A web portal is a website that brings information together from diverse sources in a uniform way. Usually, each information source gets its dedicated area on the page for displaying information often, the user can configure which ones to display.
Apart from the standard search engines features and web applications, web portals offer other services such as e mail, news, stock prices, information, databases and entertainment. Portals provide a way for enterprises to provide a consistent look and feel with access control and procedures for multiple web applications and databases, which otherwise would have been different entities altogether.
Remember the AOL interface from so long ago? They are probably the best example of web portals. You had email, celebrity gossip, sports, stocks, and tons of other web applications all in one place, bringing them together in one uniformed space.
Web portals have recently been re entering the market place as enterprise portals, driven by a business centric approach. Complementing or replacing earlier technologies and mobile applications, portals promise to deliver a more coherent information management platform, and a more seamless user experience for staff.
The general benefits of web portals include providing staff with a single point of access to business systems, aggregating corporate information into a single location, providing staff with a single user experience that crosses information systems and technologies, and tailoring information to the needs of the individual staff member using the program.
Web applications are a great way to get employees organized, and are a great option for businesses looking to uniformly organize corporate information.
