For organisations transacting regularly with large corporate customers, B2B punchout portals have migrated from being a “nice to have”. They have become essential to securing business, maintaining strong customer relationships, and driving growth. And by integrating directly with buyers’ procurement systems (the software platforms they use internally to source products and services), punchout portals enable a far smoother purchasing journey that benefits both buyer and supplier. Yes, they offer convenience but they also offer real opportunities to boost revenue, deliver efficiencies, and help ensure long-term competitiveness.

We’re going to look at how punchout portals work, the revenue opportunities they deliver, and the day-to-day efficiencies that are up for grabs.

What is a Punchout Portal?

A punchout portal is a system that integrates a supplier’s ecommerce catalogue directly into a buyer’s procurement platform, such as Proactis, SAP Ariba, Coupa, etc. Instead of logging into a supplier’s website separately, buyers can “punch out” from their internal procurement system into the supplier’s catalogue.

This punchout integration allows the buyer to:

• View (often in real-time) product information, customer-specific pricing, and stock availability
• Build and configure orders directly within their own procurement environment without logging into another system (making life easier, which is a massive win)
• Transfer the populated basket easily back into their own system for approval workflows and raising a PO

For the supplier, a punchout portal means that their catalogue is embedded neatly into the buyer’s workflow, making ordering from them simple. This gets rid of the friction (and errors) associated with manual procurement processes, email orders, or a static catalogue.

Revenue Generation Through Punchout Portals

1. Access to Large Corporate Buyers

For many large organisations, an e-procurement punchout portal is a necessity and a condition of trading. Without it, suppliers may be excluded from tenders or long-term supply agreements. By offering punchout capability, businesses can position themselves as preferred suppliers and gain access to lucrative corporate accounts.

Many multinational firms often insist that all approved vendors integrate with their chosen e-procurement system. If a supplier can’t offer a punchout solution, they will lose that business to a competitor that can. Conversely, suppliers who do have an effective punchout capability will win new contracts and retain existing ones, maintaining and increasing their revenue streams.

2. Increasing Order Volume and Frequency

As we’ve seen, punchout portals make it markedly easier for buyers to order from a supplier because the punchout catalogue is embedded directly into their system. As with all B2B ecommerce, convenience encourages repeat purchases and reduces the temptation to shop around for alternatives.

Importantly, punchout portals present customer-specific catalogues, tailored pricing, and negotiated discounts. This level of personalisation very much builds a relationship which, in turn, directly incentivises higher order volumes. With fewer barriers in place to ordering from you, buyers are more likely to consolidate spend with a single supplier, leading directly to larger average order values (AOVs) and improved and predictable revenue.

3. Strengthening Long-Term Customer Loyalty

In B2B commerce, long-term contracts and repeat business are the recipe for sustainable growth. Punchout portals make customer loyalty easy by making e-procurement more efficient, transparent, and reliable. And let’s face it, once integrated, switching suppliers becomes less attractive, as doing so would involve reconfiguring procurement systems and retraining staff.

By providing B2B punchout catalogue functionality, suppliers embed themselves deeply into the customer’s operational infrastructure. This ‘stickiness’ protects existing revenue but also creates opportunities for upselling and cross-selling additional products or services.

4. Enabling Global Reach

If you are a business serving multinational clients, punchout portals make it a lot simpler to scale across different regions without the need for messy multiple and disconnected catalogues. And with the centralised integration provided by a punchout system, suppliers are able to serve global buyers consistently, ensuring localised catalogues, pricing, and compliance. This ability to service global accounts through a single infrastructure gives you a real opportunity to access new international revenue opportunities.

Efficiency Gains from eCommerce Punchout Solutions

1. Reducing Manual Processes

Traditional procurement processes involve manual catalogue uploads, paper-based purchase orders, or email-based communication (with all the concomitant issues that brings). These methods are time-consuming, (human) error-prone, and resource-intensive. E-procurement punchout portals take away this pain and cost by automating much of this work by linking directly to the supplier’s ecommerce system.

For suppliers, this means reduced administrative overheads such as rekeying orders, correcting errors, or manually updating catalogue data. For buyers this also helps save time by accessing real-time information without requesting quotes or clarifications. The result is slick procurement that eliminates inefficiencies and reduces costs.

