The Winners: 50/50 Webusiness Awards

FRAMINGHAM (07/06/2000) - Among hundreds of applicants, our judges found 50 intranet and 50 Internet sites that inspired them to keep clicking.

AARP* InfoNet: Recent additions to the site include membership statistics that are updated daily and the Event Calendar, which gives employees access to all member, employee and public AARP event information. Overall usage is up by more than 50 percent from last year.

Army and Air Force Exchange Army and Air Force Exchange Service: In addition to providing personnel files, W2 forms and other work-related information, the site also serves as a virtual commissary for 65,000 active and retired military personnel and their families. Registered users can shop at low prices, and the profits support programs that improve the customers' quality of life.

Camp Fire Boys & Girls The Camp Fire Cafe: No, this isn't a new java joint. The Camp Fire Cafe serves as the communication link between the national Camp Fire office and more than 125 independent local councils throughout the United States.

Children's Healthcare of Atlanta (CHA) Careforce Connection: With managed health-care plans and policies increasing in complexity and number, Careforce Connection gives CHA's 4,500 employees rapid access to current employee data, medical research, and health-care rules and regulations. It has reduced CHA's administrative claims denials and administrative costs, and improved customer service.

Cisco Systems Inc.* Cisco Employee Connection: Cisco saves more than US$75 million annually as a direct result of its Web-based employee services applications. The Employee Connection keeps Cisco's 26,000 employees in the know with features such as an employee and resource directory, an automated expense reimbursement tool, technical documentation and patent tracking.

Compaq Computer Corp. Regional Portal Planet: Regional Portal Planet is a sales support platform that provides product and customer information, sales presentations and marketing materials to Compaq's 1,400-member team for sales and marketing. Compaq estimates that the intranet has cut the time it takes to distribute this information by 50 percent.

Computer Associates International Inc. CAiNet: The site gives important technical information to the sales force and disseminates company news to the 18,000 employees worldwide. It also takes care of employee expense reports and links workers to an IT help desk.

Cummins Engine Company: Intercept Service and repair literature for every Cummins engine lives on this site. The 2,500 registered users, primarily technicians and service managers, can enter an engine's serial number and call up a list of all relevant published material, including useful troubleshooting guides and repair manuals.

Data Dimensions DDINet Knowledge Portal: A telling statistic for this site: A January survey of the IT consultancy's national sales force showed that sales reps used materials downloaded from DDINet in 100 percent of their client presentations. Employees use the site to document best practices and processes for completing client engagements.

Dell Computer Corp.* Premier Pages: Dell developed Premier Pages to offer its customers an easier way to purchase, manage and service their Dell systems. Now customers are experiencing fewer follow-up calls and ordering delays, and they can generate prices based on their own corporate standards. Also available: instant access to customized technical support information.

Delta Air Lines Inc. DeltaNet: The FAA requires airlines to make sure their aircraft maintenance manuals are accurate and timely--and levies significant fines if they fail. DeltaNet, which houses Delta's manuals online, has saved the airline money in two ways: It has reduced the labor needed to update the manuals, and it has kept Delta from paying those hefty fines.

Development Dimensions International KnowledgeLink: KnowledgeLink helps the 1,000 worldwide associates at DDI, an HR training and consulting company, access information about sales strategies, pricing, product launches and client success stories. It's also handy for training new employees.

DirecTV On-Line Event Registration: Party planning has never been easier.

DirecTV created this site to reduce the cost of major company-sponsored events, such as holiday parties, that tend to be short-lived, high-volume affairs. The company saved more than $150,000 the first year alone by eliminating the use of phones, faxes, e-mail and postal mail during the organizational phases.

Enermetrix.com* Enermetrix.com: This online exchange for commercial, industrial and other aggregate energy transactions matches 50 of the United States' top 90 energy suppliers with energy buyers in Internet auctions, and it allows buyers to execute contracts quickly and less expensively than through direct sales or telemarketing.

Ernst & Young KnowledgeWeb

FedEx Bravo: This intranet site has consolidated financial data in one online library so that the employees in FedEx's worldwide financial organization can work more efficiently. Bravo has also sped up the business planning process and kept desktop maintenance to a minimum.

Ford Motor Co.* The Ford Intranet: Ford's far-reaching system has ballooned from 2,000 to 150,500 users in four years. Employees around the globe can access 1 million documents on 1,000 websites. Content is "scrubbed" periodically to remove stale information.

Fraud Defense Network FraudDefense.com

Galileo International Inc. Electronic Galileo: Galileo revamped its intranet after more than 400 employees surveyed said they wanted easier navigation, better search capabilities and more current information. Data posted on the site is managed at the department level, allowing hundreds of employees around the world to develop content.

