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8 Reasons Your Site Is Slow + How To Fix Them

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1, 2, 3 – That’s exactly how long it takes you to start losing visitors if you have a slow-loading website.

Hold on! Surely, the only thing that matters to users is that your website works flawlessly and looks great… right? Wrong!

The fact of the matter is that we’ve all become accustomed to instant access to information and content. The average internet user today places a lot of value on speed, and the bar is continually being raised.

If you are like most people, you probably feel an immediate sense of dread at the thought of optimizing your website. Where do you start? How can you make the most impactful improvements? What makes your website slow in the first place?

Have no fear, as we’ll be answering all of your questions below as well as putting you on your way to a website that loads with blazing speed.

Why Should You Be Worried About A Slow-Loading Website?

Good question!

As many as 53% of visitors abandon a site that takes more than 3 seconds to load. Even worse, 1 in 3 shoppers will leave a website if it takes longer than 5 seconds to load.

So, performance plays a huge role in the user experience of your website and whether your visitors will stay on your website or be converted into customers.

For some time, Google has been keenly aware of this fact. As a search engine, Google knows that it’s counterproductive to recommend content to users if they won’t stick around to consume it.

That’s why they’ve continually been increasing the role performance plays when ranking websites for their SERPs (search engine results pages).

In recent years, Google has introduced core web vitals. These are metrics they hope will help quantify how performance affects the user experience. In general, they measure how fast, stable, and interactive a page is while loading. This will be more important than ever after Google announced its Page Experience update, which started its global rollout in June 2021.

As you may know, ranking highly for Google is vital for your website’s visibility. For one, 68% of online experiences begin with a search engine, of which Google has a 92.7% market share. Even if you manage to land on the coveted first page of Google, the first five results get over 70% of all clicks (28% to the first result alone).

So, to recap why a fast loading website is so desirable:

  • It directly affects your ability to keep, satisfy, and even convert visitors to your website.
  • It impacts your search engine rankings which impacts your “findability” and organic traffic.

8 Reasons Your Site Is Slow + How to Fix Them

O.K., so now that we’re all on the same page regarding the importance of your website performance, let’s look at common issues slowing down your website + how to fix them.

1. You’re Using A Sub-Par Hosting Service

As the party responsible for making your website available to the outside world, your hosting service can be a make-or-break factor. Not only should you pick a host that has a good track record when it comes to uptime a performance, but also one that’s suitable according to your needs.

Even if you take all the steps below to optimize your website’s performance, it may still load slowly if traffic to your website is overwhelming your available bandwidth or your host’s server capacity. If that happens, some users may experience extremely slow loading times, broken features, or even complete unavailability.

For most personal, blog, or local/small business sites, a respectable hosting provider like Bluehost or GoDaddy should be good enough. However, if you plan on running any type of large-scale, high-traffic webstore, business portal, or other type of website, you’ll want premium hosting, such as WPEngine (for WordPress), VPS hosting, or even a dedicated server.

2. You’re Not Optimizing Your Media Assets

As you probably know, media like images and videos take up significantly more space than most other types of content, such as text, code, stylesheets, or other static files. Even a single image has the potential of consisting of more data than dozens of website pages containing nothing but the underlying HTML and text.

In a Speed Essentials presentation, the Google team identified images as the largest contributor to page weight. In fact, they have the potential to consume a website’s entire performance budget if left unoptimized. Images can also directly impact all three of Google’s core web vitals – key metrics Google uses to measure the performance of a website.

However, the use of images and video is likely to continue growing, heightening the importance of finding a sustainable solution. According to HTTPArchive, images have increased by 19.3% on desktop and 42.7% on mobile.

For now and the foreseeable future, optimizing your images carries the greatest potential for improving performance.

The problem is that optimizing image assets requires multiple steps. Most importantly:

  • Using the appropriate next-gen formats which can differ depending on the user’s device, OS, or browser.
  • Appropriately compressing the size and quality of images to reduce payload without affecting visual quality too badly.
  • Using the optimal display size and density based on the accessing device to reduce payloads further.
  • Using lazy loading to only load images as needed.

As you can see, manually going through these steps for every single image on your website can be extremely labor-intensive. This is especially true if you consider that you somehow need to create the optimal variants for different users based on what device, OS, or browser they are using.

In-code strategies, like a JS plugin, responsive images, or CSS media queries tend to bloat your code and lead to other performance issues we’ll discuss below.

Luckily, there are plenty of CDN services available designed specifically for providing some degree of automated image optimization. These platforms analyze the context (i.e., a specific mobile device model, OS version, and browser version) of the user trying to load one of your images and try to serve them a version of the image that’s ideally optimized for them.

However, any media optimization platforms still require installing a small JavaScript plugin to dramatically improve the image and video optimization capabilities. 

The one exception here is ImageEngine. ImageEngine uses WURFL device-detection to pick up every possible detail of the user’s device. The logic is built into their device-aware edge servers and doesn’t rely on you adding any additional code or markup to your website pages.

So, not only does it reduce your image payloads by up to 80% and serve them via a global CDN, but it doesn’t leave a footprint in your website’s code. As a bonus, it also happens to support the widest range of image/video formats, including animated GIFs, as well as client hints and save-data mode.

3. Render-Blocking JavaScript And CSS Is Delaying Page Loads

JavaScript is the de facto programming language for adding interactivity and advanced features to websites today. Likewise, CSS is the standard for adding styling. Both are critical components for almost any modern website.

However, nothing good comes free, and both may impact the performance of your website, particularly when used carelessly. 

The following are some steps you can take to minimize the impact of these assets on your website performance:

  • Minify your JavaScript and CSS files.
  • Combine a large number of JS/CSS files into fewer files.
  • Replace some of your external JS and CSS files with inline JS/CSS. (Don’t overdo this! Inline JS and CSS is only suitable for small code snippets).
  • Defer loading JavaScript until after all your content is loaded and use media queries for CSS files.

Because media can have a more significant impact on your page weight, this leads some to believe that adding more JavaScript is the lesser of two evils. 

However, depending on whether you already have render-blocking JS, Google might flag this as a completely new issue. Regardless, it will negatively impact your performance score in tools like PageSpeed Insights:

You can avoid it altogether by using an optimization engine like ImageEngine that doesn’t require any JavaScript.

4. You’re Not Using A Content Delivery Network (CDN)

A CDN is a network of servers spread across various regions all over the globe. What it basically does is store a copy of your website on each of these servers. When an internet user visits your site, the CDN automatically serves your website from the nearest server to that user.

What this does is allow your website to load faster, no matter where in the world people are visiting it from. If your website was only hosted on a single server, say somewhere in the U.S., then it could take much longer to load for a visitor located in Asia than one in the U.S.

While they all basically do the same thing, different CDNs are better at handling different types of content. Cloudflare, Fastly, and Akamai are just some of the most popular general-purpose CDNs around. Image CDNs like ImageEngine are purpose-built to not only serve image and video assets but to also optimize them using compression, formatting, etc.

So, the two main factors to consider are the type of content you want to deliver via the CDN and its global coverage. However, it’s usually possible to use multiple CDNs in tandem to cover different types of content and reach a wider area.

5. There’s Excessive Overhead In Your Database

If you have a website with any type of complexity, you probably have a corresponding database. In fact, all WordPress websites require a database to function.

Over the years, a lot of information moves in and out of the database. Sometimes, the data can get lost along the way or become obsolete. If you don’t regularly spring-clean your database, then this can really start to add up. Not only will it bloat the storage size of your database, but it will start to impact the speed of database queries and requests.

