Articles
Fusion insights
Modern testing standards: A three-layered cake
The changing role of test automation engineers Due to the increase in paired programming, the technical skill helix of development and testing is becoming more apparent. This also increases the industry’s need for automated tests and the implementation of scalable...
What’s next for banks? Reimagining the customer relationship with machine learning
The pandemic made it clear that traditional banking is a thing of the past. Online banking had already been on the rise, but a 200% jump in new mobile banking registrations in April 2020 established that customers are able and willing to change. As more Americans bank...
Exploring cloud modernization challenges and the path forward
When considering cloud migration and modernization, many organizations are focused on moving workloads, reducing costs, and shifting from traditional on-premise data centers. But this only a small piece of the true modernization opportunity....
How Agile product owners should prioritize user stories
Many organizations struggle to adopt Agile as part of their digital transformation. And one of the most common struggles in adopting Agile is how to move toward incremental and iterative refinement. Iterating on a goal allows more information to be gained quickly,...
The future of software testing: Trends for 2021 and beyond
In today’s age of digital transformation, companies have had to change the way they test software. Teams performing 100% manual test scripts find it very difficult for the testers to keep up with development. We often see developers either having to slow down...
Reduce security breaches: How Cloud Identity as a Service can benefit you
Moving your business to the cloud is inevitable. And it is critical that you can keep your data, your employees' data, and your clients' data safe. Global insurance carrier Hiscox reports the average cost to recover from a data breach is $200,000, whereas a study...
Accelerating digital transformation in banking
A customer’s experience with a bank looks much different than it did just five years ago and seems almost unrecognizable from what it was like 20 years ago. Customers who would once physically go into a bank to deposit money, interacting with a bank teller, can now do...
How an Agile approach supports digital transformation
In a time of rapidly changing customer expectations, companies in every industry are faced with the reality that they must adapt, or risk being left behind. They understand the need to embrace digital transformation in order to better connect with their customers....
Is traditional software testing dead? Why a hybrid approach is key
In our previous article, Testing in the DevOps Pipeline, we discussed release pipelines and the automated test cases which help make them a reality. We started with these topics because they touch on some of the more exciting and new ways that adopting DevOps...
The rise of big data technologies and why it matters
Getting the right data to the right people at the right time is the name of the game in today’s demanding marketplace. Every company has to find a way to harness big data and use it to drive growth. And if your organization isn’t talking big data, you are at a...
Digital transformation: Our predictions for 2021 and beyond
What will the future hold when it comes to digital transformation? We don’t have a Magic-8 ball or special spidey sense, but our team does anticipate sizeable change. We asked a few of our team members what they...
Driving digital transformation forward
Everyone is talking about digital transformation, but there’s a lot of confusion and misinformation about what that term means. Much more than just a buzzword or doing things “digitally,” digital transformation means reimagining your business and driving it forward in...
When testers become plumbers: Testing in the DevOps pipeline
Are you currently using a DevOps pipeline, or moving that direction? Are you looking to integrate testing into the release pipeline? In this article, we’ll briefly discuss DevOps pipelines and give some hints on how you can test in such an environment. Joining the...
Why choosing the right CMS matters
CMS. DXP. WCM. No matter what your organization might call it, most businesses fostering their digital marketing maturity leverage a form of content management platform. Often, the choice of Content Management System (CMS) serves as a cornerstone for digital...
4 ways banks can leverage the power of machine learning
The financial industry has faced waves of changes over the last two centuries. Emerging nations, the American gold rush, the power of the stock market, and even the Great Depression have all shaped how banking works and what consumers expect from their banks. Notably,...
6 ways accessibility will impact businesses and website design in the future
Most people take websites for granted. They pay bills, book flights, and download white papers online with relative ease. But not everyone assumes that digital tools are designed with them in mind, and that’s a failure for everyone. One in four U.S. adults report...
Don’t leave remote collaboration to chance: Design it to be effective
How can we cultivate a culture of connectivity while remote? Have you ever felt the energy of working on a team where everyone was in sync and got things done? Or have you experienced the opposite, team collaboration that you dread, where no one agrees on anything and...
5 keys to planning a successful cloud implementation
The cloud is everywhere today, and it continues to be touted as the silver-bullet solution to everything from backup and disaster recovery to infinitely scalable mobile applications to inexpensive storage and nearly everything in between. While the cloud finally...
Automated UI tests: Taking the plunge
Curious about automated user-interface-level (UI) testing? That’s good, curiosity is where it all begins, and you’ve come to the right place. The next step can be the most daunting. The purpose of this post is to provide some high-level strategies and encouragement to...
8 steps to speed up product design and development
Product design (UX/UI design) is becoming one of the most important roles in the tech industry. Designers are under pressure to accelerate product development and reduce the time, effort, and cost spent. We’ve been there and understand what it’s like. This eight-step...
