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Why AI & Automation Are Actually Friends to Design

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Artificial intelligence. Just hearing the phrase has been a trigger for many in the technology world since that creepy Haley Joel Osment film circa 2001. But more recently, artificial intelligence and machine learning strike fear into the hearts of skilled workers for an entirely different reason: job security, or lack thereof.

Smart-home devices, streaming services, self-checkouts, even Google searches are ways that artificial intelligence has seeped into everyday life, exemplifying the abilities of computers and machines to master both simple and complex tasks. In some instances, these technological advancements make our lives easier, but for some people, their proliferation has meant job loss and skill replacement. There’s no wonder that when artificial intelligence starts being mentioned along with web design and site creation, the spidey senses of designers all over the world start tingling.

designers think outside the box, something that AI just can’t do

But let’s get real about what AI and automation really mean for designers for a second. Talented designers with busy schedules should view these advancements as virtual assistants. For some small businesses on a limited budget, the websites that artificial intelligence can pump out might be fine…for a while. However, as businesses grow, change, require updating and customization to adapt to their customer base, the expertise of creative and talented designers will always be needed. Even the best AI that we see today is limited by evaluating, replicating, and revising what already exists. It may be able to mix 1,000 different color schemes into 10 million potential combinations, but great designers think outside the box, something that AI just can’t do.

In fact, rather than being scared of automation, designers ought to embrace automation and artificial intelligence as a way to unleash their creative thinking. Delegate repetitive, straightforward tasks to the right software, and suddenly you have time to bring your best ideas to the table and push the boundaries of your own innovation. 

Where AI has Failed in Design

The ultimate goal of artificial intelligence and automation in design work is a grand vision that has yet to be realised.

Consider the case of The Grid, which began as a crowdfunding campaign in 2014. The “revolutionary” product posed itself as an artificial intelligence solution for building thoughtfully, yet automatically, designed websites in five minutes. Research “Reviews of the Grid” in any search engine and you’ll be met with scathing criticism with only some small praise sprinkled in. Most of the initial users cite underwhelming results, the feeling of being duped by the Grid’s marketing tactics, nonsensical placement of text, and ultimately, the Grid being a complete waste of money for the resulting product. Even at the low cost of $100, compared to hiring a talented designer, most users felt their investment was wasted.

For the AI capabilities that exist now, most small business owners, or those looking to put together a simple website, are better off using drag and drop site builders (Wix, Squarespace, Weebly, etc) that have been around for ages. Even so, there are plenty of businesses still willing to hire designers to take this simple task off their plate due to a lack of technical expertise or lack of time. And let’s be honest, are there even enough talented (keyword here!) designers out there to keep up with the millions of websites created every year, without each one working themselves to death? 

Where Automation Shines for Designers

Fortunately for good designers, it appears for now that the days of artificial intelligence completely taking over their jobs is a fantasy. However, what AI and automation do offer designers is a solid starting point for success, eliminating much of the lower-level grunt work that most designers would rather skip anyway.

Even well-received AI website builders like Firedrop still require a basic eye for design and specialised knowledge to produce truly unique, high-converting, and user-friendly websites. Tools and practices that designers should adopt are the artificial intelligence and automation resources that will help them do their jobs better, faster, and leave them with more time to focus on project elements that AI cannot accomplish on its own.

Bridging the Gap Between Designers and Developers

Well-established brands are likely to already have design systems in place that guide the creation of new elements across their digital profiles whether on social media, various mobile apps, or different sections of a website. But even in large corporations — excepting those who have perfected the process — there’s often a breakdown between a designer’s vision and resulting product from the developers. It stems from the basic difference in how they each approach their work and the limitations of the systems they use.

While component libraries — or even full design systems for that matter — won’t reconcile every question, they provide both developers and designers a source of truth to work from that both parties can understand. Design collaboration tools like Invision and Visme, specifically, keep designers and developers on the same page with automated version saving and code-friendly workflows.  