CMS users are especially prone to racking up these kinds of artifacts from plugins and themes that have been installed and removed over the years.

Unfortunately, there aren’t many easy fixes for this issue available. With most hosting providers, you’ll probably need to use phpMyAdmin to manually check and scrub your data. If you have a managed hosting solution, the host’s support team might be able to help you out. In the event that you have a locally installed database, there are some tools you can use, although they’re not 100% effective.

The best way to avoid any issues is to make database maintenance part of your routine and to learn the basics of how databases work.

6. You Have Too Many Plugins Or Themes Installed

For CMS users, plugins or themes offer near-limitless potential to spruce up the design and functionality of their website. However, each plugin or theme comes with additional code and content that add to the overall complexity and size of your website.

If you have a hand-coded website, the same goes for any additional applets or libraries you want to add to your site. 

The best way to combat this is to be conscientious when adding any extras to your website. Only install what you really need or want, and make sure to uninstall and properly remove them if you don’t need them anymore.

As mentioned, they might leave various transients or artifacts behind, so you should keep an eye out for them throughout your website files (not just the database) whenever you do some spring cleaning.

7. You Aren’t Utilizing Caching

Caching is often one of the most effective yet ignored techniques for improving website performance. Caching stores your website content in fast-access memory in the user’s browser, allowing it to be loaded near-instantaneously by users. This can include everything from text to stylesheets to images to JavaScript files.

Without caching, a user will need to redownload everything when they navigate to or reload a page — whether or not anything has changed.

However, not properly configuring caching on your website can lead to issues, such as users only loading out-of-date content. Most high-quality caching tools have built-in features that automatically clear the cache when you make changes to a specific website page or content. So, users will only reload content once it has been modified.

Some hosts offer out-of-the-box caching tools with their hosting service. CMS can also usually find plugins for this, such as WPRocket for WordPress.

8. Ads Are Dragging You Down

In the end, ads are just another form of media that increases the overall weight of your website pages. While they are typically small and lightweight, multiple ad placements can really start to add up.

What aggravates the issue is that ads are loaded from external sources. This means they’ll take longer to render, generate more requests, and may mess with how stable your pages load — affecting your core web vitals.

Depending on how important ads are to your revenue stream, you’ll want to carefully consider how many ads you use on your site, where to position them, and when they load. If possible, avoid loading ads at the same time as the rest of your page, especially interstitials.

Conclusion

As you can see, website performance is a multi-faceted subject. Although some may be worse than others, you can’t just address one area and expect your website to suddenly be performant.

However, some general principles apply:

  • Keep HTTP requests low by limiting the number of files required for each of your website pages.
  • Maintain proper code hygiene and spring clean transients and leftover artifacts.
  • Invest in proper hosting infrastructure as well as a CDN for your website.
  • Optimize your media assets to significantly bring down payloads without sacrificing engagement.

The final point deserves another shoutout. As we’ve pointed out, finding an optimization solution for your media, particularly images, is probably the best thing you can do to improve your website performance. From purely a performance perspective, there is no service quite as effective as ImageEngine. It’s also the one that requires the least amount of technical expertise and ongoing maintenance.

Regardless, you’ll want to run some tests using tools like PageSpeed Insights so you can gather data on what issues your website is facing. From there, you can prioritize fixes to make your website more competitive.

 

[– This is a sponsored post on behalf of ImageEngine –]

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Fluent Assertions Reloaded

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If you’re not using fluent assertions in your tests yet and just rely on basic JUnit assertions, you might be missing out on a simple but very effective tool to write high-quality test code. The article starts with a short recap about the virtues of fluent assertions and how they address the shortcomings of basic assertions.

But while very much in favor of fluent assertion I think that current implementations don’t realize their full power: Problems are demonstrated in AssertJ, the main fluent assertion library for Java. Finally, I present a new solution to overcome these issues.

Source de l’article sur DZONE

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7 UX Principles to Boost SERPs

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User experience is one of the most important principles of web design. There’s no doubt that you focus on UX with every page you design on the web, whether it’s a portfolio, a profile page, or an entire website. 

Unfortunately, what many experts forget is that UX doesn’t just apply to digital pages. That means that you need to discover the right UX strategies for everything from your website homepages to your email marketing messages and even your listings on Google. 

Today, we’re going to explore ways you can apply UX principles to your client’s image on search engines. 

Why Your Search Engine Listing Matters

Let’s start with the basics…

89% of customers start their purchasing process with a search engine. 

That means that whether you’re creating a portfolio to sell your services or building a website for a client, the first connection a customer has with your design isn’t on the homepage.

Developers and designers know that first impressions count when it comes to succeeding online. However, they assume that those first impressions happen on a social media channel, a landing page, or a home page. 

The truth is that most of the time, you’re driving a specific experience for an end-user before you even realize it. Before you can wow an audience with a beautiful site design or a fantastic CTA offer, you need to convince them to click on your Google link.

Just as UX on a website is all about giving your audience what they need in an informed and strategic manner, UX in search engine results works the same way. 

How to Make Your Search Listing Stand Out with UX

So, how do you begin to apply the principles of UX to your Google Search results?

It’s much easier than you’d think. 

Step 1: Show Immediate Value 

Delivering an excellent experience on a website often means providing end-users with the information they need as quickly as possible. Imagine designing a landing page; you wouldn’t want your audience to scroll forever to find what they need. Instead, you’d make sure that the value of the page was immediately apparent. 

When creating an image for your search engine listing, you’ll need to take the same approach. This often means thinking carefully about two things:

  • Your headline
  • Your meta description

Around 8 out of 10 users say that they’ll click a title if it’s compelling. That means that before you do anything else to improve your SEO strategy, you need to make sure that the title of your web page is going to grab the audience’s attention. 

The best titles deliver instant value.

Immediately, these titles tell the audience exactly what they’re going to get when they click onto the page. The promise drives action, while clarity highlights the informed nature of the brand. 

The great thing about using an excellent title for a page is that it doesn’t matter where you’re ranked on the search results. Whether you’re number 2 or number 5, your customers will click if they find something they want. 

It’s just like using a CTA on a landing page. Make sure your titles are:

  • Informative: Show your audience value immediately
  • Optimized for mobile: Remember, your audience might not see your full title on some screens. That means that you need to make the initial words count.
  • Easy to read: Keep it short, simple, and straightforward. Speak the end-user’s language

Step 2: Build Trust with Your URLs

Trust factors are another essential part of good UX. 

When designing a website for a new brand, you know that it’s your job to make visitors feel at ease. Even in today’s digital world, many customers won’t feel comfortable giving their money or details to a new company. 

Within the website that you design, you can implement things like trust symbols, reviews, and testimonials to enhance brand credibility. In the search engines, it all starts with your URL. 

Search-friendly URLs that highlight the nature of the page will put your audience’s mind at ease. When they click on a page about “What is SEO” in the SERPs, they want to see an URL that matches, not a bunch of numbers and symbols

Use search-friendly permalink structures to make your listing seem more authoritative. This will increase the chances of your customer clicking through to a page and make them more likely to share the link with friends. 

Once you decide on a link structure, make sure that it stays consistent throughout the entire site. If a link doesn’t appear to match the rest of the URLs that your audience sees for your website, they may think they’re on the wrong page. That increases your bounce rate. 