2. Enhancing Data Accuracy

Data errors are a really common issue in procurement. Wrong product codes, out-of-date pricing, or items out of stock contribute to delays, disputes, and general strife. A good punchout portal goes a long way towards data accuracy by updating catalogue data in real-time. Buyers then see the most up-to-date details directly from the supplier’s system, all of which helps reduce errors and increases order accuracy.

This accuracy prevents wasted effort and essentially builds trust between buyer and supplier. A reputation for reliability will always translate into a stronger relationship and, as a result, repeat business will follow in its wake.

3. Streamlining Approval Workflows

For most companies, procurement follows strict approval permission structures. With a punchout portal, you can integrate with these workflows, allowing buyers to build shopping baskets in the supplier’s catalogue and then return them to their procurement system for internal signoff. All of this means compliance with all those internal rules and policies while at the same time aiding fast and efficient purchasing.

For suppliers, this means fewer bottlenecks in the ordering process and quicker conversion of quotes to confirmed sales. Win win.

4. Lowering Transaction Costs

The cost of processing a manual purchase order can be eye-wateringly high when considering labour, communication, and error-handling. Punchout portals can dramatically reduce transaction costs by automating these fiddly, resource-intensive steps. Industry studies by the Hackett Group suggest that automated procurement processes can reduce transaction costs by as much as 70%. For both buyer and supplier, these savings can be pretty significant over time, so more win winning.

5. Supporting Sustainable Procurement

Sustainability rightly continues to be a big consideration for businesses. Punchout portals can really contribute to this environmental consideration here as they are instrumental in reducing the need for paper catalogues, faxed orders, and other outdated practices (which, almost unbelievably, are still in place in a lot of businesses). This digital procurement also makes it much easier to monitor and report on supplier compliance, ethical sourcing, and environmental impact. So, these efficiencies don’t just reduce costs, but they also support corporate social responsibility goals.

Strategic Advantages of a Punchout System for Suppliers

It’s obvious, then, that the combination of revenue growth and efficiency gains gives suppliers a distinct competitive edge. Punchouts let you:

• Differentiate yourself from competitors that still rely on old-school manual processes
• Build real inroads with key accounts by synchronising with buyers’ preferred procurement practices
• Reduce internal costs, which is great in itself but also it helps with the freeing-up of resources to focus on strategic growth
• Future-proof your business against those ever-evolving digital procurement needs that come your way

In industries where margins are particularly tight and competition vicious, these advantages really will make the difference between winning and losing major contracts.

Overcoming Implementation Challenges with Punchout Software

We’ve charted the benefits of punchout portals, and established they are clear and manifold. However, implementation does require careful planning. Challenges may include:

• Technical complexity – Integration with different eProcurement platforms requires experience, specialist knowledge and a robust technology platform
• Change management – Your sales and customer service teams will need to adapt to new ways of working and digital processes.
• Price – Setting up punchout portals will require outlay, especially at first, before realising the significant benefits we’ve discussed

However, these challenges can be very much mitigated by partnering with experienced technology providers (like us) who specialise in punchout integration. You’ll find that the ROI, through increased revenue and reduced costs, very quickly outweighs the initial costs

What is the Future of B2B Punchout eCommerce?

As more businesses adopt modern procurement strategies, the trajectory of punchout portal adoption will only grow in importance. Buyers increasingly expect suppliers to support integration as standard, and those that can’t (or won’t) join the party will struggle to compete.

And beyond traditional punchout portals, punchout API-based integrations and Artificial Intelligence (AI) promise even greater efficiencies. For example, clever features such as predictive procurement (which we’ve provided for clients) enable buyers to automate reorders based on usage data, while number crunching and advanced analytics allow suppliers to identify opportunities for upselling.

If you’re embracing punchout solutions today, then you will be far better positioned to take advantage of innovations in the future, helping you continue to grow and remain relevant in the digital economy.

In a B2B landscape where you can live or die by the sword of digital transformation, punchout portals are a necessity, not a “nice-to-have”. If you invest in this capability today, it will help you secure stronger revenues, ever greater efficiencies, and a sustainable competitive advantage for the future.

The post How Ordering Portals Punchout for Your Business appeared first on PureNet.

Good processes are not just fussiness or excessive administrative overhead. They form the backbone of scalable, maintainable, and user-friendly digital experiences.

Today, we’re looking at the critical role that structured, well-thought-out processes play in delivering successful web development projects, particularly in the area that PureNet focuses on: ecommerce platforms, back-office integration, and customer-facing portals.

