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Buyer's Guide to Web Projects

Technology and vendor neutral advisor for web projects

Author

Mikko Jokela

Mikko Jokela is an expert on web and digital business who consults the customers on web platform and vendor selections. His particular area of interest is how digital channels could support business more effectively.

The most popular Headless CMS products in Finland and in the Nordic countries

10.1.2023

The online presence of an organization usually includes many channels. Practically everyone has a website and almost everyone uses some social media platform, too. Slightly larger players have several online services for different needs: website, online store, campaign pages, etc. For example services from partners, mobile apps, and various means of digital marketing can be used to add to the digital presence.

Today, there is also discussion around composable entities. There is composable commerce, composable DXP, Digital Experience Platform, and composable architecture.

Continue reading “The most popular Headless CMS products in Finland and in the Nordic countries”

Gartner´s views on the development of the e-commerce market

20.9.2022

The research company Gartner regularly publishes their insights into the key players and products related to the development of digital services. These reports mainly focus on the North American market and, therefore, in Finland these views should be interpreted with some reservations. Trends shown in the reports are, however, something to focus on.

Continue reading “Gartner´s views on the development of the e-commerce market”

CASE: M2-Kodit online service helps to find a rental apartment

6.9.2021

At the end of 2019, M2-Kodit, who offer rental housing, commissioned usability testing of its online service. Based on the findings, it was decided to implement a comprehensive renewal project. The website was outdated in many ways and it caused frustrating marketing and content optimization difficulties. The decision to renew was also greatly influenced by the feedback received from customers: the site was perceived as challenging to use.

Continue reading “CASE: M2-Kodit online service helps to find a rental apartment”

CASE: Traficom modernizes its digital self-service channels

30.8.2021

The Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom is an authority in permits, licence, and monitoring of transport and communications. The organisation began its operations in 1.1.2019, when The Finnish Transport Safety Agency (Trafi), the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority (FICORA) and certain functions of the Finnish Transport Agency were merged into one operator. Traficom promotes the functionality and safety of the Finnish transport system and accelerates the development of a digital society.   

Traficom´s digital self-service channel entity is certainly one of the most versatile of its kind in Finland. You can deal with permit issues related to, for example, road traffic, boating, or the use of a drone. Some of the most used services are vehicle registrations and change of vehicle ownership. Traficom’s online services can also be used as a representative of a company or an organization.

Continue reading “CASE: Traficom modernizes its digital self-service channels”

Case: Kemira.com renewal on a fast schedule

31.5.2021

How long does it typically take to run a renewal project of a website for a listed company operating on six continents with sales in more than 100 countries? I would estimate 6-12 months, depending on the situation. Kemira made the impossible possible by revamping its Kemira.com website in just 12 weeks. The kick-off event of the implementation project was held in early January and the new website was published right on schedule on 31.3.2021.

Continue reading “Case: Kemira.com renewal on a fast schedule”

Utilizing Contentful as a content management system

7.12.2020

Web content management systems typically have the capabilities to manage both the content of online services and the presentation layer – the website. As customized solutions have become more popular, content management solutions that operate completely separate from the presentation layer have emerged as an alternative to more traditional publishing systems. The terms headless CMS, API-first CMS, and API-Driven CMS are used for these solutions.

Continue reading “Utilizing Contentful as a content management system”

CMS and ecommerce platforms in Finland

10.11.2020

The Finnish market situation on content management systems and ecommerce platforms is very interesting and various platform solutions are utilized in a surprisingly versatile way. We explored the options used in more detail and updated our directory of the most popular systems and platforms used in Finland. The directory is divided into three categories:

  1. Market leaders
  2. Strong challengers
  3. Other solutions

To support our evaluation, we conducted several data reviews, in which we investigated the implementation technologies of the websites using various tools.
Continue reading “CMS and ecommerce platforms in Finland”

CASE: Teosto renews all its online services

17.6.2020

In 2017, The Finnish Composers’ Copyright Society Teosto (hereinafter Teosto) decided to renew all its main digital channels. The current situation was recognized as unsustainable in many ways. Technological renewal and certain changes in operational practices were necessary to carry out. The most urgent renewal needs focused on online services provided to customers and stakeholders.

Continue reading “CASE: Teosto renews all its online services”

Will Episerver retain its leading market position?