Step 3: Be Informative with Your Meta Description

To deliver excellent UX on a website, you ensure that your visitor can find all the answers to their most pressing questions as quickly as possible. This includes providing the right information on each page and using the correct navigational structure to support a visitor’s journey. 

In the SERPs, you can deliver that same informative experience with a meta description. Although meta descriptions often get ignored, they can provide a lot of value and help you or your client make the right first impression. 

To master your meta descriptions:

  • Use the full 160 characters: Make the most of your meta description by providing as much useful information as you can within that small space. 
  • Include a CTA: Just as CTAs help guide customers through the pages on a website, they can assist with pulling in clicks on the SERPs. A call to action like “read about the” or “click here” makes sense when you’re boosting your search image. 
  • Focus on value: Concentrate on providing your customers with an insight into what’s in it for them if they click on your listing.

Don’t forget that adding keywords to your meta description is often helpful too. Keywords will boost your chances of a higher ranking, but they’ll also show your audience that they’re looking at the right result. 

Step 4: Draw the Eye with Rich Snippets

You’ve probably noticed that the search engine result pages have changed quite a bit in the last couple of years. As Google strives to make results more relevant and informative, we’ve seen the rise of things like rich snippets. Rich snippets are excellent for telling your audience where to look. 

On a website, you would use design elements, like contrasting colors and animation, to pull your audience’s attention to a specific space. In search engines, rich snippets can drive the same outcomes. The difference is that instead of telling a visitor what to do next on a page, you’re telling them to click on your site, not a competitor’s. 

When Google introduced rich snippets, it wanted to provide administrators with a way of showcasing their best content. Rich snippets are most commonly used today on product and contact pages because they can show off reviews. 

Install a rich snippet plugin into your site if you’re a WordPress user or your client is. When you enter the content that you need into the website, use the drop-down menu in your Rich snippet tool to configure the snippet.

Ideally, you’ll want to aim for the full, rich snippet if you want to stand out at the top of the search results. Most featured snippets have both text and an image. You need to access both of these by writing great content and combining it with a relevant image. 

Step 5: Provide Diversity (Take Up More of the Results)

As a website designer or developer, you’ll know that different people will often be drawn to different things. Some of your visitors might immediately see a set of bullet-points and use them to search for the answer to their question. Other visitors will want pictures or videos to guide them. So, how do you deliver that kind of diversity in the SERPS?

The easiest option is to aim to take up more of the search result pages. Google now delivers a bunch of different ways for customers to get the answers they crave. When you search for “How to use Google my Business” on Google, you’ll see links to blogs, as well as a list of YouTube Videos and the “People Also Ask” section. 

Making sure that you or a client has different content rankings for the same keywords can significantly improve any customer’s experience on the search engines. Often, the process of spreading your image out across the SERPs is as simple as creating some different kinds of content. 

To access the benefits of video, ask your client to create YouTube videos for some of their most commonly asked questions or most covered topics. If you’re helping with SEO marketing for your client, then make sure they have an FAQ page or a way of answering questions quickly and concisely on articles, so they’re more likely to appear in “People Also Ask”.

Step 6: Add Authority with Google My Business

Speaking of Google My Business, that’s another excellent tool for improving UX in the search results. It allows business owners to manage how information appears in the search results. 

With this service, you can manage a company’s position on Google maps, the Knowledge Graph, and any online reviews. Establishing a company’s location is one of the most important things you can do to help audiences find a business quickly. Remember, half of the customers that do a local search on a smartphone end up visiting the store within the same day. 

Start by setting up the Google Business listing for yourself or your client. All you need to do is hit the “Start Now” button and fill out every relevant field offered by Google. The more information you can add to Google My Business, the more your listing will stand out. Make sure you:

  • Choose a category for a business, like “Grocery store.”
  • Load up high-quality and high-resolution images
  • Ensure your information matches on every platform
  • Use a local number for contact
  • Encourage reviews to give your listing a five-star rating

Taking advantage of a Google My Business listing will ensure that your audience has all the information they need to make an informed decision about your company before they click through to the site. This means that you or your client gets more warm leads and fewer people stumbling onto your website that might not want to buy from you. 

Step 7: Use Structured Data Markup to Answer Questions

If you’re already using rich snippets in your Google listings, you should also have a plan for structured schema markup. Schema markup on Google tells the search engines what your data means. This means that you can add extra information to your listings that will more accurately guide your customers to the support they need. 

Providing additional schema markup information to your listings gives them an extra finishing touch to ensure that they stand out from the competition. For example, you might add something like a “product price” to a product page or information about the product’s availability.

Alternatively, you could provide the people who see a search result with other options. This could be an excellent option if you’re concerned that some of the people who might come across your listing might need slightly different information. 

For instance, you can ask Google to list other pages along with your search results that customers can “jump to” if they need additional insights.

Baking structured data into your design process when you’re working on a website does many positive things. First, it makes the search engine’s job easier so that you can ensure that you or your client ranks higher. Additionally, it means that your web listings will be more thorough and valuable.

Since UX is all about giving your audience the best possible experience with a brand, that starts with making sure they get the information they need in the search results. 

Constantly Improve and Experiment

Remember, as you begin to embed elements of UX into your search engine listings, it’s essential to be aware of relevant evolutions. Ultimately, the needs of any audience can change very rapidly. Paying attention to your customers and what kind of links they click on the most will provide you with lots of valuable data. You can use Google analytics to A/B test things like titles, pictures, featured snippets, and other things that may affect UX. 

At the same time, it’s worth noting that the Google search algorithms are constantly changing too. Running split tests on different pages will give you an insight into what your customers want. However, you’ll need to keep an eye on the latest documentation about Google Search if you want to avoid falling behind the competition. 

Like most aspects of exceptional UX, mastering your SERP position isn’t a “set it and forget it” strategy. Instead, you’ll need to work on constantly expanding your knowledge if you want to show clients that you can combine UX and SEO effectively. 

Make sure you have plenty of tools set up to offer reports and insights into the kind of changes that you may need to make to align with search engine expectations. 

Making the Most of UX in the SERPS

It’s easy to forget that there’s more to UX than making your buttons clickable on mobile devices or ensuring that scrolling feels smooth. For a designer or developer to deliver excellent UX for a brand, they need to consider every interaction that a company and customer has. 

This means starting with the way a website appears when it’s listed on the search engines most of the time. Getting your SEO listing right doesn’t just boost your chances of a good ranking. This strategy also improves your reputation with your audience and delivers more meaningful moments in the buyer journey. 

Don’t underestimate the power of UX in SERPs. 

 

Featured image via Pexels.

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6 Tips for Collecting Customer Feedback (The Right Way)

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Feedback is one of the most valuable resources for any business. Informative messages from your customers can tell you a lot about your company. They’re a way to check that your service strategies are paying off and a chance to learn which parts of your product need an upgrade.

Reviews and testimonials can also help you better understand your audience and the kind of solutions they’re looking for with your brand. 

Solid feedback is also how you improve your chances of gaining more customers in the long term. Brands with superior customer service generate about 5.7 times more revenue than their competitors. 

Of course, before you can begin tackling challenges like pulling trends from feedback or using your reviews to upgrade your business, you have one essential task to consider: How are you going to collect the valuable information your customers have to share?

There are a lot of options to choose from. You can reach out to clients individually with email messages or set up a feedback form on your website. You could even consider working with a review site to give your audience more options. 

Today, we will look at the steps you can take to collect customer feedback the right way.

Unlocking the Benefits of Customer Feedback

Customer feedback is the information and input shared by your community. It provides a behind-the-scenes view of people’s interactions with your team and shows you where you need to focus on beginning driving new opportunities. 

