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Everything You Need to Know About Websites And Privacy Laws

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When it comes to compliance, website developers need to keep their eyes on more than just ADA regulations and Section 508. Privacy laws are a big consideration and decisions on how to build privacy into a website start with architects. 

And that’s exactly what website developers (and designers!) are. They build up attractive, functional websites and apps for their clients. Yes, they work closely with clients, copywriters, vendors, and other professionals to get the job done, but the developers are the ones who put it all together. 

That’s why it’s critical that website developers are well-versed in marketing privacy laws — these regulations directly impact the end results of their work. But how does a website architect create a digital platform that honors both user privacy and the needs of their clients? 

What Privacy Laws Are Important For Web Developers?

The two biggest privacy laws that web developers need to keep tabs on are the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA). Each law has its own unique scope and provisions, but they both shifted the landscape in defining an individual’s rights to their personal data and set mechanisms for how these rights would be protected and enforced.

Each regulation also carries with it fines, fees, and legal measures for non-compliance. These can be substantial. And if that’s not enough, there’s an ever-increasing consumer demand for websites that prioritize privacy and security. Consider these statistics:

  • 82% of Americans surveyed say they are concerned about the security of their online data
  • 79% of adults claim they are very or somewhat worried about how companies use the data they collect about them
  • 63% of Americans believe they understand very little or nothing at all about privacy laws and regulations that are intended to protect their data

How Can Developers Implement These Laws?

Privacy by Design is Critical for Websites

Under GDPR, web developers are required to adopt the Privacy by Design framework, which is a multi-point methodology intended to standardize data protection measures. 

Building privacy into websites shouldn’t happen at the end stages. It should start with how the websites are conceptualized in the first place. Here are points to prioritize:

  • Minimize that data you’re collecting and pseudonymize it to protect data privacy
  • Are you capturing consent? How? Where?
  • Integrating security measures to protect data — anytime you capture data or implement a third party product, a security risk is born.
  • Knowing where you’re introducing privacy and data sharing notices
  • Implement just-in-time notices to provide consumers transparency and build trust 
  • Giving your users the opportunity to manage their personal data

Let’s look at these a little more closely…

Data Minimization is the Goal

Data minimization is an important principle embedded in GDPR. Data minimization itself is a pretty straightforward concept: organizations should limit how much personal data they collect and only process the information necessary to accomplish their business purposes. Once the data is no longer useful, it should be deleted. 

For web developers, this means several things. When it comes to building websites, forms, cookies, and other methods should only ask for essential information. For example, if you are creating a pop-up to collect email addresses, don’t ask for their location unless it’s relevant to the email list and better serving their needs.

How and Where Do You Introduce Privacy Policies and Notices?

Let’s say you take data minimization seriously. That’s great! Now you need to put those data collection practices into words and share them with your customers. 

Privacy policies and notices are a big part of both GDPR and CCPA. Both the CCPA and the GDPR mandate that your privacy policy detail why you’re collecting information and how it will be used, as well as what the individual’s rights are and how they can exercise them. 

CCPA takes a slightly different angle, requiring privacy policies to disclose if the business sells personal data and what third parties have access to the data. CCPA also dictates that privacy policies and notices are current, updated at least annually.  (Nota bene: GDPR also asks for updated privacy documents, but doesn’t specify frequency.) 

How does this translate from policy into web development?

  • If you’re collecting data to improve user experience, allow for targeted ads, or sharing information with third-parties, this information will need to be included in a privacy notice. Remember, CCPA works with a broad definition of selling data, so you may need to account for a “Do Not Sell” link on your home page. 
  • Considering using data beyond these purposes? Plan to obtain explicit user consent for each additional purpose.
  • What’s your plan for the data after the user gives it to you? Where is it stored? Who has access to it? How long are you keeping it? These are all questions that a website developer should consider, and that needs to go into a privacy notice. 

Just-in-Time Notices for Transparency and Trust

Part of Privacy by Design is the use of individual components of your website to create transparency and support compliance. From a development and design perspective, this means you should always be looking for ways to communicate the hows and whys of data collection. 

Yes, your privacy policies and notices aid in this, but going beyond these pieces is important. Customers recognize when businesses go the extra mile for them, after all. 

So consider implementing just-in-time notices at points where users enter their information. These notices are a chance to share your data collection practices with your users. It’s transparent! It’s open! It aids in consumer awareness! 

Keep Users in the Loop

Want to win over your customers? Make it as easy as possible for them to manage their personal data and how it’s being used. This starts with making sure they are aware of why you’re requesting their information and how you’re planning on using it for the website. You should also:

  • Get user consent — clear and unambiguous user consent — prior to gathering any data at all. This includes cookies.  
  • Don’t pre-tick boxes for consent. Just don’t. (It’s bad practice AND it’s against GDPR.)
  • Link to all legal documents on the site. Users should be required to agree to them before using the service. 
  • Want to send marketing communications like email newsletters to your customers? Make sure they agree to this. Expressly. 

