Overview

It is a fine thing to be honest, but it is also very important to be right.

Winston Churchill

The manifold advantages derived by a company through having a proficient corporate portal are unmistakable, proven, and, above all, irrefutable. Among other things, a corporate portal will, unequivocally:

• Greatly increase corporate reach vis- -vis new prospects and "partners" at a near-zero cost

• Reduce operational costs, particularly those associated with call-center operations

• Bolster customer loyalty by eliminating delays, frustrations, and inefficiencies

• Improve in-house productivity through online tools (e.g., HR applications), faster access to pertinent data, powerful collaboration capabilities, and reduction in workflow interruptions

• Enhance corporate competitiveness through the ability to very cost effectively provide more information and services than was possible with non-Web mechanisms

• Accelerate decision making through rapid access to pertinent data sources and process streamlining

• Expedite and cost reduce business processes via external e-business links, tightly integrated with such IT applications as supply-chain management and supplier relationship management

• Invigorate the entire customer relationship management operation, across the engage, transact, fulfill, and service cycles, from both a customer and a company standpoint

• Increase business volumes via low-cost, all-electronic self-service functions that do not need to be "reprocessed" in-house

• Help attract and source new suppliers, distributors, manufacturers, and partners that can improve the SCM business model, on a global basis, at a very low cost

• Significantly simplify, expedite, and lower the cost of b2b dealings with all "partners" and associates

Corporate portals thus make a lot of sense, whichever way you look...