The Foundation of Good Web Development

Web development encompasses far more than simply writing code (or “clattering keys” as one C-level executive airily put to me, with the dismissive tone of someone who hadn’t a bloody clue).  It actually requires significant coordination among multidisciplinary teams, a real understanding of user needs, and dextrous alignment with business goals. No effective processes equal projects that encounter delays, scope creep, budget overruns, and ultimately, a failure to deliver.

Good process, and by this I mean particularly those that are standardised, repeatable, and continuously improved, help to significantly mitigate these risks. They let teams work collaboratively, manage complexity, and maintain quality. From initial discovery and requirements gathering to deployment and maintenance, clearly defined processes ensure that every stage of development is transparent, measurable, and aligned with what the client wants and needs.

Ecommerce: High Stakes, High Complexity

Nowhere are these principles more crucial than in ecommerce, where pitfalls litter the ground. Digital storefronts must deliver seamless user experiences (UX), handle secure transactions, scale efficiently, and integrate with a variety of third-party systems such as payment gateways, ERPs, CRM platforms, and analytics tools.

If you don’t have robust development processes, the intricate ecosystem that is an ecommerce platform just becomes unmanageable. For example, client requirements must be effectively gathered and validated to ensure all stakeholder needs are captured. If you don’t do this it will come back to haunt you with a vengeance. Inadequate discovery will result in missing functionality—such as abandoned cart recovery or multi-currency support—that are costly to retrofit. A process-oriented approach that includes workshops, stakeholder interviews and user journey mapping helps ensure that the developers (or key clatterers- only joking) build a product that meets (or exceeds) expectations.

Agile methodologies, when done properly, offer the flexibility to adapt to changing requirements while maintaining control over deliverables. Iterative development with regular feedback loops, such as sprint reviews and user testing, allows for continuous refinement. This is super helpful in ecommerce, where market conditions and customer behaviours evolve rapidly.

Integration: The Glue that Holds Systems Together

Modern web applications rarely operate in isolation. Integration with other systems, whether back-office systems, cloud services, or third-party API, is essential for delivering a joined-up and efficient UK. This is vital in ecommerce, where systems such as stock management, payment processing, fulfilment, and customer support must work in harmony.

Here, good processes really are indispensable. Integration projects are notoriously susceptible to failure if not properly planned and governed. Key risks include mismatched data structures, unreliable third-party services, poor documentation (a biggie), and security vulnerabilities. A structured process helps to identify these risks early and plan mitigation strategies.

Furthermore, integration Quality Assurance (QA)/user acceptance testing (UAT) should be automated where possible and conducted continuously as part of a DevOps pipeline. This ensures that any changes, be they internal or external, don’t break critical workflows. By putting these elements into a clearly defined development process, teams can ensure system interoperability, data integrity, and long-term maintainability.

Portals: Personalisation, Access Control, and User Experience

Portals serve as centralised platforms that offer users access to personalised content, services, and data. These may be customer portals, employee dashboards, supplier hubs, or partner interfaces. In each case, the challenge lies in presenting complex information in a user-friendly way while maintaining secure access and system performance.

The development of portals requires meticulous planning and rigorous adherence to process. Key process steps include elements such as user segmentation, access control modelling, interface design, content management planning, and performance optimisation. For example, permission structures must be carefully designed and tested to ensure that users see only what they are authorised to view. A poor implementation could lead to data breaches or service disruption.

Like ecommerce platforms, portals often integrate with multiple back-end systems, such as HR databases, CRMs, billing platforms, etc., which means that data synchronisation, latency, and error recovery must be addressed early in the process. Without a good process to guide these efforts, teams risk poor UX, data silos, or redundant functionality.

Design thinking, combined with agile development and user feedback loops, offers a powerful process framework for portal development. Regular usability testing and accessibility audits help ensure that the portal serves all user groups effectively. Clear documentation and onboarding processes further enhance user satisfaction and reduce support costs.

Monitoring and observability are also vital. Processes must be in place to log system events, track performance metrics, and alert teams to anomalies. In ecommerce, where even minor downtime can result in significant revenue loss, proactive monitoring is a must. Good processes define how alerts are triaged, escalated, and resolved, ensuring that teams can respond effectively to incidents.

Documentation, Governance, and Compliance

In regulated industries or sectors dealing with sensitive data e.g. healthcare, finance, or education, compliance requirements add another layer of complexity. Data protection regulations such as the UK’s Data Protection Act and the EU’s GDPR require that systems handle personal information in specific ways.