One helpful tool for keeping users in the loop is a marketing preference center. A marketing preference center allows users easy access to their information. From there, they can manage, edit, and delete their information at their discretion.  

Bonus? A marketing preference center is an excellent point at which to communicate a business’ commitment to privacy. While users will pick up this through all the discrete elements of privacy on your website, putting it all into one hub that also allows users control over their data really reinforces this message. 

Remember, it’s not just on the consumer to manage their data. Web developers should commit to managing the data in their systems. This means they should:  

  • Maintain accurate and clean records of users’ data consent preferences
  • Send regular reminders to users to update their personal information in your system
  • If a user deletes their account, promptly delete all of their personal information  
  • If your client goes out of business or is sold, they should delete all personal information in their system

Make it User Friendly

A final point: making your websites user friendly is important regardless of privacy compliance. Users expect websites that don’t make them think deeply about, or worry about, their privacy. Make it accessible and easy. Don’t make people figure it out on their own.

Give them value for sharing their data

Your users don’t have to share their data. They’re choosing to. So in exchange for their personal information, make sure you’re using it to provide a user-friendly website. Offer them a secure, enjoyable experience.  

But don’t ask for more than you need

Let’s loop back around to this point again. While consumer data can help you build a better website, don’t plan your websites around it and don’t demand data to create a good experience. 

Usability, web design, and website security; all of these things benefit from consumer data. But privacy laws should always guide how any personal data is collected and used, and respect for consumers’ individual rights, and honoring their privacy should be top-of-mind for web developers. 

 

Featured image via Pexels.

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20 Freshest Web Designs, October 2020

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We have become so used to using web sites just to buy stuff that it is easy to forget that the web has more to offer. So this month we’ve included some because-it’s-interesting sites, some micro-sites and some just-for-the-sake-of-it projects.

Many of these are about selling or promoting products and services too, but in a more oblique way that is frequently more engaging than a straightforward sales site.

Micro sites can be a great way of including content that doesn’t fit in neatly with the rest of the main site, or is temporary, or to show a lighter, more fun side of a brand. And a well thought out micro site can act as a gateway to pull in even more visitors to its ‘parent’ site.

Your World Your Way

Your World Your Way is an interactive portal for the University of Auckland. An optional questionnaire customizes the experience, and clearly a lot of effort has gone into this in terms of the questions and possible answers, and the presentation. It is engaging and enjoyable to use, and the information provides links to the main University of Auckland website.

Blind Barber

This micro site is to celebrate 10 years of barber shop chain Blind Barber, which started as one shop with a bar in the back room, in New York’s East Village. An entirely black and white design provides a clean backdrop for color photos and videos, and some great scrolling animations give a pleasing flow to the content.

Brews & Grooves

Brews & Grooves pairs records with different beer. Although a ‘fun’ project, it is still a well designed piece of work with some vintage style typography and some pleasing rollover animation effects. It is an effective advert for those involved in creating it, as listed in on its ‘credits’ page.

Gucci Bloom

As part of a new campaign to promote it’s ‘Bloom’ perfumes, Gucci have created a Gucci Bloom game. The player has to pick up flowers and perfume bottles, but miss a flower and the vines get in your way.

808303Studio

808303Studio is a digital musical instrument that emulates a Roland TR-808 drum machine and TB-303 bass synthesizer, created in conjunction with the Design Museum (London). It’s fully programmable and there is even short video tutorial with A Guy Called Gerald on how to use it.

Aelfie

Aelfie is a home furnishings brand with a focus on bold patterns and bright color. Their site reflects this with its use of block color, irregular grid, drawings, and type that feels a little off-kilter. It creates a hand-made feel that embodies the brand aesthetic rather well.

Media Election 2020

As we approach one of the most significant, not to mention acrimonious, elections in US history, Media Election 2020 uses AI to analyze the volume of media attention each candidate receives, in real time.

Curbed

Magazine website Curbed has now become a part of New York magazine, and had a redesign in the process. It follows a discernible grid, but distorts it just enough to create an edge. The highlighter color frames, and underlines on rollover, add movement and ‘cool’.

WFN

The WFN (Women’s Funding Network) is an alliance of funds and foundations working to promote gender equity and social change internationally. The site is clean, with strong typography and a sophisticated color palette.

The Fabric of America

Internet, telephone and TV service provider Xfinity is behind the Fabric of America project. It is a collection of voice recordings, the idea being that each voice, and each person’s story, is a thread that makes up the flag that we see on the screen.

Minimal Ceramics

Minimal Ceramics is a concept site, showcasing the work of London based potter, Tom Crew. The design of the site reflects the simplicity of the showcased work, using great photography and simple typography.

Normal Now

Normal Now is part of an awareness campaign to highlight to consumers the positives of electric cars. Taking a fun approach to engage consumers in a serious subject, it uses a fake retro tech style.

