Proven Portals: Best Practices for Planning, Designing, and Developing Enterprise Portals

Chapter Six. Characteristics of Effective E-Commerce Portals

During the dot-com boom, there was much talk about how the Internet was going to change business. Companies without Internet strategies were destined to become roadkill on the information superhighway. However, those days are gone. We now understand that the Internet is a tool for business and not a fundamental change of business. Enterprises must still acquire and retain customers, provide valued products and services at competitive prices, and realize profits for their shareholders. With those fundamental principles in mind, innovative organizations are developing customer portals to deliver goods, provide services, and grow their customer bases.

In this chapter we look at characteristics ...