One often overlooked method of communicating between different departments is PC2PC through a website. A few powerful software applications enable midsized and large businesses that allow several people from different departments, or parts of the world, to work together on a single project.
However, this is one powerful tool that can be revamped to allow small businesses interact between departments, and with clients to improve efficiency, profits, and customer service.
Many small businesses limit themselves to live customer service scripts and chat rooms on their websites, or worse, forums and blogs. This is such a limited use of the website as a communication tool.
The first thing that business needs to do is rethink their ideas of the Internet as a sales tool. Instead, it can be used as a PC2PC tool, as powerful as go to my PC and ten times as secure as any PC2PC software.
One often overlooked aspect is databases. It is possible to link a database to a private website. This will allow users the ability to work on the same project without risking the integrity of the companys security system.
A web based database can allow users to FTP...