1. Shopify: Best for Almost Everyone

The post 6 Best Ecommerce Solutions for 2021 first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

21 janvier 2021/par Service comm.

How CentOS Became 2020’s Final Victim

If you were paying close attention to your IT department around the 8th of December, you might have heard some quiet sobbing and the occasional wail of, “Why? Why?! WHY?!” Now, it was the year 2020, so this might have seemed normal to you, but it’s actually something of a problem that could affect your business: CentOS is pretty much dead.

For the non-total-nerds among us, here’s the skinny: CentOS is a Linux-based operating system, typically used on servers. CentOS has been incredibly popular, and quite a few businesses run on it. But now, that’s changing.

CentOS is a Linux-based operating system, typically used on servers…But now, that’s changing

CentOS used to be released in thoroughly tested versions, the latest being CentOS 8. CentOS 8 was released in September of 2019 and was supposed to be supported for ten years. Now, it’s been decided that CentOS will no longer have versioned releases, opting for a rolling-release style of updates. That means there’ll be one version that constantly gets new software.

That’s cool in theory, but it means the operating system will be less stable overall. Essentially, it’s going to be used as a development branch of / testing ground for Red Hat Enterprise Linux and is no longer its own OS. If you have CentOS-based servers, you should migrate to another OS sooner rather than later.

And I just got my own CentOS-based VPS set up the way I wanted it.

Wait, What Does Red Hat Have To Do With This?

Here’s the short, short version of the history of CentOS: Red Hat (an OS developer) has two Linux distributions of its own and has had for a long time. There’s the free and community-focused Fedora and the business-focused highly expensive Red Hat Enterprise Linux (AKA RHEL).

Funny story: RHEL, despite its expensive licenses, is still mostly made from open source code, which anyone can access and use. And it’s a good OS, particularly for people who like stability.

In 2004, some smart people took all the open-source parts of RHEL and made a brand new, nearly identical operating system with it: the Community Enterprise Operating System, or CentOS. Basically, people could download and use an enterprise-level server OS for free. All the documentation for RHEL was compatible, and you could get support from the community.

It was the perfect alternative for anyone who didn’t have the budget for expensive software licenses.

In 2014, Red Hat offered to partner with the CentOS community. The idea was basically this: “It’s pretty much the same software. If our company and your community work together, both our products will be better! We make our money from enterprise customers, anyway.”

Most importantly, with Red Hat doing a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of updates and support, the CentOS community could focus on growing in other ways.

Red Hat pinky swore [citation needed] that they were in this for the long haul, and CentOS did continue to flourish. You know, until 2020.

Well, So Much For Pinky Swearing

Red Hat must have eventually decided that having a popular free version of its own enterprise software and managing it themselves no less — wasn’t that good for business. So they all but shut the project down.

Well, technically, they just changed how it operated. Instead of producing tested, production-ready versions, CentOS is merely a testing ground for RHEL. It is no longer, in my opinion, a good option for anyone who wants to run a stable server.

Current and Future CentOS Alternatives

So if you jumped on the CentOS 8 bandwagon, what should you put on your physical and virtual servers now? Well, you’ve got options.

Debian / Ubuntu

For those who don’t mind going to a very different kind of Linux, Debian has been the picture of OS stability and sysadmin-friendliness for a long time. If you want more frequent software updates, the Debian-based Ubuntu Server is popular and pretty good.

Oracle Linux

Yes, that Oracle has a RHEL-compatible Linux distribution of its own. But it’s not a clone, exactly. I mean, this is Oracle. It’s set up to use their tools and ecosystem, so I hope you like Oracle products. But hey, the OS itself is free!

ClearOS

ClearOS is another RHEL-compatible OS that’s mostly doing its own thing, though I’m not entirely sure what that thing is. Does the company have some deal with Hewlett-Packard? Anyway, they do have a free community edition and paid editions for home and business use.

The CloudLinux RHEL Fork

This is an upcoming release from the makers of CloudLinuxOS. It looks like they intend to load the new RHEL-based OS with some of their own tools, such as reboot-less server update tech. The first release is intended to be a more or less drop-in replacement for CentOS 8.

Rocky Linux

So the community that made and loved CentOS in the first place is, to say the least, ticked. They are so ticked that Greg Kurtzer (a co-founder of CentOS) has decided to do it all over again by making Rocky Linux and keep it in the community this time.

Again, the goal is to make a re-build of RHEL, a drop-in replacement for CentOS (at least for now). Eventually, the goal is to migrate from CentOS to Rocky Linux as easy as using a single, one-line command. The ETA for initial release isn’t quite set in stone, but I can personally vouch for how hard the community is working.

[See, full disclosure here… after writing this article, I joined the Rocky Linux documentation team.]

So Yeah, You Have Options

Some are out now, and others will be soon. Again, CentOS 8 will be supported until the end of 2021. CentOS 7, weirdly, will be supported until June 2024.

Migration shouldn’t be too complicated. Still, a pain in the rear that we have to do this at all, though.

The post How CentOS Became 2020’s Final Victim first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.

8 janvier 2021/par Service comm.

9 Easy Ways to Deal With Difficult Clients

Naturally, there are bad clients out there, but 90% of the time, it’s not really the client who is at fault. Poor communication, a lack of setting expectations, and a failure to qualify clients beforehand is usually the problem.

If you’re dealing with a problematic client, there’s usually not a lot you can do to ‘fix’ things — you should focus on finishing the project as well as you can. However, what you can do is ensure this situation never arises again.

We’ve been taught that the customer is always right. But to be honest, that’s not always the case. It’s your job as a designer and brand consultant to help your client grow their business. Because of that, you may think you have to make every idea a client has — but if these ideas do not serve their business and their brand, you have to speak up! Remember that you were hired for a reason, and that reason is that you can help them build their brand, not because you can design anything they think of.

So, to avoid the ‘difficult’ client scenario, here are a few things you can do.

