Enterprise Portal in a company's strategy - what it is, its importance and benefits

In recent years, information technologies have been developed to provide organizations with tools that allow the processing and dissemination of information, as well as the implementation of collaborative work processes.

The business portal or corporate portal has become an essential tool for all companies, regardless of their size or sector of operation.

What is an enterprise portal?

The business or corporate portal (also called EIP - Enterprise Information Portals) is an application visually similar to the sites found on the Internet, however, they are more complex applications that have functionalities of management, availability, and organization of institutional information. 

The main functions of a corporate portal are to centralize access to a company's content and to share information between company employees or external entities such as suppliers, partners, or customers (intranet/extranet).

The corporate portal can be integrated with other information systems to respond to specific areas of the company, in a personalized way and integrated with the organizational environment. With a corporate portal, customers, suppliers, and employees have access to information at a single point of access, allowing for increased interaction of data, information, and resources. 
 

Intranet and extranet portal - what are the differences

Internal portals (intranet) are for the exclusive use of an organization's internal public. They are often used as an internal communication tool, which allows great documentary and operational agility between managers and employees.

On intranet portals, it is possible, for example, for all employees of a company to have access to their personal information, such as personal data, consultation of remuneration information, registration of training requests, scheduling of vacations and absences, registration of expenses or the registration of performance evaluation.

External portals (extranet) are directed to elements outside the organization, such as customers, prospects, or partners. These portals can be especially useful in certain actions, as they allow to improve and bring users closer together in a centralizing tool. They can be used as a strategy to support commercial, marketing, support, or customer support actions.

The potential of enterprise portals is very broad, as they can be tailored to the specific needs of organizations.
 

Benefits of a corporate portal

Whatever the type of portal (intranet or extranet), there are several benefits to using it:
 

• Simple and flexible integration

Enterprise portals are custom-built and flexible to fit the organizational environment. Integration into the company is simple so that everyone can find, save, add, and complete tasks efficiently. 
 

• Effective communication

Business portals are an effective way to communicate and interact with customers or even colleagues. It facilitates the exchange of information and ideas, making communication faster. 
 

• Customer loyalty

The corporate portal is an advanced way for customers to communicate with a company, and they can receive information about orders or any other problem they may have. This shows that the company is concerned, which helps retain customers. 
 

• Data analysis

A business portal can be a good way to track a company's overall performance. The single system keeps track of all the data and the company can create appropriate decisive strategies to improve its performance.
 

• Customization

Companies can customize their business portal according to their preferences and needs. This further helps to manage information most conveniently.
 

• Accessibility

Customers, suppliers, or employees can access the business portal at any time or place, on any device. This makes it easier to make changes or updates according to their needs, which results in more productivity. 
 

• Easy to use

Access to the company portal is usually done with a single username/login ID and password. This means that users only need to remember one URL, username, and password for all company content and, as mentioned earlier, can access it from any device. 
 

What is the strategic importance of a corporate portal in organizations?

Portals act as a common point between users, where information stored by company employees is made available, providing efficiency and competitive advantage, facilitating access to information, and allowing high productivity gains, significant cost reductions, and increased employee satisfaction.

Well-designed portals whose functionalities are based on the reality of your employees make it possible to offer the right information, at the right time, in the ideal format, and to the audience that needs it.

One of the foundations of the success of this tool is the possibility of organizing information and optimizing tasks. Once implemented, portals also become a projection of the institutional culture (goals, values, vision, and mission of the company). 

The use of the tool also reduces difficulties in accessing information by providing access to a single, integrated database, whose content is accessible to all. The constant flow of information allows updates to be known in real-time.

The system is made so that all its content is arranged in a structured way and, therefore, users will have access to what interests them, facilitating the sharing of ideas and teamwork. 

The uses and functionalities of the portals are presented in several formats, specifically, institutional email platform - helps the employee to focus on the virtual environment of the company; collaboration - allows ideas, sharing, and feedback to happen constantly, directed to the respective sector; chats and forums - provide users with unified communication, regardless of geographical distance; multichannel - the various applications become accessible on a single platform, reducing the request time and the process of any information.
 

Benefits of implementing an Enterprise Portal:

 

• Improve corporate communication
• Integrate people who are geographically distributed
• Improve the decision-making process
• Create a single environment for accessing information
• Create knowledge bases
• Improve customer relationship management
• Collect and maintain information on competitors and new players in the market
• Improve employee training process through e-learning

Corporate portals are causing increasingly fundamental changes in management processes and the way companies operate. With the advantage of providing a single point of contact for all sources of information, intranet, and extranet portals are new tools for information and knowledge management in organizations.

Enterprise portals are effective solutions for companies to enhance communication with partners, customers, and teams. Whether for power interaction, communication, or data analysis, a corporate portal, intranet, or extranet is a strategic choice that can catalyze organizational growth.

Contact Hydra iT for more information!