Customer feedback becomes a guiding compass for your organization when used correctly. It shows you what you’re getting right and wrong from your customer’s perspective. Positive feedback can even become part of your marketing campaigns. User-generated content in the form of reviews and testimonials makes for excellent tools to encourage new people to purchase your products. 

Case studies and in-depth reviews from your clients can also help generate trust among potential customers, so you’re more likely to earn crucial sales. 

Only around 3% of customers say that they find marketers and salespeople “trustworthy.” This means that no matter how good your marketing messages might be, you’re only going to be able to accomplish so much with the claims you make about your brand. Ultimately, your clients will turn to other customers like them to determine who they should buy from.

On average, buyers read around seven reviews before they’ll even consider trusting a business. 

The good news is that around two-thirds of customers will share their personal information with a brand. Clients are happy to provide feedback in the right circumstances. It’s your job to ensure that the process is as easy as possible for your customers.

So, how do you get customer reviews?

1. Design an Effective Feedback Survey

The most obvious way to encourage feedback from your customers is to ask for it. Unfortunately, designing a good customer survey isn’t always as simple as it seems. 

On the one hand, you’re keen to gather as much information as possible from your customer, which could mean that you want to ask many questions. On the other hand, asking too many questions could easily scare your audience away. 

To improve your audience’s chances of actually sharing information, keep the feedback requests as simple as possible.

One or two questions at a time should be enough to give you some helpful information about customer preferences and expectations. When choosing what to include in your survey, remember:

  • Only ask essential questions: If the answer to a question isn’t going to help you achieve your goals, don’t ask it. You don’t need to know someone’s age if you want to know if they had a good experience with your service reps. Keep it relevant. 
  • Make the questions thoughtful: Yes or no questions are great for collecting quick information. However, if you want more valuable feedback, leave your queries open-ended, and give customers room to explain themselves. 
  • Use rating scales: If your customer doesn’t have time to respond to a question in your survey with a complete answer, a rating scale can give you some helpful insights with minimal effort from the client. 

Ensure none of the questions on your survey are leading or loaded. Customers don’t want to feel like you’re answering questions for them. It might also be worth showing your audience how much you value their data with a quick response. Hilton Hotels always responds to any adverse reactions to surveys within days of receiving the information. 

Customers can even see how their reviews contribute to the overall rating of the business. 

2. Master Your Emails and Customer Contact Forms

Email is one of the easiest and most effective ways to gather customer feedback. Because this is a standard support channel for most businesses, there are plenty of opportunities to generate feedback. 

The first step in using emails for feedback is to send a message thanking your customer for their recent interaction with you. If someone purchased a product from your company, immediately follow up to let them know you appreciate their custom. A couple of days after, when your customer has had a chance to use your product or service, that’s when you follow up with your feedback request. 

Ideally, your email request should be as short and straightforward as possible, with a clear call to action that tells your customer what to do next. This example from Papier keeps things as detailed as possible.

If you want to boost your chances of engagement, you can add elements to your email that might encourage a positive response, for instance:

  • Remind them of what they bought: Remind your customer of the item they purchased with a picture and a bit of information. Highlight the key features and benefits of that product, so they have some inspiration on what to write about in their review. 
  • Offer them a reward: If you want to boost your chances of your customers doing something for you, you need to offer something in return. This could be a discount on their next order, a chance of winning something, or even just free shipping on their next purchase. 
  • Personalize the message: Make your customer feel special by personalizing the message. Use their name and reference their previous interactions with your company. If they’ve been with your business for a while, mention that in the email.  

Remember, many of your customers are likely to check their emails on the go. That means that giving feedback should be as simple as possible, regardless of the tech your customer is using. For instance, in this Zomato example, users can choose to drop an email to the company or send feedback straight from the app. 

3. Create App Usability Tests

If you want some in-depth insights into your company, and your business processes, then a usability test could be the best way to generate valuable feedback. If you have your app, ask your customer to submit some information right there and then, after they’ve finished using the service. The great thing about this kind of input is it’s fresh.

Unlike other customer reviews that might come a day or two after your customer has used a product, usability tests allow you to get feedback at the moment. There’s a much better chance that you’re going to get some relevant and detailed responses here. 

For instance, in this Skype lab feedback request, customers can tick boxes for any video or audio issues they had and leave a starred review. 

If there’s extra information to share, the customer can tap on the comment box to elaborate. However, they don’t need to do this part unless they want to. 

With usability tests, it’s a good idea to focus on a few key things that you want to learn about. For instance, Skype’s example above demonstrates that the company wants to check at least five user experience issues for both video and audio. 

Giving your customers options that they can choose from reduces the amount of work they need to put into leaving a review. It also means that you can get actionable information on which parts of your app or site need the most improvement. 

You can get the same kind of instant feedback on your website, too, mainly if you’re using a live chat app for customer service. 

Live chat is quickly becoming an essential part of the customer experience environment because it’s fast, easy to use, and efficient. It’s also highly affordable for most companies, thanks to evolving technology. Set up your Live Chat app to immediately request a review from your customer when the interaction is over.

For instance, SiteGround asks customers to rate their service provider with a picture of the employee they spoke to. The image lets the customer see that they were talking to a real person, which improves the relationship with the company. The statement about feedback improving the customer service and support that SiteGround can offer shows the customer how valuable their reviews are. 

4. Conduct Customer Interviews

Conducting a customer interview is a lot like sending out a survey. The main difference is that you ask the client to engage in a much more in-depth conversation. Usually, these interviews will be the initial research required for a published case study on a B2B website. 

Reaching out to valuable and loyal customers can give you a fantastic source of in-depth information to learn from. You’ll need to make sure that you have a good relationship with the customer in question before you attempt this, however. Most one-time clients won’t want to get involved with a time-consuming interview. 

Look at your CRM technology and find out who your most impressive VIP customers are. Reach out to them with a request for feedback, and make sure you offer something in return. For instance, tell them that you’d like to interview for a case study that you can display on your website. If they’re happy for you to do this, you can reward them with a discount on their next purchase or some gifts. 

You could also follow up with a customer who recently contacted your team for an interview, like Ticket Arena does here. With this message, they promise the customer that their insights will make the customer experience better for future clients:

When requesting long-form qualitative feedback, remember to think through your questions carefully. In-depth stories from customers bring nuance and color to your quantitative data. They could even guide your business to making some crucial future decisions. 

When talking to your customers:

  • Start with an open-ended dialogue: Remember that open-ended questions are crucial to get as much detail as possible from your customers. These queries give your customers more flexibility to cover the details of their experiences.
  • Get more specific as you go: Start with simple questions, then build on them as your conversation evolves. Use the things you learn from your customers to dive into topics that are relevant to them. For instance, if a customer mentions your live chat app, go into a deeper discussion about the channels they prefer to use. 
  • Practice active listening: Make sure that you’re open and receptive to the information you’re given. Actively listen to customers, even if you’re not in the same room, by acknowledging what they say and providing valuable responses. 

5. Use Social Media

Sometimes, people are reluctant to give feedback for your business on your website because they’re not in the frame of mind. When customers come to your site, there’s a good chance they’re looking for information from you or want to check out a new product. 

They’re probably not in the right mood to start sharing their opinions. 

However, if you capture your customers on social media, there’s a good chance they’ll be feeling a lot more talkative. After all, social media platforms are where most customers discuss their issues with companies, talk about purchases with friends, and make their voices heard. 