1. Be Selective With Your Clients

Figure out who your ideal client is and determine that you will only work with them. Ideal clients are usually people who understand you and respect you and your expertise. A client who hires you because they know what you have to offer (i.e., working towards their business goals) will be more receptive to what you present to them — they will also be more receptive when you push back ideas.

you have to be willing to decline projects

Your ideal client is not someone who wants to dictate the whole process to you (clients who already have an idea in their head and want you to make it into reality for them).

This means you have to be willing to decline projects. This can be super difficult — saying no to a paying client always is — but the mental toll of working for a non-ideal client is never worth the money!

Be selective with your clients and ensure you are on the same page before accepting any projects. To work only with your ideal client, you can have a method of qualifying them ahead of time. Some people use questionnaires; others sit down and have a chat with potential clients. If they meet your requirements, that’s great. If not, then let them know it might not be the best fit for both of you. You can also refer them to another freelance designer, who you know would be glad to have their work.

2. Remember: You are NOT an Employee

People usually become freelancers because they have a set of skills that doesn’t tie them down to one employer — you may have even developed this skill set deliberately to avoid being stuck in one office, working for one company!

So don’t forget that you are not an employee. Your clients don’t get to send you to non-productive meetings, have you in the office at certain times, or dictate any other part of your working life to you. As a freelancer, you work for yourself — don’t get caught up in the idea you are ‘employed’ by your clients.

If your client starts acting like an employer, you need to gently remind them that you are a freelancer. They chose to work with you because of your skills and talents, and as long as you deliver it on time and budget, they can’t complain about how you do it!

3. Have a Specific Scope of Work

One of the most frustrating parts of freelancing is over-demanding clients: it happens to us all, but it happens because we let it happen!

When you start a project, define exactly what you will and won’t do as part of a contract. Then, if the client wants more than you said you would give, you can refer them to the scope document and offer the additional work at an extra fee.

Documentation saves you a lot of hassle!

Having a fixed scope for all your work will free you from the ‘demanding client’ problem. Before you start working for them, sit down with them and ask them exactly what they want from your design. That way, you know exactly what you should do and what you should not do. You can then document the services you will provide and get a written confirmation from them. Clients will sometimes forget what they told you before — which is why having written documents to show them is useful.

If they ask for additional services, you can update the document stating these changes and send them a copy. Documentation saves you a lot of hassle! It’s your responsibility to be organized and professional at the end of the day, even with over-demanding clients. Always treat them kindly — never be rude, as this will cause them to give you a bad review and hurt you in the end. Act like a professional from the start, and your clients will treat you as such.

4. Document Agreements

You may find yourself with a client who is forever changing their mind or forgetting the details — so make sure all your agreements with them are documented, and both of you have copies. Just like the scope of work documents, you can refer to these agreements in the future, and it will resolve any issues you have.

5. Set Clear Expectations

You need to set clear expectations both before and after someone becomes your client — tell them what they can expect in the project and what is included and what’s not included. Remember that your time is valuable: you cannot work indefinitely, so it is okay to set limitations in a project. One way to do this is to offer two rounds of revisions on a project. This is more than enough to come out with a design a client is happy with. Most clients will understand these limitations as long as you communicate them from the get-go.

6. Set Benchmarks

Rather than taking your design brief from the client and going off on your own to design everything, set some project milestones or benchmarks. Don’t be that designer who goes radio-silent until the final design is presented (we know, creatives like the idea of the ‘big reveal,’ but remember this is business, and communication is key!).

Benchmarks are important for a few reasons. Firstly, presenting the final design may sometimes work out, but other times, the client doesn’t like it or the direction they had in mind. Secondly, it saves you time – you don’t need to design a whole project only to have to go back and revise it all!

creatives like the idea of the ‘big reveal,’ but remember this is business, and communication is key!

Plan regular check-ins with your client, include them in the process, and ensure you are on the right track.

Take a branding project, for example. You can present to your client two or three logo concepts, providing them with options. This decreases the number of times a client is unhappy with the project’s direction because they can choose which one they want. Remember to make each design unique, rather than just a small variation of the other. Think of them as three different directions to explore with your client, and take it from there.

Ensure each concept you provide is top of your game, too — that way, whatever your client chooses, it will be a great design. Imagine you make two okay concepts and one great concept, and your client chooses the weakest design!

7. Don’t Take Offence

Imagine the scene: you go to a meeting with your client to talk about the final design. You arrive, and as well as your normal contact, the CFO is present at the meeting. They take one look at your design and decide it doesn’t work.

Don’t get mad! For a start, you don’t know if the CFO has the final say on the design, and even if they do, you have an agreed scope of work, and this is now an opportunity to move the goalposts (for a fee) and renegotiate the scope of work. Look at this as an opportunity, not as a setback!

Also, remember that you can’t please everyone all the time. Not everyone will love your designs, and it’s not a personal attack.

8. Match Your Client’s Energy

Think before you open your mouth — communication is crucial in the freelancing world, and you need to be on par with your clients’ energy and vocabulary. Imagine you have just agreed on a project with a new client, and after the meeting, they say, “I cannot wait for you to knock this logo out of the park!” And you reply hesitantly, “I’ll do what I can.”

This has already made your client doubt you, and that’s a red flag. Now your client may leave the meeting wondering if they chose the right designer for the job. What you and your body language need to say is, “Hell, yes! We’re going to knock this logo out of the park!”

This is why matching a client’s energy is so important. If they are aggressive in articulating themselves, you should be, too; obviously within limits — always be professional, but don’t be afraid to sound excited and confident!

9. Be Honest With Yourself

Sometimes, you don’t get on with someone. It happens. We can’t be best friends with all of our clients! If there’s a personality conflict that’s causing problems, it can be impossible to resolve. You may want to have someone else handle the client relationship or transfer the project to another freelancer.

being afraid will never get you anywhere as a freelancer

What makes being a freelancer great is that you actually have all the power — you can fire a client if it’s really not working for you. An employee cannot fire his or her boss. If the relationship between you and your client has turned sour, you hate the work, and it’s causing you too many headaches, you can get rid of them. No one can make you work for someone!