Understanding the Consumer

I don’t suggest using artificial intelligence to produce content for your site

Digging into and understanding the behaviours and habits of site users is a relatively new component of site design, but offers invaluable insights. Tools like HotJar, Mouseflow, or Smartlook make it simple to see holes or leaks in your conversion funnels, detect which page elements users are interacting with, and which they’re not interested in to refine the look and feel of a page for maximum conversions. Even though these tools provide the data, it still takes a keen eye and understanding of design to implement the right changes to improve site performance.

Site content is another way that artificial intelligence has the potential to improve our understanding of customer behaviour and improve site performance for individual users. I don’t suggest using artificial intelligence to produce content for your site, no matter how much the results have improved. However, static landing pages or a single set of further reading recommendations are unlikely to appeal to the majority of site visitors. Artificial intelligence tools like CliClap and Personyze instantly collect and analyse consumer data to provide dynamic, personalised experiences that drive more leads and encourage conversions. Creative designers will also learn from this data to improve customer experience with other pages or elements throughout the site.

Removing Distracting, Time-Sucking Administrative Tasks

Because “artificial intelligence” has become a term with such negative connotations, we often overlook the simple way that AI actually makes our work lives better and easier. Machine learning in email filtering is a great example of this. Consider a simple interface like a Gmail inbox. We have the option to mark certain senders as spam or as important, and our inbox learns that type of communication is and isn’t useful to the user. Pandora, Spotify, Apple Music, and more all take cues from the user behaviour of liking a certain song, artists, or genre of music to build customised playlists. There are a myriad of ways that artificial intelligence and its branches of disciplines merge with our everyday lives. 

Some of the most useful automations for business, and especially for designers, are related to the administrative tasks that frequently take time away or distract from more pressing projects. A perfect example of automation that can relieve stress and cut down on mindless work is an email autoresponder. I’ve always found that having time blocked off in my calendar to tackle complex or important projects helps me to focus on the task at hand and be more efficient. In order to more effectively block out my time, closing my email and setting an autoresponder to reply to all incoming emails serves two purposes: 

  1. Lets those trying to get in touch with me know that I only check my email at certain times of the day and that my response may not be immediate — tempering their expectations of when they might hear from me.
  2. Relieves my personal stress of being tethered to my inbox, splitting my focus, and also saves the time of having to initially respond to each email individually. 

This is just one simple way to use automation in your email, although there are many others to explore.

While Zapier isn’t the only workflow automation service on the market, it’s probably the most well known. Workflow automation reduces time spent on mind-numbing, repetitive tasks and helps designers connect apps that might not natively work together. Do you keep a task list in Todoist? Set up a Zap, then create a task in Todoist anytime someone mentions you on Asana or assigns you a task in Trello.

This is especially helpful for freelance designers who work with multiple clients across various project management platforms. The potential for automation to relieve unnecessary mental overhead for designers is nearly limitless.

Don’t be Afraid of AI, Embrace It

The bottom line of this brief overview of artificial intelligence and automation in design is that this emerging technology isn’t something designers should be scared of. In fact, it’s something to welcome with open arms because ultimately it can make our jobs, and our lives, better. Leave the monotonous tasks of collecting and analysing huge amounts of data or administrative minutiae to the machines; they can handle it.

Save the interesting, creative, abstract work for the talented designers who can turn AI recommendations into unique and intuitive digital experiences. Making the relationship between artificial intelligence and design symbiotic will yield the best results for every entity involved: the business, the AI, and yes, even the designer.

 

Featured image via Unsplash.

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Is Change Positive for Web Designers?

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As a web designer, you’re constantly being bombarded with messages that tell you to acquire new skills, try new tools, and keep on hustling.

But if you’re constantly changing things up, does it do the opposite of what you originally set out to do? In other words, if you always have to start over, is it possible to ever really achieve anything?

I think it ultimately depends on why you’re making the change.

When Change Is the Right Move for Web Designers

One of the reasons I despise New Year’s resolutions is because it’s change for the sake of change:

It’s a new year, so it’s time to get all hyped up about this one thing I need to change about myself!

There’s a reason why so many resolutions fail by February. When you force a change, it’s really hard to stay invested in it, especially if it’s something you’ve chosen to do because everyone else has.

Change should be driven by necessity.

