual meetings, share presentations, and even allow for real-time collaborative feedback. The savings on travel, accommodation, and logistics can be rerouted into other growth avenues.

How to create your own extranet

There are essentially two different approaches to creating an extranet and integrating it into corporate communication. Both approaches are portal solutions:

• Enterprise portals: These combine different applications under a single user interface. This is particularly advantageous if many different extranet applications are to be integrated. In this way, users don’t have to deal with different operating concepts. In addition, identification is only carried out once in relation to the portal, not for each individual application.
• Process-oriented portals: These primarily serve to handle certain business processes. Possible examples are orders or travel expense accounting. The individual business processes can be integrated into the portal, but don’t have to be. They can also be implemented via separate applications.

An extranet can also be set up on the foundation of a content management system (CMS). The range of functions covered by the standard software varies depending on the system used. If the required functions are not covered by the standard software, it’s often possible to supplement them with extensions. However, you should keep in mind that implementing and maintaining complex systems requires a certain amount of expertise.

The difference between an intranet and an extranet

An intranet is a company’s private network that hosts an internal website with various resources — such as a knowledge base, communications channel, and/or collaboration platform — for employees and other select internal users, such as contractors.

Intranets help enhance efficiency and productivity by combining the features of blogs, document, and content management systems, databases, and wikis. Depending on the platform, they may also facilitate greater employee engagement through interactive features, such as commenting, chat, polls, and more.

The primary difference between an intranet and an extranet is that the intranet is a private domain. It can play a role in shaping company culture and internal communications, while also serving as a centralized repository for static resources, such as forms, policies, and other employee tools. On the other hand, an extranet has a wider audience and a narrower objective, serving primarily as a platform to communicate information with important internal and external stakeholders who require access to internal information.

Sometimes, business intelligence applications also enable the placement of data visualization tools on the extranet to make essential data easily accessible to external stakeholders.

Both intranets and extranets require security and privacy. Whereas intranets can be accessed by users directly on the enterprise network, extranets — by nature of being intended for third parties — typically require some kind of virtual private network (VPN) connection or can be accessed via the internet with additional authentication measures.

Conclusion

Today’s collaborative workspace demands deploying platforms and tools like extranet to connect co-workers that accomplish tasks to fulfill business needs and goals. Extranets make internal processes relevant to the outside world, which improves engagement and boosts efficiency. Modern-day extranet brings robust features such as communication options, project management tools, document storage alternatives, and ways to integrate applications.

While extranet implementation can significantly benefit any organization, it is essential to consider parameters like cost, security, and training requirements before investing in the extranet project.