I've never been a huge fan of portals. Well, actually, one of the reasons I've been down on them was the lack of a clear definition--like so many biz-words, it seems to mean many different things to different people. I've pushed my coworkers on the issue enough that most can't say "portal" without throwing me a scared/amused glance.
Anyway, with that background out of the way, do go read Janus Boye's take on the world of Portals (meaning large software systems sold to create "Portals"): " Portal Software: Passing Fad or Real Value?"
I like this distinction he made:
Maybe you should start by creating a small-p portal deploying a simple website on top of any existing Intranet sites, and invest in big-P portal software only after you have put in place successful processes for publishing and aggregating high-value, highly-sought information. You may find you don't need portal software at all.
It seems to me that in the past year or two, the smart folks thinking the content management space have moved past CM-as-software and are doing CM-as-concept or process. In other words, paying attention to creating the right content for the right audience (and removing it when it's stale) rather than focusing on implementing a big, hairy bundle of software. I think people working in the "portal" space will probably end up there soon enough, too.
Posted by Karl
January 19, 2005 04:15 PM