How to differentiate a portal from a portal

Enterprises implementing portals are increasingly faced with a greater variety of solutions from competing vendors. But, according to Gartner`s report on `Portal Vendor Evaluation Strategies, 2002`, purchase of these portal products is greatly complicated by organisations` lack of understanding of the portal market.

Many organisations do not have the criteria, framework or methodology to provide a consistent approach to evaluating competing vendors and products in the portal space.

Looking at portals, they could loosely be described as `gateways` - technology that provides users with a framework enabling them to handle the overabundance of information faced on a daily basis.

According to Gartner, companies often conduct evaluations that are based on purely tactical considerations such as product functionality, the technical architecture and cost. "Typically a combination of these three perspectives will dominate 90% of the attention of the due diligence process."

Gartner points out that many decision-makers are discovering that selecting from a functional or architectural market leader does not exactly guarantee project success.

"Before even contemplating products, companies need to clearly establish their overall business plans and then identify and prioritise the processes and skills needed to execute their portal visions," comments Ben van Niekerk, product manager at Compuware SA.

Once this planning exercise is completed, companies should initiate their investigation of potential vendors and products according to six critical categories: functionality, technical architecture, costs, services, viability and vision.

When companies, for example, look at services, it is important that the vendor in question should provide them with the means to effectively and efficiently incorporate portals as the basis for their business requirements.

Says Van Niekerk: "Vendors need to provide consulting expertise, problem resolution capabilities and knowledge transfer skills. The extent to which they facilitate service relationships directly impacts the level of client satisfaction."

The technical architecture of a portal should fulfil requirements such as portlet (portal component) access method, use of application server technology, standards conformance levels and manageability and scalability.

"Ultimately, the technical architecture should provide the framework for companies to determine the technological fit between the portal and the existing technical environments and determine to what extent further upgrades of IT systems will impact how the portal functions," says Van Niekerk.

Acquiring a portal is by no means an easy task and as Gartner points out, not all vendors that are around today are necessarily going to be around tomorrow.

This is why vendors and their portals should meet an organisation`s stringent criteria, not only implementing a solution but guaranteeing future benefits.