Just in case you’ve missed it, the Internet is just one of the many types of networks out there, albeit the one with the greatest number of users, most diversity and, consequently, most threats and lurking dangers.

Some other types of networks one hears about are intranet, extranet and the virtual private network, or VPN. Each of these has its defining characteristics in both the scope of users invited or allowed to access the network and in the purpose for which they are created.

While the intranet is a closed network within a company or organization that does not get connected to the Internet, the extranet stands in the space between the Internet and the intranet in that it allows for several companies to share data and collaborate on projects without allowing the general audience either access to or even knowledge about its existence. Importantly, while the Internet is often called ‘Web’ for short, any network is, in fact, a web, and thus the applications on any of the network types can be called web applications.

Extranet web application uses

While extranet is not directed to the wider public, its potential uses are certainly not limited very much when compared to the Internet. Depending on the companies’ needs, extranet web applications can be used to share information, organize discussion forums, collectively gather and analyze business intelligence, and even develop web applications themselves.

Larger extranets, sometimes also called enterprise networks, can unite entire industries or sectors of the economy to foster cooperation, exchange pertinent and urgent information, standardize practices and so on. A company can develop a special extranet web application for every client they work with to allow the clients’ staff, as well as their own, to keep track of project progress, key performance indicators, and so on and so forth. Test runs of products and projects, merged together with analysis of these runs, also find a natural home in the extranet environment. By forming a new layer of connectivity, extranet web applications can be important features of inter-enterprise relationships of the new century.

Benefits of using extranet web applications

Whether you are familiar with extranet or not, the fact that major players in various industries, including education, construction, finance, international law, natural resource management etc. have recently started using extranet web applications as an integral part of their businesses should be an indicator of the importance that extranet is playing in today’s economy.

Extranet web app allows for fast exchange of vast amounts of data, creates a special level of rapport between you and your clients, and makes possible a more streamlined process of third-party provision of services that are contracted or subcontracted. Security and access management in an extranet, if managed correctly, should and can be much better and more streamlined than in attempts to adjust an intranet for some external connections through a VPN, which is why this approach is quickly taking over in the past decade.

The benefits of getting to know extranet web applications are many - why not introduce your company to it? Thoransoft can determine whether it would be a profitable investment for you, contact us now. We are happy to share our expertise with you.