That said, when it comes time to make changes as a web designer, is it ever really necessary? Or are you learning new skills, trying new tools, or switching up your client list simply because it’s what you believe you have to do?

It’s important to be open to change, but you should only invest your time, money, or effort when it’s the absolute right move for you. Here are some ways you’ll know when that’s the case:

Learn New Skills To…

…Round Out the Basics

If you’re a new designer and there are gaps in your education and training (and I don’t mean formally, just in general), then there’s no reason to hesitate in spending time to acquire those skills.

This doesn’t just go for basic skills as a web designer or as a coder. This also goes for skills you need to become a successful freelancer.

…Add Evergreen Skills to Future-Proof Your Position

As you move up in your career, you’ll eventually find other skills worth learning. Just make sure they’ll help you move the needle.

The best way to do that is to focus on acquiring evergreen skills that’ll always be useful to you, no matter what stage you’re at in your career or how the design landscape changes. They should also go beyond the average skill set of a designer, so they help you stand out further from the pack.

… Create a Better Situation for Yourself

The web is constantly evolving, which means that your responsibilities and skills as a web designer will have to change in order to adapt. Whenever one of these shake-ups occurs, you should either be ready to master the needed skill right away or, better yet, have been working on it beforehand.

Take, Google’s mobile-first indexing, for instance. It announced it was going to be making this shift years before website rankings were impacted. Designers had plenty of time to not only learn what was needed to design for the mobile-first web, but to get all their existing clients’ sites in shape for it.

Adopt New Tools When…

…Your Existing Ones Are Slowing You Down

If you’re doing a lot of things from-scratch (like writing emails to clients or creating contracts), that’s a good sign your toolbox needs some improvement.

As a web designer, you should be focused on creating, not on the tedious details involved in running a business or communicating with clients. That’s just not a good use of your time. A lot of this stuff can easily be automated with tools and templates.

…You’re Turning Down Business

In some cases, it’s the right thing to say “no” to prospective clients — like when they’re a bad fit or can’t afford your rates. However, there are other times when you desperately want to be able to say “yes”, but you don’t have the capacity for the job or you’re unable to cover the full scope of what they need.

This is where new tools come in handy. For instance, let’s say you’ve been approached by a ecommerce company that not only wants you to build a new store, but also needs it fully optimized for search (it’s not the first time this has happened either). Rather than turn something like that down, you may find that the addition of an SEO tool to your toolbox is all you need to be able to say “yes”.

…You Have Extra Room in Your Budget

Obviously, you don’t want to throw away money on a bunch of tools simply because a ton of people are talking about them. But you’ll eventually get to a point where the tools that served you well in the first year of business need to be replaced.

If you get to a point where you have extra time to experiment and there’s room in your budget for upgraded tools, go ahead and assess what you currently have and test out replacement solutions that will help you work better, faster, and smarter.

Look for New Business Opportunities If…

…You’re Not Doing Well

“Well” here is subjective. For instance:

  • If you’re not doing well financially, you probably need to look for more clients;
  • If you’re not doing well in terms of how you get along with clients, you should explore a niche that’s a better fit;
  • If you’re not happy with your job because burnout and stress have overtaken your life, then you might consider exploring other avenues of work.

When something has been amiss for awhile, the last thing you should do is lean into it and hope it gets better.

…The Web is Changing

Notice a trend here? Each of these changes (skills, tools, and now business opportunities) is often driven by the fact that the web is always changing. And as the web changes, you have to be ready to evolve.

In terms of business opportunities, what you’ll realistically need to do is look for new kinds of design work as technologies make your job obsolete. Take website builders like Wix or Shopify, for example. As business owners and entrepreneurs take it upon themselves to build their own websites, more and more web designers will need to find other kinds of clients and jobs to take on.

…You Want to Diversify Your Income

This is something many web designers are doing already as they’ve discovered how beneficial it is to have predictable recurring revenue streams.

But even if you’ve already found one way to diversify and stabilize your income (like by offering website maintenance services), you may become interested in exploring other opportunities along the way. If you have the capacity to pursue them, then go for it.

Is Change a Good Idea?

