Web Portal Software – A Guide [2021 Edition]

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Web Portal Software A Guide 2021 Edition
Since the pandemic has turned every one to work
remotely, the need for an online presence has
increased. With that, it has become important
for businesses to look for web portal software
that will allow them to automate tasks, track
operations, and signi?cantly increase customer,
employee, and partner engagement. But what type
of web portal do you need? What will be the
development cost? What factors affect the cost?
This article will cover web portal software,
including types, development methods,
functionalities, advantages, etc. Before that,
lets see what an online web portal is and how it
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differs from a website. Most people still use the
names interchangeably as if its the same. What
is an Online Web Portal? A web portal provides a
single point of access to various information.
You and users can consider it as a library of
consisting of vendors and
personalized and well-organized content company
articles, products information, suppliers lists,
and more.
A web portal software helps in search
navigation, personalization, information
sharing, noti?cations, etc. However, to carry
out these activities and look at the content,
users need access. They need a user account to
log in. Once logged in, they can access
information provided by you, i.e., a store
owner. What makes a web portal convenient is
that it collects information from various sources
like CRM, CMS and presents it in one place. It
reduces users efforts. For example, your team
doesnt have to juggle between systems to get
customers details. Apart from accessing
information, it even makes communication between
teams easy. Though the features of a portal look
similar to that of a website, their purpose
differs, and so do their characteristics. They
are not interchangeable. While the
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website uses web pages that anyone can access,
the web portal requires login credentials, and
only authorized users can access it. The purpose
of a website is to create a digital presence,
whereas web portals provide relevant information
to authorized users based on their roles. Common
Types of Web Portal Software Online web portals
help with personalization, document management,
information tracking, collaboration, business
intelligence, etc. As every business is unique,
web portals are used in different ways. There
are two main types Horizontal and Vertical.
Horizontal portals provide all the relevant
information that users might require. Vertical,
on the contrary, provides speci?c information
only. They are then bifurcated into various
subtypes based on their target audience and
purposes. Customer Portal This is for businesses
that want to improve their customer support and
build loyalty. Customer portals allow customers
track orders, generate tickets,
services, get personalized
to place and activate/deactivate
recommendations,
manage their transactions, view the
status of their query, and ?nd solutions on their
own.
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Vendor Portal Its a solution for businesses
having a vast number of third-party suppliers.
This type of web portal software is used to
communicate and share data with vendors. It makes
vendor management easy. Vendors have the freedom
to manage their accounts, proposals, orders,
etc. Your staff can manage all the
vendor-related activities such as sending
invites, comparing proposals, viewing suppliers
information all in one place. Partner
Portal Industries such as travel, real estate,
banking, logistics, or healthcare, often have to
deal with multiple partners to get their work
done. For instance, real-estate businesses have
brokers and others to help them crack a deal.
Partner portal helps businesses interact with
their partners ef?ciently by giving them access
to data, managing leads, viewing partner
performance, speed onboarding, etc. Af?liate
Portal This type of portal provides an attractive
interface to af?liates. It allows them to manage
custom links, channels, rewards, invoices, etc.,
saving your time and building long-lasting
relationships.
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B2B portal, B2C portal, membership management
portal are a few of the other portal examples
commonly used. However, the pandemic has forced
businesses to implement new strategies,
approaches, and digital tools. Thus, there are
key portal types that are in demand. Lets check
them out! Portals Gaining Popularity in 2021 A
few web portal software types that are in demand
are Knowledge Base Portal This type of portal
automates customer support. It lets you educate
your customers and employees, support them, and
improve customer understanding. A knowledge base
consists of blogs, FAQs, guides, tutorials, user
manuals, and other relevant information. It
helps users ?nd answers on their own. Community
Portal Community portals help with brand
building. Here, people come together to share
their interests, suggest solutions, and help one
another. For example, if youre in the printing
business, the community portal will allow your
customers to discuss printing services, tools,
methods, etc. If a new customer wants to try out
Dye sublimation and is confused, other customers
with an experience can share their
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insights. They can share tips, lists of dos and
donts, and more. A community portal allows
everyone to come together and share their
thoughts. Since the pandemic, many people are
using community portals, and hence, theres a
huge demand. Self-Service Portal As customers
like doing everything on their own, theres a
huge surge for self-service solutions. This web
portal software provides information related to
products, services, and other business-related
things. They allow users to handle their
activities rather than wait for a support team.
Self-service improves the customer service
quality and relieves tech support teams from
stress. Customizable Portal Custom portal
development is the new trend! Gartner suggests
that 85 of user interaction will start with
self-service by 2022. But customer behavior keeps
changing as technology advances. Hence,
businesses are looking out for a customized
portal that meets their business demands. A
solution that can expand with the growing
business is suitable for each user in the
organization.
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E-Learning Portal E-learning is a new trend now,
and so is the e-learning portal. An e-learning
portal can provide access to various materials
while allowing teachers, parents, and admin to
handle their activities themselves. For instance,
a parent can view their childs progress report
without contacting the teacher or asking the
kid. Corporations also use these kinds of
e-learning portals for training employees and
helping them grow. To ?nd out what other portals
are in demand in 2021, check out this article
5 Custom Portal Solutions to Consider in
2021. Reasons to Have a Web Portal Software Now
that you know about the types of portals, you
would have got a little idea of their bene?ts.
However, just for clari?cation, here are a few
arguments that will convince you to go for web
portal software development. Custom Business
Logic Features like role-based access, user
authentication help you with a dedicated
exchange of information. Con?guration and
personalization options further enable users to
con?gure the portal as per their needs. Say a
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customer wants to know about the latest updates
on logging in to the portal. They can con?gure
the dashboard accordingly. A web portal software
allows you to utilize the data to bene?t you and
the business. Enhanced Collaboration Third-party
social sharing spaces make it easy for
businesses to interact with one another. However,
they dont save time. You have to download the
document and then upload it on the server. But,
web portal software allows information to ?ow
easily. For instance, a team can share the
documents and work on them together without any
extra effort. Simpli?cation of Operations As the
portal allows everyone to handle their activities
themselves, it reduces the work of one person.
For example, insurance agents dont have to
update customers details and documents every
time. Customers can do it on their own by
logging into the portal. The support team doesnt
have to waste time updating customers about
their order or ticket status. They can work on
something productive. Better Security Many
businesses avoid third-party tools because of
data theft. Also, there are limitations to what
data you can share
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with a speci?c team or team member based on their
roles. For example, you wont give your intern
access to the CRM. Even a small mistake in an
invoice by them can create havoc. But you need
to provide them with limited access to view
customer details if not edit. A web portal
software gives you that freedom with role-based
access. Users can access the data and perform
actions based on their roles. Boost Customer
Engagement A web portal helps establish a strong
relationship between businesses and customers
with features like knowledge base, self-service,
community support, ticket management, etc. As
customers know what they are doing and can ?nd
their answers themselves, they become satis?ed
and loyal. Centralized Management To access
different solutions like CRM, CMS, POS, a web
portal provides a single access point. It
connects every system and ensures users get
everything they require in one place. You want
to check a customers details you can do so
from the portal without logging in to the
CRM. Know More About the features and other
reasons to go for web portal software
development.
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How to Build a Web Portal Software By now, I am
sure youre excited to build a web portal. And
thus, in this section, we will see the steps
involved in web portal development. Lets
proceed! Create a Plan This is the ?rst thing
you need to do. Think about your business and
?gure out the purpose of your portal and the
target audience, whether it will be for users or
suppliers. Dont forget to research. Know what
kind of solution your customers require, what
features they expect, and what you should
integrate. After thorough research, list down the
features along with your target audience,
objective, and other details. Decide your
Architecture and Design After creating a plan and
deciding on features, you need to decide the
feel and look of your portal. Its important as
it re?ects your brand. So, while creating the
portal design, check the font and theme
properly, focus on images, and dont go on
experimenting with too dull or gaudy shades.
Balance it well! Dont forget to include the
search option. The button positioning, check
that too.
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• Start the Development
• With plan and design in hand, the only thing left
  is to give developers a green signal. While
  developing, make sure that developers consider
  these elements user-friendly navigation,
  payment integration, security, scalability, etc.
• Test it Rigorously
• This is when the QA team stamps the portal to be
  ?t to deliver, only after testing each function
  and modules working several times using
  different approaches.
• If your testing is successful, it will increase
  your portal users experience. It doesnt stop
  there. The post-launch period is about
  maintenance. You need to ensure that the portal
  stays up-to-date with the changing customer
  requirements and development trends.
• You also need to consider the portal development
  cost in the planning. Various factors affect the
  development process cost.
• Factors Affecting the Development Cost
• Outsourcing or On-Premise
• The ?rst factor is to choose the right
  development partner. Generally, outsourcing
  costs less than on-premises. However, it can
  cost you a fortune if you

