You may have heard the saying, "necessity is the mother of invention." This couldn't be more true than when it comes to the digital media industry. In today's rapidly changing technology environment, media organizations are stretched to do more with less. Publishing companies, in particular, need specialized software that can help them publish and broadcast their content in a more streamlined and efficient manner.

We're a UX-driven design and development team that specializes in the creation of the back-office software ecosystems to derive revenue and increase media industry performance. We created this kind of set of solutions for one of the biggest internet publishers in Central Europe- [Wirtualna Polska Group.](https://holding.wp.pl) Every month they reach 22,1 million internet users! In this article, we'll outline the benefits of having custom software and the features it can contain. Enjoy your reading!

More time optimization, more revenue

Custom internet publishing and broadcasting software is software that is specifically designed for a particular media company with a specific interest. It allows for more detailed and customized editing of content than off-the-shelf software and can make the publishing and broadcasting process more efficient and streamlined. This industry does not include internet service providers or publishers of offline content. Major companies include AOL, Associated Press, HuffPost, Cable News Network (CNN) and other web sites.

What is internet publishing and broadcasting software, and why do you need it?

Internet publishing and broadcasting software help media companies improve the lives of many groups of people: 

Why do digital media companies need custom internet publishing and broadcasting software?

The dream of every IT director, innovation director, head of product, or project manager is to have a coherent software ecosystem. Companies using custom software are better able to optimize costs, and increase performance. Thanks to their rapid rise they become industry key players. Internet publishing and broadcasting software allow for better collection of industry data. 

Management staff

Custom internet publishing and broadcasting software can make the publishing process faster and easier for employees. Journalists, editors, and publishers will find all the necessary tools in one place, allowing them to focus on what matters most - the art of writing. 

Employees

Users use a significant portion of their time spent online reading the news, often on mobile devices.  When a company has a better handle on its content, it can provide a better experience for its online users. Custom internet publishing and broadcasting software can help media companies publish articles and video content more quickly and efficiently, providing a better experience for users. Additionally, this software can help media companies collect data about their industry that can be used to improve the experience for users.


Internet users

The features of custom internet publishing and broadcasting software

These days, content editing software has become an essential tool for every media organization. That's because journalists use this technology to create their articles. You may associate it with the popular CMS (Content Management System). But that's not what we have in mind. An innovative content editor supports the process of creating multimedia-rich content following all SEO best practices and making it accessible to the intended audience.

1. Content Editor

With this tool, editors can count the time from opening a page with a blank article until that article appears on the web sites.

2. TTP (Time to Publish)

Journalists love our tool because they can choose templates that adapt to the planned content from the very beginning and speed up the creative process.

3. Ready-to-go templates

With this feature, journalists can save draft versions of their work. The safety of data is enhanced by the use of local storage because it eliminates the danger of losing any work done.

4. Autosave feature

A rich multimedia component library is used to write an article. Editors can add pictures, video content, dynamic galleries, social media postings, citations, specification tables, stock and currency exchange quotations, e-commerce components, event timelines, pros and cons sections, reviews, industry data in pdf format, and many more. These are success factors that allow for the production of genuinely interesting content for today's readers!

5. Content Parts Library

The text may also be formatted more comfortably by utilizing the panel for formatting content.

6. Text formatting Panel

The text in the article is analyzed by the system (AI + Machine Learning) to suggest related images, links, tags, and categories. It all helps to boost visibility in the web search portals such as Google search engine and make the piece more appealing to the reader. 

7. Recommendations mechanisms

The content is evaluated to match the target audience's needs (sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, and so on). It eliminates long sentences and phrases that no one understands which is a key driver affecting readability. You can read more [here](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunning_fog_index).

8. Readability score

We use validations to reveal errors and help users adopt best practices, as well as how to address any issues. We're performing the editors' function of testing the technical side of news for publication.

9. Smart validation

The design of the portal in which it will be published (including mockup views for mobile devices and advertising grid) includes a preview section that allows journalists to view the information as seen by the reader on the internet and mobile devices.