Even if your client represents a huge chunk of your income, don’t be afraid to fire them. There are always more clients — being afraid will never get you anywhere as a freelancer. You also need to remember that your quality of life is just as important as your income! One cannot exist without the other — there’s no point in having a huge paycheck if your sanity is suffering due to it.

Conclusion

‘Difficult’ clients in freelancing do exist, but a lot of the time, you’ll discover they could have been avoided if you, the designer, took a few key steps.

You should always be selective with your clients and ensure they fit your ‘ideal client’ model; if they don’t, you can gently refuse their project and send them on to another designer who is a better fit.

When you do start working with a client, remember they are just that, a client. They are not your boss or employer, and you are a freelancer. They don’t get to dictate your working hours or appearance in meetings. They agreed to work with you, for your skills and talents, as long as you deliver quality work on time, they don’t get to tell you what to do.

Always have a scope of work in a written contract and set expectations before you begin. This saves you hassle later when a client becomes overly demanding. Along the design process, document all agreements in paper and have benchmarks wherein you check-in with your clients.

Finally, take care with how you handle your clients in person – don’t take offense if they don’t like a design, match their energy, so they have no room to doubt you, and if it really just isn’t working due to a personality conflict, remember you are free to leave!

Featured image via Pexels.

Actualités, Méthodes et organisation des process IT

25 décembre 2020/par Service comm.

5 NLP Trends to Watch in 2021

Although still in its infancy, 2020 has been a year of significant growth for Natural Language Processing (NLP). In fact, research from Gradient Flow found that even in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, 53% of technical leaders indicated their NLP budget was at least 10% higher compared to 2019, with 31% stating their budget was at least 30% higher than the previous year. This is quite significant, given most companies are experiencing a downturn in IT budgets, as companies adjusted their spending in response to the pandemic.

With the power to help streamline and even automate tasks across industries, from finance and healthcare to retail and sales, leaders are just beginning to reap the benefits of NLP. As the technology advances further and its value becomes more widely known, NLP can achieve outcomes from handling customer service queries to more mission-critical tasks, like detecting and preventing adverse drug events in a clinical setting. As NLP continues on its growth trajectory, here are some of the top trends to watch in 2021.

Source de l’article sur DZONE

9 décembre 2020/par Service comm.

Quoi de neuf dans la Comptabilité Financière avec la release SAP S/4HANA 2020 ?

Actualités, ERP & Applications, SAP

Le 7 Octobre 2020 SAP a annoncé la disponibilité générale de SAP S/4HANA 2020 : la sixième version de SAP S/4 HANA vient d’apparaitre avec toujours plus d’innovations à la clé.

Avec la version 2020 de SAP S/4HANA on poursuit la logique d’innovation continue avec des nouveautés fonctionnelles disponibles sur l’ensemble des processus finance.

Ces nouveautés sont immédiatement opérationnelles et disponibles lors de la sortie de la nouvelle version On Premise car elles ont été préalablement implémentées et testées depuis des mois dans la version Cloud de SAP S/4HANA.

Le document What’s new in SAP S/4HANA 2020 récapitule de façon exhaustive toutes les nouveautés apportées par cette version dans les différents domaines de la solution. Cette nouvelle version comporte des centaines d’innovations uniquement dans le domaine de la Finance et il est impossible de toutes les présenter ici. A titre d’illustration, nous vous proposons de passer en revue quelques-unes des nouveautés les plus remarquables :

Par exemple, dans le domaine de la comptabilité générale et bancaire, la nouvelle version réduit l’utilisation des comptes généraux, notamment des comptes bancaires, en simplifiant les processus de gestion des relations bancaires. L’utilisation des mêmes ensembles de comptes de rapprochement bancaire et de comptes d’attente pour la connectivité de la banque société réduit considérablement le nombre de comptes généraux requis pour les processus de paiement. Cette méthode offre également l’avantage de faciliter la gestion du plan comptable.

Dans le domaine de la clôture financière, avec SAP S/4HANA for Group Reporting, les équipes de consolidation peuvent générer simultanément des résultats dans plusieurs devises du groupe dans un seul processus de clôture. Ceci améliore l’efficacité et l’automatisation lorsque vous travaillez avec différentes devises dans le groupe ou plusieurs taux de conversions de devise, par exemple pour une conversion à taux de change constants pour le reporting comparatif.

Dans la gestion des Clients et le contrôle de Crédit, un ensemble d’états de reporting avancés a été développé sur SAP Analytics Cloud avec pour objectif de donner les moyens au crédit manager d’améliorer le pilotage du contrôle crédit. Ces états de reporting, nativement intégrés dans SAP S/4HANA, sont alimentés en temps réel par les flux des ventes et ouvrent la possibilité d’effectuer du drill-down vers les transactions opérationnelles.

Dans ce même domaine, une autre innovation réside dans la création d’une application Fiori qui donne accès à un cockpit de pilotage permettant une vue à 360° de toutes les informations nécessaires au contrôle crédit d’un partenaire donné. On peut ainsi accéder depuis un même endroit aux information générales sur le profil de crédit, des informations par segment et leurs limites et taux d’utilisation, une balance âgée synthétique, les commandes en attente d’approbation et même des informations sur des assurances ou garanties collatérales éventuelles. La navigation est ainsi grandement facilitée, les informations clés regroupées et disponibles de façon rapide, souvent dans un format graphique : voici un bel exemple d’innovation mise en œuvre pour faciliter l’adoption de la solution et assurer la meilleure expérience possible à l’utilisateur.

