Custom Portals: Efficiently Connect People, Data, and Processes

What is a custom portal

A portal is a comprehensive system that connects data from various sources in one place, offers a personalized interface, and serves as a practical online self-service for users. Depending on their purpose, we divide portals into several groups:

• Customer portal (B2C) – clients can track their orders, communicate with customer support, and access invoices or documents through it.
• Intranet – an internal portal for employees that centralizes information, corporate communication, documents, and approval processes.
• Partner portal (B2B) – serves dealers, distributors, or external partners and allows sharing of business information, materials, as well as requests, offers, and orders.

Unlike off-the-shelf solutions, a custom portal is designed specifically according to the needs of the company. It can easily connect to existing systems (such as ERP, CRM, DMS, BI) and grows alongside your business. The result is a platform that adapts to the corporate strategy – not the other way around. 

When is it worth investing in a portal

There are several ready-made portal solutions on the market that can serve well from the start. However, in practice, you often encounter limitations: insufficient flexibility, complicated modifications, high licensing fees, or limited integration options.

Custom portal development makes sense when:

• you need a portal tightly integrated with your internal systems,
• you have specific processes that standard solutions do not support,
• you want to have full control over data, access, and security,
• you are looking for a solution that can be developed long-term according to the company's strategy.

Example: Companies that save time with the portal

The portal – customer, partner, or internal – is used by dozens of companies. We have prepared tailored solutions for each of them, making work easier and saving hundreds of hours.

Our clients include:

• Konica Minolta – we provide comprehensive solutions for the regions of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. We have completed over 65 successful B2B and B2C implementations – from portals to websites and e-shops. This includes integration with third-party systems, such as SAP or Navision.
• TASY – we are responsible for digital solutions for the Czech, German, and Austrian markets. We created a B2B portal with an e-shop and a recycling portal, as well as a brand presentation website and a B2C e-shop (for CZ and DE/AT).
• BEDNAR FMT – we prepared custom solutions on various platforms. The client has a clear B2B spare parts portal with an e-shop, a customer portal, and an agricultural machinery configurator.

We have also integrated ERP systems for clients such as ZFP Group, AGROTEC Group, JIC, Wave Logistic, MediaPrint, Carollinum, DF Partner, and Shanti. If you are interested in our other projects, you can read about them in detail in the References section. 

What technologies and platforms do we use

At PUX, we focus on developing portals using .net core and C#. We work with both open-source and commercial platforms. We are not reliant on a single solution and can always recommend a suitable option based on the project's characteristics:

1. Orchard Core

Open-source platform (free) for portal solutions.

2. Smartstore

Open-source platform (free) for e-commerce projects – B2B and B2C.

3. Xperience by Kentico

Commercial platform (license from 26,100 CZK / month) for portals, online stores, and presentations.

This is a so-called DXP platform – Digital Experience Platform – which includes advanced online marketing modules, among others, for automation and personalization.

Step by step – how we will collaborate with you

We are developing the portal according to the P3.express methodology – a hybrid approach that combines traditional project management with agile sprints. This gives us a clear structure while also providing enough flexibility for changes during development.

1. At the beginning, we will together establish the team composition, roles, and responsibilities on both sides. This will create one integrated team that pulls in the same direction and has clearly defined competencies.
2. We will define the main project goals – these will serve as a measure of success throughout the implementation. This way, we know exactly what we want to achieve and how we will evaluate the results.
3. Through workshops and analyses, we will collaboratively finalize the brief for the first phase of the project. We will break it down into specific tasks, estimate their effort, and plan them into sprints within the team.
4. Each sprint has a clear output – it can be an analysis, design proposal, or functional part of the code. At the end of each sprint, we will jointly present, verify, and evaluate whether the output meets the brief and the overall project goals.
5. During the sprints, we will record new requirements, identify risks, and define the brief for the following phases. This ensures that the project is constantly under control and can adapt to new needs.
6. At the end of the project, comprehensive testing, optimization, and preparation for launch take place. We will jointly confirm that the portal meets expectations and carry out its final acceptance.
7. After launch, we do not close the project. We hand it over to long-term support and development (SLA), so it can continue to grow and provide value in the future. Our goal is to become your long-term partner, not just a supplier.

We take care of you – 24/7 IT support

After the project launch, clients can rely on long-term service and development of the completed solution. Additionally, our customer support is always on standby – we operate in a classic 8/5 mode, but if needed, we can have your back continuously with a response time of up to 1 hour.

Additional extensions? We handle e-shops, configurators, and AI

Are you looking for a more comprehensive solution? We can expand the custom portal with additional features. For example, a e-commerce module for B2B or B2C sales or a custom product configurator. We also take care of localization and translation automation using AI, utilizing our own AI tool Balzaq.