Portal - A solution rather than a product

During the course of this year, I've spent a lot of time elaborating the
value of portals to businesses; small, medium and large.

The more I do this, the better it gets - the more clearly I'm able to
focus on the deliverables - return on investment, time to value, user
experience etc. - rather than on the technology which is, when all's
said and done, getting better and better by the day.

There are a number of enablers that make this easy - they allow us to
focus on the "What" as well as the "How" - these enablers include other
software such as WebSphere HATS ( taking green-screen applications to
the web ), WebSphere Portlet Factory ( rapid application development ),
WebSphere Dashboard Framework ( showing line-of-business what can be
done ) and Workplace Forms ( automating business processes, and getting
it right first time ).

IBM has also produced an excellent set of resources, known as
Accelerators, as per this demo: -

*IBM Demo: Accelerators for WebSphere Portal: Recorded Demo*

http://demos.dfw.ibm.com/on_demand/Demo/IBM_Demo_Accelerators_for_WebSphere_Portal-Apr07.html?S=XL

I first got into WebSphere Portal in 2002/3, when we were very dependent
on Java development skils ( remember WebSphere Studio Application
Developer ), which customers often saw as an inhibitor - especially if
their background was RPG, .NET, Notes/Domino etc.

The world has changed - the products have improved, the customers are
more portal-savvy, and the market is more mature.

In short, the future begins .... now

8-)