ABF Freight System Inc.* Fort Smith, Ark. www.abf.com ABF customers can effortlessly ship and track their goods on ABF’s informative, easy-to-navigate site. AIRS (Advanced Internet Recruitment Strategies) White River Junction, Vt. www.airsdirectory.com AIRS’ well-designed website provides a wide range of recruiters with everything they need to know about the recruitment industry, including news and search tools. Alliance Consulting Philadelphia Quest Quest, the company’s intranet, organizes information and tasks so that the nearly 800 employees can collaborate and communicate virtually. American Cancer Society Inc. Atlanta www.cancer.org Cancer.org offers patients and their families information, resources and the ability to connect with each other in the fight against cancer. Pages 58, 80, 96 AtomShockwave Corp. San Francisco www.shockwave.com A cornucopia of games and animated shorts make Shockwave.com stickier than a wet lollipop. The site also cleverly plays ads while users wait for their games to download. Baptist Health Care Pensacola, Fla. www.ebaptisthealthcare.org Baptist’s comprehensive website offers its members a wealth of information and innovative online services such as an interactive “health calculator” and health-risk analysis. Bid4Assets Inc. Silver Spring, Md. www.bid4assets.com Bid4Assets fills an underserved niche by auctioning off assets such as real estate, computer equipment and financial instruments rescued from foreclosures and bankruptcies. Cisco Systems Inc.* San Jose, Calif. Cisco Employee Connection (CEC) The cost savings and influences this intranet has had on Cisco’s culture make it one of the best internal corporate websites ever. CNET Networks Inc. San Francisco www.mysimon.com MySimon takes the intimidation out of comparison shopping on the Web with its user-friendly design and shopping-bot technology. Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corp.* Parsippany, N.J. www.coldwellbanker.com Coldwell Banker eases the painstaking home-buying process for customers and provides its sales force with 10,000 leads a month. Department of Veterans Affairs* Washington, D.C. www.vabenefits.vba.va.gov/vonapp No red tape here. Veterans can easily submit their own benefits claims via the Web, allowing the department to process them faster. Drugstore.com Inc. Bellevue, Wash. www.drugstore.com This site has one-stop shopping for pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. The drug-interaction checker lets users cross-check prescriptions to avoid bad interactions. Eastman Chemical Co.* Kingsport, Tenn. www.eastman.com Eastman’s site is a complete guide to buying chemical and plastics products. Customers can revise and track their order shipments and get expert help on products and technical data. eLance Inc. Sunnyvale, Calif. www.elance.com A blooming marketplace for those seeking or offering creative freelance services, this site offers several methods of checking the quality of service providers. Ernst & Young LLP* New York City The Branding Zone A useful, complete resource for Ernst & Young employees, the intranet site offers valuable content designed to keep users up to date on corporate branding-related news and tools. eRoom Technology Inc. Cambridge, Mass. www.eroom.net This business-value-laden site allows project teams to collaborate in a Web-based workplace without needing to e-mail documents back and forth. ESPN Inc. Bristol, Conn. www.espn.com This site is the sports fanatic’s mecca on the Web. It’s tightly integrated with ESPN’s television broadcasts and capitalizes on broadcast talent through Web chats. FOLIOfn Inc. Vienna, Va. www.foliofn.com This financial site takes full advantage of the Web. The Folio Wizard tool quickly evaluates your financial risk without requiring site registration. Ford Motor Co.* Dearborn, Mich. myford.com The ideal intranet in scope and usefulness, Ford’s site supports 175,000 internal users, who can customize their site views to get the information and tools they need for their jobs. GE Capital Fleet Services* Eden Prairie, Minn. Your Office @ Fleet GE digitized the formerly paper-based process of managing its corporate transportation fleets by creating this intranet, which places more than 75 percent of the management process online. Global Recycle Ltd. Glasgow, Scotland www.globalrecycle.net A complete marketplace for companies seeking to trade recyclable materials, this site lets users negotiate with business partners while managing their own supply chain. Google Inc. Mountain View, Calif. www.google.com Google is a remarkably simple and powerful search engine. No frills. No fuss. Just type and click. Harrah’s Entertainment Inc. Las Vegas www.harrahs.com While playing a few hands of blackjack for fun might seem like a gimmick, Harrah’s preferred customers keep coming back for more. I Want Media Inc. New York City www.iwantmedia.com Clear presentation allows visitors to easily find the media-related news they’re looking for. iPrint Technologies Inc.* Redwood City, Calif. www.iprint.com An expanded product and service offering and a simple user interface keep this Web-based print shop for small businesses and home offices on our winners’ list. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. New York City eSource During the merger of these two giants, this intranet worked as an agent of change and demonstrated some significant cost savings. K2 Vashon Island, Wash. www.k2skis.com This sporting goods site creatively uses Flash animation to give potential buyers a better look at the merchandise. Ketchum Inc.