Rooms vs Portals

Many organizations are familiar with the concept of a "portal". But the concept of a "room" may be new to some.

"Rooms" have seen a rapid rise in adoption as more processes move online to digital experience platforms (DXPs) that support a variety of mobile and desktop interactions.

Rooms are internally-initiated, transient workspaces for securely executing business transactions with customers.

In the post COVID-19 era, rooms are seen as quick, virtual office spaces where Customers and Employees meet to advance the customer journey. No usernames or passwords are required. Flow-initiated secure links to rooms are typically sent in response to a record stage change. Customer responses in rooms similarly trigger stage advancement.

Requiring a prospective customer to create a username/password account is a leading cause of attrition. Rooms provide frictionless "one-click" access to online spaces that help cultivate a customer relationship early in the sales cycle.

Conversely, portal interactions are customer-initiated. Portal access requires a username / password, along with the prerequisite onboarding and identity verification.

Examples of using rooms

• Invitation to review quotes / proposals / contracts
• Online product configurators
• Upload documents
• Collect eSignatures
• Collect payment methods
• Collect web form input data (billing name / address)
• Send receipts or acknowledgements

Examples of using portals

• Providing access to licenses and entitlements
• Submit support cases
• Download product specifications and user guides
• Search documentation and knowledge bases
• Return merchandise authorization (RMA)
• Discussion forums and groups

iDIalogue is a Digital Experience Platform (DXP) for hosting personalized "rooms" integrated with leading CRM systems.
Try a 30-demo and get hands on with the "Room Builder" in iDialogue Studio.

Feature	Room	Portal
Identity	Lead / Contact	User
Authentication	Invitation link and/or Passcode	Username / Password
Customer Context	Pre-Acquisition / Post-Acquisition (Renewals)	Post-Acquisition
Utilization	Transient (1 hour - 1 week)	Static / Unlimited
Licensing	Per Transaction or Sales User ​Unlimited customers	Per Customer Portal User or Login
Personalization	Record context	User or Account context
Community Engagement	No	Yes
Device Access	Responsive Design ​Desktop or Mobile	Primarily Desktop (Responsive requires customization)
Implementation Skills	No code. System Administrator and ​Content Manager skills.	Some code. System Administrator and Software Developer skills.
CRM Data Access	Typically read-only within record context. Minimize data entry for frictionless transactions. ​Some field updates supported.	Full CRUD ​(Create, Read, Update, Delete) ​within sharing constraints.