A system of portals and vortals

There are many different ways and buzz words used to describe portals or vortals. However, whatever they are called, or, which ever way they might be described, they all mean the same thing: a point of attraction for a particular interest group.

Portals and vortals are common in the everyday world of bricks and mortar. Shopping malls are prime examples of portals. People shop at shopping malls because there is a large variety of goods on offer and the duplication of traders ensures sufficient competition to produce excellence and bring prices down to reasonable levels. In large towns and cities, particular areas become specialised in certain types of commodities or services. These are vortals: each area providing a depth of service in a specialised niche.

Sometimes, these centres of attraction will attract complementary trades or business, where they act symbiotically. This is evidenced by the number of different businesses and services that will congregate at tourist or entertainment centres.

Vortals and portals are a naturally occurring phenomenon. People prefer to go to places where there is choice and competition. And, because people go there, it is attractive for traders to be there. There is a mutual attraction for traders and customers to be at the same place. This same phenomenon occurs on the Web.

A useful metaphor to use for this situation is the attraction force of gravity. The more atoms in a body (the greater its mass), the more it will attract other atoms and bodies. An atom on its own, or even a small body, does not have the pulling power of a larger body. In a similar way, an e-business on its own, or even part of a small local group, will not be able to attract clients or customers anywhere near as easily as a large group of e-businesses that have integrated together in a common portal or vortal.

This is why advertising and marketing schemes often fail for start up companies who try to establish a business in isolation. They cannot compete against the natural attractiveness of the larger conglomerations. They would be far better off spending their money on achieving excellence and becoming part of a portal or vortal where the combined pulling power has no need for advertising or marketing.

Web based portals and vortals are not always as tangible as they are in the world of bricks and mortar. Sometimes a company will set up a Web site specifically to act as a portal or a vortal, but, more often a portal or vortal comes in the guise of a search engine, guide or directory. Thousands of Web sites are setting up as self proclaimed experts in all manner of niche areas of special interest or technology. These point to other sites and other sites point to them. In this way, they form naturally occurring portals and vortals that direct and influence thinking and actions.

As more and more search engines, guides and directories come on stream, it has produced the phenomena of search engines that incorporate other search engines, guides that are guides to other guides and directories that are directories of other directories. Even experts are pointing to other experts in efforts to become the experts of experts.

In one sense, this can be seen as ever increasing competition as many information sources compete with each other to be the ultimate authority. But, on a different level, this can be viewed as the natural tendency of a dynamic system to self organise. Any dynamic system, which includes competition for survival and success amongst it component elements, will self organise in this way. It will proceed relentlessly towards a state of greater and greater organisation and efficiency. This is evident in all biological systems, where the same thing happens spontaneously, over and over again, without the appearance of any organising intelligence.

To be involved in the world of e-business brings you into this type of self organising environment, which is driven by constant competitive pressure. It may seem to be created by humans, but, this tendency of a system – to promote the efficient while driving out the inefficient – is beyond the level of human control: it is simply an inherent characteristic of all dynamic systems. To be successful in any e-business venture, it is necessary to be acutely aware of this situation and to design any business ventures to not only cope with but to take advantage of the system's natural dynamics.

It is for this reason that we have to approach the creation of any e-business by first working out how we are going to fit into a system of vortals or portals; only then can we move on to the details of how to take part.