News: Entrepreneurs launch intranet company

Two Portland techie entrepreneurs, Mark Girr and Becky McKinnell, have created a new intranet platform for companies that they say can help managers shift from having one-way communication with employees to holding e-dialogues with their entire staff.

Girr, president of GirrCorp Consulting Group, and McKinnell, president of iBec Creative, have launched iKNO Intranet LLC in Portland to sell their communications platform. The iKNO intranet, pronounced i-know, is up and running at Norway Savings Bank and is being set up for Mercy Hospital's visiting nurses organization and a national green builders' association, according to McKinnell.

Intranets basically work like private websites for companies, with employees logging in to access internal communications and information. McKinnell says that iKNO is set up much like a blog, allowing writers to share opinions or information. Other workers can then publically comment on the information, much like they would on social media sites.

She says she and Girr wanted to solve the problem of e-mail overload and the assault of information that most business people experience. "There's a ton of times when you send an e-mail, and you have to CC a ton of people," McKinnell says. "But information is organized on iKNow in an easy-to-find, easy-to-use architecture."

McKinnell says iKNO is appropriate for companies that have between 50 and 1,000 employees and more than one location. She is still finalizing pricing structures. She and Girr hope to expand the company and hire more salespeople and development specialists, she says.

BY REBECCA GOLDFINE
Mainebiz staff writer

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