Good development processes ensure that compliance is not an afterthought but an integral part of the project lifecycle. This includes documenting data flows, establishing data retention policies, encrypting sensitive data, and securing access to systems. Auditable trails and version-controlled documentation allow organisations to demonstrate compliance and respond effectively to regulatory inquiries.

Moreover, governance processes provide oversight across projects, helping to standardise best practices, enforce coding standards, and ensure alignment with enterprise architecture. This leads to better maintainability, improved scalability, and reduced technical debt.

Tools to the Job Right

Tools such as Jira and Service Desk (as used by us) are integral to efficient web development and support, streamlining task management and issue resolution. Our Jira system enables agile development by organising sprints, tracking bugs, and assigning tasks to team members with full visibility. This ensures accountability and progress monitoring.

Service Desk, on the other hand, provides a structured approach for handling user requests, incidents, and service queries. It integrates seamlessly with Jira, allowing support tickets to be escalated directly into development workflows. This connection fosters quicker response times, improved communication between support and development teams, and a clear audit trail. Together, they support continuous improvement, ensuring websites remain robust, secure, and responsive to user needs through effective collaboration, prioritisation, and resolution of technical issues.

Gone, then, are the days of laid-back coding teams approaching web development in a casual way, with each build treated as one off web build. Processes are essential to make complex web platforms work properly. We do it not because we’re fussy. We do it because it works. Get in touch to find out how we can help with your latest project.

The post Don’t Leave it to Chance- Why Good Process Makes for Good Web Development appeared first on PureNet.

Making efficiency and simplicity your top consideration

As a B2B supplier, your sales process is one of the most vital aspects of your business. Gone are the days of endless phone calls, faxes, mountains of paperwork to keep track of every order. These days, the key to building successful relationships is to deliver a positive experience with your customers. Making your operations more efficient and straightforward is a perfect way to do this. A streamlined way for your customers to buy from you not only provides a generally positive experience, but it instils trust and loyalty in your brand from the businesses who buy from you. This in turn has a dramatic effect on long-term B2B relationships, which as you’re already aware, is a powerful ingredient when it comes to B2B success…

Improving efficiency with punch-out portals and integration

Chances are, you might have heard of punch-out portals and catalogues already. But if you haven’t, here’s a quick rundown to get you up to speed before we start telling you how they can have a significant impact on your B2B sales processes:

What is a punch-out portal/catalogue?

A punch-out system (or punch-out catalogue/website/portal) is an efficient, effective and engaging way for buyers to access a supplier’s inventory and web services through their own procurement application.

It essentially works in the same way as an ecommerce website, but it has the unique ability to communicate with procurement systems (such as Coupa, Proactis, and Parabalis) and ERP systems such as SAP, Sage and Microsoft Dynamics, and many more including bespoke solutions.

These procurement systems are a vital aspect of countless businesses, and a Punch-Out website can work seamlessly within these systems to significantly streamline the entire buying process.

Punch-out systems essentially enable your customers to make full use of your ecommerce offering from within their own procurement systems, providing a dramatic improvement to operational flow on both sides of the buying process. The connectivity of the system is where the magic happens – due to the integrated nature of a punch-out system/website/catalogue, buyers can utilise their procurement software features whilst making purchases, and you as the supplier are able to integrate and automate all of your necessary ecommerce features such as pricing, stock availability, product specifications and content (including visual assets such as photographs and videos), and much more.

How a punch-out portal can benefit your business

Punch-out systems boast a wealth of advantageous features that can transform the way you supply your customers with the products they need and want. We’ve already spoken about their ability to streamline processes, but that’s a very basic explanation of the benefits, and probably a bit of an understatement…

· Your punch-out system integrates with the in-house systems of your business customers

Imagine your punch-out portal as an extension or alternate version of your ecommerce website, only it can communicate directly with your customers’ procurement systems. This communication works with all popular procurement solutions, including Coupa, Proactis, Parabilis and more. It also has the capability to communicate with back-office ERP systems such as SAP, Sage, and Microsoft Dynamics. They can even work seamlessly with bespoke procurement systems, making them extremely adaptable to the many different systems your customers may use.

· You can display your website/sales portal directly to your customers with ease

With the integration we discussed above, your solution can display each and every important detail of your business and your products directly within the systems your customers are using. This includes all on-page content such as sales copy and any visuals, as well as specifications, order details, and so much more. Everything your customers need to make a purchase decision is right there, all easily accessible within their own systems.