Simply paying attention to when people talk about your company on social media can give you a lot of helpful feedback. Social listening tools allow you to collect post information every time someone mentions your business name or product. 

Alternatively, you can actively use the tools on social media to gather data from customers. For instance, Instagram has its own “poll” feature on Stories that allows companies to collect opinions. 

If you’re collecting feedback on social media, remember that you shouldn’t be asking any questions that are too complicated. Although people are more willing to share their opinions on social, they’re still looking for a relatively laid-back and casual experience.

Polls, where people can vote for their preferences with a single click, are more likely to garner engagement than a post asking people to tell you about the best purchasing experience they ever had with your brand. 

If you do want to encourage more in-depth feedback, the best option is to promise a reward in return for your follower’s effort. 

Make the experience fun by transforming it into a competition. 

For instance, ask your customers to share their favorite story involving your brand for a chance to win an impressive prize. You can ask each customer to tag their response with a branded hashtag so that relevant answers are easier to find. You could even add users to tag their friends in their posts too, to increase brand reach while you collect feedback:

With gifts and rewards to incentivize them, people will be much more likely to interact with your brand and put effort into the reviews they leave. You could even gather some user-generated content to put into your subsequent ad campaigns. 

6. Create a Dedicated Website Page

Finally, if you want to make it as simple as possible for people to leave feedback on your website and for you to collect all of that information into one space, then create a review page on your website. This can double up as social proof for people who need additional evidence to buy from your brand. 

A review page could be as simple as a page on your website listing the latest comments that your customers have left. You can include a form at the bottom of the page where people can add their thoughts. Just make sure that you carefully review these posts before they’re submitted to your website if you want to prevent spam from getting through. 

You could also create a case study or portfolio page that showcases the work you’ve done with other companies like Fabrik Brands does here:

At the bottom of each case study, give your customers a unique email address they can reach out to if they want to be featured as your following case study. Or include a contact form where people can get in touch to discuss their own experiences. 

Having a dedicated review, case study, or testimonial page on your website could be enough to inspire more feedback from your customers. It’s also a fantastic way to demonstrate how credible your company is to potential buyers. 

Still, Struggling? Take the Customer Out of the Equation

If, even with all the suggestions above, you still can’t seem to convince your audience to give you some decent feedback, then take them out of the equation. You can learn things about your audience without asking them for information. Google Analytics and other tools will give you valuable insights into which of your blog pages get the most engagement and how many people click on individual buttons throughout your site. 

These fundamental insights might not be as good as valuable, contextual feedback from your audience, but they’re an excellent way to start figuring out how to invest in your future growth. 

Remember, feedback of any kind – even if it’s just statistics and numbers – gives your business the ability to grow and make informed decisions.

Gather as much feedback as you can, and make sure you use it!

 

Featured image via Pexels.

Source

The post 6 Tips for Collecting Customer Feedback (The Right Way) first appeared on Webdesigner Depot.


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Comment gagner en compétitivité avec un logiciel ERP innovant ?

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La gestion d’une PME comme la montée en puissance d’une ETI impliquent nécessairement la digitalisation des processus de l’entreprise. Pour gagner en compétitivité sur le marché actuel, l’implémentation d’un ERP se révèle être un atout indéniable. En effet, il est indispensable d’automatiser les tâches, de fournir des services à distance et de rendre les données accessibles depuis différents supports.

Gérer efficacement les bases de données devient capital et relève d’un véritable enjeu stratégique pour chaque société. Leviers de croissance, centralisation et hiérarchisation des données permettent aux entreprises de se développer. L’externalisation informatique via le cloud assure une flexibilité et une sécurité supplémentaires dans le stockage et la mise à jour des databases. La maintenance à distance réduit considérablement les coûts. Il s’agit aussi de s’adapter aux fluctuations du marché en temps réel avec une réactivité à l’épreuve des aléas économiques. Tous les secteurs d’activité sont alors concernés par la transformation numérique ou l’optimisation de la solution digitale déjà en place. L’importance croissante du commerce en ligne accélère d’ailleurs la tendance.

Le traitement des informations requiert un logiciel de gestion d’entreprise performant, adapté à la taille de la structure et conçu pour permettre son évolution en fonction des objectifs fixés. Le système ERP soutient l’activité dans des conditions de rentabilité optimale au niveau de la production mais aussi de la gestion et du commerce. Il offre également un outil d’analyse fiable pour définir une stratégie d’entreprise pérenne. La solution ERP garantit un pilotage sur-mesure aux PME comme aux ETI. Mais derrière la technologie ERP et sa définition marketing, quelles modalités de déploiement assurent une compétitivité sans délai ? Voici tout ce qu’il faut savoir pour mettre à profit un ERP d’entreprise avec une intégration système réussie, une interface conviviale pour ses utilisateurs et un support client irréprochable.

Tous les bénéfices d’un système ERP pour les PME et les ETI

La transition numérique met en avant l’ERP avec une signification pas toujours accessible aux personnes extérieures au service informatique de l’entreprise. Pourtant, les PME comme les ETI peuvent elles aussi faciliter leur digitalisation en ayant recours à un Progiciel  de Gestion  Intégré  (PGI, de l’anglais ERP), conçu par un éditeur spécialisé. Les coûts de gestion de l’entreprise diminuent également avec l’automatisation des tâches récurrentes et la fin des répétitions de saisies informatiques inutiles entre les services. Avec un PGI, il n’est pas nécessaire d’investir dans une licence pour chaque poste de travail : il gère l’ensemble du système informatique et partage les données en temps réel avec les départements concernés.

Dans l’industrie, les sociétés de services et le commerce, les PME gagnent ainsi du temps et économisent sur leur budget annuel. Les équipes peuvent davantage mettre à profit leur énergie sur des tâches à valeurs ajoutées. L’Enterprise Resource Planning porte les petites structures au rang des ETI. Mais que signifie exactement ce terme informatique et quelles applications trouve-t-il dans les processus de gestion des informations et des services opérationnels des entreprises ?

Qu’est-ce qu’un ERP ?

Le terme désigne un logiciel professionnel aux multiples fonctionnalités. Il est conçu pour répondre à l’efficacité de gestion des processus informatisés de l’entreprise. En français, il est aussi connu sous l’appellation PGI pour Progiciel de Gestion Intégré. Il regroupe un ensemble de programmes paramétrables en fonction des utilisateurs et des besoins en lien avec l’activité. Il intègre à son système d’informations toutes les fonctions d’une société. Outil de gestion informatisée, il met à disposition des services concernés toutes les ressources nécessaires au fonctionnement de l’entreprise. Le PGI favorise le travail en équipe et assure la transmission des données entre les différents départements. Il permet d’interagir avec un site client. Il sert de passerelle entre les données des sites de production et celles des points de livraison. Le PGI promet une logistique sans faille. Mais qu’en est-il plus concrètement ?

Son rôle dans le fonctionnement d’une entreprise

Dans une usine de production, par exemple, l’ERP centralise toutes les informations utiles pour assurer les commandes et les livraisons dans les délais prévus. Il adapte le rendement au stock disponible et au coût total. Il peut être programmé pour commander les matériaux automatiquement avant une pénurie pénalisante. L’ERP envoie alors la facturation de l’approvisionnement au service comptabilité. Il permet de planifier les roulements des équipes en fonction de la rentabilité de la production. Il fournit l’analyse financière nécessaire à la prise de décisions. Les données sont disponibles en temps réel. Même les ressources humaines peuvent bénéficier des applications du PGI. La base de données utilisée prévoit le croisement des informations, leur classement et leur extraction en fonction des stratégies préalablement définies. Autrement dit, l’ERP fluidifie l’agrégation et le traitement des données de toute l’entreprise pour que tous ses services en tirent profit.

