The advantages of an extranet are also faced with some disadvantages. This includes, for example, the acquisition costs of the corresponding software. In addition to the initial costs associated with the production, there are also consequential costs. For the extranet to fulfil its purpose, it must be regularly maintained by internal employees or an external service provider, for things such as software updates, backups, and problem solving. In addition, the required training time for employees results in correspondingly high opportunity costs, especially for systems with complex applications. In other words, during the training period, employees don’t have time to perform their actual tasks, which may reduce a company’s turnover, especially when many employees need to be trained at the same time.
In addition to the costs, possible security risks must also be taken into account. High security standards must be maintained to prevent unauthorised access to sensitive data. This applies to access from outside as well as unauthorised access within the company.