For many of the new clients we see coming in these days, one of their top questions is, “Can you build us a web portal?” There are a lot of good reasons why web portals are a big deal. For one thing they can bring any stakeholder, internally or externally, into the loop by making the information they need available online. And offering a portal solution if competitors don’t can be a real brand differentiator.
We put together a few cliff notes from a presentation on web portals that Entrance’s president, Nate Richards, recently gave explaining what they are and how they can be used:
What is a Web Portal?
The purpose of a web portal is to provide information from various sources to a number of different audiences. Different people need different information and a portal is designed to supply individuals with relevant information. A web portal is different than a homepage of a web site because the content is not static and the user is able to personalize the information to suit their needs.Function and Types of Web Portals:
-Web Portals can be designed to include the following functionalities…- Search/navigation – helps users find relevant information quickly
- Content management – allows access to documents and data, with check-in/check-out capabilities and version control
- Personalization – permits users to bookmark certain information, choose a favorable layout, etc.
- Notification – provides announcements and alerts
- Workflow – task management enhances automation of business processes
- Collaboration – brings people with similar roles/functions together with appropriate information
- Enterprise (Corporate) – company portals designed to benefit executives, employees, suppliers and business partners
- Marketspace – support business-to-business and business-to-consumer e-commerce
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Workspace – provides job/role specific information only