L’ERP s’adresse également aux commerces et à la grande distribution. Un logiciel de gestion commerciale facilite la logistique au quotidien et la traçabilité des produits. Il s’inscrit dans une logique de gestion du cœur de métier ou des fonctions administratives comme l’émission des bulletins de paie. L’accès aux différentes informations de la filière entière reste toutefois soumis à des autorisations validées par la structure organisationnelle de l’entreprise. Mais tous les intervenants concernés partagent la même information immédiatement actualisée.

Le fonctionnement d’un ERP au sein d’une PME

L’avantage principal d’une intégration de système réside dans l’homogénéité des données accessibles. La mise à jour d’une information au niveau d’un poste de travail se transmet à tous les étages de l’organigramme de gestion. Chacun dispose des mêmes éléments pour traiter les tâches qui lui sont imparties. Tous bénéficient de la capitalisation des données stockées au sein du réseau interne. L’implémentation d’un ERP implique aussi des passerelles entre les différents programmes des départements spécifiques et leurs nombreux périphériques. Les données transitent sans problèmes de compatibilités ni d’interfaces. Le PGI communique avec les serveurs des fournisseurs et des clients lorsque le contexte s’y prête. Il est alors primordial de définir les fonctionnalités indispensables à l’activité.

Le logiciel gestion commerciale peut gérer l’envoi de mails pour une prospection régulière et une fidélisation des clients efficace. Certains secteurs ont intérêt à utiliser des assistants digitaux pour filtrer les communications par type d’informations. Chaque entreprise a son propre fonctionnement, l’ERP lui donne les moyens de l’optimiser avec une solution globale ou spécifique. Les conseils spécialisés de l’éditeur du progiciel de gestion d’entreprise apportent une expertise dans le choix des applications à mettre en place dans une filière particulière. Un diagnostic ERP après un audit complet des besoins de l’entreprise donne des perspectives nouvelles d’évolution sur le marché.

Choisir un progiciel de gestion intégré en fonction des besoins du business

La nature des données détermine en partie l’algorithme à utiliser. Les informations d’une ligne de production dans une usine ne sont pas du même ordre que celles d’une entreprise de services. Le commerce en ligne requiert des fonctionnalités spécifiques à son activité. La gestion des ressources humaines, des finances ou de la relation clients nécessitent des technologies adaptées à leur environnement de travail, sans nuire au fonctionnement du système global. Les supports multimédias utilisés et les composants de la bureautique déjà installés entrent également en ligne de compte dans la conception du PGI. Pourtant, certaines fonctionnalités sont communes à toutes les PME comme l’accès au réseau ou la gestion des mails. Les modules reliés à la base de données offrent ensuite des applications appropriées à chaque service. Ils visent à donner de l’ampleur au business mais doivent convenir aux dimensions du marché parfois géographiquement limité.

Les PME peuvent aussi disposer d’un terminal performant et sécurisé pour les paiements par carte de crédit via leur dispositif ERP. Mais les adaptations prévues par le fournisseur ERP ne se limitent pas aux opérations à réaliser pour la gestion de l’entreprise. Le progiciel est conçu pour respecter le mode de fonctionnement des équipes ainsi que la structure organisationnelle de l’entreprise.

Les différentes versions de la planification des ressources de l’entreprise

Le système ERP privilégie la gestion management. Il centralise les informations dès leur enregistrement dans la base de données et donne accès aux différentes composantes de l’activité selon les fonctions exercées au sein de la PME. L’ERP permet de superviser les flux en regard de leur rentabilité économique, logistique ou financière. Il fournit des outils d’analyses avancés pour amorcer une dynamique de croissance à partir de la configuration initiale de l’entreprise. La solution proposée répond à la capacité de production de l’entreprise ou à ses objectifs de ventes. Mais la mise au format doit être progressive. Elle nécessite une phase de tests : avant le déploiement intégral de la solution ERP, une intégration pilote garantit la continuité dans la qualité des processus. Il s’agit de ne pas impacter le fonctionnement de l’entreprise et d’assurer une transition à la hauteur des nouveaux objectifs de l’ETI. L’ERP pour PME sert également à travailler en équipe.

Les fonctionnalités à privilégier pour la gestion de projet ou l’organisation administrative

Le pilotage d’un projet et la gestion administrative d’une PME ne relèvent pas des mêmes processus. Ils sont donc assignés à différentes fonctionnalités. Les applications utilisées par les entités de travail organisent l’activité selon le mode opérationnel habituel. Le département des achats ou de la comptabilité ne fonctionne pas sur le modèle de la gestion de projets d’équipes. Les visioconférences et la communication unifiée permettent de mener à bien un projet d’étude. Les données statistiques, la gestion du budget et des délais à respecter avec le logiciel ERP libèrent du temps au chef de projet qui peut alors se concentrer sur les difficultés techniques et la relation client.

Un éditeur avec une expertise du métier garantit une implémentation informatique réussie. Si la formation des utilisateurs à l’ERP de l’entreprise est primordiale, sa configuration intuitive autorise une maintenance corrective simplifiée. Une simple mise à jour du système suffit souvent à apporter de nouvelles fonctionnalités pour rester concurrentiel.

Planifier l’évolution des structures organisationnelles du PGI avec une solution SaaS

La pertinence des fonctionnalités de l’ERP permet de gagner en rentabilité mais elle ne suffit pas à garantir la compétitivité en toute circonstance. Or la flexibilité est la clé du succès des PME. Elles profitent alors de leur statut d’ETI avant de conquérir de nouveaux marchés et de s’agrandir. Pour rester concurrentielles, elles doivent désormais se positionner à la pointe de l’innovation technologique.

Le cloud computing offre un système d’exploitation aux multiples possibilités et se révèle simple à utiliser. Il accompagne tous les projets innovants initiés pour s’adapter au marché. Les données sont accessibles même en distanciel et depuis n’importe quel type de terminaux. Les informations doivent pouvoir être consultées directement depuis un smartphone ou une tablette de l’entreprise. Les postes de travail évoluent en mode nomade et nécessitent une gestion à distance via internet. La solution SaaS donne les moyens d’organiser la réactivité des entreprises connectées mais pour quel taux d’investissements de la part des PME ?

Quand les avantages fonctionnels et les intérêts financiers se rencontrent sur le cloud

Le logiciel SaaS prévoit la gestion de l’entreprise dans le Cloud. Il assume un stockage massif de données de façon décentralisée pour gagner en capacités. Il offre un service aux PME en quête de parts de marché supplémentaires. Ce type de logiciels professionnels s’avère performant pour le traitement des données et des flux d’informations. Le fournisseur héberge les codes sources des applis et des données dans un espace de stockage sécurisé. Il garantit la sauvegarde des données en cas de problème technique. Il les rend disponibles depuis internet à la demande de l’entreprise. Les PME n’ont jamais le souci de la maintenance du système. Un abonnement suffit pour profiter d’un usage illimité des ressources web prévues dans la solution SaaS. Les entreprises n’ont pas besoin d’investir dans du matériel puissant pour lancer les applis : le serveur web du logiciel de service s’en occupe à distance.