7.4.2020

Episerver is the most popular commercially licensed CMS in the Nordics. Our common knowledge of the market situation got verification when we scanned what content management systems companies really use. In addition to Nordic review, we paid special attention to Finnish market by examining what content management systems the biggest Finnish companies (by turnover) use. It is noteworthy, that Episerver’s relative market share grows as only the top 100 companies are observed.
Continue reading “Will Episerver retain its leading market position?”

CASE: Eckerö Line succeeded with a complex web store renewal

26.11.2018

The web store requirements of Eckerö Line are very complicated. Similarities with typical consumer web shops cannot really be found. Already, the cruise and route trip sales have many dimensions and when enhanced with different kinds of extra services onboard, such as meals and vehicle shipping, and services in the destination, such as hotel accommodation and opera tickets, managing different kinds of combinations becomes really complicated. An extra spice is the pre-order selection, which comes with its own set of rules. Continue reading “CASE: Eckerö Line succeeded with a complex web store renewal”

Magento is in the middle of a change – again

18.6.2019

Today, Magento is the most commonly used e-commerce platform in Finland. The installation base is broad for both the open source version and the commercially licensed version. Due to the new ownership, the market position of the product changes slightly.

Global software company Abode announced an acquisition of e-commerce platform Magento back in May 2018. Adobe has had an extensive offering already before, but it’s been lacking an e-commerce solution. Magento seems to be the missing piece for the puzzle. Now that a year has passed since the announcement, it’s time to reflect the impact of the acquisition and the future of Magento. Continue reading “Magento is in the middle of a change – again”

Most popular web technology platforms in Finland 2019

When you look at the web technology platforms different companies use, the most popular open source products are still going strong. If we compare purely the number of installations, WordPress and Drupal are leaders of the pack. Free license attracts buyers, but the products are also very suitable for typical website implementation scenarios. Continue reading “Most popular web technology platforms in Finland 2019”

Survey results: Product information is the foundation of B2B sales channels

November 22, 2018

It is difficult to sell products without high-quality, comprehensive and up-to-date product information. This is self-evident in B2C web stores, but the same requirements apply to B2B sales channels as well. The difference with B2B channels is that providing high-quality, comprehensive and up-to-date product information is much more complicated than in consumer business.

Continue reading “Survey results: Product information is the foundation of B2B sales channels”

Ingredients for utilizing web analytics

December 5, 2017

Utilization of web analytics varies a lot around organizations. Many companies have a Google Analytics account (or corresponding tool) in place, but too few of these organizations take full advantage of it. But why is that? Shouldn’t the benefits be obvious? Continue reading “Ingredients for utilizing web analytics”

What are the advantages of commercially licensed web content management platforms over open-source products?

May 23, 2016

Platforms based on open-source code are conquering the world of online services. WordPress, in particular, has spread with vigor. The platform is constantly developing, and there is no shortage of implementation partners. With the number of installations as the criterion, WordPress is probably the world’s most popular content management system. Continue reading “What are the advantages of commercially licensed web content management platforms over open-source products?”

Digital Customer Experience Marketing Cloud Platform

Sep 16, 2015

– “Excuse me? What does your blog title mean?”

– “I have no idea.”

But by combining two or three words from the title you get many of the latest product or service brand names of big IT vendors. These brand names are astonishingly identical.
Continue reading “Digital Customer Experience Marketing Cloud Platform”

To personalize or not to personalize?

May 18, 2015

The whole world is talking about how the power in digital channels has switched over from organizations to consumers. It’s The Age of the Customer as they call it. Humble and patient “Hopefully they’ll provide me what I need if I only search long enough” attitude has been turned upside-down. Now consumers are demanding “Give me everything I want! Right now!” and “only for me and exactly to my specific need”. People want better digital experiences and more relevancy. Suddenly everybody’s time is money.
Continue reading “To personalize or not to personalize?”

Digital marketing: The gap between hype and real life

Apr 7, 2015

Customer experience. Personalization. Marketing automation. Omnichannel.

These are the current buzzwords in the digital world. Everybody talks about them and there seems to be a huge common interest, especially when the words digital and marketing are in the same sentence. The benefits should be obvious, but reality shows that almost nobody makes full use of these possibilities. At least not yet. Continue reading “Digital marketing: The gap between hype and real life”

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