B2B customer portal

A B2B customer portal is an authenticated web space where the employees of a business customer view and manage what belongs to their account (contracts, orders, invoices, technical documents and support requests). It brings into one view information that stays stored in the ERP, the CRM or the support tool.

Definition and how it works

Unlike a consumer-facing web portal, the user is never alone. One customer company has a buyer, an approver, an accountant, sometimes several subsidiaries. The portal has to know the account hierarchy and each person’s role.

The benefits and stakes of such a project are covered in our article The B2B customer portal: modernize your business relations.

B2B customer portal vs B2B e-commerce site: the differences

A B2B e-commerce site is built around the purchase. A B2B customer portal covers the whole relationship after signature, including when there is nothing to buy. An extranet is the broader category, a space opened to third parties of which customers are only one audience.

B2B customer portal and neighboring terms
Term	What distinguishes it
B2B e-commerce site	Centered on the transaction. The portal also covers service, documents and account follow-up.
Extranet	An authenticated space opened to third parties. A B2B customer portal is the form dedicated to customers.
Self-service portal	Designed so that someone finishes a task alone. A B2B customer portal can include part of one.

Frequently asked questions

Do we need a B2B customer portal if our CRM already offers a customer space?

Not necessarily. A CRM customer space is enough as long as the data customers need lives in that CRM. As soon as customers also expect invoices from the ERP and tickets from another tool, you need a layer that composes those sources behind one sign-in. That is what a portal is for.

Who should administer users on the customer side?

A designated administrator at the customer can create and remove colleagues’ accounts within the limits of the contract. Without that delegation every arrival and departure lands on your service team. The administrator’s own rights also need to be bounded and logged.