Built using the Joomla Content Management System, the info@hand Customer Portal provides a customer self-service portal for your info@hand-enabled business. The Customer Portal is included free with info@hand.

With the info@hand Customer Portal installed, your business moves to the next level - as your customers are now able to collaborate directly with you. With 24/7 self-service customer access to sales and service, your customer support load is reduced, expenses are reduced, yet your customers are happier than ever.

The info@hand Customer Portal enables customers of businesses that have implemented the info@hand Business Portal to collaborate with their supplier on a wide range of topics. Customers using the Customer Portal may perform many tasks. Some of these tasks require that the user be logged in, using username/password credentials you provide to them.

A customer can perform these functions without login information:

• Request a login to the Customer Portal, or request other sales information
• Lookup contact information for the business
  
• Link to the business’s public web site
• Register to use the info@hand eStore, included with the Customer Portal (see more on the eStore here)
  
• Register for Marketing Events, Newsletters and Seminars

A customer must be logged in to the Customer Portal to perform these additional functions:

• Update their own contact information at any time, directly within their supplier’s master records kept by the info@hand Business Portal
• Update their own password for access to the Customer Portal
• Access Invoice and Payment history to check their account balance and status with your business
  
• Access Quotes you prepare for them, and review and comment on them
  
• File service Cases directly within their supplier’s info@hand Business Portal, and return at any time 24/7 to review updated information
  
• File Software Bugs directly within their supplier’s info@hand Business Portal, and return at any time 24/7 to review updated information
• Collaborate on a Project:
  • The customer can see all the project tasks identified (although some may be hidden from the customer by users of the Business Portal), and the progress % to date
  • The customer can see all Documents linked to the project, and can add new documents themselves
  • The customer can see Notes related to the project (although some may be hidden from the customer by users of the Business Portal) – and may add additional notes themselves – optionally with attachments such as Microsoft Office files
  • The customer can see all Contacts related to the project
• Participate in Customer Forums – a full forum system is included within the customer portal
• Review Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and their answers

The Customer Portal communicates with the core info@hand Business Portal using SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) – a common protocol used to connect web services.

The Customer Portal is built using the Joomla Content Management System (currently version 1.0.13 – but the components have been made compatible with other Joomla releases using an abstraction layer over the Joomla API), and it may be integrated within an existing Joomla-based website.