La plateforme SAP Central Finance a été optimisée dans la version SAP S/4HANA 2020 avec la mise à disposition de solutions d’intégration développées avec Magnitude dans le cadre du partenariat Solution Extension :

SAP Central Finance Data Harmonization by Magnitude
SAP Central Finance Transaction Replication by Magnitude

Central Finance permet la réplication des transactions des opérations issues de différentes sources dans une instance unique SAP S/4HANA, ce qui génère d’importants avantages liés à la centralisation, par exemple dans le cadre du reporting, la comptabilisation des allocations, les opérations inter-sociétés ou la mise en place et opération de centres de services.

Ces nouvelles solutions d’intégration permettent de faciliter et d’accélérer l’intégration des données tout en fiabilisant le processus et en réduisant le TCO de Central Finance.

Deux autres innovations remarquables dans Central Finance :

La fonctionnalité de ventilation à la pièce est désormais disponible dans Central Finance et ceci même lorsque les systèmes SAP source n’en disposent pas.
Concernant le contrôle budgétaire, le budget des ordres internes peut être géré désormais de manière centrale dans SAP Central Finance grâce au suivi de la consommation de celui-ci dans les systèmes sources.

En conclusion, la version 2020 de SAP S/4HANA comporte une grande quantité de nouveautés qui méritent d’être découvertes lors d’une prochaine formation chez SAP France.

Voici le lien vers le calendrier des formations de H1 2021 afin de choisir celle qui vous convient le plus. Vous pouvez aussi avoir un aperçu des formations susceptibles de vous intéresser à l’aide des différents parcours de formation détaillés dans les Learning Journeys mis à votre disposition par SAP Training and Adoption France.

The post Quoi de neuf dans la Comptabilité Financière avec la release SAP S/4HANA 2020 ? appeared first on SAP France News.

Source de l’article sur sap.com

8 décembre 2020/par Service comm.

RPA : la MAIF automatise ses processus, pour se concentrer sur l’humain

Actualités, ERP & Applications, Innovation, SAP

L’éthique est au cœur de la démarche IT de la MAIF. Robotiser les processus, oui, à condition que cela soit bénéfique aux sociétaires, aux collaborateurs, ainsi qu’aux performances et aux engagements sociaux de l’entreprise. À ce jour, une quinzaine de robots ont été déployés avec succès.

La MAIF est un assureur à part. Capitalisant sur ses valeurs mutualistes et sociales, la MAIF est financièrement solide, a décroché 16 fois le Podium de la relation client pour le secteur de l’assurance, tout en restant le seul assureur à faire partie des 50 entreprises les plus admirées des Français (IFOP – JDD – Nov 2019). Un impressionnant palmarès, mais qui ne doit pas faire oublier les questions d’efficacité opérationnelle. Un élément clé de satisfaction des sociétaires.

C’est en 2017 que la MAIF s’est penchée sur les technologies de RPA (Robotic Process Automation). Après une première expérimentation, l’assureur a compris tout l’intérêt qu’il pouvait tirer de cette technologie. Suite à appel d’offre, la solution de SAP a été choisie et déployée en 2018.

« Nous répondons aux sollicitations des métiers, qui expriment leurs besoins et décrivent une solution d’automatisation. Après étude du projet, le RPA est souvent préconisé pour répondre à ces demandes, car il est souple, facile à mettre en œuvre, avec un budget restreint » explique Jocelyn Paris, Chargé d’étude des systèmes d’information à la MAIF.

Avec le RPA, il n’est pas nécessaire de développer de nouvelles applications dans l’environnement MAIF : le robot va tout simplement reproduire des actions utilisateur. Ce qui est à la fois rapide et peu coûteux. Une quinzaine de robots sont aujourd’hui en production.

Une aide précieuse pour le service contrats

Les assureurs ont une responsabilité d’évaluation du niveau de risque de chaque assuré. Plusieurs fois par an, la MAIF fait ainsi ressortir les situations en alerte. Toutefois, un tiers de ces alertes peuvent être écartées selon des règles spécifiques et sans qu’il soit nécessaire de se mettre en relation avec l’assuré. Ce travail fastidieux peut être confié à un robot, libérant ainsi du temps pour les collaborateurs. Mis en place en un peu plus d’un mois, ce robot est un succès et se charge de sortir les fiches pouvant l’être de façon automatique.

Lors du batch d’avril 2020, les collaborateurs n’ont pas pu avoir un accès direct aux fiches papier. Le robot a donc été modifié pour reporter l’ensemble des fiches au prochain batch de septembre. Les services en charge d’imprimer et de traiter ces fiches ont été soulagés d’une tâche difficile à mettre en œuvre en télétravail. Les processus de RPA ont ainsi montré leur capacité à s’adapter rapidement à une nouvelle situation.

« Nous avons démarré avec un premier robot chargé de faciliter la régularisation des situations comptables de certains de nos assurés. Sur 15.000 cas recensés par an, 8000 à 9000 sont maintenant traités par ce robot, soit 1500 heures gagnées, témoigne Magalie Vincent, Responsable d’équipe au service contrats. Un nouveau robot, déployé en janvier 2020, aide à traiter les fiches d’observation de la sinistralité. Sur 8000 fiches, le robot a pu en écarter 2600. Cela simplifie notre travail en nous soulageant d’une tâche chronophage, qui mobilisait jusqu’à 15 collaborateurs. Nous pouvons ainsi nous pencher sur les cas les plus intéressants et nous recentrer sur notre rôle d’analyse du risque. »

Notez qu’une phase d’ajustement des critères d’action de ce nouveau robot devrait lui permettre de prendre en charge un plus grand nombre de dossiers.

Une accélération des rapprochements bancaires

Il est parfois difficile d’effectuer des rapprochements entre les paiements reçus et les contrats des assurés. Chaque jour, des centaines de règlements ne sont pas rattachés automatiquement au compte d’un sociétaire. La MAIF dispose d’un outil pour faire ressortir les virements non identifiés et d’un autre pour rechercher des coordonnées bancaires dans les bases de la société. L’affectation au bon sociétaire des fonds reçus sans référence reste toutefois un travail fastidieux.