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• choose a less reliable partner.
• Features
• The features you decide to add to your portal
  affect the cost of the portal development
  process. The more complex the features are, the
  higher the cost.
• Developers Skills
• An experienced development team will provide a
  quality solution though the cost would be higher.
  You can get the portal developed by a less
  experienced vendor. However, the quality and
  other glitches may cost you more.
• Elements to Include
• The cost of web portal software will vary based
  on the components you want to include. Say, you
  may require multiple payment methods. For that,
  you will require third-party API integrations,
  which will increase the cost.

Hence, while researching, research thoroughly!
Consider everything from your requirements to
development factors.
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• While we are on it, let me tell you how CRMJetty
  can help you in the process.
• You can also check our case studies, portfolio,
  and client testimonials to get a better idea.
• CRMJetty An Ideal Web Portal Development
  Partner!
• We have been serving this industry for 14 years
  and know about the nooks and hooks of various
  industrial processes. Hence, we can help you
  identify if the requirements are suitable for
  your industry and the new trends in the market.
  For example, what new features are available,
  what you should add and what you shouldnt. You
  get a one-on-one discussion with our industry
  experts! After deciding everything, our
  development team will start with the sprints,
  followed by the testing, of which you will be a
  part. Once the testing is done, we will train
  you on the portals working and be there for you
  whenever you require help!
• A few reasons why CRMJetty would be the right
  choice
• We provide ready-to-integrate and custom
  solutions. Whether its a few tweaks or one from
  scratch, we will be there for you.
• We analyze your requirements and, based on them,
  suggest the solution. Only when the
  customizations are

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• required would we suggest and go the extra mile
  to make those changes.
• We follow the Agile methodology, which means
  theres transparency at all stages.
• We have a track record of 70 custom portal
  integrations.
• And if youre satis?ed Hire Us

Source https/ www.crmjetty.com/b2c-portal-develo
pment-guide /
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