Have you ever used AOL, Google, or Yahoo? If you have, then you have used web portals and probably not even known it. Portal integration has become so seamless these days that people might use web based applications and portals while on the internet at work or during their leisure time.

These days, many companies seek out custom application development, or custom software, to meet their needs in the areas of invoicing, content management, document management, or banking and financial applications. Depending on the company, some actually require web portal development for multiple applications. Does your company use web portals? If not, do you know how portal development could help your business?

1. Customer service.

Sometimes called knowledge portals, customer service portals are typically so well integrated that it can be difficult to see where the website meets the portal. A portal like this might be used for customers to post issues, find solutions on their own, view a history of their orders, and more. However you serve your customers, a custom portal can be built to address your needs.

2. Enterprise and intranet.

Private web portals are often created as virtual work spaces for employees, and sometimes for suppliers, customers, and service providers. These portals do not serve to connect the user to services and goods, but to connect them to specific information, and sometimes business applications that they need to do their jobs. For example, in the medical field, employees often use these kinds of portals in each step of patient care. Recently, the FDA has started to provide oversight to the development of software and testing on the system level.

3. Sales.

Portals for sales are more commonly called market space portals. These portals can support commerce between businesses and consumers. Users can access information about what products are for sale, and even hold discussions with other vendors or customers.

If providing customer service, a dynamic sales environment, or a virtual work space for your employees is important to your company, then it may be useful to look into portal development solutions. Custom applications and software can be built to your specifications, granting increased efficiency and security around the services your company provides.

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