Le rapprochement entre ces différentes bases de données est une tâche qui peut être en grande partie automatisée. Le robot se charge de prendre la référence d’un paiement dans le premier outil et de rechercher à qui il pourrait correspondre dans le second. Le service de la gestion économique dispose ainsi de plus de temps pour se pencher sur des dossiers complexes.

« Le robot nous aide dans ce travail fastidieux, long et très répétitif, confirme Sylvie Carasco, Chargée de gestion comptable, service comptabilité assurance et réassurance. Il est capable de rechercher simultanément dans plusieurs bases de données suivant des critères comme le nom ou l’IBAN, et de trouver un ou plusieurs sociétaires pouvant correspondre. Le travail de recherche est ainsi défriché, ce qui permet d’accélérer la clôture de chaque dossier. Ce robot est d’une aide précieuse, en particulier lors des périodes d’échéances annuelles, où 500 à 600 recherches doivent être effectuées chaque jour, occupant de 7 à 8 personnes à temps plein. »

Là encore, ce robot s’est montré particulièrement utile pendant la crise du Covid-19. Avec un taux de réussite de 80 %, il remplit ses objectifs. L’amélioration continue des critères d’action du robot devrait encore augmenter son efficacité.

Et des dizaines d’autres projets en préparation…

Le service qui gère les conventions automobiles en est déjà à trois robots déployés et un quatrième en cours de développement. Très intéressé par le RPA, le service conventions réfléchit à d’autres processus que cette technologie pourrait contribuer à automatiser.

« C’est un travail que nous avons mené sur plusieurs années, explique Céline Beunet, Responsable du service conventions. Les robots du service convention adressent des tâches précises : prise en charge d’un évènement non déclaré via l’ouverture d’un dossier et l’envoi d’un courrier au sociétaire ; automatisation du changement d’assureur lorsque le recours a été initialement présenté à la mauvaise partie ; suivi du remboursement du forfait, lorsqu’un recours présenté par une compagnie adverse a été contesté et refusé. Dans ce dernier cas de figure, le robot vérifie dans les échanges informatisés que nous avons bien été remboursés, puis classe le dossier. Ce que j’aime, c’est la possibilité de fixer les conditions d’action du robot et non de lui confier 100 % des processus. Ainsi, dès qu’un cas est litigieux, le gestionnaire reprend automatiquement la main. »

Le premier ROI du RPA est le temps qu’il fait gagner aux équipes. Économique et facile à mettre en œuvre, c’est un outil sans concurrence pour automatiser les processus. « Par rapport au coût d’automatisation d’une chaine logicielle, le RPA revient quasiment 10 fois moins cher, confirme Jocelyn Paris. Mais attention, le ROI est évalué selon quatre axes : la satisfaction des sociétaires ; la satisfaction des collaborateurs ; la performance de l’entreprise ; et l’aspect RSE. On ne veut surtout pas d’un robot qui remplace l’humain, mais d’une technologie qui aide l’humain. »

Maintenant que la plate-forme est en place et accessible largement, les demandes affluent et devraient sans nul doute s’intensifier. « La société française va vers plus de réglementation et d’administratif. Le RPA peut contribuer à atténuer ce phénomène. Si un robot peut s’occuper d’un traitement administratif, c’est aussi bien, car nous préférons que nos collaborateurs se focalisent sur leur cœur de métier : la relation humaine. » L’assureur militant s’engage ainsi au service de la performance comme du bien-être de ses collaborateurs.

The post RPA : la MAIF automatise ses processus, pour se concentrer sur l’humain appeared first on SAP France News.

Source de l’article sur sap.com

13 novembre 2020/par Service comm.

You Won’t Win SEO With Hacks, Here Are 3 Winning SEO Strategies

The world of search engine optimization was born with all sorts of different hacks and shortcuts that many people use in an effort to grow their business.

Knowing effective SEO tricks would be incredibly profitable, but unfortunately it’s not that easy

This becomes evident as soon as you do a Google search about anything SEO-related, only to find pages and more pages replete with blog posts and videos disclosing all the tips and tricks you “need to know” in order to achieve the best SEO results, in the fastest way possible.

Knowing effective SEO tricks would be incredibly profitable, but unfortunately it’s not that easy.

In its essence, SEO isn’t about hacks, shortcuts, and hidden optimizations, but rather about resource allocation. Keep reading to learn why!

Be Careful About Over-Reliance on Hacks

Before we start talking about resources, it’s important to understand why the quick and easy SEO hacks we’ve all read about online aren’t as reliable as they might seem.

The reality is that yes, there are some traditional hacks and optimization tactics that many people swear by. However, SEO has become way too competitive for these hacks to still work.

Think about it: anyone can learn about these hacks and shortcuts in a matter of seconds, which means that anyone can use them, which means that they’re not going to help your website stand out. By way of example, when thinking about keyword usage, many websites simply decide to put them everywhere on their website, without actually planning and strategizing. Perhaps years ago, doing so would lead to excellent results, but that’s not the case anymore.

What I want to go over, and what I mean with this article, is that when developing your SEO plan, you should think less about hacks, and try to focus on strategy and resources instead.

As tempting as they might be, most SEO hacks won’t really go that far.

What does go far are those strategies and resource allocation decisions, which you can master as long as you know three things:

Who your competitors are;
What you have;
and What strengths you can double down on.

Base Your SEO Strategies on Your Business’s Resources

So, SEO is about resource allocation – we know that now…but what exactly does that mean?

Well, this logic is based on something you might have heard of before, and that is the three pillars of SEO.

As a refresher, everything in SEO revolves around three pillars:

Link building and referring domains;
Content development and content marketing;
Technical SEO.

Many businesses have a limited digital marketing budget and, as if that wasn’t enough, their SEO budget tends to be even more restricted.

