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44 TECHNOLOGY AND BUSINESS RESEARCH

such as company contracts is conveyed by e-mail, firms that provide encrypted
e-mail, digital signatures, and other security features stand to benefit.
E-mail provider Critical Path will be selling a service called “online registered
mail,” which would allow sensitive documents to be sent online with an extra
layer of security, and let the sender keep track of when the document is received
and opened. With the increasing number of products in the market offering Inter-
net security, transactions of business via e-mail is becoming simplified. Some
companies like Schwab also resort to ordinary e-mails, alerting customers that
their statement is ready on the company’s secure web site.
Privacy of employees using the Internet is, however, not always assured. Some
companies keep tabs on the use of Internet and e-mail facilities for private pur-
poses. Companies like AOL have a declared policy of not reading customers’ e-
mail, not keeping tabs on web hits, and not seeking data from children without
their parents’ approval.

The Intranet
The Intranet is to the internal system of the organization what the Internet is
to its external environment. That is, it links internal data networks of the com-
pany, but prevents access to others outside the company. It also facilitates data
gathering from within the company; for example, surveys can be easily con-
ducted through the Intranet to assess employee morale or the popularity of
benefit packages.
The Intranet can be creatively put to use. Cronin (1998) remarked that Ford’s
Intranet success is so spectacular that the automaker’s in-house web site could
save billions of dollars and fulfill a cherished dream of building cars on demand.
Cronin went on to explain how the carmaker’s product development system doc-
uments thousands of steps that go into manufacturing, assembling, and testing
vehicles. By opening its Intranet to major suppliers, Ford customized every car
and truck while reducing costs at the same time. For instance, suppliers could
provide car seats in the sequence of colors needed, so that blue seats are ready
just when the blue cars reach the seat installation station. By opening up its
Intranet to suppliers and coordinating the delivery and assembly of thousands of
components, some auto companies tried to move closer to “manufacturing on
demand.” Now automakers use private “trading exchanges” like Covisint to work
with suppliers.

Browsers

The wide use of the Internet will not have been rendered possible without the
enabling features of the browser, which front-ends the web sites and web appli-
cations. Browser software (like Microsoft’s Explorer and Netscape) allows even
the nontechnical user easy access to and navigation through the web. Without
the browsers, the Internet would have continued to be relegated to the confines
of a limited group of highly technical users. In a sense, browsers ignited the
“Internet revolution.”