Key Insights on Use/Efficacy of Portals

Over the past few months we have worked with a number of companies/organisations in both the Public and Private sectors, gathering feedback from their Suppliers/Customers/Employees. With most projects, as part of the research, we included gathering feedback on the use/efficacy of Portals, as a means of communication.

In most cases, Portals were a relatively new initiative and were designed to improve both communication and information flow, from our clients, to their Suppliers/Customers/Employees.

The research results clearly indicated that the take up/usage of the portals hasn’t always met expectations.

A few key learnings from our recent research:

• Whilst the uptake of the Portals should continue to grow, for the foreseeable future the Portal should be in addition to, rather than instead of, other forms of communication.
• Depending upon the objective of the Portal, the benefits should continually be explained/reinforced, to drive usage.
• Training/Tutorials for the use of Portal should be provided
• For someone going onto the Portal, this is an active decision to search for information. Companies shouldn’t therefore assume that everyone you’d like/expect to access the Portal, will do so.
• The information on the Portal must be:
  • • Relevant to both parties, i.e., the Organisation hosting the Portal and the Organisation/People accessing the Portal
    • Up to date
    • Easy to understand to avoid confusion
    • Sufficiently engaging/useful/insightful to encourage repeat/consistent use of the Portal