Portals offer an opportunity for trading partners to get past the
door and into the back office, but is the welcome mat rolled out
and ready for them, asks Antony Adshead
Corporate portals are widely regarded as the one of the next
strategic steps for corporate IT. International heavyweights such
as Ford and BP-Amoco have begun portal rollouts in the past year
and analysts have documented a frenzy of activity in the portal
software sector as suppliers vie for position.
Industry watchers have viewed the portal phenomenon as the next
evolution of the graphical user interface. Supplier marketing
literature gushes with the possibilities.
And, it's not just hype - industry observers and savvy IT directors
know that corporate portals can bring cost savings and business
benefits. Massively improved business process efficiencies and
savings in maintenance are possible, but the suppliers are less
forthcoming about the hidden challenges necessary to make a portal
worthwhile.
Trailblazing companies have warned of initial user resistance to
portals and how they can highlight shortfalls in existing IT
systems.
At SAP's Empower user forum last week the BBC and BOC, the gasses
company, spoke of their experiences in portal
implementations.
The BBC is in the process of its implementing its Portal for All
project. The corporation has 23,000 staff and carries out 180,000
business transactions a month with an estimated 150,000 suppliers.
Its systems are vast and disparate - financial data is held on 29
different systems.
But the benefits of tackling such a minefield are well worthwhile,
said the BBC's head of financial operations, Peter White. "We have
many local systems which have arisen on an ad hoc basis so there
are many ways of doing the same task. The portal gives a single
environment, making it easy to use."
But the sheer scale of the implementation of the portal posed a
challenge, he added.
"The browser's look and feel is something users are used to so they
do not worry about familiarity with different systems. Having said
that we had problems implementing - but that comes with being at
the cutting edge. It has taken us six months to produce something
useful for 2,000 employees," said White.
BOC is also in the throes of both internal and external portal
implementations and has recently gone live with a portal for 3,000
customers in the UK and New Zealand and Australia. The company is
confident that a portal will enhance customer satisfaction and
loyalty.
In its BOC2B project, customers will be given access to purchasing
catalogues, account details and technical information tailored to a
company profile, such as industry sector.
In addition, when full integration is achieved the company will
benefit from having a unified infrastructure. Content will be
centrally controlled and made available to 42,000 BOC staff in 50
countries around the world.
But while BOC sees the benefits of moving to a portal environment,
the company recognises the significant challenges exposed by a
portal implementation.
A portal works because it brings together information from a
variety of data sources in and outside the business and makes them
available on one screen. The user can then control processes by
dragging information between, say, catalogues and customer lists.
As David Johnston, BOC's e-business manager, said, "A portal is
like a door to your house - it is up to you whether you want to
open it. It is straightforward from a technical point of view but
you need to make sure the house is in order because when you open
the door you may find a big mess inside."
Indeed, the tasks thrown up by an ambitious portal project can be
manifold. Chris Harris Jones, principal analyst with Ovum, said,
"Beginning a portal project is often accompanied by a horrendous
realisation that your systems don't talk to each other and of the
extent of incomplete and dirty data held by the business."
There are also cultural challenges to be faced in getting users to
use a portal, adds Harris. "One surefire way is to put their e-mail
in it - that way they can't avoid using it."
Simon Bragg, an analyst with ARC Consulting, said tensions between
subsidiaries can also arise as a result of portal projects that
integrate data from different countries.
"You need standard cost structures if you are going to compare
performance of every plant across the world. Companies have managed
to integrate regions, but very few large [top ITer organisations]
have achieved true global integration," he said.
Portals, then, do promise to revolutionise the way we do business.
Being able to instantly draw and act upon data from systems inside
and outside the business via a user-friendly browser is surely the
next step in business computing. But, as in a revolution, behind
the triumphant flags lies a battle-torn landscape.