Portal management is a key to delivering an effective digital experience. Studies have repeatedly demonstrated that if users are dissatisfied with their portal experiences, they go elsewhere. As a result, portal architects must not only take into consideration the look and feel of a portal, but also the governance that keeps it running like a well-oiled machine.
Governance is defined as engaging people and processes to help build more effective systems. It can be thought of as the identification of which constituents are responsible for what functions, the processes to accomplish those functions, the metrics used to measure the effectiveness of those processes, and a feedback mechanism for continuous optimization. When considered in the process of building the buyer’s journey, governance is key in maintaining longevity, business results, and customer connection.
Here are our 5 considerations for developing a portal governance strategy that works.
- Policies and Standard Operating Procedures: Within the development of a successful portal are key roles. Portal governance roles are specific functions performed by the portal team constituents to arrive at decisions on the portal. Typical roles can include project managers, system administrators, developers, and community managers. When constructing the framework for these types of professionals, ensure that their roles are coded out and benefit the organization.
- Operational Communication: Day-to-day activities will need to be managed within the portal. In the governance model, it’s important to determine and define how the rules of engagement will play out. In some organizations, the individual who manages the portal from this perspective is known as a Community Manager.
- Objectives and Goals: Governance is an ongoing process that should be monitored and optimized. The best way to monitor the portal governance model is to define a set of metrics. Metrics include the number of users present in the portal, revenue numbers, and content turnaround time. These metrics should be presented on a regular basis to leadership to communicate need and viability.
- Governance Models: Portal governance can exist under a variety of different models, including centralized, decentralized, and a hybrid of the two. Each of these incorporates a differing type of leadership, whether from the center or with stakeholders. We will cover how these work in a separate comparison blog post.
- Overall Strategic Value: The nature of portal governance varies with the life cycle of the portal, based on whether the portal is in the envisioning, implementation, or operations phase. Each phase places into consideration the effectiveness of the portal to overall business goals and the tasks needed to maintain the portal at that time. Furthermore, if the portal has lost business value, then sunsetting the technology is also an appropriate move.
Learn More
Are you looking to develop portal solutions for your organization? Download our guide below and get in touch with us at sales@perficient.com to start a conversation with one of our specialists today.
Today’s organizations must be more connected to their customer than ever. As the buyer’s journey evolves, leaders must also adopt the right technologies to influence positive business outcomes. This post is a part of a series focused on helping enterprises develop the necessary strategies and best practices to better connect with their customers. Check out the other blogs in this series.
