A very common question asked is what is a Web Portal? Let us explain in this question-and-answer style blog post.
What is a Web Portal?
A web portal is an online business portal that can replicate the look and feel of the business and provide you with greater control over your day-to-day processing. A web portal can be accessed regardless of their time or user location and can be done so quickly and easily on a desktop or mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet.
In simple terms, a web portal is a web-based platform that provides employees, customers, and suppliers with a single access point to information. The web portal can be used then to provide the user with personalized information such as employee training, safety manuals, or customer profiles. It can be used to enhance the collaboration of information and improve the way employees, customers, and suppliers interact with your business.
Web portals software helps you to bring information from a variety of sources this allows content to be shared amongst a variety of departments, customers and suppliers. There are a few common examples of web portals that companies use:
- Sales Portal
- CRM Portal
- Project Management Portal
- HR Portal
- Customer Portal Solution
- Intranet Portal
- Membership Portal
- Corporate Portal
What are the Key Features and Benefits of Web Portals?
B2BE have key features and benefits that are given through the use of web portals:
Secure permissions-based access levels
The web portal product can create security and user profiles which are in turn linked to the users so each user’s access level is based on restricting what they can and can’t access or can and can’t see. This means that you’re able to define, and instantly change, what each user can see and do. Likewise, you can link security profiles to user profiles so the behavior of a user’s access can be restricted.
Customisable and scalable
You can keep the same look and feel as your corporate image with B2BE’s web portal’s customizable interfaces, add new functions and solutions as and when required based on the web portal’s scalable approach. The web portal can also support multilingual requirements and users can select the language of their preference.
Single tenanted multi-company environment
The B2BE web portal is single tenanted so it means your organization isn’t sharing the environment with other B2BE clients so changes, enhancements, and upgrades can be done when you want to do them, you don’t have to wait for a specific time. Your organization can set up multiple different entities within the web portal if required.
Application access
The web portal is designed to not only work with all the B2BE products but provides a single point of access where users can also access the B2BE suite of solutions including procurement, accounts payable, and accounts receivable and their various components. There is a range of other applications available to users to help with managing day to day activities such as workflows, reporting, and system maintenance.
On-boarding
The web portal includes functionality to allow your organization to configure and automatically onboard suppliers so you’re able to get greater uptake. The functionality allows automated onboarding or onboarding with approval workflow, either approach means greater uptake and faster collaboration.
Document access
The web portal is a great way to access all your trading partner documents no matter how they’re sent: email, facsimile, print, and post or received: uploaded and keyed, EDI, web EDI, digitized. All documents include audit trails and related documents can be linked so there’s a full document trail.
Integrates with the B2BE suite of products
With the web portal, you can combine various B2BE products, solutions, and applications, providing a comprehensive centralized environment for all your outsourced business requirements and organization.
What is the purpose of the Web Portal?
The purpose of a web portal is a website that acts as a multi or single source for all information on a specified domain. This service offers the user a broad array of information, arranged in a way that is most convenient to access for users.
A large number of portals have thousands to millions of websites indexed for visitors to search. They also typically have directories of large size of websites which can be categorized by topic. A web portal is a great place to initiate the search when you’re looking for something and have no idea of where to find this.
What is the difference between a portal and a website?
A common question asked online, by definition a website is a location on the internet that is unique which is accessed via a browser using a specified web address. Portals, on the other hand, are also accessed via a web browser and specific URL, but the content on there is protected via a user-specific login.
Similarly, websites are known for driving traffic whereas web portals are commonly for limited traffic to a specific group of users. Due to the protected access, web portals allow the site to deliver more directed content and service based on the user. Yet, websites are destinations that everyone can access and are designed for a broader audience.
What is the difference between platform and page?
Carrying on from our previous point, the main difference between portals and pages is whether the team who controls the site intends to create pages or platforms. Most of the time, company portals and websites will be controlled or owned by different teams and therefore have different expectations for the working of these. Most organizations, however, have to manage more than just a public site.
The marketing team may own the public site, but they would desire software built for blogging, user engagement, and strong visual web page design. They, in turn, would require a solution that can build pages at a speed that can be connected or independent with complete control over where this will be placed on the site.
On the other hand, the support team may control a customer service portal and need a solution that can integrate their other applications, therefore focusing on building a platform that is complete with various types of users and systems that are all connected.
The B2BE Web Portal product creates a single point of access for suppliers, employees and customers to share information and work together collaboratively – if you think we can assist you further with web portals get in contact today! We also have another Web Portal blog post coming out soon.