Done well, an extranet for customers or distributors can add tremendous value to your relationships with your best customers and channel partners. It can enable your partners to handle routine transactions — ordering literature, checking on a shipment, downloading a product photo, or obtaining a spare part — simply and easily, on their own. That can save you time and money.

• Order entry, tracking, history
• Product data, including configurators
• Competitive data
• Internal news and information
• Key technical and business contacts
• Marketing materials (PDFs, photos, video, PowerPoint)
• Pricing information
• Inventory

As with so many elements of e-business, however, the real challenges of developing an extranet are, for the most part, not technical. Today's IT wizards have resolved most of the user management issues involved in creation of password-protected Web areas.

The key challenges involve business strategy and execution: what information should be available, and to whom? Perhaps the most important feature of an extranet is its ability to screen users carefully and connect them to all kinds of information that is appropriate only for them. It opens a portal to your company — providing richer, fuller, more accurate, real-time information. And does it faster than ever before.

Let us help you tackle your extranet site. Godfrey has extensive experience in organizing content and helping our clients create extranet sites that make it easier to do business,and thereby increase the loyalty of customers and partners.