If your company has a sales team, or any kind of team for that matter, a portal could be a valuable part of your website design. Calgary businesses who do any form of collaborative work find them extremely useful—especially these days when everyone needs to be connected all the time.
A website portal can offer your employees all the tools they need to be successful right from one convenient location. It allows for easy access to enterprise applications from a desktop or mobile device whether your team is working in the office or out in the field. All business owners want our employees to be able to succeed, but not all of us have the expertise in-house to design and set a private portal up.
Who’s in Charge Here?
A common concern with a portal is that someone needs to supervise and maintain it, and sometimes with today’s need for lean, efficient workforces, no one has time to take on the task. The Norman Nielsen Group (NNG) has been evaluating portals for several years now, and their most recent report emphasizes the need for decentralized governance. They say that, “Portal teams are learning that since the intranet portal touches all layers of the organization, so should the governance.” Because they can benefit every member of a company, the most effective portals will evolve over time with flexible, but defined, roles and responsibilities with a governance team representing every level of an organization.
How Do You Keep it Running?
Adding a portal to your website design in Calgary does not have to mean making a significant investment in a costly technological platform. There are a variety of tools available, some open-source, that can get the job done effectively, and with all the features your employees need. And, as the technology continues to mature, it has become less complex and more robust, meaning you don’t have to be an expert to manage it once your intranet is in place.
It’s All About Personalization
With portals being able to serve virtually every level of a business, there is a strong need to personalize what individual users have access to so they don’t become overwhelmed by all the options. Users love features, but quality is more important than quantity, and customization is key. The most effective portals are designed to be adapted to the user’s location and their role, giving them access to the applications the portal has to offer, but also helping them stay focused on what they need to be able to do most.
The Value of Applications
What if you built a portal and nobody came? The tools you offer will be what attracts your users and keeps them coming back. The companies with the most successful portals understand this and keep looking for ways to innovate, making sure they offer well-designed, useful tools that help their employees get the job done. If you can give them the ability to view their schedules, modify their calendars, view or write reports, collaborate on projects, and contact clients all from one convenient location, they will find value in using the portal and suggest ways to help it grow and improve.
Your portal can be an integral piece of your website design in Calgary. Just as your website is your most valuable tool for attracting quality visitors, an intranet that has been customized with the applications your employees need most can help them more successfully convert leads and close customers. What more could you want?
Optimizing for Mobile Use
We’ve said it before. Mobile is growing like crazy, and you need a fast, responsive design for your portal as well. Your employees enjoy the convenience and portability of smartphones and tablets in their personal lives and will expect to be able to use them for business, too. If your portal loads slowly or is difficult to navigate from a phone, your team—especially those out in the field—will resist using it.
The most effective portals are designed for their users. If your employees are mobile, your portal should be too. According to the NNG, instead of shrinking down a desktop design to fit on a phone, a portal should focus “on the needs of mobile users first and let the desktop expand around the core mobile functions.”
If you decide a portal is right for your business, let the team at Emphasize Design help you get started. Calgary website design is just one of the many services we offer. We can even help you set up your intranet!