· You have full control over pricing, with the ability to display account-specific pricing without manual interference

Pricing can often be a complex characteristic of any buying process. You may have different customers with different accounts depending on their status with you. A punch-out portal can be setup to display the correct pricing to each of your customers, entirely independently, all without the need to make manual changes or adjustments, and it’s all done in real time.

· You give your customers a seamless one-click shopping experience

One-click shopping experiences are no longer restricted to the B2C sector. B2B customers in every industry are rapidly growing to expect these seamless, intuitive shopping experiences in all aspects of their purchasing process. A punch-out portal allows you to give them exactly what they want. Customers can order quickly and easily, and you can process orders with dramatically improved efficiency on your side.

· You can personalise the shopping experience of your customers for maximum relevancy and sales potential

Personalisation is paramount to delivering powerful, relevant, and positive shopping experiences. Punch-out portals allow you to make personalised recommendations to customers through your marketing collateral, tailored up-sells/cross-sells, distinctive branding, and so much more.

· You can show up-to-date stock levels in real time to prevent unnecessary and lengthy communication chains

Nobody likes the lengthy communication processes of trying to determine whether stock is available to order, particularly in a B2B setting. A punch-out portal can accurately display the stock levels of your products without having to rely on manual in-person checks and a handful of phone calls or emails. Everything is easy to view and process with minimal human interference.

· You can take advantage of dramatic cost savings, and pass those savings onto your customers too

Essentially, a punch-out portal enables you as a business to sell significantly more stock. The streamline purchasing process means customers are more likely to order more frequently, whilst the increased efficiency of being able to browse a catalogue or personalised content and products within their own systems makes up-selling and promotional activity much more effective and engaging.

How PureNet can help to create the perfect punch-out solution for you…

We’re proud to have worked with some of the biggest brands across the country for the past 11 years to design, build, and launch effective punch-out systems that have transformed the way these organisations operate. A wide variety of our B2B clients, including Tata Steel, Mitie, Amcor, E.ON, Park Dean, and many others, have all discovered the power and flexibility that a punch-out system can provide for their business.

We’ve worked with these brands to create the ideal system for their needs, providing in-depth consultancy to ensure that the punch-out portal is built around their precise specifications and requirements. Following on from the consultancy, we developed and integrated the solution to work flawlessly with their back-office system. The design and development phase places even more emphasis on meeting the needs of the businesses we work with, and we always make sure that we prioritise quality and functionality of every aspect of the solutions we build.

If you’d like to discover how a punch-out system can transform your business, get in touch with us today.

The post Punch-Out Portal Solutions – What Are They, And How Can They Benefit You? appeared first on PureNet.

E-commerce and B2B sales are no exception. Customers and clients have come to expect a strong sense of efficiency and effective communication from the sites and brands they engage with. They want the ability to securely access all their information from a business such as invoices, previous transactions and personalised discounts, all in one place and at any time.

But how does an ecommerce or B2B company go about meeting these needs?

Bespoke Portals

From our downloadable whitepaper on portals, a portal can be defined as “a doorway or entrance” and “a way of accessing a web system that will allow you, as a user, to perform a task”.

Indiana University similarly describe web portals in the following way –

“Web portals provide a single point of access to a variety of content and core services, and ideally offer a single sign-on point”.

Having the ability to provide a dedicated way in which to service the needs of customers and clients, from an intuitive and personal platform, is a sure-fire way to increase the efficiency of any online business model. In the B2B world, that enhancement can offer a complete transformation of said efficiency.

How Can a B2B Portal be Personalised for Your Customers?

With a bespoke ordering portal, businesses with a focus surrounding B2B services are able to provide customers with a powerful, personal solution that meets their needs. A personalised customer experience is crucial for keeping up with competitors and providing customers with a relevant shopping experience.

With a sign-in-based service, accounts must be created. This means two major things in the realm of personalisation:

• You’re able to approve who can view and access your products
• You can set different rules, access levels and more for different accounts and customers

These are the starting points when it comes to tailoring your customers’ experience with your business. Let’s take a look at a few of the ways in which deeper personalisation can be offered for a streamlined process through a B2B ordering portal…

Payments and Transactions

B2B ordering portals are often associated with invoice-based transactions that revolve around providing different customers with different levels of credit. These credit levels are simple to configure within a portal-based system, making the handling of invoice-based purchasing much more intuitive to manage from both the perspective of both the customer and the company.