Le paramétrage du logiciel SaaS sur la table

Le cloud computing fournit les services informatiques indispensables à la croissance des entreprises. En plus de la gestion du réseau et du stockage des bases de données, il intègre l’intelligence artificielle dans les outils d’analyse. La vente et les finances sont gérées dans des conditions optimales. La stratégie évolue au même rythme que le marché. Le fournisseur ERP programme un paramétrage spécifique au domaine d’activité et aux objectifs chiffrés de l’entreprise. Les algorithmes présentent alors des solutions évolutives pour gérer les difficultés et développer un nouveau modèle économique à partir des nouvelles opportunités du marché.

Il existe aussi des solutions prévues pour développer le commerce en ligne. Les analyses prédictives font alors place aux améliorations de l’expérience utilisateur sur le site web. Le décryptage du trafic en ligne et des modalités du déclenchement des achats orientent la stratégie digitale à suivre.

La maintenance du système par SAP France

Leader de l’ERP, SAP France propose des solutions SaaS sur-mesure aux PME et aux ETI. Les entreprises bénéficient d’une expertise du logiciel de service et d’une implémentation spécifique à leurs processus. Spécialisé dans le Cloud, SAP accompagne le projet de digitalisation de la gestion organisationnelle et fonctionnelle des entreprises jusque dans la compétitivité. Ne vous laissez pas distancer sans réagir !

The post Comment gagner en compétitivité avec un logiciel ERP innovant ? appeared first on SAP France News.

Source de l’article sur sap.com

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How To Test for Your Software’s Scalability

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As companies develop, they provide services at greater capacities. To achieve new heights, a company needs to improve the quality of the platform behind its success. Several software tests can improve your digital products. Software scalability tests are imperative for any company operating in the digital market.

Scalability testing and performance testing are ways to assess software capabilities. Performance testing focuses on response times and software quality. Scalability testing targets the software’s performance when adding new resources. Continuous testing plays a different role in the development process.

Source de l’article sur DZONE

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Quels outils pour faciliter la migration vers l’ERP SAP S/4HANA ?

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SAP propose des outils et méthodes pour toutes les étapes de la migration vers l’ERP intelligent SAP S/4HANA. Des solutions qui pourront être complétées par la méthodologie et les outils de SOA People, afin d’accélérer et de sécuriser encore plus ce processus.

L’approche Move to SAP S/4HANA, complétée par les méthodologies et outils de SOA People, offre de mieux préparer, mener et réussir son projet de migration vers l’ERP intelligent SAP S/4HANA. Un outillage qui permet aux entreprises d’envisager sereinement leur projet de migration.

Premier temps : la préparation

« Le premier temps est celui de la réflexion, celui du quand, du comment… et du combien », résume Christian Charvin, Head of Program Move to SAP S/4HANA chez SAP. SAP fournit un ensemble d’outils qui permettent de mener la réflexion de bout en bout, en mesurant précisément quel effort devra être fourni et quels gains attendre.

SOA People ajoute à ceci un outil spécifiquement dédié à la construction du business case, Performer. « Performer va se brancher sur l’ERP du client, en extraire les données de façon anonyme et évaluer le niveau de performance de l’entreprise par rapport à son utilisation de l’ERP, explique Pierre-Edouard Hamon, Presales Director, SOA People. À cet effet, le client va être comparé à un panel d’entreprises représentatives. Ceci permet d’évaluer son niveau de maturité en vue de la migration vers SAP S/4HANA, puis de proposer des plans d’action adaptés, comprenant les améliorations recommandées. Ce plan d’action permet d’évaluer les coûts de mise en œuvre du projet, mais aussi les gains potentiels attendus, qu’ils soient uniques ou récurrents. »

Techniquement, les outils proposés par SAP sont capables de proposer une approche similaire : SAP Process Dicovery crée une image de l’utilisation de l’ERP. SAP Transformation Navigator définit le paysage applicatif et fonctionnel, suivant le périmètre et les améliorations choisis. Enfin, SAP Value LifeCycle Manager construit le business case. Performer présente toutefois plusieurs atouts : une couverture plus large en matière de domaines fonctionnels ; plus d’indicateurs mesurés (2600, contre 1380 chez SAP) : une meilleure automatisation du processus.

Second temps : la migration

Les conversion factories ont le vent en poupe. Les conversion factories assurent une migration technique, sans modification massive des processus. Elles permettent de basculer de SAP ECC vers SAP S/4HANA dans des délais courts, avec un minimum de changements fonctionnels. Une fois cette étape réalisée, les processus peuvent être revus avec les métiers, de façon progressive et suivant les priorités fixées par l’entreprise. Une approche à privilégier lorsque le saut technologique est important : passage de SAP ECC à SAP S/4HANA ou passage d’un environnement sur site à une solution en mode cloud, comme RISE with SAP.

« L’emploi d’une conversion factory permet d’industrialiser toutes les étapes de la migration, à périmètre constant, avec parfois la modification de quelques processus clés. Cette méthode permet de capitaliser sur les investissements réalisés précédemment, en reprenant les paramétrages de l’ERP et en convertissant les spécifiques existants. Quant à la conduite du changement, elle peut être ajustée, en ne déployant pas d’entrée de jeu l’intégralité des nouveautés de SAP S/4HANA », explique Christian Charvin.

« Nous sommes tellement fans de l’approche conversion factory que nous proposons un outil de conversion automatisée capable d’assurer automatiquement certaines tâches (finance, gestion des immobilisations, business partners…), ainsi que la conversion de 93% à 95% des spécifiques, ajoute Pierre-Edouard Hamon. La conversion des spécifiques est réalisée à l’aide d’un moteur d’intelligence artificielle autoapprenant très efficace. À un point tel que nous avons réussi à assurer la migration technique d’un industriel en seulement trois mois ! »

Troisième temps : les travaux post-migration

Une conversion réussie nécessite l’alignement des bonnes personnes, des bonnes méthodes et des bons outils. Toutefois, deux aspects sont à considérer après la conversion, et tout au long du cycle de vie de l’ERP : l’amélioration continue et les tests.

Une solution comme Signavio permet d’analyser les processus utilisés à un instant T et de les comparer aux bonnes pratiques du secteur. Un outil précieux qui réalignera les processus avec ces bonnes pratiques. « Nous recommandons à nos clients de réaliser régulièrement cette analyse, dans le cadre d’une stratégie d’amélioration continue de leurs processus », poursuit Pierre-Edouard Hamon. Mais également pour s’assurer que leurs processus restent dans un état optimal.

Lorsque l’ERP est déployé dans le cloud, il va évoluer au rythme des évolutions proposées par SAP. Mais même lorsqu’il est déployé sur site, il est recommandé d’assurer des montées de versions régulières pour profiter de l’innovation SAP. Que ce soit lors de la refonte de processus existants ou lors d’une montée de version, les tests – de bon fonctionnement ou de non-régression – sont essentiels. « Des outils comme Tricentis (distribué par SAP) permettent d’industrialiser ce que les clients font encore trop souvent à la main. Cette solution permet pourtant d’accélérer sensiblement la phase de test lors d’une conversion ou d’une montée de version », explique Christian Charvin. « Tricentis permet de réduire la phase de test et de libérer du temps pour se concentrer sur la formation des utilisateurs finaux. C’est un outil qui participe lui aussi à l’adoption de SAP S/4HANA », confirme Pierre-Edouard Hamon.

The post Quels outils pour faciliter la migration vers l’ERP SAP S/4HANA ? appeared first on SAP France News.

