As the strive for more efficient processes and a more productive workforce continues. It is inevitable that the majority of businesses will ditch their outdated paper processes and begin their digital transformation. Switching to digital with the introduction of a business web portal can bring many advantages to your business. It will improve efficiency, compliance and reduce costs throughout your business. This enables you to remain competitive within your industry. As well as keeping your employees, customers, and suppliers happy.

Business Web Portals can come in many different forms but the main types that we have developed for businesses, like yours, include supplier or subcontractor, customer or an employee portal. This blog covers the steps to follow once you have decided that a Business Web Portal is the right solution for you.

Planning your Business Web Portal

Your first step is to carefully scope out the features and functionality that the portal needs to have. Taking into consideration the tasks that are currently the most time-consuming. These tasks will take priority in terms of automating or streamlining the processes involved in completing them. You also need to consider the current systems you use across your whole business and how your new solution will need to integrate with these. Careful planning of your portal ensures that your solution has the scope and flexibility to grow further as your business grows.

During the planning stage, it is a good idea to include your employees. Your employees are going to be using your new software every day so it is important that it addresses the ‘pain points’ that they have with your current system. Involving staff at this early stage will also help to increase employee buy-in when it comes to implementation. Another area to discuss is the impact you expect the introduction of a portal to have. A clear objective of what you want to achieve and a way to measure it is important. This is because it will enable you to evaluate the success of your project after implementation.

Budget and Timeline

An agreed budget and achievable timeline for the introduction for your business portal is vital. Having these decided before you select your software partner will make the search a lot easier.

Choose your Software Partner

Once you have a clear idea of what you need your portal to do you can start to research your software partner of choice. Choosing the right software partner for your business is important for the success of your project. Especially when considering that only 25% of IT executives are confident that their projects will be successful. It is a good idea to ask about previous work they have completed to get a feel for the type of solution they will deliver. Being able to work collaboratively with your software partner is vital to ensure you get a solution that works for your business.

Build

During the build of your solution, you should be kept up to date with progress. By maintaining communication throughout, you can ensure that any changes to the original scope can be included and that the work is meeting your expectations.

Solution Delivery

Once your portal development is completed, you will be walked through the portal solution to ensure that all original goals have been met. If good communication has been maintained throughout, however, this should be a quick and very rewarding process.