This also ties in with the ability to control any potential discounts that can be associated with different accounts. By setting certain rules (similar to those that you’re able to set for credit levels), you can allow for different per-product pricing and discounts that you can attribute to certain customer accounts. This eliminates the sometimes-lengthy process of calculating discounts and pricing using traditional methods (which can also lead to confusion on both sides when something doesn’t quite seem to add up).

Product Accessibility

We mentioned earlier that a portal enables you to control who can actually view and purchase your products. A B2B portal doesn’t just stop those access levels at the doorway though.

Your business may provide certain products that you may only want to provide to a specific portion of your customers. A portal allows you to set rules that can restrict access to certain products or categories to certain customers, meaning you can control who is able to buy (or not buy!) specific products and services. This prevents any unauthorised transactions and can be integrated with pricing rules for complete product and transaction personalisation.

Aside from the personalisation which that can help to make the sales process less complex for everyone involved, portals also provide customers with the ability to complete additional tasks that would otherwise require more resources from your business.

How Else Can a Portal Streamline the B2B Sales Process?

As we mentioned earlier, web portals allow your customers to perform tasks through an easily-accessible online service. This is one of the most effective streamlining attributes with portals – instant access 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This accessibility provides two valuable benefits.

Firstly, your customers are able to access what they need, when they need it.

They no longer have to rely on traditional opening times for customer service numbers and support lines. Instead, they’re able to interact and engage with your business from anywhere at any time. As we mentioned in our post about the benefits of portals, this platform provides instant online gratification which can significantly improve the customer experience from the get-go.

Secondly, this ability for customers and clients to access services and solve problems independently through a portal means your business can concentrate its resources elsewhere.

The Auxillis case study in our portal white paper found that following the integration of a bespoke client portal solution, inbound phone calls were reduced by a considerable amount, 78% to be precise. This also reduced the number of legal cases surrounding the Auxillis claims process by a whopping 40%. This, in turn, enabled the business to focus its attention and resources towards outbound and business development calls, enhancing their ability to grow and succeed in their goals.

When it comes to direct communication with your customers and clients, a portal also provides a solid platform for engagement.

Utilising the tools available through a bespoke portal enables you to provide messaging services as well as live chat solutions. These can be configured to be accessible 24 hours a day (and even automated through mechanisms such as chatbots), meaning people can communicate with your business with ease. You can also set up in-portal alerts, automated e-mails, text messages and more. Aside from the more direct communication through the implementation of a portal, you’re also able to keep customers informed on the status of orders, deliveries and other subjects with ease. These communicative abilities can dramatically improve the trust that your customers have in you, as well as improving the aforementioned resource allocation on your part.

Portals Offer Astounding Streamlining Capabilities

Our bespoke portal solutions give you a diverse array of abilities and control, and we work meticulously to ensure that your portal fits your exact needs. We work with you to create the ideal solution in order to serve your clients and customers in an effective manner. A portal is an excellent way to lower your costs, meet (and exceed) the expectations of your current and target demographics and much more.

As an example of how our ordering portal solutions helped to serve another of our clients, Stateside Skates managed to achieve a business-wide uplift of 12% in orders as well as an increased average order value of 16%. The portal also allowed them to outreach to 55 countries around the world. The growth and streamlining potential of implementing a bespoke portal for B2B organisations is exceptional.

If you think a portal may be the solution to growing your business, get in touch with us today. We’re always on hand to answer any questions and discuss your needs.

The post Portals & Personalisation – Using Ordering Portals to Streamline B2B Sales Processes appeared first on PureNet.

So it’s a case of win-win. Right? But that’s all very well coming from a portal provider like PureNet. What I’m guessing you’d like to see is see some meat on the bone and practical illustrations as to why this is the case. Ok, let’s take a look.

One: Lower your costs

Your people make your business. They’re what makes it tick and they’re the ones who make the money. But they’re an expensive resource. You want them to be doing positive things to generate revenues, not wasting their time on tasks that can be automated or completed by customers. PureNet client Auxillis managed to reduce support calls by 78% through a successful implementation of a self-service portal.