Source de l’article sur sap.com

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Definition of Done: Best Practice to Succeed in Software Projects

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Dear editor, I would like to suspend publishing this my article for 3 weeks as it has a dependency on my article on another resource. Thank you for the understanding.

How do we know when a user story is « done? » Can we say that the user story is done when it is coded and all acceptance tests for it are passed? Business representatives may say yes, but they do not know all the peculiarities of software development. So, such criteria as quality are not fully visible to them. 

Source de l’article sur DZONE

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Rail Logistics Europe (groupe SNCF) rationalise son SI avec SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud et VISEO

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Rail Logistics Europe et VISEO ont mis en œuvre la méthodologie SAP Activate et l’approche Fit-to-Standard afin de créer un core model qui a servi de socle pour déployer SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud sur plus de 50 filiales. Le tout en seulement deux ans et demi.

Au sein du Groupe SNCF, Rail Logistics Europe élabore des solutions de transport de marchandises multimodales et sur-mesure, à travers toute l’Europe.

Rail Logistics Europe, c’est l’expertise de 60 filiales en Europe : commissionnaires de transport, transporteurs ferroviaires, opérateurs de transport combiné et d’autoroutes ferroviaires. Au total, 3 500 personnes pour un chiffre d’affaires de plus de 952 millions d’euros en 2019, dont plus de la moitié est réalisée à l’étranger.

Une volonté d’avoir son propre SI

Afin d’accélérer l’intégration de ces différentes entités au sein du groupe, Rail Logistics Europe a d’abord opté pour différents SI financiers mis à disposition par Geodis. Des outils efficaces, mais vieillissants et imparfaitement alignés avec ses besoins. Certaines filiales de Rail Logistics Europe disposaient par ailleurs de leurs propres SI financiers. À cette hétérogénéité des SI, il fallait également compter avec une hétérogénéité des règles de gestion.

Rail Logistics Europe souhaitait pouvoir disposer de son propre SI. Une solution fiable, performante et harmonisée, qui s’appuierait sur un référentiel commun de règles de gestion. « Pour créer de la valeur et apporter les gains de productivité attendus, Il nous est apparu nécessaire d’apporter une dose d’uniformisation et de rationalisation dans notre paysage applicatif… et d’aller vite », explique Nicolas Bismuth, Responsable MOA Finance chez Rail Logistics Europe. L’entreprise souhaitait en effet déployer le nouvel ERP sur l’ensemble de ses filiales, sur les domaines Finance, Achats et Ventes, dans un délai de seulement deux années et demie.

Après une phase de cadrage, consistant à recueillir les besoins de chaque filiale, Rail Logistics Europe a lancé le projet Opera et interrogé les principaux éditeurs d’ERP en mode SaaS. C’est le binôme SAP / VISEO qui a été retenu, avec la solution SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud. Cette dernière répondant en effet aux critères de périmètre fonctionnel et d’ergonomie exprimés, tout en libérant Rail Logistics Europe de la gestion d’une infrastructure via son approche SaaS. Mais plus que cela, c’est la méthodologie SAP Activate qui a été l’une des raisons clés de ce choix. « Au travers de la méthodologie SAP Activate, nous avions la promesse d’atteindre notre objectif de déploiement rapide de la solution sur le périmètre géographique et fonctionnel fixé », explique Nicolas Bismuth.

Pour sa mise en place sur leurs différents sites, Rail Logistics Europe s’est tourné vers VISEO, et ce pour plusieurs raisons :

  • Sa connaissance de la solution SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud et de la méthodologie SAP Activate
  • L’engagement de ses équipes pour atteindre les objectifs ambitieux de déploiement
  • Ses équipes orientées Cloud incitant à adopter les meilleures pratiques de la solution
  • Sa relation avec l’éditeur SAP, indispensable pour ce type de projet

Coller au plus près des standards

Pour assurer la réussite du projet Opera, Rail Logistics Europe et VISEO ont dû appliquer plusieurs principes clés :

  • Travailler en équipe : avec 50 filiales très indépendantes et autonomes, il est essentiel de réunir consultants, décideurs et utilisateurs clés au sein d’une même équipe. Le tout en faisant preuve de flexibilité, afin de s’adapter aux différentes spécificités de ces filiales.
  • Travailler en collaboration avec SAP : avec le cloud, il faut savoir interagir avec l’éditeur, qui met à la disposition les environnements de développement et de production. Mais aussi un CSM (Customer Success Manager), chargé de suivre le bon déroulement du projet.
  • Respecter la méthodologie Activate : pour réussir le projet, il est indispensable de respecter la méthode fournie, qui permet d’apporter des garanties en termes de rapidité de déploiement, de qualité des délivrables et de revue des différents jalons par le CSM.
  • Coller aux standards : en mode cloud, il est important de s’appuyer sur les bonnes pratiques et d’adhérer aux standards. Pour chaque processus, Rail Logistics Europe s’est appuyé sur le scope item SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud le plus adapté.

Un core model déployé tambour battant

L’enjeu principal de Rail Logistics Europe et de VISEO a été de définir le core model du projet Opera. Entre juin et septembre 2018, une trentaine d’ateliers ont été menés, afin de définir des règles de gestion communes sur le périmètre fonctionnel comptabilité, contrôle de gestion, achats et facturation client.

En seulement six mois, avec l’aide de la méthodologie SAP Activate et de l’approche Fit-to-Standard, ce core model est devenu réalité et a été déployé sur le site pilote de Captrain France. « Cela a été vraiment un acte fondateur du projet, explique Nicolas Bismuth. Nous avons démontré notre capacité à construire un core model et à le déployer au sein d’une filiale sur l’ensemble du périmètre fonctionnel cible en seulement 6 mois. »

Une fois le core model validé, le déploiement de SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud a été lancé site par site. Aujourd’hui, 58 entités légales sont déployées sur Opera et de nouveaux déploiements au sein des filiales Captrain Polska et Fret SNCF sont prévus en 2021. A fin 2021, environ 580 collaborateurs utiliseront l’outil Opera.

« La promesse initiale, qui était d’être capable de déployer rapidement, s’est révélée juste. Le planning que nous suivons aujourd’hui est celui qui avait été validé avec le binôme SAP / VISEO au moment du cahier des charges, » confirme Nicolas Bismuth.

Le début d’une longue aventure

Le programme est encore récent, mais le ressenti global des utilisateurs est d’ores et déjà plutôt positif. Reste que Rail Logistics Europe a dû apprendre à s’adapter au monde du cloud. Ne plus recourir systématiquement à des développements spécifiques pour coller aux standards nécessite de revoir chaque processus, mais également d’assurer l’accompagnement au changement des équipes métiers.

Les montées de version trimestrielles de SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud requièrent également des adaptations. Il lui faut en effet évaluer les nouvelles fonctionnalités apportées par chaque nouvelle version et effectuer des tests avant déploiement, afin de repérer d’éventuelles régressions.

Ces mises à jour trimestrielles se traduisent toutefois par toujours plus de valeur apportée aux utilisateurs. Rail Logistics Europe s’est ainsi déjà penché sur les tableaux de bord et le reporting, au travers de l’utilisation de SAP Analytics Cloud Embedded. L’entreprise envisage maintenant d’augmenter le périmètre fonctionnel de son ERP, notamment en évaluant l’utilisation des innovations mises à disposition. Elle s’est même lancée dans l’adoption d’autres solutions SAP en mode Cloud comme Success Factors

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Source de l’article sur sap.com

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