Superfood Gin 

Superfood Gin is a gin made using superfood botanicals, that claims to be fruity and fresh rather than crisp and peppery. The soft color palette, along with the soft lines and curves in the background illustrations, reflect this well.

Maison Louis Marie

Maison Louis Marie is a natural fragrance company. While this site does nothing really groundbreaking, it does it well. Botanical drawings on a white background, along with clean typography, help create a refined, luxury feel.

Think Economia

Think Economia is a platform taking a fresh look at economics and the future of economic growth. It doesn’t sound like the most exciting subject, but it is presented here in a playful and intriguing way.

Chernobyl

From Uprock, a Russian design studio that also offers courses in web design, Chernobyl is a thought provoking exposition of the Chernobyl disaster. The design aesthetic is muted, allowing the images their deserved impact, and the brief sections of text to be absorbed.

Declamatuus

Declamatuus is a lingerie company selling gift sets. What stands out here is what you don’t see — live models in underwear. Instead the outline of the body is created with animated particles.

Odisea

Odisea Expedition is a documentary series following two friends, a surfer and a snowboarder, as they explore remote parts of the world. The photographs and video are everything here, and all other elements are kept minimal to avoid detracting from them.

Riffyn

Riffyn Nexus is a ‘Process Data System’ for storing and analyzing scientific data for laboratories. It is a very corporate site and yet it is put together in such a way that doesn’t feel dull.

Maison du Net

This site for digital design agency Maison du Net takes a risk mixing corporate with cutesy, but it works. Offset frames and underlines create interest without overdoing it, and the very bright green is used sparingly enough to liven things up without being overwhelming.

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4 Ways Big Data Is Evolving Risk Management

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In the digital era, Big Data has drastically changed the landscape of business and risk management. With unlimited access to information about potential customers and user behavior, companies are using analytics to improve their risk management practices in more advanced ways than ever before.


Big Data Analytics

Techwave’s Big data analytics consulting services help you maximize revenue options and win loyal and happy customers.

Why Big Data Is Important

Big data has been around a long time, but it has taken a while for organizations to see the usefulness of big data. Big data doesn’t just track the consumer when they are online – it provides a history of behaviors that big data services can analyze and extrapolate from. If the consumer uses smart devices, makes a purchase with credit cards or checks, or visits establishments that use smart devices, they leave a data trail that can be analyzed by big data consulting to determine possible trends. These trends help businesses understand what drives their customers to make certain purchases over others.

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5 Biggest Challenges Web Design Agencies Face

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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.

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Making Minimalism Functional in Web Design

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Today, great design isn’t just about conveying the right amount of information in a certain number of pages. 

There’s more to creating the perfect website than experimenting with visuals and sound. Designers need to think carefully about how each element of their site impacts the overall user experience. 

After all, with billions of websites available to explore, it takes something truly immersive to convince your client’s audience that they should stay on their pages. The more convenient and attractive your websites are, the more likely it is that visitors will want to stick around. 

Minimalism, one of the more popular styles of web design from the last few years, can sometimes assist designers in making attractive and effective websites more functional.

The less clutter and confusion there is on a page, the easier it is to navigate. 

So, how do you embrace the benefits of functional minimalism?

Understanding Functional Minimalism

Many webs designers are convinced that minimalism is all about aesthetics. 

They see a website like Hugeinc.com and assume that the minimalist appearance is all about making the website as attractive as possible.

However, the underlying ideas of minimalism in web design go much deeper than this.  The history of minimalist design begins with Japanese culture. Japan has long focused on balancing simplicity and beauty with its architecture, interior design, and even graphic design. In the Western world, minimalism got its day in the sun in the web design environment, after customers endured years of cluttered and complicated web pages with difficult navigation, overwhelming information and clashing graphics. 

Designers began to experiment with the idea that less really could be more — particularly when it came to the digital landscape. 

The Functional Rules of Minimalist Web Design

For a while, minimalism was the most popular style for a website. During 2018, in particular, minimalist web design soared to the top of the designer demand list, as companies fell in love with a combination of white space, simple navigation and bold text. 

While now, there are other design trends stepping into the industry, designers can still benefit from exploring some of the essential rules of functional minimalism. After all, visual complexity has been proven to damage a person’s perception of a website. 

Additionally, a study conducted by the EyeQuant group found that a clean and simple design can lead to a lower bounce rate. Minimalism gives viewers less to contend with on a page, which can allow for a simpler and more straightforward experience. Additionally, a clean website can also drive additional benefits, including faster loading times, better responsivity between screen sizes and more.

Because you’re only using a few images and well-spaced text, you can even experiment with different strategies, like graphics and dynamic fonts. Look at the Manuel Rueda website, for instance, it’s a great example of how a minimalist design can be brimming with activity.

So, how can any designer use the principles of functional minimalism?

