Portals: the buzzword of 1999

Portals What are they? –Mega-portal (AOL, Yahoo, Netscape) –Enterprise portals –Special-interest portals (vortal) Benefits Risks Definition

“Our” enterprise portal

“Your” enterprise portal Audience self-selects by type

Search engine mega-portal more than bookmarks 25 million unknown customers permission to communicate regularly click through, sale of customer data

Go.com Add disney and infoseek, get info squeak

Mega-portal: MSN

“My” portal Usually enabled by cookie technology To change layout I was told to use MS Explorer!

Mega Portals / Brands Expectation of e-commerce where eyeballs = wallets A recognizable brand is a beacon in internet geography Sites with highest traffic establish the strongest brand name Consumer brands join internet brands

Benefits of “my” portal Daily content in one location Easier login (goal) Navigational value E-commerce linkage may facilitate workflow the model has changed from being the reference librarian on the internet toinformation management, or being an interactive work center

Information Management the model has changed from being the reference librarian on the internet, to: –information management –interactive work center

Includes “agents”

Special interest - students Student “aggregator” portals Vendor portals –Blackboard.com –I-drive –Campus Pipeline University portals Niche audience community content models Sabre is extending travel mgmt into Peoplesoft; Campus Pipeline vortal for colleges with book, auctions, registration, Amazon, dell, etoys, schwab, fedex, ups

Course Site (blackboard.com)

Harvard B-School –courses –assignments (cases) –class seating chart –links to excel, videos, etc

Harvard FAS my.harvard.edu

My MIT

Our green

Semantic confusion - new services as “portal” Avoid “laundry” lists –Academic Services –Course Resources: syllabi, access to teacher’s online office hours, eConferencing, discussion forums and student/teacher homepages –Campus auctions, event calendars, student communities, and post/find it tools (rideshare, roommates, tutors, etc). –Research Center –Career Center –Web Shopping (discounts on Travel, Computers, Books, Clothing, Music, Events )

A successful portal Recognizes the user Displays dynamic content Facilitates Workflow –single login to disparate services –moves the customer through business processes Has customizable views and tools Is clear about its scope

The new AOL Search service blends matching content from within AOL and from across the web into one results screen. The external version that will be accessible via the web won't list content only available to AOL members. Relationships Build community or balkanize? –my.mit, my.sloan, my.physics –Peoplesoft uses “roles” concept Cognitive maps Beware of false categories –internal vs external, marketing/service –referrals require a common language

“Our” UCLA

My UCLA

Build, buy, or barter? Internet desktop –“free” and rhetorical tools, calendar (anyday.com) –I-drive file sharing service Open systems / open API Acceptable authentication & security needs to be in place

StudentU.com

Space or software tools

Idrive (not perfect) 25 MB Personal and shared file storage on the web synchronizes local and internet file space saves web pages will cobrand

I/T management risks Pressure to develop a portal without a pragmatic web strategy Increased complexity in security, privacy, administration, and service Expensive to integrate legacy apps Expensive to manage vendors

E-commerce “Keep out e-commerce” is a red herring The devil is in the details - manage the contracts Guidelines for linking, sponsorship, and ads Barnes & nobles runs some college bookstores Sherlock, in OS8, searches Internet from HD extended to do online shopping if you search for moon landing, you’ll also get apollo- related merchandise from ebay and amazon

Define “acceptable” ads Logo “postage stamps” from

Affiliates guidelines Search boxes that pay

Privacy Whose customer? –A school, department, or university? Privacy policies –can we trust 3rd party companies as data guardians Portable profiles, possibly customer-managed? Yahoo has a universal shopping basket

Suzana Lisanti: travel - travel.com net perceptions (collab filt) search boxes that pay Suzana Lisanti: travel - travel.com net perceptions (collab filt) search boxes that pay Future Brand awareness (university.com) Browsers act like search engines –internet key words, destinations –hidden deals for placement Portable profiles Micro payment systems Full disclosure

Risks: identity Whose customer? –A department, school, or university? –3rd party companies as data guardians –Who garners the commission? Brand –university.com –brand.university

Someday Portals will seem really “flat.” What’s coming is more interaction with the human being on the other side of the screen.

the next phase

A real person behind the screen

The tool shot over the net