General Motors Acceptance Corp. (GMAC) HomeTown: Using this intranet, employees can send each other instant messages, peruse job postings and examine an "Executive Dashboard" that provides daily production reports for each region and branch office. An online time sheet application has saved GMAC nearly $100,000 annually for the past three years by making it easier for the company to collect weekly time cards from employees nationwide.

Genuity IP Telecom Intranet: This intranet, connected to the company's larger corporate intranet, iWeb, keeps the sales team connected and motivated while on the road with up-to-date technical information and loads of company information and news. The site's bright colors reflect the company's noncorporate spirit.

GSA's Federal Supply Service GSA Advantage!: Talk about cutting government red tape. Federal employees around the world--including military personnel in war zones--can order products and services from the General Services Administration (GSA) and government contract companies at the click of a mouse. Employees can choose from more than a million products in one location; in the past, they had to rifle through paper catalogs and wait days for price quotes.

HoustonStreet Exchange HoustonStreet: Forget about new websites. Houston Street is a new kind of business: an online energy trader. So far, 85 percent of power trading companies have registered to move their negotiations from telephone lines onto this multifeatured portal.

IBM Corp. W3.ibm.com: W3.ibm.com keeps 300,000 Big Blue employees abreast of current internal and external news and information. Daily homepage hits have increased from 60,000 in 1996 to 16 million today. IBM employees even rate the intranet higher than their managers as a respected and trusted source of information, according to a recent survey.

Intelsat* IBN: The Intelsat Business Network: A winner two years ago, this extranet has undergone a makeover to help it reach more customers and beef up content. Now, the 2,500 registered customers from 180 countries can use IBN to learn how to develop and deploy a satellite transmission. Those customers represent more than 80 percent of the company's $1 billion in annual sales and a large majority of its total customer base.

MarchFirst* Central: Formed by the merger of USWeb/CKS and Whittman-Hart, this professional services company uses its intranet for almost everything, from project management to benefits administration. Central also contains a knowledge management component featuring employee profiles, threaded discussion groups and a variety of libraries.

MediaOne Group i-Blox: Company workgroups can share resources by using the Web-based library. Documents are reusable, so the company saved about $250,000 in custom development costs over three months. MediaOne plans to save even more as the number of workgroups using the library is expected to triple by the end of the year.

Naval Aviation Systems Team* GOSNET: A two-time 50/50 winner, GOSNET has added an application that allows for more interactivity between Navy and Boeing users who track information on a shared database. GOSTRACK lets the various organizations running Navy flight operations keep track of who's doing what.

NCR Corp. NCR University Online Campus: Anytime, anywhere, employees can access development tools, view a course catalog, see schedules and training histories, or participate in Web-based training. Including partner offerings, more than 600 courses are available on the NCRU Online Campus. The intranet also features a library of 500-plus intranet-accessible CD-ROMs.

Nortel Networks Corp. Time to Market: Nortel has used this site to cut its new product introduction time by more than 50 percent. And because products are being brought to market earlier, revenues and earnings have increased.

Employees can also partake in company forums and threaded discussions on hot topics.

Northern States Power I/T Online Resources: Averaging 750 hits per week, I/T Online Resources solves hardware and software problems for 5,000 of the company's computer users. Users can request equipment service, register for training and contact the help desk through the site.

The Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence (OASD/C3i) A-Net: No longer does this organization have to rely on hard copies and e-mail to share information internally. A-Net went live in September 1999, and provides users with access to such features as calendars, weekly activity reports, administrative documents and computer support.

Perot Systems Corp.* TRAIN (The Real-Time Associates' Information Network):

Perot assigns qualified people to customer projects in more than 13 countries and provides them with the training and tools they'll need--all via the intranet. After the TRAIN system rolled into town, one person could do the work of 21 training coordinators, which saves the company more than $2 million per year.

Pinnacle Decision Systems HQ: Pinnacle started HQ to ease the workload for the human resources staff, and it worked: The site has reduced employee calls to the HR department by 80 percent. The company's 48 employees can access training calendars or register to attend classes. The HR department also uses the site to process new hire information.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP* KnowledgeCurve: This site provides employees with a single portal that leads to all parts of the organization. Formerly paper-based processes now can be taken care of online, such as filling out health-care reimbursement forms, accessing corporate credit card statements, booking travel and registering for courses. It's available in 34 countries and has 112,000 users.

Prudential Real Estate and Relocation Services PrudentialRelocation Center:

Relocating is complicated for employer and employee alike. This innovative intranet makes the process more efficient for employees, family members, employers and relocation specialists. Employees can also access information about their destinations, such as driving permit requirements, upcoming community events, crime statistics and school information.

