Portals:
the buzzword of 1999
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Portals
• What are they?
– Mega-portal (AOL, Yahoo, Netscape)
– Enterprise portals
– Special-interest portals (vortal)
• Benefits
• Risks
• Definition
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“Our” enterprise portal
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“Your” enterprise portal
Audience self-selects by type
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Search engine mega-portal
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Go.com
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Mega-portal: MSN
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“My”
portal
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Mega Portals / Brands
• Expectation of e-commerce where
eyeballs = wallets
• A recognizable brand is a beacon in
internet geography
• Sites with highest traffic establish the
strongest brand name
• Consumer brands join internet brands
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Benefits of “my” portal
• Daily content in one location
• Easier login (goal)
• Navigational value
• E-commerce linkage may
facilitate workflow
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Information Management
• the model has changed from being
the reference librarian on the
internet, to:
– information management
– interactive work center
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Includes “agents”
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Special interest - students
• Student “aggregator” portals
• Vendor portals
– Blackboard.com
– I-drive
– Campus Pipeline
• University portals
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Course Site (blackboard.com)
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Harvard B-School
• http://www.hbs.edu
–
–
–
–
courses
assignments (cases)
class seating chart
links to excel, videos, etc
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Harvard FAS
• my.harvard.edu
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My MIT
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Our green
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Semantic confusion - new
services as “portal”
• Avoid “laundry” lists
– Academic Services
– Course Resources: syllabi, access to teacher’s
online office hours, eConferencing, discussion
forums and student/teacher homepages
– Campus auctions, event calendars, student
communities, and post/find it tools (rideshare,
roommates, tutors, etc).
– Research Center
– Career Center
– Web Shopping (discounts on Travel, Computers,
Books, Clothing, Music, Events )
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A successful portal
• Recognizes the user
• Displays dynamic content
• Facilitates Workflow
– single login to disparate services
– moves the customer through business
processes
• Has customizable views and tools
• Is clear about its scope
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Relationships
• Build community or balkanize?
– my.mit, my.sloan, my.physics
– Peoplesoft uses “roles” concept
• Cognitive maps
• Beware of false categories
– internal vs external, marketing/service
– referrals require a common language
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“Our” UCLA
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My UCLA
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Build, buy, or barter?
• Internet desktop
– “free” email and rhetorical tools,
calendar (anyday.com)
– I-drive file sharing service
• Open systems / open API
• Acceptable authentication &
security needs to be in place
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StudentU.com
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Space or software tools
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Idrive (not perfect)
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I/T management risks
• Pressure to develop a portal
without a pragmatic web strategy
• Increased complexity in security,
privacy, administration, and
service
• Expensive to integrate legacy
apps
• Expensive to manage vendors
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E-commerce
• “Keep out e-commerce” is a red
herring
• The devil is in the details manage the contracts
• Guidelines for linking,
sponsorship, and ads
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Define “acceptable” ads
Logo “postage stamps” from www.redherring.com
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Affiliates guidelines
Search
boxes
that
pay
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Privacy
• Whose customer?
– A school, department, or university?
• Privacy policies
– can we trust 3rd party companies as
data guardians
• Portable profiles, possibly
customer-managed?
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Future
• Brand awareness (university.com)
• Browsers act like search engines
– internet key words, destinations
– hidden deals for placement
• Portable profiles
• Micro payment systems
• Full disclosure
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Risks: identity
• Whose customer?
– A department, school, or university?
– 3rd party companies as data guardians
– Who garners the commission?
• Brand
– university.com
– brand.university
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Someday
• Portals will seem really “flat.”
• What’s coming is more interaction
with the human being on the other
side of the screen.
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the next phase
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A real person behind the screen
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The
tool
shot
over
the
net
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