If you want to share a document company-wide, do you e-mail it to everyone? Perhaps you make dozens of paper copies instead, giving one to each employee and filing the extras away. Or maybe you save a reference copy in one of the various shared directories on your company network.

As your business grows, you'll need to find a more efficient way to share general data. Your employees should have one-stop access to company information such as HR forms, internal job postings, project timelines, and contact databases. If you don't want workers to have to follow a breadcrumb trail of e-mail attachments, bulging paper files, or folders strewn around the company server, you need an intranet.

An intranet is a series of Web pages that can be accessed only by authorized people, such as your employees. It can provide a central location for corporate information you want to keep internal. Most importantly, its HTML interface can organize documents, create context, and enable interactive elements like bulletin boards and feedback forms - and so provide a knowledge sharing method far better than simply listing documents in a shared desktop folder.

While an intranet's pages look no different than those of a typical Web site, you don't need Internet access to have an intranet. Your internal site can be stored entirely on your own servers.

You can choose to set up and maintain an intranet yourself, or you could hire a consultant to set it up and show you how to maintain it. To build an intranet, you'll need a server (this can be just a PC installed and configured with server software) and intranet software (this can be bought off the shelf). And maintenance can be a cinch - updating a simple intranet is easy if you know basic HTML. Some out-of-the-box software allows complex tools like group calendaring, databases, and bulletin boards as well.

If you require a highly customized intranet, however, you may need to hire a full- or part-time IT person. If you don't have the resources to keep a full-time IT person or to develop and maintain an intranet on your own servers, a good alternative is to outsource your intranet hosting and development. Finding a Web-based solution is cheapest, although it does make Internet access necessary to put your intranet in place. You may also run the risk of not having access to important internal information if your Internet service is down.

An online solution can offer an "instant intranet" with tools such as online storage, document management, contact directories, discussion boards, announcements, and polls. Intranets.com, for example, offers both a free and a professional edition, with the professional edition offering increased storage space (100 MB) and priority customer support. It runs $19.95 a month for the first four users and $5 for every additional user.

Establishing a central information center early on will avoid a communication breakdown as you grow. An intranet can help you keep all your employees on the same page.