Reliant Energy* EMSweb: EMSweb delivers real-time, planning and historical data to all the electric utility company's employees, from dispatchers to corporate executives. The site has streamlined field and dispatching operations, and has improved assessment of power system performance as well as the company's ability to identify bottlenecks in the power system.

Roy F. Weston WESTONnet: WESTONnet is used as a balanced scorecard reporting tool for the entire environmental engineering organization. It saves money too--the company has reduced the cost of printed pages per quarter by $2 million and the online meeting feature has cut $200,000 in travel expenses.

SAFECO SAFECOM: Users of this risk management extranet, who are primarily SAFECO's larger commercial customers, can view detailed claim information, perform regulatory compliance record-keeping and monitor risk-management efforts.

Satyam Computer Services SatyamWorld: SatyamWorld has reduced paperwork and communication costs, and even cut postal and courier charges--a significant savings for an international business. The site also features a monthly online magazine, interactive thread-based discussions and a venue for employees to air their views on anything from company policy to personal matters.

SBM, A Gates/Arrow Company VAR Central: Computer distributor SBM's intranet has made customers more self-sufficient, which makes employees happier and more effective. Sales staff can spend more time configuring new system orders and less time answering questions regarding order tracking, serial numbers and order status now that customers can find those answers online.

Sprint PCS Group* Connected: Connected helps Sprint PCS employees track the progress of invoices, arrange travel, read industry and company news, and make financial projections. And it helps the company save money--more than $7 million a year on printing and document distribution alone.

Teltech Resource Network Teltech.com: This site aggregates data from the Web, published literature and proprietary content. Subscribers can search for information about technical and research topics on their own, or they can enlist the help of the company's research professionals.

Toshiba America Business Solutions Service Information System (SIS): SIS is both an intranet for the company's Electronic Imaging Division (EID), which markets copiers, fax machines and networked printing devices, and an extranet for its dealers. The site also handles registration for EID's five training centers and manages technician certification.

University of California, Irvine graduate school of management Catalyst U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Examination Request Information System (VERIS): VERIS initiates, tracks, manages and coordinates more than 25,000 veterans' annual medical exam records, which are used to determine claims benefits. The goal is to increase veteran satisfaction and decrease the response time for deciding claims.

U.S. Joint Forces Command Knowledge Today: Using Knowledge Today, the Joint Forces Command has cut out unnecessary meetings and made the meetings they do have more effective--90 percent of meeting time used to be devoted to getting the staff up to speed on the topic at hand. Now that information is disseminated in advance.

The Weber Group WeberWorks: WeberWorks automates administrative tasks, facilitates global account coordination and simplifies information dissemination for the high-tech public relations company. The site also contains media lists, client histories and editorial calendars for a variety of target publications.

Wildwood Programs IEPManager: Wildwood serves learning disabled and autistic students, who require individualized education plans. With the IEPManager, teachers can work together to create these plans and, because they spend less time pushing paper, they can spend more time face-to-face with their students.

Winstar Communications Grapevine: Grapevine is Winstar's sales and marketing intranet site, a combination sales automation and territory management tool that provides more than 500 workers in 28 branch offices around the country with real-time access to accurate, up-to-date selling information. With this platform in place, they will soon be adding links to legacy systems for billing, order status, trouble ticket and collections management.

WorldCom Inc. TeamNet: The day after MCI and WorldCom merged, the corporate intranet grew from 22,000 to 110,000 users. Now, 90 percent of the company's employees use TeamNet to access news, company-licensed software downloads and updates, as well as personalized homepages with stock quotes and customized links.

ABF Freight System www.abfs.com: ABF's eCenter's applications include proactive shipment tracking, customer-specific rate quoting and dynamic routing of in-transit shipments. Users can integrate the applications into their own Web or back-end systems, allowing ABF to offer shipment information and transportation functions to its customers.

Abuzz Technologies www.abuzz.com: Abuzz is an online network of know-it-alls through which you can e-mail members, ask them anything from how to grill the perfect salmon filet to where to get the best deal on a used car, and get answers--usually lots of them. If you know something about, well, anything, you can share your own knowledge with other abuzzers who have similar interests.

Allaire www.allaire.com: The site's goal is to educate customers on the importance of the company's e-business platform as a scalable, open infrastructure to build and run businesses on the Web. The clean, logical design is easy to navigate, and the site gives plenty of information without bogging down the pages.

American Airlines www.aa.com AA has taken a fairly joyless process--buying airline tickets--put it online and added some leading-edge e-commerce tools to make it more fun and more efficient. The site also supplies flight information for its 15-plus Code Chair Alliance members.

American Kennel Club www.akc.org For the dog purist. The site boasts more information on purebred dog standards, training and breed data than even the most devoted dog lover could want. It also includes news from the world of purebred dogs and dog shows and a thriving marketplace for pedigrees and

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