Build it or start from a platform?
Your developers can build a portal on your ERP API. The question is whether that is the best use of them. Here is how the two paths compare.
How they compare.
| Topic | Build in-house | Portal by Webisoft |
|---|---|---|
| Time to go live | Depends on your team and backlog. | 5 days for the standard modules. |
| What you build | Everything: login, roles, catalog, orders, invoices, payments, returns, hosting. | Only what is unique to you; the standard modules are ready. |
| ERP integration | Your team learns and maintains the ERP API, including its upgrades. | Maintained connectors for each supported ERP. |
| Hosting and uptime | Yours to run, monitor and secure. | 99.99% uptime. |
| Ongoing upkeep | Your developers, for as long as it runs. | Included with the platform. |
| Control | Total. | High: modules are configured to your rules, and custom modules are scoped with you. |
| Internal tools | A separate project. | Same platform, same data model. |
| Try it before a call | Varies. | A live demo you can click through now, no form. |
Choosing between them.
When does building in-house make sense?
When the portal is your product or a core part of how you compete, you have a team with time for it, and you plan to own it for years.
Can our developers still extend it?
Custom modules beyond the standard set are scoped with you, and your ERP stays the system of record, so your team keeps full access to the data.
What does building really involve?
Beyond the screens: user management, permissions per customer, payments, ERP API changes across upgrades, hosting, monitoring and security reviews. That upkeep is where most of the effort goes over time.
Weighing other options?
- Webstore or app platform?Selling online to new buyers, or serving the customers you already have?
- Portal or ERP logins?Hand out ERP seats, or give customers a portal built for them?
- Built-in portal or Portal by Webisoft?Your ERP ships a portal. When is it enough, and when is it not?
- EDI or a customer portal?EDI for your big trading partners, a portal for everyone else?
- Email and phone, or a portal?Keep keying in emailed orders, or let customers order themselves?
See what you would not have to build
Click through the standard modules in the live demo, then decide what is worth building.