1. Focus on the Essentials

First, just like when designing a landing page, designers need to ensure that they’re concentrating only on the elements in the page that really need to be there.

This means removing anything on the website that doesn’t support the end-goals of the specific page that the viewer is using. Any pictures, background noise, buttons, or even navigation features that aren’t going to support the initial experience that the visitor needs, must go. 

Think about what’s going to distract your visitors from the things that are important and concentrate on giving everything a purpose. For instance, the Plus63.org website instantly introduces the visitors to the purpose of the website, then allows users to scroll down to get more information. The data is spread clearly through the home page, pulling the viewer into a story. 

2. Embrace the Positives of Negative Space

Negative space is one of the fundamental components of good minimalist web design. 

Every part of a good website doesn’t need to be filled with noise to make a difference. White, or negative space can help to give your viewer the room they need to fully understand the experience that they’re getting. 

From a functional perspective, it’s the difference between placing someone in an overflowing storage container and asking them to find what they need or placing them in a room where items are carefully spaced out, labelled, and waiting for discovery. 

The Hatchinc.co website uses negative space to ensure that information is easy to consume. You can find the different pages of the site easily, the social media buttons, and the newsletter subscription tool. Plus, you get a chance to see some of the work behind the site.

3. Make it Obvious

One of the biggest problems that consumers have encountered in recent years, is the concept of “choice overload”. 

Whether you’re in a store, or on a website, you’re never sure what to do first. Do you check out the blog posts on the site to learn more about the authority of the company? Do you visit the “About” page, to see where the brand come from? Do you head to their product pages?

As a designer, functional minimalism can help you to make it obvious what your audience should do next. As soon as you arrive on the AYR.com website, you’re not overwhelmed with choice. You can either head to your bag, “shop now”, or check the menu. 

Since the “Shop Now” CTA is the biggest and most compelling, the chances are that most visitors will click that first, increasing the company’s chance of conversions. 

4. Simplify the Navigation (But Don’t Hide It)

The AYR.com example above brings us to another concept of functional minimalism. 

While minimalism and simplicity aren’t always the same thing, they should go hand-in-hand. When you’re designing for functional minimalism, you should be concentrating on helping visitors to accomplish tasks as quickly and easily as possible, without distraction. 

That means that rather than overwhelming your audience with a huge selection of pages that they can visit at the top or side of the screen, it may be worth looking into simpler navigation options. A single menu icon that expands into a full list of items remains a popular design choice – particularly in the era of mobile web design. 

For instance, look at the simple menu on newvision-opticien.com.

With this basic approach, designers can ensure that visitors are more likely to click through to the pages that their clients want their customers to visit. They can still find what they need in the menu, but it’s not taking up space on the page, or distracting them. 

5. Set Great Expectations with the Top of the Screen

Functional minimalism can also help today’s designers to more quickly capture the attention of their visitors from the moment they click into a website. 

The content that’s visible at the top of the page for your visitors is what will encourage them to take the next step in their online experience. Make sure that you’re providing something that keeps your audience interested and gives them the information they need. 

That way, you’ll lower the risk of high bounce rates for your clients, while also taking advantage of minimalism’s ability to deliver quick access to information for your audience. 

At the top of the page, the Kerem.co website instantly introduces the visitor into what the website is all about, and what they should do next. 

You can even deliver more information in one chunk at the top of the page, without cluttering the environment, by using good UI animation. 

Consider implementing a slideshow of pictures that flip from one image to the next, or a font section that dynamically changes as your audience has chance to read each sentence. 

6. Use Functional Minimalism in the Right Spaces

Remember, functional minimalism isn’t just for home pages. 

Depending on what you want to accomplish for your client, you could also embed the components of minimalism into landing pages, portfolios, and squeeze pages too. 

After all, when there’s less clutter and confusion on a page to distract a potential audience, there’s a greater chance that your visitors will scroll to the bottom of the page and complete a conversion. For instance, look at how simple and attractive the Muzzleapp.com landing page is.

The page provides useful information and tells customers exactly what they need to do next. There’s no confusion, no complexity, and nothing to hold visitors back. 

Just be careful. While functional minimalism can be very useful, it won’t be right for every website. A lack of elements can be harmful to websites that rely heavily on content. That’s because low information density will force your user to scroll excessively for the content that they need. Using functional minimalism correctly requires a careful evaluation of where this technique will be the most suitable. 

Minimalism Can be Functional

A minimalist design isn’t just an aesthetic choice. The right aspects of minimalism can simplify interfaces on the web by eliminating unnecessary elements and reducing content that doesn’t support an end goal. 

The key is to ensure that you’re focusing on a combination of aesthetics and usability when creating the right design. An easy-to-navigate and beautiful website can be a powerful tool for any business.  

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Quand le manufacturing inspire le secteur de la construction

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Remontée des données en temps réel, connexion des partenaires, mise en place d’un jumeau numérique, industrialisation de la fabrication sont quelques-unes des pistes d’évolution possibles dans le monde de la construction.