This means that we can’t try every hack out there or do every campaign we can come up with, hoping it will lead to positive results. On the contrary, it means we need to be methodical and understand which strategies have the most potential and are actually worth exploring.

In summary, there’s one big challenge that every SEO team and company experiences, and that is the limitation of resources versus possible operations, and that leads us to a question: what mix of SEO pillars will give us a good shot at ranking high and surpassing our competitors?

Develop Your SEO Strategies Based on Your Inherent Strengths

The mistake that a lot of business owners make after reading SEO articles or hearing about amazing case studies is that they try and copy the strategies they learned about, from beginning to end.

However, contextually, each case study or article could refer to a strategy that was specifically optimized for a different type of business.

So, although copying what other successful businesses can work in certain situations when speaking about SEO, it’s best to borrow ideas and use the ones that fit your inherent strengths.

Based on the pillars of SEO that we discussed earlier, there are three strong points that a company can have:

If You Have a Strong Network…

Some businesses don’t have the resources to create an in-house content development team or outsource writing services.

However, they have another strong suit, which lies in their ability to go out into their community, speak, and be heard. They can do this because they have built a strong network over the years and, in cases like this, what we often do is use a backlinking approach.

When working with businesses that have a strong community presence, go out and double down on their network. Pitch their relevant contacts for guest speakership and guest posts, building thought leadership, while also driving links to their website.

If You’re Not That Popular But Are Good With Words…

Right now, some of you might be thinking: “Yeah, well, that’s easy when you’ve built the exposure, but not all of us are lucky enough to be well-known”.

Listen, I get it, we’ve all been in that position.

For clients and businesses that feel like they don’t have the brand equity or exposure to develop a strong backlinking strategy, opt for another route, and invest much more on content (and/or technical SEO, see below).

If the client has a team who’s ready to put its head down and get to work, then focus on producing a lot of content for their website.

Ultimately, the goal is to build a content library that is thorough and expansive, and that provides the client with more opportunities for keyword rankings, while also reinforcing the relevance of their website for those specific SEO keywords.

If Technical Knowledge is Your Forte…

You may not like (or have time) to write and you may not have a strong community presence, but if you have advanced technical skills and the ability to create a strong website quickly, then there’s another approach you can take.

This leads us into the third pillar of SEO: technical SEO.

This solution is indicated for technical teams that can create large websites, databases and user experiences in no time, and it is typically adopted by tech startups that are trying to create an app that provides user value.

First and foremost, winning at technical SEO requires strong technical skills that will allow you to build the web assets that you need, but that’s not all. It also requires you to understand how you can double down on these skills and manage large websites in the rather complex Google ecosystem.

So you need, for example, to know how you can get Google to notice and properly index the new pages you create on your website, even if you already have 100,000 pre-existing pages.

Or to ensure that each of your new pages is properly optimized for the best keywords.

Needless to say, using technical SEO does become a complex operation. However, when done right, it can lead your SEO to grow by sheer size, with the hopes that certain relevant keywords will start to rank for your business naturally.

Conclusion: Your Strategy Will Probably Be a Combination of the Three Pillars

When it comes to SEO, honing in on your strengths and accepting the fact that you can’t do everything is definitely the way to go.

When you’re running an SEO campaign, you should always focus on what you’re good at, know your resources, and augment what you already master – and that will put you in the right direction.

By focusing your resources on any of the pillars of SEO (or even a mix of them), you substantially increase your chances of achieving long-term success, which will not happen if you go for hacks and shortcuts instead.

A long-term, highly-organized, resource-allocated SEO strategy won’t only guarantee continuous success, but it can ultimately become self-sustaining, meaning that it will allow you to keep growing and growing, becoming an organic part of your marketing plan.

I’ve seen a lot of people try SEO hacks for two weeks, only to realize that they didn’t work and that their efforts had been in vain.

It’s unfortunate because by doing so, you’re turning your back on a marketing channel that is very valuable to a lot of people, and these hacks trick people into thinking it’ll be overnight.

So remember, resource allocation over hacks and shortcuts!

28 octobre 2020/par Service comm.

5 Biggest Challenges Web Design Agencies Face

With billions of internet users worldwide spending several hours online each day, the online presence of brands is now a necessary avenue for building, boosting, and maintaining positive value and attracting and interacting with customers.

This has created increasing pressure for web design agencies when creating and managing websites. This pressure is multiplied by all the projects that web design agencies have to handle at one time. This is because different clients demand different things for their websites, whether it’s a signature feature or specialized functionality.

Hence, it’s vital that the tools the agencies use to work are simple enough and suited to the tasks they have to accomplish in order to build and maintain these projects. Having the right tools can increase efficiency and effectiveness in managing websites.

Challenges in Modern Web Design

Building a website with all the essentials in mind is always easier said than done. Websites have to be both functional and easy on the eyes to invite traffic, disseminate information, or appeal a product or service to a target audience, and all while having an attractive and convenient interface.

The good news is that it’s perfectly possible to design a quality website and without spending a fortune to do so. Below are some of the challenges that web design agencies face when trying to deliver and reconcile efficient user experience and effective user interface in web design.

1. Appealing User Experience

Designing a good website means ensuring that the user experience is appealing to a general audience, but this is one of the most difficult parts of web design. Agencies must be careful not to turn off users with a confusing user experience. For instance, making important information difficult to find on web pages, using technical jargon that ordinary users wouldn’t understand, and focusing too much on the design rather than the overall experience are a few big mistakes that no designer should ever commit.

Instead, web design agencies should focus not only on making the design look good but also on making the experience smooth and fast for the regular site visitor. This includes improving design elements to make navigation easier as well as optimizing webpage load speeds.

2. Working With a Budget

It’s common for the client and the web design agency’s budgets to not line up at all times. Either the client will find the project quote too high, or the designer will find the client’s budget too low. The cost of a web design project can vary greatly, depending on what needs to be done.

