Article

November 6, 2024

What is a Modern Enterprise Portal and How to Get One?

Blair Williamson

15 minute read

A modern enterprise portal is an option for companies that want to integrate information and give their employees access to systems from one source in a web-based format. Continue reading to discover a detailed definition of an enterprise hub, the purpose of an enterprise portal, and the steps involved in implementing one.

What is meant by Enterprise Portal?

An enterprise portal is a website that allows employees to access multiple systems, tools, and functions. Workers can access it online. The portal usually has both a public and a private version.

The CMS enterprise portal is used to provide employees with access to the specific content and services they need for their job function within the company. Many companies use the portal to communicate with their employees, share documents, and encourage employees to collaborate.

Each employee is provided with a username and password to access the portal. The administrator can assign role-based authorization to determine the functions each team member can perform using the enterprise portal software. All company employees may automatically have access to view their pay statements, record their time off requests, and submit expense reimbursement forms. Depending on the employee’s job description, they may be given access to inventory management forms, financial information, or human resources documents. The access is administered by the same group that controls access to the company ERP system.

This technology is popular with companies that want to give their employees online access while keeping some controls in place so that not everyone in the company has full access to all company data. The corporate portal is an excellent delivery method for users who don’t need to access the company ERP regularly. This approach is popular with companies that want to provide their employees with access to an enterprise information portal via the internet, all the while keeping appropriate controls in place for confidentiality and security. It is the ideal delivery method for employees who don’t need to access the ERP daily but may need to occasionally. This option allows them to access metrics, analytics dashboards, and other communication tools on an as-needed basis.

The Three Foundations of the Enterprise Portal Hub

The enterprise portal hub was developed based on three distinct pillars:

1. Accessibility

The first pillar is that access to company data must be restricted to certain users. Not all data should be open to everyone in the company. There should be two-level secure access: the first level is a VPN (Virtual Private Network) and the second level is that sensitive or confidential data should be restricted to a certain group of people. Certain employees should only be able to access company data if it is relevant to their work. The company should also limit the number of company devices that can access the VPN.

2. Reliability

The technical part of the enterprise employee portal should work properly even under the heaviest employee demand. All the features should work with no errors or bugs since the enterprise portal has a direct impact over the reliability of the company. There are two ways to boost reliability: mirroring strategy and server virtualization. This means the work of several servers is focused on the same company hardware.

3. Security

Security is a crucial issue since a company wants to avoid data breaches at all costs. It’s important that every company that deploys an enterprise employee portal take all necessary steps to ensure that the company data be protected from internal and external threats to security.

Enterprise Portal Software

An enterprise portal is web-based software. It is used for integrating information and users within the company. All the company data is categorized within the enterprise portal and all departments can access it through one interface.

The enterprise employee portal makes it easy for employees to find the information they need, since they only need to look for content in one online location. All the business information and applications are conveniently stored in one place.

There are several benefits of corporate portal software, including the following:

Customized web application launcher featuring real-time application
Flexibility with cloud-based and hybrid deployment
Responsive design
Simple to use

Types of Enterprise Portals

Accounting
Content Management
Customer Relationship Management
Data Analysis
Database
Order Tracking
Reporting
Supply Chain Management

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Why is an Enterprise Portal Important for Enterprises and Employees

There are several benefits to having an enterprise information portal (eip) in a business to handle its data. Consider the following:

Data Collection

All organizations must collect data. The enterprise portal gives company personnel fast and convenient access to everything that has been collected. Developers can access databases and retrieve the information they need quickly. They don’t need to look at multiple sources to find precisely what they are looking for.

The portal helps employees and customers organize and connect information. It delivers personalized web solutions that manage the business effectively.

Easy Task Management

An enterprise information portal allows for easy deployment and management of multiple websites and applications from a single portal. A company can manage all of its business operations smoothly.

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Assists with Training and Development Sessions

An enterprise information portal makes it much easier for the company to schedule and conduct employee training and development sessions. All necessary resources are available within the portal for new hires and upgrading training sessions.

Scalability

There are several business operations that can be simplified by using an enterprise portal. It allows a company to control several tasks at once. All business operations can be handled with little effort.