« Le monde de la construction se trouve à un point d’inflexion : le numérique va fondamentalement changer les business models, les méthodes et l’économie du secteur » constate Johnny Clemmons, Global Vice President en charge de cette thématique chez SAP. La demande devrait rester soutenue dans les décennies à venir, avec des projets d’une complexité croissante et une pression toujours aussi forte sur les marges.

Les techniques déjà employées dans l’industrie manufacturière peuvent trouver des débouchés dans le secteur de la construction :

• automatisation des tâches répétitives amenant peu de valeur ajoutée ;
• analyses et rapports en temps réel, pour un véritable pilotage de la production ;
• exploitation des données issues des capteurs, afin d’améliorer la prise de décision ;
• introduction de technologies interactives et de robotique.

Des chantiers connectés

Le responsable d’un chantier centralise de nombreuses informations sur l’avancement des travaux, mais souvent au travers d’une saisie manuelle, qui ne sera remontée que plus tard chez le constructeur. Impossible dès lors de piloter les chantiers de façon centralisée, ces données ne pouvant – au mieux – avoir un intérêt que lors d’études à postériori. Autre problème, chaque corps de métier va se charger d’une tâche précise, qu’il gérera souvent en toute indépendance.

Le premier enjeu consiste à casser ces silos, via une remontée des informations en temps réel dans l’ERP, ce qui ouvrira la voie à un pilotage centralisé des chantiers. L’amélioration de la collaboration entre les différents intervenants permettra également de créer de nouvelles synergies. L’équipe en charge des approvisionnements, les architectes, les ingénieurs et le donneur d’ordres pourront ainsi trouver des voies d’optimisation. Par exemple en proposant des structures plus modulaires, adaptées à l’utilisation de blocs préfabriqués, qui permettront – au travers de l’automatisation – d’améliorer la productivité, les coûts et la qualité.

Des partenaires connectés

À moyen terme, la Modélisation des Informations du Bâtiment (BIM, pour Building Information Modeling) promet de mieux gérer la construction d’un ouvrage, au travers d’un modèle unique du bâtiment, d’un processus de gestion basé sur la donnée, mais aussi de logiciels dédiés. Une approche qui n’est pas sans rappeler les systèmes de pilotage de la production (MES, pour Manufacturing Execution System) qui se démocratisent dans l’industrie.

Les intervenants vont pouvoir s’appuyer sur ce modèle pour synchroniser leurs efforts avec le maximum d’efficacité. Des technologies comme le rendu 2D/3D ou les jumeaux numériques renforceront cette démarche en optimisant la construction et en améliorant la prise de décision.

Du fait d’une remontée des informations en temps réel, il sera également possible de suivre les progrès d’un chantier en direct et donc l’évolution des coûts et marges. Avec comme bénéfice pour les contractants d’être payés plus rapidement lorsque leurs missions sont achevées.

Le prédictif en ligne de mire

Remontée de données en temps réel et mise en place d’un jumeau numérique sont les deux éléments clés pour aller au-delà de l’analyse traditionnelle et aborder le sujet du prédictif.

L’Internet des Objets est également une voie pour le prédictif. Connectés, les équipements des chantiers de construction font remonter des informations aux constructeurs. Un moyen d’améliorer la maintenance de ces équipements, en assurant leur entretien avant que les pannes ne surviennent. Mais également un moyen d’optimiser leur exploitation. Certains équipements lourds sont d’ores et déjà connectés. Une opportunité pour les entreprises souhaitant démarrer leur digitalisation par un projet simple, au ROI immédiatement mesurable.

The post Quand le manufacturing inspire le secteur de la construction appeared first on SAP France News.

Source de l’article sur sap.com

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Atteignez l’excellence des processus avec la SAP Cloud Platform

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Comment améliorer, contrôler et automatiser ses processus ? L’utilisation de SAP Cloud Platform permet aux entreprises d’atteindre leurs objectifs de Process Excellence.

Une connaissance fine des processus et la capacité à les améliorer en continu sont les clés de l’excellence opérationnelle de l’entreprise. Ceci nécessite agilité, collaboration, automatisation et intelligence dans les processus.

Cet objectif d’excellence des processus peut être atteint au travers d’un cycle comprenant quatre étapes :

  1. compréhension des processus ;
  2. amélioration des processus ;
  3. automatisation des processus ;
  4. surveillance et ajustement des processus.

« Il est essentiel de comprendre les processus existants, avant de pouvoir les améliorer et en tirer plus de valeur », résume Olivier Enault, Presales for Information & Process Excellence, SAP France. La première phase consiste donc à découvrir les processus au travers de la technologie Process Mining de Celonis, qui va les détecter et les analyser.

