For Information & Knowledge Management Professionals (Length: 12 pages)

Executive Summary (This is a document excerpt)

First-generation corporate portals aspired to be enterprisewide solutions to a broad and diverse set of departmental problems. Initially, IT stared down a fire hose of features and back-end integrations offered by portal vendors. But it quickly found that "out of the box" meant six-to-12-month implementations, leading to questionable economic return and unmet expectations. It's difficult to make portals and even harder to justify them. To avoid the painful lessons of first-generation portals, enterprises should follow five steps in defining a portal strategy that focuses on what counts: the right leadership, business context, user needs, prioritization, and actively managing change.