Personalization

Depending on an employee’s role and job description, it is possible to personalize their experience when accessing the enterprise portal software. Users access the system using single sign-on capabilities that allow them to access the team enterprise portal and other company systems.

Universal Access to Enterprise Resources

Once an employee signs into the enterprise portal, they have access to information and business knowledge available to everyone in the company (unless it has been deemed sensitive or confidential by an administrator). Team members can use this powerful tool to access information about potential customers, industry news, etc.

Cost of Accessing Information is Reduced

Accessing information online through an automated portal is less costly than by getting information published on paper. The company can save money by subscribing to online sources over print magazines and newspapers.

Increased Collaboration among Employees

One of the most important benefits of a team enterprise portal is that it encourages collaboration between employees. This increased level of collaboration means team members will make a more sustained effort to help the company reach its goals. The collaboration will reach across departments to include workers in different geographic locations and time zones.

Higher Employee Productivity

Enterprise portals provide information to employees that wasn’t readily available to them previously. The information is personalized to each user’s role within the company, which leads to improved job performance. Eventually, the entire company becomes more knowledgeable and effective as a result.

Increased Return on Investment

Packaged EIPs increase a company’s Return on Investment (ROI). A packaged application should produce a higher ROI than other types of IT applications since they are less expensive than a customized package. A packaged application offers a customer functionality specific to a particular industry. They are easier to maintain than custom applications and are faster to deploy.

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What are the Main Features of a Modern Enterprise Portal?

What features should a company look for in a modern enterprise portal? Here are some important ones to consider:

Employee Data Layer

The employee data layer leverages collected employee data from several sources, including employee profiles, Microsoft, Google, and provisioning tools. It synchronizes the information from these channels, applications, and devices to create a secure, holistic view of each employee.

Over time, the system collects information about each employee’s activities and interests, such as the content they liked. This data allows for deeper analysis to support a deeper understanding of the employee’s interests. As the system collects more data, it will be able to provide intelligent predictions about future events and actions.

Employee Communications

The world of work has changed forever. Employees may be working in the office, from home, or in a hybrid situation. Some front line employees may rely on their handheld devices to stay in touch with their coworkers.

An easy-to-use content management system (CMS) makes all employees feel connected, no matter where they happen to be located. Social capabilities allow all workers to engage with each other to share knowledge, collaborate, and feel involved in their work.

Community and Culture

Promote a sense of culture by posting interesting posts that encourage team members to share their knowledge with their fellow employees. The enterprise portal makes it easy to upload content that others will find engaging.

Once a few team members start sharing their challenges and triumphs, it will be easier for others to do the same. Everyone in the company has a voice, and all employees should be encouraged to share their thoughts.

Employee Journeys

Send personalized messages to employees to acknowledge where they are in their journey in life and with the company. The messages can be sent automatically to acknowledge specific events in the employee’s life (both personal and professional). The messages are meant to improve employee engagement over time.

The messages are simple and sent over multiple devices. They aren’t meant to interrupt the employee’s work day; they just let the employee know that a life event is acknowledged and they are being thought of by the company.

Knowledge Management

As the sheer amount of knowledge available in the workplace increases, managing all of it well becomes crucial for businesses. The right information needs to get into the right hands at the right time.

An enterprise portal keeps documents and videos in one convenient online location. Employees don’t have to waste time searching for what they need across multiple systems. This step would waste time and the results may not be accurate. All team members who access results from the enterprise resource will be on the same page and making informed decisions based on the same data.

Town Hall

The town hall feature is the place where employees find out about the latest company news and updates. Executives can post information about events and content that will be interesting to employees. The information in the town hall doesn’t just flow one way, though; employees can use the chat feature to share their thoughts and opinions with management and each other.

The town hall allows executives and managers to learn how employees feel about certain topics that impact them quickly, without waiting to conduct an employee survey. This type of direct communication keeps discussions fresh and interesting between managers and employees.

Onboarding Center

The first few days and weeks that a person spends with a new company (or adjusting to a new position) are critical. They determine whether the employee feels engaged with the company or not. If the person has a good onboarding experience, they are more likely to stay with the company and grow into the position.

