Other CIOs who have deployed portals also report that the technology helps them to manage applications and data centrally. The IS department, in turn, becomes an in-house application service provider.

Neenah, Wis.-based Menasha provides custom portals for 250 customers of its five operating companies?a total of 3,000 end users representing $70 million in sales in 2001. Customers are able to place orders and view order status, inventory and logistics information from Menasha’s SAP system, as well as share online design collaboration tools.

Though the data presented through the portal is different for every customer of every business unit, all the customers use the core applications to access what they need. Menasha Vice President and CIO Edward Wojciechowski says that by delivering shared applications through the portals, he can deploy them quickly as they’re needed. For example, Wojciechowski’s team was able to take an order-tracking application written originally for Menasha’s customers and reuse it for the company’s internal sales force. "We have a framework [that gives us] the opportunity to deploy the content [users] want," he adds.

The Maids Home Services International is another company that uses its portal as a customer connection center. At the Omaha, Neb.-based housecleaning services company, a portal has been essential for distributing corporate documents to its 140 franchises.

Though franchise owners are required to have computers and Internet connectivity, many weren’t very tech savvy when Director of IT Tony Vola deployed the portal two years ago. The attitude of many franchise owners, relates Vola, was "technology?who needs that stuff?" He chose a portal in part because it would be easy to use.

Distributing documents through the portal ensures the information franchise owners have?from operations manuals to memos about new cleaning procedures?is up-to-date and accessible to everyone. The home office saves money because it no longer has to mail reams of paper documents. John Gibbs, a franchise owner in Austin, Texas, who was part of a group that pushed for the portal, says he finds the site useful for obtaining marketing and advertising materials that he can easily tailor for his business. (Gibbs sends customers a quarterly newsletter.)

But Gibbs, a retired Air Force colonel, says he gets the most value from the portal’s online forums, where he can discuss business problems with other franchise owners. Gibbs and some colleagues used to run an e-mail discussion group to exchange advice, such as tips on how to repair damaged marble. The mailings became difficult to manage, so Gibbs and his colleagues pressed headquarters to provide chat rooms. As a result, corporate provides the administration, such as updating e-mail addresses and cataloging discussion threads. "That’s what we wanted them to do, take care of the administrative stuff and let us talk," says Gibbs, who recently turned to the online forum to ask colleagues to review new features on his franchise website.