Redessiner les processus avec SAP Cloud Platform Workflow

SAP Cloud Platform Workflow va permettre de créer ou redéfinir des processus, de façon transparente et simple. « SAP Cloud Platform Workflow propose un moteur complet de design et d’orchestration des workflows, explique Laurent Rieu, Business Development Director EMEA, SAP. Il permet de digitaliser des processus précédemment basés sur des opérations manuelles (par exemple des échanges de mails) et de les orchestrer de manière rigoureuse. »

L’exemple type de processus RH est l’arrivée d’un nouvel employé. En liaison avec le SI, le processus va enchainer des actions, combinant des règles métiers prédéfinies et des tâches effectuées manuellement. Un premier manager va par exemple vérifier que le coach et le matériel assigné à l’employé sont les bons. Un second va se charger d’organiser le déplacement du nouvel employé, lié à sa formation, etc. Et en fin de chaine, il sera possible de collecter l’expérience utilisateur au travers de l’offre Qualtrics, afin d’améliorer encore ce processus.

Automatiser les processus avec SAP Intelligent RPA

Toutes les tâches sans valeur ajoutée sont ensuite automatisées au travers de SAP Intelligent Robotic Process Automation. « Lancés par les utilisateurs ou déclenchés automatiquement suivant un évènement donné, les robots proposent un ROI très rapide, témoigne Laurent Rieu. Les projets de RPA sont courts (quelques semaines) et libèrent immédiatement du temps pour les collaborateurs de l’entreprise. »

L’objectif n’est pas d’éliminer l’humain de l’équation, mais d’automatiser tout ce qui peut l’être. Selon les cas, les processus seront donc entièrement automatisés (sous la supervision d’un responsable) ou partiellement automatisés, les robots servant alors de lien et de support aux différents intervenants.

Déploiement et surveillance assurés par SAP Cloud Platform

Les processus sont déployés par la suite sur SAP Cloud Platform. Le monitoring est alors pris en charge par SAP Cloud Platform Process Visibility. Cet outil offre une vue en temps réel des processus et de leurs instances et fait remonter immédiatement les informations sous la forme d’indicateurs de performance destinés aux utilisateurs métier. Ainsi, des tableaux de bords permettent d’identifier rapidement tout incident ou ralentissement.

Les informations fournies par SAP Cloud Platform Process Visibility serviront de base à un nouveau cycle d’amélioration et d’automatisation des processus. C’est cette boucle d’amélioration continue qui permettra d’atteindre l’objectif d’excellence des processus.

Accélérer la mise en œuvre des projets de digitalisation et d’automatisation des processus

Maintenant que la proposition de valeur des activités de digitalisation et d’automatisation des processus est claire, la question importante reste la suivante : « Comment accélérer la réalisation de tels projets ? ».

SAP Cloud Platform ne se contente pas de fournir les briques technologiques pour implémenter ces scénarios de digitalisation et d’automatisation des processus. Nous allons plus loin et proposons des modèles complets de processus, de robots d’automatisation et de tableaux de bord de pilotage prêts à l’emploi pour permettre de simplifier la mise en œuvre rapide de tels scénarios, tout en fournissant la flexibilité requise pour assurer l’adéquation entre ces modèles et les besoins de nos clients.

Vous trouverez ainsi une collection grandissante de robots d’automatisation prédéfinis sur notre site en ligne Intelligent RPA Store

Vous trouverez également un ensemble de modèles de processus et de tableaux de bord sur notre site API Business Hub

The post Atteignez l’excellence des processus avec la SAP Cloud Platform appeared first on SAP France News.

Source de l’article sur sap.com

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Top New CMS Plugins, October 2020

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Plugins offer a ton of benefits to developers and website administrators; from flexibility, to saving time in development, the right plugin is priceless to a project.

In this article, we’ll cover a list of the best new plugins for October 2020. You’ll find useful plugins for WordPress, Craft, Shopify, and Joomla.

Let’s get started.

WordPress

Sticky Post Expire

Sticky Post Expire is a simple plugin for WordPress that allows you to add an expiration date to your sticky posts. When the expiration date you set on a post expires, the post will automatically no longer be sticky. All you need to do is install/enable the plugin and a meta checkbox will appear in your posts admin area. It’s in this checkbox you will set the post’s expiration date.

Product page shipping calculator for WooCommerce

The Product Page Shipping Calculator plugin allows your customers to calculate the cost of shipping before adding the product to their cart. The plugin also allows customers to see the available shipping methods for their area. If the product cannot be shipped to the customer’s location, the plugin will notify the customer. All calculations are done using Ajax, so you don’t have to worry about the plugin slowing down your site.

Payment Page

Payment Page makes it easy to collect payments on your WordPress website. The plugin allows you to connect to any payment gateway platform of choice. You can also receive one-time or recurring payments using Payment Page. The plugin comes with beautifully designed templates that you can customize to fit your brand and style. The form builder helps you increase your sales and conversions. You can collect payment in any currency. After payment, customers will also receive a confirmation message.

