[email protected] portals: the buzzword of 1999. [email protected] portals what are they? –mega-portal...
TRANSCRIPT
Portals
• What are they?– Mega-portal (AOL, Yahoo, Netscape) – Enterprise portals– Special-interest portals (vortal)
• Benefits
• Risks
• Definition
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
Benefits of “my” portal
• Daily content in one location
• Easier login (goal)
• Navigational value
• E-commerce linkage may facilitate workflow
Information Management
• the model has changed from being the reference librarian on the internet, to:– information management– interactive work center
Special interest - students
• Student “aggregator” portals
• Vendor portals– Blackboard.com– I-drive– Campus Pipeline
• University portals
Harvard B-School
• http://www.hbs.edu– courses– assignments (cases)– class seating chart– links to excel, videos, etc
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 )
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
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
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
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
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
Privacy
• Whose customer?– A school, department, or university?
• Privacy policies– can we trust 3rd party companies as data
guardians
• Portable profiles, possibly customer-managed?
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
Risks: identity
• Whose customer?– A department, school, or university?– 3rd party companies as data guardians– Who garners the commission?
• Brand– university.com – brand.university
Someday
• Portals will seem really “flat.”
• What’s coming is more interaction with the human being on the other side of the screen.
