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Buyer's Guide to Web Projects

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Buying web projects: procurement, rfp, vendor selection

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 The website was outdated in many ways and it caused frustrating marketing and content optimization difficulties.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” →
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Case: UEF online service is made for its users

The University of Eastern Finland online service UEF.fi opened in spring 2020. The easy-to-use online service is designed especially for users coming from outside the university community.

Continue reading “Case: UEF online service is made for its users” →
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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” →
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Planning and initiation of an agile digital project

19.4.2021

Skipping the planning and initiation phase of a project is often justified by agile project models, but high-quality project preparations are not in conflict with agile development – quite the contrary.

Continue reading “Planning and initiation of an agile digital project” →
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CMS and ecommerce platforms in Finland

Directory

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” →

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Data review: eCommerce technologies of big web shops in Finland 2020

2020-11-02

This year our eCommerce data review consists of 299 web shops. The criteria were the same as last years: The annual turnover of the company behind the web shop must exceed one million euros. Also, the selection must be reasonably large. Selling just gift cards is not enough.

The amount of different eCommerce platforms has decreased from last years 50 to 48 even though our sample size is a little bit bigger. The change is small, but a clear sign of concentration to fewer technological solutions. The market share of small platforms has constantly decreased and most likely the same trend will continue in the future too. Continue reading “Data review: eCommerce technologies of big web shops in Finland 2020” →

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Municipalities have plenty of WordPress partner options

14.10.2020

There are 310 municipalities in Finland, and according to our database, over 100 of them are using WordPress as their publishing platform. At the moment, there are about 40 implementation partners who have supplied municipalities WordPress sites, and many of them have experience with several municipality websites.

Continue reading “Municipalities have plenty of WordPress partner options” →
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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?” →

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Data review: eCommerce technologies in Finland 2019

We found out the eCommerce platforms the biggest companies in Finland are using. According to our review, there is a wide range of different eCommerce technologies. There are exactly 50 different platforms in use, of which 23 are used only by one company each. The combined market share of three most popular technologies is 40 percent. Continue reading “Data review: eCommerce technologies in Finland 2019” →

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Magento is in the middle of a change – again

Choosing the direction

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” →

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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” →

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Different conceptual approaches to self-service channels

Aug 23, 2016

Many organizations are now paying attention to the development of their customer-facing self-service channels, with some of them already developing the second or third generation. Many customers are already accustomed to good self-service channels; online banks are good examples of services with a long lifespan. Continue reading “Different conceptual approaches to self-service channels” →

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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?” →

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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” →

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Our partner selection process opened up

Jun 28, 2015

Partner selection is one of North Patrol’s core services. We help our customers in making partner and technology selections when they are creating or renewing their digital services. We can proudly say that we have extensive knowledge of different partners and technologies in the Nordic and North European area. We don’t sell any products, technologies or implementation projects, nor do we make any partnership deals with the implementers, so our customers can truly rely on our independence and that we always try to find the best possible solutions for them. Continue reading “Our partner selection process opened up” →

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Two models for buying a web project

Nov 24, 2014

What is the focus in your web (renewal) project? Are you looking for something completely different and brand new? Or are you hoping to find a stable and modern CMS on which you could build the features of your web site in a cost-efficient manner?
Continue reading “Two models for buying a web project” →

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Story of a 300,000-euro web renewal – case helen.fi

Oct 28, 2014

This is a story of how the helen.fi website was renewed. Jukka Helin, Development Manager, Helsingin Energia (energy utility), details the project from the RFP to implementation through to final publishing. The project started in the summer of 2012, and the new site went online in late 2013.
Continue reading “Story of a 300,000-euro web renewal – case helen.fi” →

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Facing an extranet challenge? Identity and access management as a solution

Jun 16, 2014

Today we see a lot of extranets that have originally been built for some quite simple and specific need, such as making detailed product information available to partners and resellers. Later, other services that have often been built with different technologies, have been attached to it one by one. Continue reading “Facing an extranet challenge? Identity and access management as a solution” →

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