InformationWeek.com

Welcome Guest. | Log In| Register | Membership Benefits

May 8, 2000

Behind The Numbers:
Patching The Holes In Portal Technology

eb portals are a lot like closet organizers. They give you a central place to look for things you know you've seen around somewhere but you can't quite find (without some effort, anyway).

Corporate data portals came into fashion a few years ago as an efficient way to organize information that employees routinely need to access--human-resources policies, purchasing procedures, phone directories, customer lists, and company news. But keeping portal content fresh by updating and adding links quickly fell to the bottom of many an IT manager's to-do list. Now, they're refocusing their attention on portals as a way to conduct business with the outside world.

According to a survey by the Delphi Group, business-to-business portals will become the primary interface for conducting E-business transactions within the next two years. The survey, which quizzed 200 IT executives and line-of-business managers on their views about corporate portals and their intentions to implement them, found that the overwhelming majority plan to invest in this technology by 2002, if they haven't already done so.

But those surveyed say portal technology is still just as high maintenance as it was when sites such as Yahoo and Microsoft Network shot corporate portals into vogue. Specifically, IT managers say much of the work to link back-end systems to portals is falling on their shoulders. Business-to-business portal vendors are working to improve portal integration by including workflow development tools and supporting emerging standards such as the Extensible Markup Language. But IT managers are starting to demand more from portal technology, too. Portals are going to have to evolve into dynamic tools of information and transaction exchange to become the platforms of E-commerce that vendors are touting them to be.

What does your company expect from portal technology? Let us know.

Own the data behind InformationWeek Research. See our available reports at informationweek.com/reports
Claudia Graziano
Senior Editor
cgrazian@cmp.com

This week in Behind The Numbers:

Under Construction	Crossing Platforms	Make It Easy	In-House Benefits
Information Overload	Moderate Spending	Where Portals Fall Short

Under Construction
About one-third of those surveyed say they are in the evaluation phase of rolling out corporate portals. The fact that many companies seem to have more than one portal project going suggests that portals are being tailored to fit specific business needs, as well as specific audiences. For example, salespeople might have different information-access needs than customer-service reps, even though both fall under the same corporate umbrella. And business partners and suppliers have far different information needs than employees.

Why don't more respondents have portals in place now? It could be that many companies put portal projects--and spending--on hold until Y2K problems were resolved.

Top of the Page

Crossing Platforms
What network operating systems are companies turning to when building their portals? According to Delphi Group, most small and midsize companies are choosing Microsoft, deploying either Windows NT or Windows 2000.

Large companies have long favored Unix, but many are looking to implement portal technology across a multitude of existing platforms. Instead of developing from the ground up or implementing uncertain conversions, these companies are choosing to encompass legacy network operating systems. Small and midsize companies are expected to follow suit.

Top of the Page

Make It Easy
When it comes to shopping for portal technology, IT managers know at least what they don't want: software that's going to require a lot of integration and configuration time. But IT managers are a fickle bunch. At the same time, almost half of the survey respondents say one of the most important things to consider when shopping around for portal software is how much personalization and customization they can add. In other words, IT managers want the software to be quick and easy to set up--but flexible enough to let them add new features on a whim. Respondents also say they don't want to invest too much cash in maintaining portals over time.

Top of the Page

In-House Benefits
Most companies continue to use portal technology primarily for internal purposes. Seven in 10 of those surveyed say their corporate portal initiatives are focused on companywide benefits rather than on any other kind of operations.

But this may change. According to Delphi Group, the next wave in portal deployment will be driven by business-to-business applications. Growth in this area is expected as businesses continue to build virtual marketplaces to buy goods as well as sell to and service their own company accounts. Almost half of those polled incorporate business-to-business functions as part of their company's portal operations.

Top of the Page

Information Overload
It's a syndrome affecting us all: Sure we have access to more information than ever before, but do we really need all of it? Almost 70% of respondents say filtering out superfluous information is something any useful portal should do.

Aside from providing a single point of access, portals are expected to serve as centers of collaboration, as well as do-it-yourself customer-service centers. For example, you just might be able to reorder business cards via the corporate portal without having to bother any of your colleagues.

Top of the Page

Moderate Spending
Spending on portal software isn't expected to top $500,000 for most companies during the next three years. Twenty-one percent of those polled by Delphi Group expect to spend less than $100,000; 23% plan to allocate $100,000 to $250,000 for portal initiatives, while the same number intend to dedicate slightly more--between $250,000 and $500,000. And few companies plan to commit large sums of money to portal deployment during the next three years. Just 2% are planning to spend big, earmarking $5 million or more for such projects.

Top of the Page

Where Portals Fall Short
Those corporate travel policies you posted on the company portal were so last year. Lack of accurate, up-to-date information--made all the more necessary by the constant churn of new initiatives, partnerships, mergers, and acquisitions these days--is an IT manager's biggest gripe when it comes to portal technology.

Nearly half of the survey respondents say good organization of portal information is also missing. Close to 30% say portal software doesn't come equipped with adequate search-and-retrieval tools, and 20% say they wish the software could personalize the portal experience more.

Back to Business Intelligence
Send Us Your Feedback
Top of the Page