* New York City myKGN This public relations giant’s comprehensive intranet provides its workforce with solid tools to support collaboration as well as information and document sharing. Lands’ End Inc. Dodgeville, Wis. www.landsend.com Lands’ End’s personal shopper guides new users to the clothes and styles that best suit their tastes. Visitors can also “try on” clothes using an online virtual model. MapQuest.com Inc. Denver www.mapquest.com An all-in-one resource for travelers: Get directions, print a map, and read up on what’s going on at your destination. Mary Kay Inc. Dallas www.marykay.com Long known for its cheerful associates in pink Cadillacs, Mary Kay has given its classic face-to-face sales model an e-business spin. The well-designed site links to the nearest sales representative. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children Alexandria, Va. www.missingkids.com This site contains accounts of kids successfully reunited with their families as well as a live hotline. Visitors may view the site in English or Spanish. O’Reilly & Associates Inc. Sebastopol, Calif. www.oreilly.com Reminiscent of Amazon.com in its book sales, this site contains reviews, related reading and links to additional online resources. It also fosters community through its research centers and links to O’Reilly staff. Oxford Health Plans Inc.* Trumbull, Conn. www.oxfordhealth.com The homepage of this health plan’s site is a good source of health news, and it practically takes Oxford subscribers by the hand to encourage them to learn more about their patient accounts. QVC Inc. West Chester, Pa. www.qvc.com A slick companion to the well-known TV program, this site offers easy navigation, clearly categorized products and links to products being sold live on TV. Reason Inc. Aurora, Colo. OurReason A great example of how a small company can use an intranet to help run business smoothly. The site is filled with useful information, including the company letterhead and seating chart. RedEnvelope Inc. San Francisco www.redenvelope.com The elegance of this site matches the elegance of the product line. It’s easy to navigate and allows customers to search for a gift by occasion or lifestyle. REI (Recreational Equipment Inc.)* Kent, Wash. www.rei.com The ease of navigation and simplicity of the checkout process sets this site apart. REI also has excellent customer service and follow-through on orders, and it fosters a community atmosphere with chat rooms and communal photo albums. Returnme.com llc New York City www.etagit.com Returnme’s partnership with FedEx helps it return missing articles to their rightful owners quickly, efficiently and securely. Robert Mondavi Napa, Calif. Robert Mondavi Connect This wine seller’s intranet site was designed as a central source for sales and marketing information. What sets it apart is the quantity of news and information about the wine industry and specific wines. Salary.com Inc. Wellesley, Mass. www.salary.com This site is very helpful to job-seekers looking for positions within a variety of fields and geographic locations. It’s rich with content and fairly easy to navigate. SideStep Inc. Santa Clara, Calif. www.sidestep.com Once users download SideStep’s application, they can view real-time information on flights, hotel rooms and rental cars, side by side with fares from the likes of Travelocity and Expedia. Southwest Airlines Co. Dallas www.southwest.com This fast, easy-to-use site makes travel planning enjoyable. Special fares and the Rapid Rewards incentive program keep users loyal. Timbuk2 Designs Inc. San Francisco www.timbuk2.com Timbuk2 has build-to-order manufacturing in the bag. Design your own bag on the Flash-enabled website and they’ll have it in the mail within 24 hours. United Parcel Service of America Inc.* Atlanta www.ec.ups.com In a great example of an established company expanding its services to the Web, UPS’s site features a fully functional virtual online store that demonstrates UPS’s e-business tools to potential customers who can then download the tools. United States Army Fort Belvoir, Va. Army Knowledge Online (AKO) The Army portal offers a customizable, encrypted, personal portal page for 165,000 soldiers, DA Civilians and Army Retirees. These pages give users access to Army forms and regulations, installations, change-of-station information and the latest Army news. The United States Mint Washington, D.C. www.usmint.gov The U.S. Mint knows how to make money, literally. In FY 2000, the site, which appeals to all ages, generated more than $109 million in online sales, making it one of the top 20 e-tailers. Vindigo Inc. New York City www.vindigo.com Using your handheld, tell Vindigo where you are and you’ll get specific localized directions to wherever you want to go, be it a Zagat-recommended Chinese food place or a flower shop. Users visit Vindigo.com to download new and revised listings for 20 U.S. cities. Washington State Department of Information Services Olympia, Wash. www.access.wa.gov Hate those lines at city hall? This easy-to-navigate state site offers citizens the ability to apply for unemployment insurance benefits, search for jobs and access birth, death, marriage and divorce certificates online. yourDictionary.com Inc. Danville, Calif. www.yourdictionary.com This site is a useful tool for anyone who needs a quick definition or a synonym. Resources include dictionaries in 270 languages and glossaries in specific categories such as computing or sports. *Indicates a repeat winner of the Web Business Award. 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