As you can see, change can be a very good thing for a web designer, their business, and their clients. However, there should be a very good reason for the change and you need to prepare yourself for how it’s going to impact what you’re doing now before implementing it. No amount of change can happen without some level of sacrifice.

 

Featured image via Unsplash.

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Eye Vs AI: Harnessing Technology to Successfully Track User Attention

Attention is the new gold; brands are in a constant competition for our attention.

A big portion of our time we spend online, where we are bombarded with insane amounts of information and advertisements. It’s hard not to become overwhelmed in this world of consumerism. We have had to become good at quickly evaluating which information is important, especially on the internet.

Good marketing specialists know that they have mere seconds to turn a potential customer into a lead. People are not going to spend a lot of time examining your advertisement or landing page, either it clicks or not. Moreover, most users do not read the articles, they scan them. First impression plays a huge role in the success of your business, so do not leave that to a chance.

You really don’t want your customer to ignore that special sale, subscription option, or another call to action on your webpage. That is why you need to know where that gold-worthy attention goes when a user opens your landing page. Here’s where technology can come in handy.

Eye-Tracking in Web Design

It is very important to know where your website visitor’s attention goes first. How to get that info? Eye-tracking is the answer.

Eye-tracking technology can be used to optimize your website conversions. By tracking eye movements, technology will recognize which content is most intriguing for the users. It will reveal whether people pay most attention where you want them to, which elements are distracting or not visible enough, and where sales are lost. This information is invaluable if you want to succeed in the current market.

This information is invaluable if you want to succeed in the current market

How does it work? An eye tracker, such as webcam or goggles, measures movement of an eye. Collected data is analyzed and presented as a heatmap, highlighting which elements of your design attract most attention. Having in mind that browsing time rarely exceeds a few seconds, this information is very valuable when you try to understand your audience.

You wouldn’t want to spend much time on your website design just to discover it does not generate desired conversion rate. By employing this technology you can make changes based on reliable data rather than intuition and guarantee your business future success.

By now you may think that you definitely need to carry out this eye-tracking study, but there is a catch. A high-quality behavioral observation or eye-tracking is a time-consuming, budget eating complicated process.

If you want to draw conclusions from heatmaps, you would need to include at least 39 participants in a study. One individual test may last from 20 minutes to an hour. Time quickly adds up when you include preparation and analysis of the results. The average eye tracker price is around $17,500 and it may vary between several thousand dollars and $50 000. Of course you can hire a company to carry out this research for you but it may cost you several hundred dollars a month. Luckily, technological innovations allow us to acquire the same insights about users’ attention flow much cheaper and faster than conducting or buying an actual eye-tracking study.

Technological innovations replace real eye-tracking study

AI-Powered Automatization of Eye-Tracking

In this task of understanding how internet users are interacting with your website, Artificial Intelligence (AI) seems to be an answer. AI-based technologies already have become prevalent in various services we use on a daily basis. For example, Netflix’s highly predictive algorithm offers viewers personalized movie recommendations. Medical researchers utilize eye tracking to diagnose conditions like Alzheimer’s disease or Autism. As these algorithms become better every year, AI also becomes an irreplaceable tool in business.

Over the years researchers have collected so much data that human behavior becomes really predictable

How can AI help you to understand your customer’s attention? The main feature of AI is that it can mimic human intelligence and constantly improve itself by learning from data. Predictive eye-tracking is based on deep learning and trained with previous eye tracking study data. Over the years researchers have collected so much data that human behavior becomes really predictable. Technology predicts which specific areas of your website attract most interest. In this way, AI enables you to speed up the UX research process and get insights about your design in a matter of seconds.

Too good to be true? There are already several available tools on the market, such as Attention Insight or EyeQuant. These predictive design tools are based on deep learning and trained with previous eye-tracking studies data. Up to date, they have achieved an 84-90% accuracy.

AI-powered attention heatmap

AI solutions for designers and marketers have already become major competitors to traditional eye-tracking studies. Due to active competition, predictive eye-tracking tools are constantly innovating and recently started generating heatmaps for videos. Another useful feature that provides decision-makers with quantitative data is a percentage of attention. Users can define an object that they want to test and get an exact percentage of attention that the object receives.

