The benefits of a customer portal integrated with Oracle ERP includes providing a flagship interface for each customer that delivers a great user experience. Portals just make it easier for customers to do everything that they need to do on a B2B website. These tasks might include researching products, placing orders, accessing custom price lists, paying invoices, checking out video demonstrations or getting approvals from multiple decision-makers in purchase order buying committees. The Extraordinary Value of Just One Buyer Each B2B buyer is more important than the typical retail customer because there are usually fewer customers in business-to-business sales, but they spend more money. Research shows that losing an average sale won't cost a few hundred dollars, but tens of thousands of dollars if not millions. [1] Companies might engage with potential customers through many contact points, industry websites and customer call centers. These contacts with customers generate a wealth of valuable of data that require some form of machine intelligence and software integration to categorize and use effectively. That's why customer portals are so valuable. It's not just customer portals that integration can create. Companies can also create stakeholder portals, vendor portals and even highly structured e-health portals for medical practices. The portals make it easier for B2B companies to profile their customers, record their online and business behaviors, meet buyer needs and provide a certain degree of bragging rights. Oracle E-Business Suite and Other Extensions Most B2B buyers do the majority of their research before they ever contact a company, and 82 percent of buyers use advanced internet resources in their research. [2] Customers know what kind of features any B2B supplier might offer them and whether the platforms have customer portals to streamline ordering and research. Modular SaaS technology can save B2B companies a lot of money while providing the kind of world-class service that customers expect. The benefit of Oracle's E-Business Suite of applications is that customers can buy what they need and connect easily in the cloud. If the company's integration build is robust and responsive, it's easy to integrate new technology at any time while getting the benefits of a full, systemwide integration. Understanding the Benefits of a Customer Portal integration with Oracle ERP The benefits of integration include automation, streamlined processes and the empowerment of customers, staff and vendors. You can improve customer service with Oracle customer portal technology advances. Machine learning capabilities enable B2B companies to provide expert portal services to their customers with these benefits: Making Clients Feel Special A simple and effective tool that's worked for centuries in all areas of business is making clients feel special and appreciated. A customer portal demonstrates undeniably that a company appreciates a customer's business. Personalizing Content Each portal can personalize content for customers based on their buying preferences or place in the decision-making tree. Customers can find the things that are most important to them instantly, which improves the customer experience. Providing Access to All Critical Information 24/7 Portals work even when there's no connection to your ERP (at least when integrated with Clarity Connect), so buyers can always do their jobs 24/7. Each portal records and stores all important account information such as shipping addresses, past invoices, saved searches, specialty catalogs, shipping preferences, etc. and syncs with the ERP when it’s back online. Remembering and Simplifying Portals remember all valid price quotes and apply them automatically at checkout time when the order meets the quote's criteria. Applicable pricing tiers, discounts, incentives, and store credit are also applied during the ordering process. Taxes, duties, shipping charges, and currency conversions are calculated and applied. Empowering Mobile Customer Service Oracle's suite of e-business applications includes the Field Service Mobile App that can speed service calls on equipment and big-ticket item repairs. Customers can use the app on their portals to schedule service, maintenance, etc. Managing Third-party Connections Customized portals simplify the process of connecting to third-party shipping carriers, support services, product research resources, and business intelligence applications. Customers have a curated directory of everything they need to do business quickly and efficiently. Portal Logic Customer portals suffer one glaring limitation--they're only as useful as their software and connections allow them to be. That's why it's important to build a full portal integration instead of settling for a point-to-point system that can't connect to every existing software and business system. Most B2B companies have grown their technology over many years, which means lots of disparate systems and proprietary technology. Full ERP portal integration doesn't mean that decision-makers can't add features later as the business grows. Oracle offers so many modules and SaaS applications that you always have options for expansion and growth. The important thing, however, is to build a robust system at the beginning that integrates all current software and business applications and makes it easy to add new technology later. Bringing Your Portal System Online Clarity has built hundreds of custom portal systems for B2B companies and medical practices, which require stronger security than other websites, along with custom integrations, such as with Oracle’s E-Business Suite. Clarity uses its own proprietary connectors, widgets, and coding shortcuts to reduce costs and simplify your customer portal project. Clarity also takes advantage of Oracle prebuilt connectors and applications to build the best portal possible for your customers' needs. You can improve customer service with Oracle customer portal technology and take your business to the next level of efficiency. Clarity works extremely well with Oracle systems to build robust ERP portals that will impress your customers and strengthen their loyalty. References: [1] Teamsupport.com: The Difference Between B2B Customer Support and B2C https://www.teamsupport.com/blog/how-is-b2b-customer-support-different-from-b2c [2] Fronetics.com: 10 Stats You Should Know about the B2B Buyer’s Journey https://www.fronetics.com/10-stats-know-b2b-buyers-journey/