A good onboarding center will direct the employee through a series of steps to help them become acclimatized, stay engaged, and productive. It creates a personalized experience for each person and reduces the time required to onboard employees by creating a streamlined process.

Keep employees informed of what is going on within the company and the industry at large by publishing a company newsletter on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis. Employees can log into the enterprise employee portal and access with just a few mouse clicks.

Direct employees to the type of content they want to read by creating customized templates for different types of news (financial news, product news, etc.). Offer the newsletter in different languages to appeal to employees in different parts of the world, as appropriate.

Job Board

Many companies advertise job openings internally first. Posting them through the enterprise resource portal makes good sense. Employees who are interested in looking for promotions or lateral transfers will look at this source for any available jobs and they can apply for the positions they are interested in directly through the portal.

Job postings can also be shared over social media if the candidate pool needs to be enlarged to find suitable applicants. Employees may wish to share available jobs with their friends and family members who are looking for work too.

Employee Directory

An employee directory connects everyone in the company. It’s a place where employees can describe their expertise. Other employees can use it to find exactly who they need to consult when they need them.

When the employee directory is well-organized, it makes employee collaboration easy. When someone needs to consult an expert, they can tell whether the person they need is in-house, which saves time.

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How to Integrate an Enterprise Portal for your Company

Before your company makes a final decision about selecting an enterprise portal, there are several crucial aspects that must be considered:

The business and technical requirements
What the portal will be used for
The technical requirements

There are several steps involved in integrating an enterprise portal for a company.

1. Define success goals and criteria for the portal implementation

Without goals, there is no way to determine whether the plan for implementing the plan is successful or not. These need to be in writing and listed in an organized fashion that company decision-makers can easily understand.

2. Management must approve the plan to implement the enterprise portal

Senior management needs to see the benefits of implementing the portal and buy into the plan. If they are not on board and don’t support the plan, it will not succeed. Employees won’t see the benefit of adopting this technology if management isn’t in favor of it.

3. Prepare a short list of portal vendors and choose one

Next, the company needs to find the vendor it feels will best fit its needs in terms of price and service. It makes a selection and chooses an enterprise portal provider.

4. Hardware and software is evaluated by the vendor

The vendor will look at the company’s existing portal architecture and infrastructure. The evaluation also includes the technology platforms (Java, .NET, PHP, etc.). The portal configuration and any customization needed is planned.

5. The vendor conducts user interviews

To gauge what the company needs from its enterprise resource, the vendor will speak to several users. Based on information from multiple sources, the vendor gains a clear idea of the project’s requirements.

6. The vendor conducts usability testing

Usability testing is conducted to reduce project risk. The results clarify the end users’ requirements.

7. Standards are established

At this point in the process, proven methods are used to establish standards focused on management processes and project engineering.

8. Testing is conducted

The portal is tested for performance to ensure that all systems are working properly.

9. Content is integrated within the portal

Company content is moved into the portal. This content includes documents, videos, charts, graphs, and more.

10. Third-party components are used to mitigate risk

The vendor deploys proven third-party frameworks and components to reduce effort and risk.

11. Applications are integrated into the portal

Once the applications are integrated, the payment gateway integration is performed. Portal security and privacy considerations are integrated. These include data, payment gateway integration security, and user access privacy.

12. Design patterns are added

Proven design pattern based approach using Application, Composite, Business, and Integration patterns.

13. A pilot run is scheduled

It’s time for the first pilot run of the new enterprise employee portal. At this stage, the company can determine whether there are any bugs that need to be ironed out. Once the enterprise portal is up and running well, it’s time to move on to the final stage.

14. User training

Employees can start learning how to use the new team enterprise portal on a schedule set by the company. It may be convenient for work groups to learn how to use it together so they can start collaborating with it at the same time.

To make an enterprise portal effective, it must be maintained properly. The content must be updated regularly to ensure that there are no duplicates and outdated documents are deleted. A company must take care to choose the right enterprise employee portal solution that will meet its needs today and will provide the information it needs as it continues to grow. Discover LumApps Now!

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