Solutions and support to rapidly transition your team to remote work
Coronavirus has completely transformed the way businesses operate. This abrupt transition to a 100% remote workforce has left many companies scrambling to effectively serve clients and securely collaborate with employees. We understand the urgency and how important...
An overview of RPA: Is it right for your business?
There’s been a lot of hype about Robotic Process Automation (RPA). Headlines tell us we can transform our business process in as little as 12 weeks using RPA bots. Benefits are touted, velocity is promised, trends of growth are noted, and new jargon was coined:...
Which public cloud offering is right for you?
The first steps have been taken. Your company meticulously evaluated public cloud providers and their offerings, and you’ve decided to soon join the 91% of enterprise businesses (annual RightScale 2019 State of the Cloud report from Flexera) that have adopted the...
Unlock customer credit insights with machine learning
Executive summary The credit card industry is becoming more complex. Advanced loyalty, targeted offerings, unclear rate conditions, and many other factors can often make it difficult for banks to identify the right customer. Ultimately, the financial services firms...
5 steps to manage your COVID-19 content going forward
The problem: COVID-19 content is everywhere From all we currently know about the COVID-19 virus, it's clear we're going to be dealing with this for a while. We also know the information about the virus is continually evolving. As learning to live with this virus...
Digital and the experience economy
Forward-thinking organizations, regardless of industry, are reorganizing their business strategies to be customer-centric. But why? Businesses of the past operated and prospered by focusing primarily on the needs of shareholders, leaving customers at the mercy of...
The future of retail: Conversational marketing and machine learning
This article was originally published at the Forbes Communication Council Think about your last online shopping experience. Chances are, you were delivered product recommendations based on your past purchases, but how helpful were they? Did they truly predict your...
What you need to know about responsive design and mobile engagement
If you’re not optimized for mobile, then you could be alienating the very life-blood of your business, your customers. According to Google, more searches take place on mobile devices than on computers across 10 countries, including the U.S .and China. More than 5...
A winning data management and analytics strategy
Startups like Uber and Lyft have all but changed the face of the taxi industry and the customer experience. Many are huge fans of these companies, and it's no wonder. You don’t have to flag anyone down or have an awkward street scuffle to get a ride. Uber has skipped...
Essential keys to today’s data journey
We’re on a journey. We are moving from managing data, to managing analytics, to managing insight. In terms of the traditional approach to managing data and delivering business intelligence, we’re going to see a shift in the way people approach the challenges of this...
6 steps for planning your big data strategy
By now, every industry has positioned itself as the next great sector to benefit from big data. Healthcare? Of course. Finance? Early adopters. Agriculture? Very much so. Omnichannel retailing? Absolutely necessary. Even transportation logistics and trucking, from...
Why Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a gamechanger
If you have a legacy ERP or you're considering an ERP, you may be considering Microsoft Dynamics 365. We believe it is truly a gamechanger, so we put together this evaluation of the platform so you're well prepared to decide if it's right for you. A little background...
How to calculate the cost of a big data strategy
The future looks rosy for companies who take advantage of what strategic data management can do. But the specter of needing a team of people handling on-premises hardware and the cost implications of doing so continues to make organizations hesitant to move forward...
The case for agile and self-service BI
Recently, our team was on a call with a client who was trying to consolidate dozens of transactional systems into a single model to support a more effective reporting paradigm. The envisioned solution focused on self-service, visual analytics, while also supporting...
A measured approach to data science
Data science is an important field of study as a means of analyzing big data. The success stories of how data science and machine learning provide organizations with new insights that stimulate the growth of customer service, productivity, and profitability by leaps...
A renewed crisis: The call to develop data assets responsibly
With the emergence of powerful, next-generation business intelligence (BI) tools aimed at enabling self-service, the threat to the traditional data asset development and governance control paradigms is facing a renewed crisis. How does an organization not just...
Align digital analytics with your business strategy
With increasing customer demands and competition a click away, access to data-driven responses in real time has become a necessity for business users and marketers. Today, the market is full of digital analytics tools for measuring your customer experience across web...
9 questions to uncover your digital analytics capabilities
When digital analytics do not produce useful outcomes to inform business decisions, digital teams often point to reporting and analysis as the culprit. But an in-depth investigation of the measurement strategy and digital analytics implementation...
CCPA data privacy enforcement has begun: Use our checklist and plan to make sure you’re compliant
It's official. As of July 1, 2020, California began enforcing its California Consumer Protection Act (CCPA), meaning complacency about protecting consumer data is no longer an option in the U.S. CCPA regulates how companies that do business with California residents...
How your bank can use machine learning to ensure future success
Amazon, Netflix, Airbnb, Uber, and other disruptors have raised the bar on what customers expect from a business. These online giants have figured out how to use their customer data to make personalized recommendations and predict when customers are going to buy – and...