Although having to build a good website on a budget may be difficult, it’s important for both parties to come up with a set amount before the project even starts. The client should always specify what they want to achieve and how much they’re willing to pay to get it, and the agency should let the client know beforehand if this is possible.

3. Integrating Third-Party Functionality

Sometimes, clients may make requests for third-party functions that may not be easily integrated into the site. To prevent this, web design agencies should always consider integration when building a site. Most businesses and companies now have at least one social media account, so it doesn’t make sense for their site to remain disconnected.

When a website visitor shares an excerpt on a social media site like Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter, other people who can see their posts may become interested in visiting the original post on the website. Properly integrating third-party applications and functions into a website can get it more online presence and popularity.

4. Suitability to Different Devices

There are many devices that people can use to access the web. From smartphones to desktop computers, from cars to game consoles, and even wristwatches and digital cameras, all of these can be web-enabled as long as there’s an available internet connection.

Websites nowadays should always be compatible with any of the devices people might use to go to the website. They should look pleasing and load fast regardless of what device a visitor is using.

5. Security of Personal Information

Most websites require personal or financial information, whether for account verification, for website subscription, or something else. Websites should be designed with personal security in mind, which is even more important since hacking has been on the rise since the coronavirus hit.

One of the biggest threats that websites face today is phishing, or when an attacker will pretend to be a trusted contact and attempt to compel you to click a malicious link. Another is ransomware, or where cybercriminals hold customer data for ransom and attempt to extort online business owners. Yet one more is SQL injections, or where hackers will attempt to execute malicious SQL commands in your website’s database.

The best practices in regards to web design to mitigate these risks include third-party plugins and themes, keeping all of your software up to date, setting your web applications so they run the fewest privileges possible, and utilizing SSL certificates and HTTPS protocols.

Adopting Site-Building Platforms

Gone are the days where you had to be technologically gifted to design a website from scratch, usually through manual HTML codes. Back then, you had to know your way around the web if you wanted to set-up and manage a site of your own.

Now, there are a lot of good website builders that allow you to create websites in a faster period of time. Even web design agencies now make use of such builders in order to make the job easier and more convenient. Not to mention, it allows agencies to focus on the design alone.

Although these platforms offer predesigned templates based on the most common purposes of websites, they normally allow the user to white label the website into the branding specific to the business or agenda of the website owner. The text styles, colors, and sizes coordinated to the website’s theme, and colors can be designed specifically to match the business or organization’s image and identity.

Simply put, creating websites through a web builder platform can provide web design agencies with easy-to-understand tools that their teams and members can all uniformly use to more effectively and more efficiently handle all their projects.

With services that allow mobile optimization, site management, and even drag-and-drop editing, web design agencies can now better manage their projects and finish with their tasks more quickly.

Not only that, by using white labelling, services can conserve their time and energy into focusing on creating the best website for their client. With all the website builders currently available on the market today, just picking the right one can give web design agencies the best tools to use when creating, designing, and maintaining websites.

Featured image via Pexels.

Source de l’article sur sap.com

23 octobre 2020/par Service comm.

Agromousquetaires adopte SAP TM pour sa nouvelle filiale transport

Actualités, ERP & Applications, SAP, Supply-Chain

Dans le cadre de son plan A2P 2020, Agromousquetaires a créé une société dédiée à la logistique. AgroM Transport s’appuie sur SAP TM 9.5 pour assurer la planification et l’exécution des opérations de transport. Une solution mise en place par itelligence.

Agromousquetaires est le pôle agroalimentaire du groupe Mousquetaires. Avec 4,03 milliards d’euros de chiffre d’affaires annuel, 11.000 collaborateurs, 19.700 partenaires agricoles, 62 usines en France et 10 filières, Agromousquetaires est un poids lourd du secteur. La société est en effet le leader français des marques de distributeur, mais aussi le 4e groupe agroalimentaire et le 1er armateur de pêche de l’Hexagone.

Dans le cadre de son plan Agro Performance Plus 2020 (A2P 2020), Agromousquetaires souhaite réduire ses coûts de production au travers de l’innovation. La société passe d’un réseau de PME à une logique de filière, plus efficace. L’un des volets de ce plan prévoit la mise en place d’un pôle logistique dédié.

Le choix de SAP TM et itelligence

En avril 2017, Agromousquetaires a décidé de transférer l’activité logistique de ses filières bœuf et porc vers une nouvelle société, AgroM Transport. Avec comme date butoir le premier janvier 2019.

L’utilisation de SAP Transportation Management (SAP TM) est rapidement apparue comme une évidence pour le groupe. Car le SI d’AgroM Transport mise sur d’autres solutions SAP pour la comptabilité, la finance, le contrôle de gestion et les achats non marchands. Le choix de SAP TM va donc dans le sens d’une cohérence du SI de la nouvelle entreprise.

L’intégrateur itelligence a été choisi pour sa taille rassurante (plus de 7900 consultants présents dans 27 pays) et sa connaissance étendue des solutions SAP (activité 100 % SAP et 30 ans d’expertise). Il a su également convaincre avec sa méthodologie pragmatique, consistant à proposer une solution fonctionnelle le plus tôt possible. Les utilisateurs ont ainsi pu faire remonter leurs recommandations rapidement, l’objectif étant de bâtir une offre de transport moderne : cartographie, diagrammes de Gantt, échanges informatisés avec les partenaires transporteurs, suivi des camions, etc.

Un planning serré

Le projet a démarré en septembre 2017, le pilote devant impérativement être achevé un an plus tard, pour une mise en production le premier janvier 2019. Dans la pratique, le prototype de la solution SAP TM 9.5 a été mis en fonction en mai 2018, avec une phase de stabilisation se terminant en septembre 2018, puis un déploiement progressif jusqu’à la fin de l’année. SAP TM se charge de la planification et de l’exécution des opérations de transport, la gestion des données de base (fournisseurs, clients, articles…) et de la facturation étant prise en charge par S/4HANA Finance.

