Business portal software can help any business get the most out of its web presence. Whether you have a corporate site, an ecommerce site, an intranet or an extranet, portal software solutions are designed to pump up its functionality.

Portal software programs give you the power to better manage your web content, build a loyal community through social networking, implement advertising and marketing campaigns and streamline your ecommerce processes. In addition, corporate portal management solutions give you the tools necessary to create a web presence where employees, partners and customers can access data and collaborative tools.

When shopping for a portal software solution, consider the following:

1. Business portal software features and functionality.
2. Page design, content management and publishing portal software programs.
3. Team collaboration tools in corporate portal management solutions.
4. Business portal software programs with customer self-service.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Business portal software features and functionality

Portal software solutions provide the tools to create and add endless functionality to your intranet, extranet or website, including team collaboration. Examples include photo galleries, FAQs, calendars, catalogs, chat, document sharing and management, contact management, e-commerce, e-learning, customer self-service, email list management, forums, conferences, news and newsletter publishing and archiving, polls, reservations and more.

I recommend: BroadVision Portal is an out-of-the-box portal software solution that allows you to quickly deploy a stand-alone portal that integrates with ERPs and other enterprise solutions. Check out BroadVision’s Portal demo to see how BroadVision’s suite of portal products work. Oracle Instant Portal is a cost-effective, point-and-click company portal building solution with pre-generated pages. Portlets include sales, marketing, finance and human resources.

Page design, content management and publishing portal software solutions

Most business portal software programs includes self-publishing tools that allow you to design layouts, apply styles, add content and provide navigation as well as publishing to the web.

I recommend: SepCity is an integrated web portal software solution and content management system (CMS) application that puts end users in complete control of their business Internet or Intranet without knowledge of HTML or other programming languages. DynaPortal Publisher is a turnkey content management solution designed for publishing newsletters, catalogs, and magazines. It includes templated portlets such as news, calendars, classified, polls, promotions/coupons and directory links.

Team collaboration tools in corporate portal management solutions

Portal software programs can provide an online environment where geographically dispersed teams can collaborate by sharing documents, calendars and other project resources.

I recommend: Businesses can use MindTouch Deki Wiki, an open-source wiki and application platform, to author, organize and share content. It also allows you to add wiki capabilities to existing applications. WebEx WebOffice is a collaboration suite with 11 applications, including a document manager, online calendar, web meetings, task manager, web database, email and expense reports.

Business portal software solutions with customer self-service

Enabling portal software solutions that can add customer self-service to your website can keep your business doors open 24/7 even if no one's in the office.

I recommend: BroadVision Process combined with BroadVision Portal allows you to develop self-service web applications that users can access through the portal. HP Self Service Portal is an out-of-the-box, web-based interface to HP Service Desk software that allows customers to open their own service tickets.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Before choosing a portal software solution, ask to see client implementations.
• •  Define your business goals before you buy business portal software.
• •  When implementing corporate portal management solutions, build out your portal in phases, adding new features and functionality as the site expands.
• •  Determine how many users will be accessing your portal immediately and in the future and make sure your portal software programs can scale to handle the traffic.