A portal means a doorway or entrance and in the realm of website development offers away of accessing a web system that will allow you, as a user, to perform a task. At Coops Collective, we have delivered a number of bespoke portals to clients ranging from SMEs to large corporation and aided in streamlining their internal and external processes.

To learn more about how PureNet can help you create new, cost-efficient processes within your business, download our Portal White Paper now.

Download Portal White Paper

The post Bespoke Portals and How They Can Help Transform Your Business appeared first on PureNet.

For the York Technology Conference, I teamed up with my colleague Kora Habinakova, Marketing Manager at PureNet and Magium to deliver a thought provoking conversation based around how online stores directly influence people’s buying habits and how to sell to your subconscious. Entitled “The Psychology of How to Sell Things and You”, we gave examples of Entry to Market and Omnichannel experiences and related this to Personal Branding, self-concept and a focus on Cognitive Dissonance.

In an interactive seminar we posed different views. I took on the role of the data-led Analyst, who spoke about how software should be bespoke, requirements-led and so should be your CV – accurate and full of information. Kora played the role of the Creative – who wants to go to market with good presentation and with an emergent strategy of sculpting any campaign. Selling yourself in a story-based language over specific details was the message here.

After each section we spun out into groups who voted with their feet to continue the debate with professed ambassador of the moment to showcase the volatility of consumer-led decisions and the importance of branding.  At the end – we revealed that, actually, Kora and I agree with each other in that you need a little of both approaches to create data-led experiences that resonate with audiences and empower brand advocacy.

For the rest of the day we had the pleasure and honour to listen to high achieving University of York Alumni speaking about their experiences in Tech.  Key highlights were “3 simple steps to making your first million as an IT entrepreneur” by Darryl Mattocks, Managing Director & Founder of Enistic. A key takeaway here was to select a KPI to aim for the “hockey stick effect”.  Find an attribute that you can attach a metric to in your business, sales, customer satisfaction etc and work on making this rise.  Then graph this to show investors that you have positive sustained continued growth.

Robin Pembrooke, Director of Content Production Workflows at BBC, presented his and BBC’s views on machine learning and data science in content production for TV and online. Robin spoke about digital transformation and how it impacts a large organisation such as BBC, who operate on the premises of up-to-date content and how technology, and artificial intelligence specifically, can help streamline internal processes to deliver fresh, targeted content to different audience segments.

Another key speaker on the day was Helen Bowyer, Emerging Technologies Manager at IBM, who told us about “Delivering Innovation in Emerging Technologies”. Amongst other inventions and key technical increments work in progress was lattice cryptography.  This is a new security method which hides data inside complex math problems (algebraic structures) called lattices.  This will also allow people to perform calculations on a file without ever seeing sensitive data or exposing it to hackers.

Overall it was a very well organised conference run by students and aimed at connecting students with local business professionals like us.  We hope our advice we imparted on the day encourages more to take the path of a career in Tech.  We also hope to lay the foundations for the next generation to work in jobs that are yet undiscovered.  Speaking at and listening at tech events such as York Technology Conference lays this pathway for those who choose Tech as their career path.

Enquire about Career Opportunities at PureNet

The post York Technology Conference – Daniel Woolfson’s Notes appeared first on PureNet.

“This year’s eCommerce Show North revolved around utilising the data we have collected about our customers and clients to create tailored experiences and maximise sales. From making the most of your Google Analytics findings to biometrics, the conversation concentrated on how we can read the data presented to us in a way that is beneficial to our customers and helps reach our business goals.

A number of talks were around maximising the power of community and influencer support in a way that your audience will respond to.  Ben Holden, the founder of  Lo-Dough, a low-calorie, gluten-free bread alternative invented in the north of England, presented a great case study about how he and his team got the start-up project off the ground.

Lo-Dough went as far as to create a ‘fake brand’ to test the market in the first instance, to ensure they didn’t dilute the Lo-Dough name before it became famous. Thanks to the power of social media, they were able to set up a very targeted set of campaigns, each of which had their own landing page on their website, to ensure a seamless user journey for the segments they were testing. The results were astonishing as after just a four-day campaign, which cost £1,200 in total, they were able to test the market and generate 2,583 email subscribers, ready to receive the first marketing campaign from Lo-Dough. Creating targeted and seamless journeys via your email platform can change the way your customers perceive your brand, especially with new businesses. One of our valued partners, dotmailer, will provide a marketing automation platform and help put your ecommerce strategy in place as efficiently as possible.

Thanks to the team doing their homework prior to the launch, Lo-Dough was positioned successfully and within the first year received 6,000 user generated Instagram images, creating a strong community around the brand. They also managed to turn what seemed to be a challenge at first into an opportunity. Lo-Dough found that there was an 80/20 split in opinions about their product. Looking at the issue from the ‘it’s better to divide an opinion rather than create indifference’ point of view, the start-up managed to maximise the buzz around the brand and continuously provide thought leadership targeting the 20% of non-believers.

Having a data-driven strategy for your brand is key to creating communities and long-lasting relationships with your customers. Ensure your online and offline experiences complement each other and that both can withstand the peaks and troughs in traffic in your industry. Building a solid website will allow you to create secure and personalised user journeys and keep your audience engaged. At Coops Collective, our services include ecommerce, portal development, web design, systems integration and consultancy, to help you build a solid base for your marketing and sales strategy. 

