An intranet can provide individualized, tailored learning on demand, in whatever quantity, at whatever time desired. The potential improvement in worker productivity is nothing short of enormous. In addition, using an intranet as a training resource can act as a means of standardizing the delivery of corporate training.

In today's marketplace, employee knowledge and skills become obsolete at an ever-increasing rate. Workers therefore need continuous access to the most current knowledge in their fields to retain their own value in the marketplace—or to continue adding value for their employers.

A corporate intranet can provide ongoing training so that individuals can grow their knowledge. On a good intranet training system, information and training techniques are continually updated, so the intelligence and skills of the organization's workforce contribute to the organization's overall capabilities.

The kind of "just-in-time" training that an intranet allows creates a structure in which new knowledge is incorporated into and integrated with existing, related information.

Increasingly, training is highlighted as a key factor for organizational success, for several reasons. Traditional measures of organizational competence fall by the wayside in the face of the accelerating rate of change, free flow of intellectual property, and ever-present threat of instability. Today's employees are more likely to require—and demand—growth, challenge, and continuous learning, where their loyalty and security were the simpler coin in which their forebears traded.

Consider the choices available for training employees in today’s competitive environment:
 

	INTRANET	CD	VIDEO	CLASSROOM
Accessible anytime from PC	YES	YES*	NO	NO
Easy to update	YES	NO	NO	YES
Cost to update	LOW	HIGH	HIGH	HIGH
Interactivity/feedback	HIGH	LOW	LOW	HIGH
Multimedia capabilities	YES	YES	NO	YES
Unlimited information	YES	NO	NO	NO
Overall cost	LOW	HIGH	HIGH	HIGH

* Assuming compatibility/availability