What is a customer portal?

Much of what customers ask a business is about their own account: where's my order, can I have a copy of that invoice, what did we pay last time, has my claim moved on. A customer portal puts those answers in front of them, any time, drawn live from the systems that hold them. When the customers are trade buyers ordering online, it's often called a trade portal or B2B portal, and it overlaps with B2B ecommerce.

An example. A manufacturer's distributors log in to a portal. Each sees their own prices and stock, reorders from past orders, tracks deliveries, downloads invoices and product certificates, and raises a returns request. Behind the scenes the portal reads and writes to the manufacturer's ERP and CRM, so nobody rekeys anything.

What a portal can include

• Orders and reorders, with each customer's own prices and catalogue.
• Account information: invoices, statements, credit limits and order history.
• Documents: certificates, manuals, contracts and reports.
• Cases and requests: returns, claims, service requests and their progress.
• Users and permissions: who in the customer's company can see, order or approve what.

Why businesses build them

Customers get answers straight away, on their own schedule. Your team spends less time on routine questions and more on the conversations that need a person. And because every request is captured online, the data is cleaner and easier to act on.

What makes one work

A portal is only as good as the information behind it, so the joins to your ERP, CRM and other systems come first. Secure sign-in, ideally with multi-factor authentication, and clear permissions protect each customer's data. Many businesses start with the few things customers ask about most, then add more. An AI assistant that answers from the customer's own account can then be added on top.