The psychology and feelings underlying decision-making in ecommerce was another huge topic during the conference. Neil McKay from Endless Gain spoke about biometrics and the evolution of optimisation. Him and his team set up their lab two years ago to help businesses understand and optimise human psychology, emotions and behaviour to create seamless user journeys and achieve business goals. Following Neil’s contribution, Jonathan Bowers from UK Fast talked to us about the Psychology of Speed in eCommerce. This resonated with me considerably. When delivering portal and ecommerce systems, site speed is a hugely important element and at Coops Collective, we have to ensure all our bespoke solutions are optimised to deliver the best results possible. Claiming that ‘we are all hormonal all the time,’ Jonathan delved into how the levels of certain hormones impact our purchase behaviour. A witty, yet highly informative talk, recommended we mix up a cocktail from dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin to successfully win repeat custom and create a community around our brands.

With the community spirit being embraced in almost every talk, it was no wonder that Magento, an Adobe Company, so community-centric in their core, were one of the main sponsors of the show. The Magento theatre was buzzing with talks on data-driven commerce and B2B optimisation, just some of the fantastic features of the Magento 2 platform. Our Magento practice, Magium Commerce, concentrates purely on Magento development and B2B development is an increasing demand and something on which they have considerable focus.

Umbraco founder, Neils Hartvig, reminded us of the importance of humans in the digital age and how to proceed with organisational transformation in a way that is right for your business. Putting a human-first approach in place when creating a business strategy, whether it’s thinking about your customers or internal stakeholders, will ensure that your brand resonates well with the people you want it to touch. Again, this was something that hit home. PureNet has recently helped Ibstock PLC, a FTSE 250 company, transform two of their branded websites and built brand new catalogue websites on Umbraco to express the company’s vision of innovation and growth. After a successful launch of the two websites, we are excited to follow Ibstock PLC’s progress in achieving their business goals.

When it comes to branching out and targeting internationally, keep in mind the balance between globalization and localisation. Some of the talks at the eCommerce Show North specifically talked about getting it right, in terms of payment methods, exchange rates and shipping. Make sure to do your research before you enter a specific market, to be able to make well-informed business decisions and maximise your market entry potential. At Coops Collective, we have over 12 years’ experience in delivering successful integrated solutions and will be happy to consult you on the use of third parties to make the most out of your ecommerce strategy.

To conclude, I had a great time at the eCommerce Show North, and my inner-psychology-geek has been fed with lots of interesting pieces of information. I’m excited to follow the trends and newly-introduced brands and see them succeed in their respective fields!”

The post eCommerce Show North – Kora Habinakova’s Notes appeared first on PureNet.

“I relished the opportunity to attend a Testing conference on my home turf in the beautiful City of York.  Having access to two full days of learning, networking and sharing experience about the latest trends in Testing and QA was an opportunity not to be missed. I was also invited to speak on a subject of my choosing – more on this later.

There were two tracks of presenters on both days, keynote presentations and more and I had to be quite selective on what sessions to attend. My strategy was to attend talks based on their content so that we can concentrate on improving our service offering to our clients.  Nowadays industries meet at an intersection in that we are all “information processors” in some form – sector is no longer a barrier for tech.  The titles of the presentations guided my choices to attend.

First up was “4 ways AI is going to Transform Testing” by the CTO of EggPlant. It was interesting for me to see how AI could apply to the Software Tester profession. As there are only so many types of screens in business applications, I learnt that AI can support the generation of test cases. Segmenting test scripts comes from learning what is determined an “effective” test, further ensuring our clients’ B2B websites operate smoothly across devices.

The second presentation I attended at the Software Testing Conference North was “Agile in a Regulated World” by MoneySuperMarket.com.  This was quite a turning point for me in listening to the experiences of an Agile advocate (like myself) in a Financial Services setting. The key take-away here was the focus that automation returned two benefits for compliance – in that once an action is automated – it is repeatable, traceable and can be observed easily – which qualifies for the requirement of Compliance and Audit and provides time-saving benefits for the business.

Moving on to listening to the Senior Test Manager from the BBC, “Modern Test Management” was a walkthrough of the principles and approach from the BBC Test Team. They spoke of the REPEAT framework i.e. Reuse, Enable Delivery, Provide info, Effectiveness, Advocacy and Think holistically.  The Test Team focus on learning from others, test the existing process, inform others on coverage and risk and using right test at the right time, championing bugs and thinking about internal and external quality. Awareness at all stages of the Test Lifecycle is key to improvement and can make something impactful for the client. At Coops Collective, our Test Team is made up of extremely skilled Ecommerce testers with a large amount of industry experience. We complete a comprehensive checklist before your solution goes live and have implemented processes to ensure our clients are informed about the test stages.

The final session I attended during the Software Testing Conference North was by EE Digital talking about their experiences of scaling and operating with Test Automation.  A sentence I remember hearing was “Identify business critical tests to automate – you do not need to automate everything to see value.” Similar to EE Digital, this was a key message on which I built in my presentation entitled “Use of Automation in Ecommerce using Ecommerce personalisation.” In my next blog contribution, I will offer a summary of my talk and write about structuring tests from experience using Test Automation Tooling and Coypu and how these work with Ecommerce personalisation platforms such as PureClarity.”

The post Software Testing Conference North – Daniel Woolfson’s Notes appeared first on PureNet.