Conclusion

Since all digital products are competing for user’s limited attention, it has become one of the most valuable resources. Due to fierce competition, it is not enough to rely on your intuition and gut instinct while making important decisions anymore. Designers have a choice in this economy of attention, though.

Yes, there are eye-tracking studies that require a significant amount of time and financial resources.

However, you can make user-centric, data-driven decisions in a quick, scalable, and private way while your product is still under development. AI-powered predictive eye-tracking tools might be an answer. Attention is a new currency, and you must measure it.

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Why Do Websites Look the Same (And Should We Care)?

If we don’t question this kind of design homogenization, do we put ourselves at risk of perpetuating the same mistakes in the years to come? Or is it even a mistake to begin with?

Today, I’m going to look at four things that are likely causing this, and what you can do to break the mold.

1. Education

We used to have a design school in every city in the world, each with its own design style or, at the very least, the encouragement of its designers to be creative and come up with something new.

These days, though, traditional design education isn’t as popular as it once was. According to Design Census 2019, only about a third of working designers have a formal education and degree:

The rest have been trained through a variety of means:

  • Online learning (17%)
  • Self taught (12%)
  • Workshops (10%)
  • Mentorship (6%)
  • Certificate programs (4%)

Cost and convenience are definitely two factors influencing this shift towards online learning methods. And with a wealth of resources online to teach them how to design and code, why not go that route? Plus, designers have to keep learning new things in order to remain competitive, so it’s not as though a degree is the be-all and end-all of their design training.

Plus, there isn’t as much demand for it from employers. Unless you plan on working for one of the top global marketing agencies, many hiring companies just want to see proof in the form of a portfolio and maybe have you do a test job.

Now, I’m not saying that online courses and other informal design education don’t foster creativity. However, in order to make them cost-efficient and quick to get through, they have to focus on teaching essential best practices, which means less room for experimentation. Perhaps more importantly, their curriculums are guided by fewer voices. So, this could likely be one of the culprits.

2. Design Blogs and Vlogs

You have to wonder if all the design blogs out there (yes, like Webdesigner Depot) impair designers’ ability to break free from the homogeneity of websites.

I think the answer to that is both “yes,” and “no”.

Why, Yes?

What is the purpose of a web design blog? Mainly it’s to educate new and existing designers on best practices, new trends, and web standards.

By their very nature, they really should be teaching web designers the same kinds of things. Let me show you an example.

This is a Google search for “web design trends 2020”:

Most design blogs will publish trends predictions around January 1. And herein lies the problem. The writers/designers can only deviate so far from what we know to be true when writing on the same topic… so these sites end up with similar recommendations.

For instance, the top search results recommended similar things for 2020:

  • Dark mode
  • Hand-drawn illustrations
  • Immersive 3D
  • Glowing colors
  • Minimalist navigation
  • Geometric shapes
  • Inclusivity
  • Accessibility

When web designers receive the same guidance no matter where they turn, it’s only logical that they’d end up creating websites that adhere to those same practices.

Why, No?

Because I write for web design publications, I can tell you that there’s a big difference in the kinds of content some of them publish.

For instance, I find that WebDesigner Depot isn’t interested in rehashing what everyone else is writing about this month. We’re given topics that challenge us to think outside the box and present readers with meaningful insights and recommendations.

So, I think that finding design blogs that push the boundaries and don’t just want to recap what everyone else is saying is really important. That’s how web designers are going to master the basic skills they need to succeed while getting inspired to try new things.

3. Designs Tools and Frameworks

This is another one that’s not as cut and dried. I think it depends on the tools used and the intent to use them.

Where Issues Start to Arise

There are certain site builder solutions that you’re going to be hard-pressed to create something innovative with. The same goes with using templates from sources like Dribbble. It’s just the nature of the beast.

If your goal is to create a cheap website very quickly for a client, then you’re probably going to use a cheap builder to do so. With ready-made templates and a lot of the work already done for you, you can create something that looks good with little effort.

When you’re limited by time and cost, of course you’re going to rely on shortcuts like cheap site builders or boring (but professional) design templates.

How to be More Careful

You can run into these kinds of issues with more flexible content management systems like WordPress or frameworks like Bootstrap, too.

