What do customers look for when they want a Portal solution?

In my conversations with customers, their requirement for a Portal solution is fairly simple.

(OK, in the Asia-South region. I do not know about other region)

Must-have

0. Friendly UI

1. Integrated Content Management Server (CMS)

2. Integrated Document Management Server (DMS)

3. Versioning feature

4. Approval Process

5. Search Engine that can index all types of documents (especially Words and PDF)

6. Document Conversion (see here)

7. LDAP authentication (with their existing infrastructure)

Good-to-have

1. Integrated Email and Calendar Services

2. Instant Messaging

3. Different theme for different department/branch

Notice that they are not very much into Single Sign-On or integration with other backend applications. This, to me, is not appealing at all. There is no stickiness in this solution.

A good Portal solution should integrate with as many useful backend applications as possible. This will make end-users come back again and again.

A Portal should be a one-stop place for everyone.