Le premier janvier 2019, la société AgroM Transport a été lancée avec 331 collaborateurs transférés, 331 cartes grises, 135 transporteurs partenaires, 17 sites gérés et 12 entrepôts frigorifiques. 130.000 ordres de fret sont prévus sur l’année, pour un chiffre d’affaires estimé à 72 millions d’euros. Une grosse volumétrie que SAP TM a su prendre en charge.

Une deuxième phase déjà démarrée

Les enjeux sont atteints à 100 % sur de nombreux critères :

mise en place d’un plan de transport efficace ;
optimisation du réseau de transport ;
exploitation centralisée ;
cartographie, GIS et diagrammes de Gantt ;
communication avec les partenaires par voie électronique ;
intégration avec l’ERP SAP…

Le tout pour un budget maitrisé.

À ce jour, Agromousquetaires n’a migré que deux de ses filières vers la nouvelle société. Une seconde phase programmée sur deux ans est toutefois annoncée. À terme, le choix de SAP TM permettra également de faire remonter des informations vers les outils de Business Intelligence (BI) d’Agromousquetaires.

The post Agromousquetaires adopte SAP TM pour sa nouvelle filiale transport appeared first on SAP France News.

19 octobre 2020/par Service comm.

Who Do Web Designers Really Work For?

According to Dr. Neel Burton on Psychology Today:

It would be way too easy to answer this question with: “Whoever pays your bills.” And, honestly, I don’t think you can be a very successful web designer if you’re only driven by what the person paying you tells you to do.

Then again, that doesn’t mean you should swing to the exact opposite end and say that you only serve the end user.

When you take an extreme view or approach to this, you’re bound to leave someone or something important out. Everyone along the chain of command — your boss (if you work at an agency), your client, and their customers — matters.

So, what I’d suggest you do instead is approach the idea of who you really work for the way you would Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

Establishing Your Own Hierarchy of Needs

Who do web designers really work for? I think the true answer to this question is: “Everyone.” But there’s a catch…

Think about some of the requests you’ve received from superiors, or clients in the past. How many times have you rolled your eyes at their wacky requests?

“The contact form would be better in the header so visitors can always see it.”
“Let’s use this stock photo of two women shaking hands that I’ve seen a few other companies use.”
“Why don’t we redesign all of this and make it look like this site my brother built last night?”

You’re the design professional. That’s why they’re paying you to design their website and they’re not doing it themselves. So, there comes a point where you have to push aside what they want for what they need. And this will ultimately help you figure out who you work for and what you actually owe them (because fulfilling every nitpicky and unreasonable request will never lead to anything good).

So, here’s where the Hierarchy of Needs comes in. If we’re creating our own, it would look like this to start:

Working for the Boss

Maslow called the bottom… levels of the pyramid ‘deficiency needs’ because we do not feel anything if they are met but become anxious or distressed if they are not.

I’d argue that these basic needs are like the ones we fulfill for bosses (or clients, if you’re a freelancer and work for yourself). It would look something like this:

Of course, you’ll feel a sense of accomplishment by meeting these needs, but, as a creator, how important are these really to you? These are the basic things you have to do in order to make your boss happy and to stay gainfully employed. They also help to ensure that the client is happy with the boss and agency in the end.

Bottom line: Without these needs fulfilled, you won’t be able to move any deeper into the triangle/hierarchy. So, when focusing on working for your boss, make sure the basic needs are met so you can move on and serve others as they need you to.

Working for the Client

Now, if your boss and client are two different people, you’ll have a second layer of needs to attend to here.

Just as your boss wants you to help them make more money and earn a strong reputation within their space, so too does your client. However, the work you owe them is different. Here’s how it would be represented in the triangle:

Again, you’ll be pleased if you can do and be all these things that your client needs, but is this ultimately what drives you as a designer? Sure, you want to build great relationships with clients so they return to you time and time again with all their website and marketing needs. But in terms of being fulfilled by being a good listener or a timely communicator? Probably not.

All the same, it’s important to be skilled in this type of work and to know how to serve your clients in order to get to that top level. It’ll also help you prioritize their needs accordingly, so you’re not jumping at every single thing or request they claim to “need” and blowing the budget or scope of the job.

For example, if they start demanding more of you (like bombarding you with emails every day wanting to know what’s going on), you can confidently remind them that things are under control (because you’re adhering to the project deadlines, per your boss) and you’ve already scheduled the next client check-in for this week (because you’ve been a good communicator, just as they need you to be).

Working for the End User (Customer)

Maslow refers to the top-level of the pyramid as the growth need. And here’s how Dr. Burton sums this one up for us:

Once we have met our deficiency needs, the focus of our anxiety shifts to self-actualization, and we begin, even if only at a sub- or semi-conscious level, to contemplate our bigger picture. However, only a small minority of people are able to self-actualize because self-actualization calls upon uncommon qualities such as independence, awareness, creativity, originality, and, of course, courage.

These characteristics perfectly sum up everything you want to and should be as a web designer. Unfortunately, it’s those employer and client needs that can stand in your way before you can truly flex your muscles as a creative.

Once you’ve attended to the basics, though, you’ll get your chance to design the kinds of user experiences you know will delight your client’s customers.

Here’s how their part of the triangle should look:

These are universally applicable needs and cannot be ignored.

After you’ve addressed them, though, you will have fulfilled your responsibility to all three parties: your boss, your client, and your end users. And once you’ve done that, you are free to be the creative designer that you are.

Wrap-Up

What I want you to take away from this, is that there are certain basic needs which you must fulfill when working as a web designer. These are the ones you’ll put into your own hierarchy of needs.

Take a systematic approach, starting with your boss and ending with the customer:

What do you have to do to ensure that your boss is happy to have you on the team?
And that the client is pleased with the site you’ve built them?
So you can design a website and experience that end users respond to positively?

Once you’ve figured all this out, you’ll unlock the answer to whom you work for and, more importantly, how you should work for them.

Featured image via Pexels.