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”
16.1.2019
It can be difficult to create qualitative metrics for modern service systems. Here are some thoughts to help your work. Continue reading “What you measure is what you get!”
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”
10.10.2017
The content management system for the Finnish Tax Administration web service, Vero.fi, has been renewed. User experience, search functions, and maintainability were significantly improved in the process. Continue reading “CASE: Tax.fi user-friendliness fine-tuned through testing”
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”
17.5.2016
The language menu of a web service CANNOT be represented as a row of flags. I am returning to this age-old issue because I am passionate about it. Finland is a bilingual country, and there is no way that the mother tongue of grandma Siv, born and raised in our Swedish-speaking coastal area and never planted a foot outside her homeland, should ever be represented by the flag of our neighboring monarchy, Sweden. If you cannot catch my drift, you might have an idea on how Owen from Down Under feels about the language selection “Great Britain”.
Feb 29, 2016
In recent times, many Finnish corporations have entered the world of mobile apps. For example, the retail chain Kesko published its K-ruoka (K Food) mobile app that makes it easy to create and share shopping lists within a household. The department store Stockmann published its loyal customer app in fall. The national airline Finnair has actively developed its loyal customer apps during the year. In summer, even The Finnish Taxi Owners’ Federation published its Valopilkku app that makes it easier to order a cab. All of these are genuine mobile apps published at least for iPhones and Android phones. Continue reading “When do mobile apps make sense?”
8.12.2015
When VVO corporation started to plan a unique self-service platform for renting directly privately financed apartments, it was clear from the beginning that out-of-the-box software solutions could not be used. Continue reading “CASE: Lumo Kotinyt.fi service was tailor made”
Jun 6, 2015
Managing content in multiple languages is usually very difficult, and the more languages you have, the more difficult it usually gets. That said, there are two clearly different ‘schools of thought’ in managing multiple languages. From my experience, there are the ‘US style’ and the ‘European style’. The difference is not always very clear, and many big corporations actually apply both styles – sometimes at the same time.
Typically, most clients tend to fall in either of these categories. As consultants this is something we at times have to be hard to the client. Clients have to choose which style is closer to their requirements – at least on a regional level.
So what are we talking about?
Continue reading “Multilanguage management: US style vs. European style”
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?”
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”
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”
Apr 27, 2014
Renewing an existing digital service is seldom an easy task. No matter whether it is an intranet, extranet or public web site that needs renovation or what the reasoning behind it is, the puzzle often has so many moving elements that it is hard to decide what really should be done, what the correct steps are and who should do them. Should you build everything from scratch or consider only a partial renewal? And where to start the renovation? Continue reading “Renewing an existing digital service – From chaos to an organized roadmap”
Feb 3, 2014
Given that design quality correlates highly with results, companies pay surprisingly little attention to selecting great designers and buying service design projects.
Buying a concept design project is not a simple task. Agencies have vastly varying approaches and experience backgrounds, which makes it hard to evaluate whether a certain agency is fit for your job or not. But there are ways to make the selection process smoother and more successful.
This article gives you 10 tips that help you be a better buyer. Follow the advice and I can guarantee that your next concept design project will bring you more results—most likely at a lower cost.
Continue reading “How to buy concept design—10 tips for cost-effectiveness”
Oct 2, 2013
Tampere University of Technology (TUT) registered one of Finland’s first two web domains in 1986 and was among the first universities to introduce intranets for both students and staff and launch an electronic magazine. TUT’s redesigned website caters to the web browsing tastes of various user groups across a wide range of browsing devices:
Continue reading “Project story: Responsive web design propels former front runner back to the lead”
October 1, 2013
Ida Aalen gave an excellent presentation about concept design process at the CS Forum 2013 few weeks ago that should really be mandatory reading for every concept designer and content strategist.
Since everyone couldn’t be at the CS forum, we’ve attached the slides of the presentation and some key highlights from the case study for you to see for yourself. Of course there are thousands of somewhat similar presentations around the internet, but this presentation works nicely as a stand-alone learning material with great visuals and real-life images from the workshops. Continue reading “Concept design done right”
Buyer's Guide to Web Projects 