By Steve Anderson

Every agency needs to distribute information to employees so that they can do their job effectively. Access to current and correct information is becoming more critical. As the agency grows and adds new employees, the problem of keeping employees informed gets more complicated. In the past, a standard way to disseminate information to employees was to photocopy the information and put it into each person's paper inbox. One of the problems with this approach is that you can't find that one piece of information when you need it because it's buried in a stack of paper. One of the best solutions for this problem is an agency intranet.

An intranet provides an improved way to share information within the agency. It's actually a Web site that's specifically designed to display information needed by an agency's internal staff. While an intranet uses Internet technology (i.e., Web pages, hyperlinking, etc.,) it doesn't have to reside outside of your agency network. It's simply a collection of documents that reside on your network.

There are a number of advantages to using this type of technology to help manage your agency information.

Common access - All documents are read using a Web browser. The most popular browsers are Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator. The browser provides an easier and more intuitive way to manage and display any type of information. Your staff is already using a browser to access information on the Internet. They can use this same method to access information specific to your agency needs.

Hyperlinks - Like any Web site, an intranet allows you to create links between different documents, Web sites, or specific Web pages. This means your staff can navigate through a large number of documents without having to know where the files are physically located on your network. As your system becomes more sophisticated, you can add simple search engines to help your staff quickly find the specific information they're looking for.

Reduced training - Because there are fewer software programs to learn, new employees will get up and running quicker. Everyone looks for information using the same tool (a Web browser), reducing the amount of training and support needed.

Low cost - A simple intranet is a low-cost investment. Without a great deal of planning and expense, just a few people in the agency can quickly create an intranet. It also provides a way to begin to develop a more sophisticated presence on the external Internet.

Easy updates - Keeping information current becomes much easier. Instead of making the changes in the document and then photocopying it to pass around the office, you can make the changes to the original document and everyone in the office will have the updated information automatically. Because everyone is viewing the same document, when changes are made, everyone will have access to the new information.

It's important to remember that what we're describing here is a "simple" intranet. Like a collection of documents on a network server, an intranet gives you and your staff the ability to save files, content, and information in a central location where everyone in the office can find, view, and modify it. This type of resource allows you to start small to get your feet wet. It can grow as you find the time and the need.

Some of the information that should reside on an intranet includes:

* Procedure manuals and departmental workflows

* Agency handbook and employee benefits descriptions

* Company-specific notices

* Marketing campaigns, details on new packages and programs offered by your carriers

* Contact directories for your underwriters, claim adjusters and anyone else you need to contact at a carrier

* Vendor contact information

* Specific carrier Web site addresses (hyperlinking enables you to click on the name of the carrier and be taken directly to their Web site)

* Links to other Web sites such as trade magazines and rating services

* Commission schedules

* Vacation schedules

* Internal forms such as vacation requests, time sheets, supply requisitions, etc.

* And, anything else that you would normally distribute to your staff in paper format.

A quick way to prioritize what information should go on your intranet is to walk around your office and look for paper documents that are tacked or taped to the walls. All of those documents are candidates to be put on an intranet.

Creating an intranet is surprisingly inexpensive, and setting up one is easy. The Microsoft Office package provides a detailed set of tools that allows you to publish Word documents or Excel spreadsheet files to your intranet. It also may be helpful to purchase Microsoft FrontPage, a tool for creating Web pages, to help you with the design and layout of your internal site. While this program is not necessary, you'll find that using it makes it easier to design your intranet so that your staff will be able to navigate more easily and find just the document they're looking for. The FrontPage program offers a simple-to-use method to actually lay out your internal Web site that includes more sophisticated graphics, navigation and hyperlinking tools. As you learn how to build your first site, these tools will also help you to manage your Web site with little or no assistance from outside professionals.

An intranet will provide an electronic file cabinet that contains information your employees need access to. The list of documents that can be included in an intranet is limited only by your imagination. Documents that are already in an electronic format, or that can be converted to an electronic format, can be a part of your intranet. Virtually anyone who can use Word and Internet Explorer can create a simple intranet for his or her agency. Doing so will substantially increase efficiency by allowing access to the information your staff needs to service and sell. *

The author

Steve Anderson has been a licensed insurance agent for more than 20 years. He is president of steveanderson.com, Inc., which provides products and services that help agents maximize profits using commonsense technology. He can be reached at (615) 599-0085. For more information visit his Web site (www.steveanderson.com).