Tips for Implementing the Organizational Portal

And this time, some tips related to the main review that will follow - implementing the organizational portal:

Ready-made tool or in-house development?

As a principle, it's preferable to buy a ready-made tool, even if there's a strong intranet team in the organization. Today's tools offer a wealth of options that would be difficult to replicate and provide within the organization. No matter how well you think you know the internal needs, an organizational portal is a subject where, once it takes hold, "appetite comes with eating." Several organizations are collapsing under the maintenance burden of in-house development and are now seeking ready-made tools.

By the way, various tools are available at different levels of content and pricing, including both Israeli developments and products represented in Israel.

Note: The only justification for in-house development is the creation of a limited prototype within defined boundaries to demonstrate capability. Don't be tempted by anything beyond that, and even for that, think carefully before entering an adventure with no clear exit strategy.

What to include in the portal?

There are many tempting things that people want to include in every portal. Beware of falling into the Outlook trap (a portal whose entire content is a new integrated view of several Outlook screens). Beware of becoming a portal that's beautiful but ineffective, one that fails to advance the organization by facilitating access to the data, information, and knowledge that are so difficult to reach, for which we established the portal in the first place.

How to start?

Through needs analysis of a sub-group that's thirsting for knowledge on one hand, through learning the tools' capabilities on the other hand.

For learning the tools, there are many free examples on the internet. Companies will be happy to allow access to online demos. Just be careful not to get carried away. Study, understand, and purchase.

And good luck.

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Want to learn more about portals and channels?

Here are some articles you might find interesting:

• Intranet Saves Time - But for Whom?

• The Enterprise Portal - Between Success and Failure

• Creating an Innovative Intranet as a Step Toward a Portal