Whenever you rely heavily on ready-made templates, pre-defined styles, or pre-built components, you run the risk of someone else’s work informing your own.

The solution is simple: Use demos, templates, UI kits, and so on as a base. Let them lay down the foundation that you work from.

But if you want your website to look different from the sea of lookalikes, you’re going to have to spend much more time developing a unique visual style that’s equally as effective in its mission. Which also means moving beyond clients that have small budgets or low expectations.

4. User Data

Data gathering is an important part of the job you do as a web designer.

You research the target user (or the existing user, when applicable). You look at industry trends as well as the competition to formulate an idea of what you need to build and how you’re going to do it. And you also use resources like Nielsen Norman Group and Think with Google that put out definitive research on what users want.

Even with the most niche of audiences, consumers’ wants and needs are all basically the same. So, obviously, you have to design experiences that align with them. If you deviate too much from what they expect from your site or brand, you run the risk of creating too much friction.

Is This a Bad Thing?

It’s not in terms of usability. If we build simple, predictable and user-friendly interfaces based on data that successfully drive visitors to convert, that’s great. So long as the content remains strong and the UI attractive, there’s nothing wrong with that approach.

But…

This is the same issue presented by templates and site builders. If you do exactly what’s needed and not much more, your site is going to look and act just like everyone else’s. Which comes at the cost of your brand reputation.

Just look at Google’s Material Design. This design system may have made it easier for web and app designers to create new solutions that were user-friendly and responsive, but there was just too much spelled out. And this led to a slew of Material Design lookalikes everywhere you turned.

This is the whole reason why companies take the time to craft a unique selling proposition. Without a USP, brands become interchangeable in the eyes of consumers.

So, again, my suggestion here is to use data to formulate a strategy for building your website. But don’t forget to spend time adding a unique style, and voice of the brand to the site.

Wrap-Up

It seems like, despite all that we’ve learned to do, websites are becoming less and less diverse in terms of design. And I think a lot of that is due to the fact that it’s much easier to design websites today than it was ten, or even five years ago.

Modern-day education, resources, tools, and consumer data take a lot of the questions and the work out of building websites. Which is good… but only to a point.

Unless you’re building websites for clients who have absolutely no budget, you can’t afford to skimp on the creativity and personalization that will set their website apart. Yes, you need to adhere to tried-and-true practices and standards, but beyond that, you should be experimenting.

 

Featured image uses photo by Kari Shea.

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Le Risque de fraude à la Hausse: Pourquoi le Gouvernement et l’Enseignement Supérieur, les Finances Sont Vulnérables aux Erreurs de

Vous pourriez supposer que, lorsqu’il s’agit de faire son choix de garder leurs organisations en cours d’exécution en douceur et sur le budget, les financiers, les décideurs sont de faire ces choix sur la base de données claires et leur confiance dans les données. Comme il s’avère, ce n’est pas toujours exacte hypothèse.

Une récente enquête menée par SAP d’Accord et Kelton Mondiale a montré que 59 pour cent des financiers décideurs de travail dans l’etat, la ville et le gouvernement local et de l’enseignement supérieur croire les outils financiers et les systèmes utilisés dans leurs organisations sont sujettes à l’erreur, et 68% d’avoir à prendre des décisions sans une visibilité complète sur les informations nécessaires. Beaucoup de ces dirigeants admettre que la fraude, le gaspillage et les abus sont les défis à relever leurs organisations face et que leur vulnérabilité à ces types de risques est à la hausse:

  • Les deux tiers des répondants admettent que la fraude, le gaspillage et les abus sont les défis de leur organisation est actuellement confrontée.
  • Plus du quart des répondants déclarent que leur vulnérabilité aux risques de fraude et d’abus augmenté dans la dernière année.
  • Environ un tiers-dire le nombre d’inexactitude des rapports de dépenses et les factures soumises a augmenté au cours de la dernière année.

Inexacte de Prise de Décision Conduit à des Risques

La vérité est, il est arrivé aux meilleurs d’entre nous. Nous pouvons tous susceptibles souviens d’une fois où nous avons pris une décision sans avoir les informations de base nécessaires pour le faire, et que la décision peut ne pas avoir produit le plus de résultats favorables.