WP Roadmap

Wp Roadmap is a product feedback board for WordPress. The plugins allow you to display your company’s product roadmap on your WordPress website or blog. The plugin will display your new products, business developments, upcoming events, achievements, awards, and future projects on your site. WP Roadmap also gives you the option to collect and create feedback boards. The plugin comes with an intuitive interface and works with any WordPress theme.

LiveSession

LiveSession is a session replay plugin for WordPress. The plugin allows you to record everything happening on your site, including clicks, scrolls, and mouse movements. This plugin helps you understand how your visitors interact with your website. You can rewatch the videos as many times as you like. Instead of recording every single visitor on your site, LiveSession will record visitors with a high engagement score.

The plugin also comes with a feature called Rage Clicks. This feature helps you identify when visitors encounter Javascript errors. The plugin also has a beta feature called Clickmap. It helps you identify the specific elements on your site that visitors clicked and how many times. There is also a heatmap feature that identifies which pages on your site get the most interaction. The plugin is very useful in improving your user experience (UX) and conversion rates. It easily integrates with Google Analytics, Segment, Intercom, LiveChat, HelpScout, Olark, Wix, Shopify, and WooCommerce.

Auction Feed

Auction Feed makes it easy to display eBay items on your WordPress website. Visitors to your website will be able to search and buy products directly from your site. The plugin comes with a variety of styles to fit any WordPress theme. You can also add a product description above or below the product image. Customers won’t have to leave your website before making their purchases. The plugin is also free to use.

Floating Related Posts

Floating Related Posts is a WordPress plugin that allows you to display a banner with a list of related posts on your website. The banner can appear at the top or bottom of the web page. You can set the banner to pop up using a time filter or scroll trigger. The plugin is also compatible with Google Analytics. You can customize the banner background color, font size, button style, and text color. The plugin can be translated into any language.

Simple Restrict Content

The Simple Restrict Content plugin allows you to restrict the content that visitors can access on your WordPress site. You can choose who can access content on your website by setting up roles. The simple lightweight plugin restricts different content types, including, posts, web pages, and WooCommerce products. The plugin is available in Spanish and English.

Easy Video Publisher

Easy Video Publisher is a WordPress plugin that allows you to easily publish YouTube videos on your website. You can import YouTube videos from multiple channels. You can also schedule the YouTube videos to automatically upload to your website. Note that a YouTube API key is needed to import multiple videos at a time from a specific channel. The plugin allows you to use multiple API keys.

Preloader Awesome

Preloader Awesome is a preloader plugin for WordPress that allows you to create a page preloader interface while the rest of the webpage is still loading. Preloaders are interface elements that notify visitors that your website hasn’t crashed, just processing before serving content. Some of the features of the plugin include 14 page transition styles, progress bar, GIF support, 10+ default CSS loader, progress status counter, unlimited color, and counter font size options. The plugin is responsive and works on all modern browsers.

Menu Hover Effect

The Menu Hover Effect plugin allows you to add hover effects to the menu bar on your website. With this plugin, you don’t need to learn CSS. This plugin gives you 20 CSS menu hover options to choose from. It is a lightweight plugin and won’t affect your website speed.

Better Comments

The Better Comments plugin allows WordPress users to easily customize the comment section of their website. With the plugin, you can customize the look of your comment form fields, match the submit button with the colors of your site, and hide the comment’s date. The plugin also allows you to create a comment policy section. You can further customize the comment fields to highlight when they are selected and typed in. If you find rounded avatars common, the plugin also offers a hexagonal avatar option.

WP Pocket URLs

WP Pocket URLs is a handy WordPress Plugin that helps you manage your affiliate links. The plugin allows users to automatically shorten and track any affiliate link on their website. You can also manually shorten the links on your website. Each time a visitor clicks on a link you get access to information like click date/time, country, IP address, etc. You can also categorize your links and also create custom permalinks. There is also a dashboard widget that displays your top 10 links. On the “Reports” page, you can generate clicks reports. You can filter the reports by Month/Year, link category, country, and link title.

Craft CMS

Formie

Formie is a Craft CMS plugin that allows you to create user-friendly forms. The plugin comes with a drag and drop builder for creating forms. You can store user form submissions in your control panel in case you want to review them later. When a user submits a form, you will get an email notification. Formie also has an in-built keyword blocking feature to protect you from spam. The plugin has several integrationS: API for Elements, Address Providers, Captchas, CRM tools, Webhooks, and Email Marketing software. You can also create your custom integration. You can add over 25 fields to your forms using Formie.

Craftagram

Craftagram is a Craft CMS plugin for adding any Instagram feed to your website. Since the plugin uses the official Instagram API, you don’t have to worry about your website getting blacklisted. Craftagram also handles pagination for your Instagram feed. 

