The Chambers Concise Dictionary actually defines a portal as 'a gate or doorway'. This is an excelle...
The Chambers Concise Dictionary actually defines a portal as 'a gate or doorway'. This is an excellent description as a portal is essentially an electronic gateway to a range of advanced services, usually based on the internet.
Portals are websites that you access via a browser on your PC.
The main difference between a traditional website and a portal is that through a portal you can connect to product providers and access other related services through structured, and usually seamless, links.
Portals, therefore, allow you to access a range of services from one place that would be difficult and inefficient to access individually.
Each portal has its own core services, such as quotations, new business and policy servicing, allowing you to connect to many product providers to obtain the client-specific information you need. In addition to this data, portals incorporate other product, industry and provider information from a variety of sources, meaning you do not need to log onto multiple websites, reference individual sources or keep supplies of surveys or literature in your office.
In our industry, the most established and heavily used portal is the 'exchange' service, with AssureWeb, IFAonline, m-link and a variety of other smaller service providers also providing niche portals.