Pourquoi? Afin de prendre de bonnes décisions d’affaires et d’éviter de regrettables erreurs, nous avons besoin d’accéder à toutes les informations optimal de sorte que nous n’avons pas à l’aveuglette.

Les dommages à la réputation de mauvais de prise de décision peut être catastrophique pour un secteur public de l’organisation potentiellement conduisant à une diminution du financement et de la confiance.

Une récente étude de l’Association of Certified fraud Examiners (ACFE) a identifié le haut de la fraude dépenses que les entreprises et les organismes gouvernementaux à engager. Elles comprennent:

  • Cinq pour cent d’une organisation typique, les revenus annuels sont perdus à cause de la fraude
  • Quatre-vingt-neuf pour cent des cas de fraude impliquer le détournement de fonds, y compris rembourrage de voyage et des demandes de remboursement de frais
  • Annuel médian de la perte de US$114 000 de détournement de fonds

En dépit de ces menaces, de l’etat, la ville et le gouvernement local et de l’enseignement supérieur les décideurs sont confrontés à ces défis chaque jour. Environ un quart des répondants affirment que leur organisation a involontairement signalé incorrecte des données de budget, en raison d’inexactitudes dans les rapports de dépenses ou des factures. Et, 26% disent que leur organisation involontairement ressources allouées là où il ne devrait pas avoir à cause de l’prévoyant plus de budget qu’il a eu réellement.

Pour l’enseignement supérieur, des organisations, ces types d’erreurs peuvent avoir des effets négatifs directs sur les élèves. L’Université du Texas (UT) à Tyler récemment trouvé ses calculs pour l’ensemble de trajet de quatre ans de recherche. D’autres ont été accordées que ne l’étaient réellement prévu, et l’université a répondu par la révocation entre 50 et 60 ces bourses – longtemps après que les élèves avaient accepté à l’UT Tyler et les autres collèges, les délais ont expiré. De nombreuses admissions dirigeants estiment que ces actions contraires à l’éthique et des étudiants ont pris aux médias sociaux pour partager leurs malheureuses histoires.

Les risques liés à la réputation éprouvée par l’UT Tyler sont juste un exemple de pourquoi la précision, la visibilité et la conformité sont de la plus haute importance pour toute organisation.

La lutte contre la Fraude et l’Atteinte de la Conformité avec l’IA et l’Engagement des Employés

Pour ceux qui travaillent dans le secteur public, en ne respectant pas les règles et règlements gouvernementaux n’est pas une option. La bonne nouvelle est qu’il existe de nombreuses façons dont ces petites organisations peuvent commencer à s’éloigner de cette question – y compris par une meilleure formation des employés, une réglementation plus stricte des processus internes, et une étroite collaboration avec les chefs de l’information. En fait, le gouvernement et l’enseignement supérieur, les organisations mettent en œuvre diverses initiatives pour rester au courant.

Selon les Kelton Mondial de l’enquête, près des deux tiers (69%) ont demandé à leurs employés pour en savoir plus sur cette information ou procéder régulièrement à des vérifications (65 pour cent) pour recueillir le plus actuel de la réglementation de l’information. Plus de la moitié aussi regarder au-delà des murs de leur organisation – en particulier les pairs dans le secteur public – pour trouver les meilleures pratiques pour le respect de la conformité à la réglementation.

Dans le même temps, de mettre les technologies qui permettent simultanément d’automatiser les tâches fastidieuses et sujettes à erreur de processus comme l’audit des charges et de la facture de données, mais l’apprentissage et deviennent de plus en plus efficace au fil du temps — est la plus efficace à long-terme de la stratégie.

J’ai vanté les avantages de l’automatisation avant, mais ceux sur les lignes de front: La majorité (55%) des répondants au sondage qui ont entièrement automatisé, outils pour les notes de frais, factures, ou la gestion des déplacements à différents stades de mise en œuvre affirment que leur organisation est d’une meilleure gestion de la fraude, le gaspillage et les abus au sein de leurs organisations.

