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Service level 

agreement (SLA)

A contractual 

specification of service 

standards a contractor 

must meet.

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Chapter 3  Managing digital business infrastructure

  Managing internal digital communications through intranets and extranets 

 In  Chapter   1   , we introduced the concept of intranets and extranets. 

     Intranet  applications 

 Intranets are used extensively for supporting  sell-  side e-commerce from within the mar-

keting function. They are also used to support core supply chain management activities as 

described in the next section on extranets. Today, they are typically deployed as  web-  based 

services supplemented by messages and alerts delivered by email or when users login to a 

company network. A marketing intranet has the following advantages: 

   

● 

  Reduced product life cycles – as information on product development and marketing 

campaigns is rationalised we can get products to market faster.  

  

● 

  Reduced costs through higher productivity, and savings on hard copy.  

  

● 

  Better customer service – responsive and personalised support with staff  accessing cus-

tomers over the web.  

  

● 

  Distribution of information through remote offi  ces nationally or globally.   

 Intranets are also used for internal marketing communications since they can include: 

   

● 

  Staff   phone  directories.  

  

● 

  Staff  procedures or quality manuals.  

  

● 

  Information for agents such as product specifi cations, current list and discounted prices, 

competitor information, factory schedules and stocking levels, all of which normally have 

to be updated frequently and can be costly.  

  

● 

  Staff   bulletin  or  newsletter.  

  

● 

  Training  courses.   

 Intranets can be used for much more than publishing information, as shown in  Box   3.7   . 

Web browsers also provide an access platform for business applications which were tradi-

tionally accessed using separate software programs. This can help reduce the