As the information age progresses, more businesses can take advantage of data sources and create insights once thought impossible. It is increasingly easier to plug in to several information sources and analyze broad trends at the highest level. But what’s the value of having information if you cannot see it in real time or access it from wherever you are? That’s exactly where portals and collaboration come into play. It certainly is important to have information, but it is even more important to be able to find and use it when you need it.

In the increasingly competitive world of business, companies need to be able to collate and use information in real time. Solutions that support and integrate processes, people and information across an organization will be vital to achieving this. If your business does not currently have a portal & collaboration solution installed, you might be cheating yourself out of the benefits of a lean and agile system.

There are many terms used to describe portals and collaboration solutions, although they all mean the same thing. These include terms such as enterprise information portal, enterprise portal and even corporate portal. At the heart of all these terms, sits one simple function – a portal is a convenient venue where team members in a business, and sometimes customers, can collaborate virtually.

It provides a unified and secure gateway that serves as an information and knowledge base for the elements that make up a business. It may provide the same services as a website, such as a search engine and provide customized and up-to-date content, with the primary focus of sharing business-specific information in real time.

More often than not, the vagaries of information acquisition and distribution involve considerable expense to businesses. For instance, it takes effort to apprise members of a large team about the regulatory standards they must keep in mind as they work. However, it will often take even more effort to keep those members apprised of regulatory changes that affect those standards, both in terms of getting it to them, and getting them to see it.

An added consideration for companies arises when the business has to manage growing volumes of data. After undergoing the effort to automate reports of relevant KPIs, it can be difficult to manage this data and maintain a platform where they can be shared in real time.

Portals and collaboration solutions are adapted with the aim of using technology to promote communication, knowledge sharing and team work. When a business needs to consolidate project information, as well as track deadlines and deliverables in an easily accessible system, the best solutions will often come from portals.

There are currently several pre-packaged portal solutions for businesses of all sizes. Some of these are produced by large industry names such as IBM, Oracle and Microsoft. However, the best solutions are those that are custom made to fit the peculiar needs of a business, taking size and cost into consideration.

Investing in an enterprise portal can make information available to users in an integrated and personalized way. It focuses the information on the job role of the user, leading to improved job performance and, eventually, a more effective organization.

There are several other benefits of portals and collaboration, including:

• Automated data management: Automated data, such as consumer behavior, can pile up very quickly. Often, efforts to collate and categorize this data will lag behind the speed with which the data comes in. It will be even more difficult to share this information on real time basis. A corporate portal can help manage this automated data by integrating functions and data from different systems into new components.
• Security: Security is just as important to knowledge sharing as it is to maintaining the business’ physical resources. Rather than share information over phones, emails or drives, which can be easily compromised, portals enable a secure information gateway. Team member profiles can be saved on the system and access linked to the provision of a passcode. This way, the business can share information quickly without compromising security.
• Communication: Teams that communicate better can innovate faster and in a more concerted effort. One of the most important benefits of portals is the increased collaboration they foster. As information gets shared in real time, team members will also be given the capacity to respond and interface with information. The increased collaboration will lead to more sustained common effort to accomplish corporate goals. There will be better social integration in the corporate environment across departmental and geographic barriers.
• Information management across geographies, technologies and applications: Every business has at least three or four tools it relies on. Having to check on each of these can be time consuming, taking away time that can be spent on more productive tasks. Portals can integrate and manage the information across these tools and geographies to deliver information in one handy venue.
• Accessibility: Real time access is just as key to innovation as creating a platform for collaboration. A well designed portal can be accessed from basically anywhere and on any device. Once implemented, the portal can connect internal departments in an organization for better workflow and real time collaboration.
• Cost Savings: This is a consequence of both web-based publishing and the automated nature of portals. For companies that still distribute information via paper, portals can ensure big savings. Even those that are already involved in web publishing can save on web administration personnel costs.

Come see what we can do

At i3solutions, we help organizations assess their systems and determine where technology can lead to better communication. For over 25 years, we have implemented solutions that help organizations manage their data and share information to geographically dispersed teams.

Whether your business needs to track deliverables, consolidate project information or streamline business processes, we can help. With our portals and collaboration solutions, we can identify areas within your organization where technology will promote communication, knowledge sharing and teamwork.

Let our consultants help you maximize the power of your people. Contact us today to start a conversation.