Deciding Whether Or Not To Use A Portal Platform

It's hard to believe that portals continue to capture such a large amount of investment after 10 years. After all, most products are well beyond version six, and the term "portal" itself often inspires confusion and angst among businesspeople. But Forrester's Enterprise and SMB Software Survey, North America and Europe, Q4 2008, shows strong interest in implementing and upgrading portals in 2009. What's driving it? Forrester believes that two business priorities dominate the rationale for this investment: reducing IT costs and delivering customer experiences on public Web sites. Yet the decision today is different than the decision 10 years ago. This report looks at more than four years of client inquiries and vendor briefings about portals and shares key factors to consider when deciding whether to use a portal platform.