Shopify

We’re Open

We’re Open is a handy plugin for Shopify users. The plugin lets your customers know when you are open to receive new orders. Once your business hours are close, customers won’t be able to make new orders. A message will be displayed in your store that you are closed. The plugin ensures that you only receive orders when you are open. It works in any time zone and the API easily integrates with mobile apps.

Punch Metrics

Punch Metrics is a Shopify Plugin that helps you track your store’s visitors and also analyze their behavior. The plugin offers real-time data on your site’s visitors, the pages that see the most engagement, and which devices are the most popular. You can also record and replay visitors’ sessions so you can know exactly what they did on your site. Punch Metrics also has a heatmap tracking feature to understand which elements on your site get the most clicks.

Joomla

Simple Sliders

Simple Sliders is a content plugin for Joomla. The plugin allows users to easily create accordion sliders in their articles. You can add the sliders to your Joomla articles by adding this code:

{s​lider title="Slider 1 Title" class="blue"}
Slider 1 content.
{s​lider title="Slider 2 Title" class="red"}
Slider 2 content.
{/s​liders}

Jitsi Conferencing

Jitsi Conferencing is a video conferencing plugin for Joomla. The plugin will allow you to host meetings and easily connect with your clients. The module is simple and effective to use.

 

Featured image via Unsplash.

Source


Source de l’article sur Webdesignerdepot

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Comment l’économie d’expérience influe sur le secteur de la construction

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L’économie d’expérience est un mouvement qui touche aussi le monde de la construction. Que ce soit pour les clients, les différents acteurs travaillant sur un ouvrage, ou même les employés d’un chantier, dont les efforts seront valorisés.

De nombreux pans de l’économie ont aujourd’hui basculé vers l’économie dite d’expérience. Plus que le prix, c’est bien l’expérience attendue qui pousse un consommateur à franchir les portes d’une des enseignes de la célèbre chaine de cafés américaine.

Cette expérience, les clients la recherchent également dans le secteur de la construction. Selon une étude Qualtrics de 2018, 54 % des employés du secteur de la construction expliquent avoir dû sortir de leurs attributions pour aider un client. Une démarche plébiscitée par les employeurs, mais qui montre la nécessité de mieux prendre en compte les données d’expérience (X-data).

Mieux collaborer avec le client

La mise en place d’outils collaboratifs, mais également d’une Modélisation des Informations du Bâtiment (BIM, pour Building Information Modeling), va permettre une meilleure collaboration entre les différents acteurs travaillant autour d’un projet de construction : constructeurs, architectes, ingénieurs, chefs de chantiers, intervenants externes, fournisseurs, etc. Mais aussi avec les clients, qui pourront bénéficier d’une vue globale sur l’avancée du projet et dont les remarques seront mieux et plus rapidement prises en compte par l’ensemble des autres acteurs.

Cette collaboration pourra être renforcée par l’entremise d’un jumeau numérique. En plus de permettre un meilleur suivi du projet, le jumeau numérique offre également de lancer des simulations, selon des scénarios de type what-if. Afin d’évaluer par exemple la faisabilité et l’impact d’une suggestion venant du client, de l’architecte ou d’un contractant.

Attirer de nouveaux talents

Le départ à la retraite des ouvriers pose un problème de recrutement. Il est en effet à la fois difficile de trouver du personnel compétent… et de le conserver.

Déchargés de certaines tâches ingrates, les chefs de chantier peuvent s’atteler à des tâches de plus haute valeur ajoutée, plus valorisantes. Les jeunes ouvriers, issus de la génération Z, sont en recherche eux aussi d’une meilleure expérience. La collecte d’informations en temps réel via des smartphones leur permettra de gagner en autonomie, avec des plannings mieux adaptés et une remontée des problèmes en temps réel.

Les terminaux mobiles sont également en mesure de fournir des données utiles (plans, conseils d’assemblage) et pourront – à plus long terme – assister l’ouvrier au travers de techniques de réalité augmentée. Enfin, les équipements connectés sont plus finement entretenus et gérés, et se montrent ainsi plus disponibles et moins sujets aux pannes.

Mettre de l’expérience dans toute la chaine de valeur

La mise en place d’une plate-forme intégrant à la fois les données opérationnelles (O-data) et les données d’expérience (X-data) est essentielle. La centralisation de l’ensemble des informations va en effet faciliter la communication entre toutes les parties en présence, et accélérer la prise en compte des aléas de construction.

Les clients pourront suivre l’avancée des travaux en temps réel et faire remonter des suggestions et remarques à chaque étape du processus. Les responsables de chantier seront en mesure de se concentrer sur leur cœur de métier et non des tâches administratives fastidieuses. Enfin, les ouvriers, mieux épaulés et délestés de certains problèmes récurrents et frustrants, profiteront eux aussi d’une meilleure expérience dans leur travail quotidien.

The post Comment l’économie d’expérience influe sur le secteur de la construction appeared first on SAP France News.

Source de l’article sur sap.com

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