The popularity of Web portals has scaled during the pandemic. Majorities of enterprises use web portals to offer a personalized approach to their stakeholders (customers, vendors, employees, etc.). This article will discuss how web portals are different from websites with five web portal examples that enterprises can explore.

The core purpose of any web portal is to strengthen the communication between an organization’s internal and external teams. Long story short, the portal websites consolidate all relevant information in a single portal to drive more excellent value.

So, let’s settle in.

Why does a web portal matter?

Now that you have fabricated a fundamental idea of a web portal, let’s get into the details of why a web portal matters:

• Portal websites can help enterprises with prompt content collaboration and easy access to resources
• The scope of personalization is very high within web portals
• The whole purpose of a portal website is to address the users’ needs with proper navigation and design features

Web portals vs. websites – what are the key differences?

Find out the key differences between web portals and websites:

• Websites include mostly read-only information. That means content on a website is static and users’ actions are limited. Alternatively, for web portals, there are several on-page interaction opportunities.
• Websites don’t have much room left for personalization. Websites are for everyone with no specific user groups in mind. On the contrary, web portals aim at offering a real-time, customized experience to the target users.
• The integration possibilities on websites are restricted. On the other hand, Web portals offer end-to-end integration with third-party tools like CRM, ERP, etc.
• Unlike websites where content is primarily invariable, web portals undergo frequent updates and regular content changes.

5 Must-know web portal examples for enterprises

Based on the target users’ requirements, we’re listing the five different types of portal websites that enterprises should know about:

1. Vendor Portals

The first name on our list of web portal examples belongs to vendor portals. As its name suggests, vendor portals can simplify business collaboration with third-party vendors through a high level of customization.

For large enterprises that collaborate with multiple suppliers simultaneously, streamlining supplier communication can get tricky. A vendor portal can handle vendor onboarding in real-time with smoother order placement, tracking, and procurement. Most enterprises use vendor portals for the following reasons:

• Inviting new suppliers to register and onboard them
• Adding new updates on the portal to control products and services properly
• Effective content management without any redundancies
• Ensuring that organizations can manage multiple vendors simultaneously

The Amazon vendor portal has customized its portal website based on suppliers’ requirements. Amazon tracks various aspects like numbers of orders, inventory level, pricing, advertising, shipped and unshipped items, number of returns, and so many other factors through this portal.

2. Government Portals

There’s hardly anybody who hasn’t come across a government portal yet. A government portal simplifies interactions between the government and citizens/local businesses. There are several types of information that you can find in a government portal:

• Tax payment or bill payment-related information
• Personalized information on a citizen’s address
• Payments on parking tickets and other essentials

Let’s take a look at one of the government web portal examples here. This one is from Grants.Gov:

The government portal is a source of vast information like different grant policies, blogs, user guides, forms, agencies, etc. Hence, if you’re looking for a federal grant, it can be a go-to resource center.

3. Patient Portals

Patient portals are among the major web portal examples. A patient portal streamlines communication between patients and medical practitioners. Some of the most common features of any patient portal are as follows:

• Prompt booking of appointments with relevant doctors
• Getting notifications on test results in the real-time
• Undergoing medical surveys
• Tracking one’s health information with real-time analytics

Capital Women’s Care (CWC) sets a great example by creating an optimized patient web portal. It can help the patients find a care provider and access emergency services and resources with a simple click. You can also find FAQs, 24/7 communication support, and online payment facilities in the same portal. All these can literally simplify a patients’ journey.

4. Student and Faculty Portals

Another type of web portal that’s on our list is student and faculty portals. We often observe universities using these kinds of portals to convey relevant information to their existing students, faculties, potential students, other staff, alumni, and so on. Some of the common types of information to expect from such a portal website are as follows:

• Events calendar and individual schedules
• Scholarship requirements
• Enrollment criteria
• Tests and grading details
• E-books and other resources
• Payment history

Stanford University has created one of those web portal examples for students. Upon entering this centralized students portal, students can get quick access to all necessary educational information. If you get a sneak peek into Stanford University’s web portal, you’ll find the following details:

• A list of your action items with their due dates
• All your courses and schedules at one place
• In-depth visibility into your academic and financial information
• Your upcoming exam schedule calendar

5. Intranet Portals

One of the most talked-about web portal examples is an intranet portal. The objective of an intranet portal is to improve teamwork within an organization through easy access to all assets, sensitive information, documentation, training materials, etc. It can power up an enterprise workflow.

A flexible intranet portal is one where employees can access various information including the following:

• Number of available leaves
• Latest payslips
• Training materials
• Upcoming events calendar
• Organizational policies

Intranet web portals can be a great way to maintain a productive workforce. With access to such a comprehensive and personalized portal, employees can gain visibility into the workflow. That way they can stay updated on their daily performance.

Special Mention: Restaurant Portal (another web portal example)

Before wrapping up, let’s discuss another one of the web portal examples that has been gaining rapid popularity. We’re talking about restaurant web portals. Here is an example of Hyatt Restaurants’ web portal. This portal website has successfully integrated the worldwide restaurants of Hyatt. The purpose is to offer the global foodies a consolidated overview to explore what the Hyatt restaurants can offer.

Some of the notable features of this portal are as follows:

• Prompt reservation in any Hyatt restaurant
• Collecting customers’ reviews and feedback in the same portal
• Update on the latest recipes of Hyatt coming from the head chefs

Final Words

Web portals can be a powerful way to engage more users. Standing in 2021 when customers are informed and expect personalization in everything, web portals are certainly a great option.
Need further clarification on portal websites? Drop your comments. We’ll get back to you.