Making corporate Web portals pay
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With that challenge in mind, corporate Web portals are pointing the way asthe key information source within a company.
Only a short time ago, a Web portal was nothing more than a collection ofboxes, icons and tabs on a computer screen -- unrelated "windows"containing flashy images, scattered content and hyperlinks to various Websites. However revolutionary the portal was from a conceptual standpoint,the information available -- weather forecasts, lottery numbers,horoscopes, etc. -- had very little relevance for the business person.
The Web portal's enduring value has moved far beyond merely facilitatinginformation to delivering services that connect people to content viaintegrated applications. One click of a mouse can now set off a wholeseries of activities, from authentication to credit checking to orderprocessing to shipment -- masses of transactions that are driven throughthe end-to-end e-business world.
For example, an insurance underwriter using a portal-based system can haveall her key applications (company cases, manuals, claims forms, imagefiles, etc.) available in one place. Pulling together relevant informationand making it easily accessible gives her a full picture of policy coverageand claims history instantaneously. All of the time and effort shepreviously put into searching for the appropriate information and peopleshe can now use to focus on her work.
Major improvements in portal technology in the last 24 months, includingintegration software that links a portal's front and back ends, give usersa single, personalized point of access to multiple types of informationfrom any device, wired or wireless. These advancements meet one of theprimary goals of companies doing business on the Web -- making relevantinformation easily accessible to employees, business partners andcustomers, while driving profits in the process.
Savvy companies and executives that are using portals in this way areseeing their operating costs drop and overall business performance improve.
The Bekins Company is a good example of a business extending its Web sitecontent and applications to prospective customers by way of the portal. Thetrucking company recently launched a Web-based shipping and tracking systemto make inventory visible to subcontractors, who can then use a Web browserto view and bid for a job. By giving customers direct access into thecompany's inventory-management system, Bekins is able to make betterdecisions about inventory replenishment.
Portals are also places where employees can work together and shareinformation. The e-business consulting firm Perficient is using Web portalsto link its 225 employees spread out across the U.S. and the U.K. Inaddition to having all of the necessary office elements in one place(e-mail, instant messaging, etc.), the portal contains customized content,including project-specific collaboration tools for information sharingbetween customers and consultants.
An important element of the next-generation portal is its ability toconnect individuals and communities with information, resources andexpertise relevant to their interests. In a nutshell, if customers,employees and other users find the portal sight more useful to them,they'll never have a reason to go anywhere else.
As Web portals rapidly evolve into a single point of access for e-commerce,collaboration and a host of other business services, they are dependent ona number of factors, including:
* Personalized delivery of content/applications: Giving people access toinformation and applications specific to their functions.
* Real-time collaboration services: Including instant messaging, discussionareas, group calendars, task tracking and shared document libraries withcheck-in/check-out services.
* Integrated applications: Bringing together enterprise applications,syndicated content, Websites, e-mail, workflow integration, etc.
In addition, open, nonproprietary computing standards (e.g., Java, XML,Linux), which allow businesses to connect easily and flexibly with oneanother, are crucial to achieving this kind of integration.
The next step is to extend the reach of the portal and improve the contextfor which the information is used by integrating such things aslocation-based technologies and intelligent notification into the portalexperience. With the growth of wireless devices, delivery of this valuebecomes possible, enabling you to link to the portal services and thevirtual community at any time, from any place, using any device you choose.
We are still in the early stages of portal technology. Future success willbe built on the evolution from personalized information delivery to moresimplified integration to dynamic, machine-to-machine processing.Companies that find profitable ways to do this will be the winners,capitalizing on the Web portal's real potential.
Larry Bowden is vice president of e-Portals Solutions for IBM SoftwareGroup.
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