How to nail data-driven design: optimize like you’re curing heart disease
A 2019 Salesforce study reported that 84% of 8,000 consumers and business buyers say the experiences provided by a company are as important to them as its products and services. If you have a digital property that drives revenue, data-driven design can help...
5 tips to keep the wealth in your financial institution
A massive storm is brewing in the banking, financial services, and insurance industries, and when it strikes, it will be devastating to the unprepared. That storm is the unprecedented transfer of wealth, $3.9 trillion worth, that will be passed from the hands of older...
Top 3 reasons to invest in machine learning for mobile
If your organization uses mobile to generate revenue or engage customers, your 2020 strategy conversations have likely included meetings around how to capitalize on machine learning (ML). You’re not alone. Last year, global spending on artificial intelligence systems,...
Build the store of the future: Retail and the cloud
Brick and mortar retail is in trouble. It may seem obvious with stores like Neiman Marcus, JCPenney, Toys R Us, and Sears in bankruptcy or bankrupt already. But what's less obvious and what too few in retail have acted upon is the depth of the dilemma the industry...
10 key steps to building a customer experience (CX) strategy
Businesses that seek to deliver an outstanding customer experience face challenges today due to elevated customer demands and expectations. To be successful, you must rethink and reorganize your experience strategy to accommodate these demands and shorten the gap...
7 remote work best practices for employees
Remote work. You were either suddenly launched into it because of COVID-19 or you've been doing it for a long time. Either way, when the states first began issuing stay-at-home orders this March, we released this comprehensive list of remote work best practices for...
8 ways to manage your remote workers effectively
74% of CFOs and finance leaders said they plan to move at least 5% of their workforce to working from home full time, according to a 2020 Gartner survey.Nearly 25% said they’d move 20% of their staff to permanently remote positions. That’s one in five...
Cloud 101: Let’s remove the complexity
So you’re new to the cloud. It can sound scary and intimidating. Most people say companies should switch to the cloud, and many companies have shifted to it. Whether you're on the journey of exploring whether cloud is right for your organization or just trying figure...
Get to know Dynamics 365 and its licensing
The risk of outdated ERP systems With a lack of IT support to maintain siloed and outdated ERPs, businesses end up paying more to maintain an already obsolete system. Increasing IT costs and reducing productivity ultimately causes companies to fall further behind...
Top 4 roadblocks to digital customer engagement
As brands adapt to the consumer-driven Experience Economy, they must be able to evolve their businesses for the digital age. This isn’t an easy task, especially for companies stuck in a mindset that their business is still driven by traditional direct marketing....
SEO measurement: Beyond the rankings
One of the most difficult aspects of search engine optimization is measuring the success of a campaign. Historically, SEO providers give their clients a list of “valuable” keywords and the position of the client’s website for each keyword. Unfortunately, this kind of...
The buzz about artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep learning: An overview
The B2B and B2C markets are abuzz with the terms artificial intelligence, machine learning, and deep learning. But what do these terms mean, exactly? They’re often used very loosely and you may think they’re interchangeable. But they’re not. Here’s a short overview to...
Automated UI tests: Taming the tangle
Ever tried to detangle a big box full of wires and cables to get to that one power cable? It often seems that no matter how much care we put into placing those cables into the box, we inevitably end up with a tangled mess that tests both the physical integrity of the...
The cloud: From cost center to profit center
After a 20-year drought of killer applications, the wait is over. Only a handful of apps in history can be referred to as a “killer app” — a computer program that is so necessary or desirable that it proves the core value of some larger technology. We’ve seen them...
11 behaviors for successful digital customer engagement
As you read in our previous post, Transforming customer engagement in the digital age, the customer is now in control and seeks an experience that builds a relationship with a brand that spans any device, any channel, at any time. But how do you provide an experience...
Customer experience: What it is and what it isn’t
What is customer experience? With the experience economy taking a stronger hold, it is imperative for organizations, regardless of industry, to understand what "customer experience" means. This phrase has been defined in many ways, but our definition aims to explain...
Omnichannel 101: What it means for your digital strategy
Born in the retail industry, omnichannel isn’t just a buzzword to add to your marketing “bingo” card. (You know the one.) Omnichannel strategies provide digital customers with a seamless experience of a company’s brand, no matter where or how those customers engage...
Transforming customer engagement in the digital age
In the age of the consumer and the experience economy, everyone and everything is connected. Consumer expectations have shifted. The customer expects a personal relationship that offers value wherever and whenever they are ready to engage. As a result, marketers must...
7 considerations for choosing the right CMS
Choosing the right content management system (CMS) is not easy. As you begin investigating your options, make sure you’re asking the right questions. Here’s an analogy that underscores the complexity of the problem, followed by seven factors...
Legacy application modernization: A phased approach for moving to the cloud
Cloud modernization is not new. According to a recent survey, over 51% of organizations who responded are in the midst of application transformation and cloud migration. Many businesses have moved at least somewhat to the cloud. However, moving custom applications...
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