Plus loin encore, ceux qui ont complètement automatisé le processus de facturation sont environ deux fois plus susceptibles que ceux qui n’ont pas 39 pour cent contre 21 pour cent — à-dire qu’il y a eu moins d’erreurs dans ces rapports. Pima Community College à Tucson, en Arizona, est un excellent exemple d’un établissement d’enseignement supérieur qui a récolté les avantages de l’automatisation. Son processus de gestion de voyage, les dépenses et les factures utilisé pour être très manuel – avec du papier à base de demandes et remboursements étant la norme. On peut imaginer le potentiel de la marge d’erreur avec cette approche. En introduisant de nouvelles technologies et de l’automatisation de la vérification des règles, Pima pour réduire les erreurs et les violations de conformité, et à son tour augmenté l’adhésion à la politique.

Sur le Kelton Enquête Mondiale

Le Kelton Mondiale étude a recueilli les réponses de 313 financiers décideurs de travail dans l’etat, la ville et le gouvernement local et de l’enseignement supérieur pour en savoir plus sur la façon dont ces organisations sont la réduction des risques, le maintien de la conformité, et d’optimiser l’efficacité de ce qui fonctionne bien, ce que d’autres pourraient apprendre de ce que certaines organisations sont en train de faire, et où l’application de nouveaux systèmes et processus pourrait régler le temps et la précision des questions.

David Ballard est vice-président senior du Secteur Public chez SAP, d’Accord.
Cette histoire est initialement paru sur le SAP Accord des salles de rédaction.

Source de l’article sur SAP News Center

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Négocier son triangle

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Le rôle et la responsabilité d’un chef de projet ou Project Manager est de garantir l’atteinte de l’objectif  dans le respect des contraintes de délais et de budget. Un formalisation de ce périmètre de responsabilité est souvent établie sur la base du triangle QCD (Qualité, Coûts, Délais).
Nous avions abordé l’importance d’une vision partagée de l’objectif au sein de notre article précédent.

En s’appuyant sur le symbole du triangle, nous pourrions scénariser les échanges entre la MOA et le chef de projet selon, bien entendu, une vision initiale différente du périmètre du triangle.

1) La MOA a naturellement tendance à considérer le périmètre du projet sous la forme d’un triangle extrêmement pointu, soit la réalisation de l’objectif ambitieux (Qualité) avec un budget (Coût) des plus réduit et une durée d’obtention (Délai) des plus courtes.

2) Dans la phase d’étude de faisabilité, la responsabilité du chef de projet va être d’évaluer le périmètre réaliste du triangle (avec une base élargie), pour l’amener en superposition avec celui de la MOA et entrer dans une phase de discussion-négociation de moyens.

3) Face à des exigences de respect budgétaire, le chef de projet va aménager le plan projet avec une probable extension de durée de réalisation pour limiter au mieux les appels à la sous-traitance externe.

4) Face à l’expression d’une contrainte de délai de livraison impérative, le chef de projet va organiser le plan projet avec une probable demande de budget complémentaire pour disposer des ressources suffisantes.

5) Face à une double pression temporelle et budgétaire, les discussions amèneront (normalement) la MOA à une révision de l’exigence en terme d’objectif.

6) Le compromis entre la MOA et le chef de projet permettra de définir le périmètre de réalisation du projet et par extension les engagements et le périmètre de responsabilité du chef de projet.

7) Ce dernier aura bien entendu intégré à son étude et négociation une gestion des risques (AMDEC ou autre) puisque ces derniers font partie intégrante de la responsabilité d’un chef de projet dans le pilotage des réalisations qui lui sont confiées.

Triangle QCD animé

 

Cette étape d’évaluation des moyens et de négociation est critique puisqu’elle conditionne les chances d’atteinte de l’objectif du projet.
Le chef de projet dans sa mission de pilotage des réalisations et à partir du REPORTING, devra suivre l’évolution des paramètres QUALITE, COUTS et DELAIS.

A la clôture du projet, la superposition du triangle « réalisé » sur le triangle « prévisionnel » permettra d’évaluer les écarts sur l’objectif.

Tout repose donc sur la capacité du chef de projet à négocier les moyens adaptés à la réalisation.

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