Two: Target new demographics

Millennials are an increasingly large part of the demographics of this country. Globally, millennials have outnumbered baby boomers for more than a quarter of a century and their spending power is set to overtake generation X by 2020 and will continue to rise (Financial Times). They also use a range of devices. According to a Microsoft white paper (State of Global Customer Service Report) 79% of millennial respondents have a more favourable view of brands that offer a mobile-responsive customer support portal.

Millennials want a different way of engaging with your business. They want to engage with technology. Not the phone. They want to interact using technology and provide feedback without dialling a number. By giving them the tools you’ll reap valuable rewards with this important grouping.

Three: Meet your clients’ expectations

According to Microsoft in their white paper (see above) more than 50% of customers have said they have stopped doing business with a company because of poor customer service. By not offering a customer self-service option contributes to this troubling statistic.

Now, no one is advocating throwing the baby out with the bath water. A customer portal, such as PureNet customer Haven Power‘s Customer Portal should rather be part of a wider customer service strategy that offers a seamless omnichannel experience. You need to give your customers options. Self-service portals inform and empower customers by giving them with the toolkits and data they need to resolve many common issues themselves. As a result, you’ll find your customers will be better equipped to use your products and services to their fullest potential and they will enjoy a better experience overall.

Four: 24 x 7 x 365 access

When you offer your customers access to your customer portal you’re not only giving them a better experience. You’re opening your office hours 24 x 7 all year round without the extra cost. Being able to interact with your business is hugely liberating. They can make things happen and get answer to their questions without having to wait- a massive benefit in these days of instant online gratification. Plus, your business is working for you while you and your staff have clocked off for the day and are watching TV, eating dinner or getting some well-earned sleep

Five: You keep hold of your clients

Everyone knows it’s easier to retain customers than to acquire them. Giving customers the power to solve problems on their won is crucial to keeping them. In fact, according to a report by Aspect Software, 73% of customers want to solve product or service issues on their own. According to the same report People actually hate speaking to customer service reps so much so that 91% of customers prefer to use the internet to find a solution themselves meaning this is a key ingredient in holding on to your loyal customers.

Six: Customer communication

When it comes to engaging with your clients it’s safe to say communication is king. This is easier said than done so it’s always worth exploring better ways to interact with your client base. A customer portal is an ideal mechanism to get in touch with your customer base. You can provide messaging, alerts and use automated emails, text massages, in-portal alerts, and even live chat systems sot pass on communication to your clients so that they are talking to your business, if not your staff, 24 hours a day.

The post Six Crucial Benefits of a Customer Portal appeared first on PureNet.

Founded in 1883 Widdop Bingham (https://www.widdop.co.uk) is the UK’s leading distributer of giftware exporting high quality gifts internationally based in the United Kingdom. Their product range includes clocks, candles, figurines, sentiment gifts and home accessories and has over 8000 products in its range, including brands such as Disney. Widdop Bingham has 12 regional representatives operating across the UK and Ireland and export worldwide to over 75 countries.

Selling online to its network of resellers has become an ever more crucial part of Widdop Bingham’s go to market strategy. In order to provide a modern, slick and powerful web experience Widdop Bingham realised they would be able to boost sales and provide a first class user experience.

The Challenge

Integration with Widdop Bingham’s bespoke back end system was essential. It contained the complex pricing structures for all their worldwide clients right down to individual products. Equally, the system, also supports a native iOS and Android application which allows Widdop Bingham sales representatives to sit with customers and put together orders

Equally, the system accommodated an extremely powerful shared baskets functionality. This gave Widdop Bingham clients the ability to order across multiple branches into one shared basket. This would need multiple delivery addresses, hence splitting the order.

Widdop Bingham also wanted to cross sell and upsell to customers who perhaps were not necessarily aware of the full depth and breadth of the brands and product ranges available to them. Given this varied assortment of products personalising and highlighting trending products was of paramount importance.

The Project

PureNet provided a rich B2B website which reflected all the complexities of functionality available in Widdop Bingham’s own back office system. The solution is seamlessly integrated and allows a joined up experience for clients whether they were purchasing via the website, through a rep via a native application or over the phone. It incorporated a catalogue mode and even allows Widdop Bingham staff to login as the client in order to purchase on their behalf through an ‘Impersonation Mode’. The system provides the ability to back and forward ordering.

Additionally, the system incorporated PureClarity, a third party AI based personalisation engine which allows segmentation and product recommendations  based on the clients’ actions on the site, such as the goods they have purchased, viewed, searched for and other behavioural activity.

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