What is a portal and how does it work?

A portal is a secure, web-based platform that provides your stakeholders with a single access point to information. It improves collaboration by enabling users from both inside and outside of your organisation to see, edit and contribute to specific information you hold.

Portals are customised and branded for your organisation, containing information fields that link directly to your Microsoft Dynamics CRM, to help streamline, simplify and automate interactions with your stakeholders.

Regardless of time or user location, a portal can be accessed quickly and easily on a desktop or mobile device.

Why you may need a portal

The process of developing and deploying a portal could be triggered from a single pain point that your organisation experiences, or from a simple need to engage more effectively with your stakeholders. Typical scenarios that often prompt the need for a portal include:

• Multi-location premises
• Geographically dispersed members / students
• A need to increase visibility of information to specific individuals

Portals help you to bring information from multiple sources together, allowing content to be shared among a variety of departments, customers and suppliers, while all the time keeping the data synced to your CRM.  Portals bring multiple benefits to both the organisation and the end users.

Key benefits:

• Provides a dashboard that maintains a consistent look and feel with branding
• Displays information from various sources in one place
• Empower users to access information themselves when they need it in a safe place
• Tailoring accessibility of information depending on the type of user logging into the portal
• Increase revenue opportunities
• Improve communication and satisfaction with your members, partners, and other relationships

Dynamics portals are secure, mobile accessible, and being cloud-based, they are always updated to the latest version to keep processes running smoothly.

Example of a portal home page

How our customers are using their portals

Currently our customers are using portals to help them manage

• Alumni / Members
• Work experience time sheets
• Apprenticeships and Employer Engagement
• Events

However, the possibilities are endless, and we are always open to discussions around building a portal to fit your specific organisational or departmental needs.

My organisation needs a portal – what do I need to do?

As long as you already have, or are getting a Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM installed – we can help you develop your portal.  We are happy to chat through your ideas to give you guidance on what is possible.

Portal cost may already be included in your existing Microsoft licensing subscription if you have one, or may involve an additional cost.  We can advise you on what this may be.