I am writing this to relate personal experience in a large multi-national company. I am certainly not an IT expert in any way. No one should take this as anything other than one person's observations.
I have noticed two very strong trends both within my own company and in other large companies, predominately oil majors. First, many of us already know about the degree of outsourcing of non-core, but essential, activities. This trend began perhaps 15 (?) years ago with the establishment of temp agencies, largely for secretarial low level technical work. This expanded to include professional and managerial skills about 5 (?) years ago and has steadily been on the increase during the interim. IT consulting of one sort or another has been at the top of the list for some time. In other words, everyone is doing it.
Second, my company initiated an intranet program a year ago, written and maintained partially by BP staff and partially by outside consultants. We are now using our intranet for everyting, including communications of sensitive material across our worldwide assets, job intra-company job placements, human resources information. It is completely secure from the outside world. Levels of security can be set easily for those within the company. It is far safer to use than email and even than paper. Many of us using Unix workstations can now access both the intranet and the internet from our Suns or Silicon Graphics. It is really easy and convenient and has provided us with vastly improved communications.
So, this is why I personally have committed a larger part of my portfolio to FNTN than I really should. I think intranets are the wave of the future for companies of all sizes, particularly if they deal in confidential information. This, combined with the low share price and low float, make FNTN my own number 1 pick for future growth.
Mike |