10. Article preview

Complete article content is just the beginning of the journey to capture the reader's attention.

Editorial process

The article on the home page and other web sites is shown by a news preview (news story). The seemingly basic and unimportant element, in reality, has a crucial function! Article popularity is determined by several parameters, including the title, picture, search engine requirements, and other settings.

11. News piece

Editors verify every news or broadcasting content item before it goes online. It may go through several rounds of editing on a kanban table until one of its versions is approved.

12. Selection

A news article is most read a few hours after publication. During that time, Big Data mechanisms examine the clickability findings. The editor can improve the results by pinning the preview in the desired location on the homepage. In Wirtualna Polska, we call it the Attention Command Center. 

13. Publishing

With 4 million articles, you'll need a solid understanding of how to review, create an easily searchable format, and filter content. The search engine offers a built-in command list, allowing to use of any applicable filters of general or specific interest.

14. Article list

The selection of photos has long been one of the most important problems in editing material. Every news story requires at least one image. Finding, selecting, and inserting pictures into articles was time-consuming.

A centralized repository that combines the resources of numerous organizations, categorizes metadata and manages multiple licenses has become a critical tool for journalists in their professional lives. Also, don't overlook the sophisticated cropping functionality, which eliminates the need to retouch photos with third-party software.

15. Photo Repository

A design system is a set of regulations, tools, and processes that streamline the creation of digital goods. You can read more about it [here](https://designsystem.pl/en).

The team we've assembled is in charge of developing a React.js component library as well as producing useful documentation. We save time by being able to reuse components, ensuring a coherent experience for our users.

Today, thanks to the Design System, we can develop new apps four times faster than before. DS also enhances the coherence between other ecosystem components.


16. Design system

Such a wide range of applications necessitates the use of a control unit that collects data and displays a "helicopter view" of the outcomes of our efforts. The Dashboard shows statistics and allows for data processing, examination of growth rates, and key sensitivities.

17. Dashboard

Changes also take place in the advertising space. Advertising is a major source of industry revenue. We support the advertising department by designing the WP Ads application, which advertisers can use to conduct campaigns on their own and measure their total digital advertising expenditure. This tool allows creating campaigns based on a product feed, integrations with e-commerce platforms, and email databases. Results of campaigns are presented in the WP Metrics analytics panel.

18. Ads

Although Wirtualna Polska does not offer subscription-based services, we know that in the US the broadcasting industry and Internet Publishing have grown significantly over the five years. This growth can be attributed to the pandemic, dramatic increases in the number of online users, internet access, time spent online, and mobile internet connections. These increases have paved the way for companies to earn more revenue through the industry's two main revenue streams: advertising and sales of subscription-based services. Mobile advertising accounts for a significant portion of total digital advertising expenditure.

19) Subscription-based services

Media publishing and broadcasting establishments are primarily engaged in publishing and/or broadcasting content on the Internet exclusively or operating web sites that use a search engine to generate and maintain extensive databases of Internet addresses and content in an easily searchable format (known as Web search portals). In addition to textual, audio, and/or video content, they provide additional internet services, such as e-mail, auctions, news, and other limited content.

In conclusion, in this competitive landscape, custom internet publishing and broadcasting software can help media companies in several ways. It can be designed to be more efficient and streamlined than off-the-shelf software, making the publishing and broadcasting process easier and faster. Additionally, this software can help media companies collect data about their industry that can be used to improve the lives of employees, management staff, and online users.

If you are a media company looking to improve the editing, publishing, and broadcasting processes consider investing in custom internet publishing and broadcasting software, **[please contact us](https://autentika.com/contact)**. We'd be delighted to talk with you about your specific requirements and how we can assist you.

Conclusion

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How custom internet publishing and broadcasting software can help your media company grow

Craig Stedman in [Techtarget:](https://www.techtarget.com/searchdatamanagement/definition/data-management)

What is UX data management? 

“ Data management is the process of ingesting, storing, organizing and maintaining the data created and collected by an organization. Effective data management is a crucial piece of deploying the IT systems that run business applications and provide analytical information to help drive operational decision-making and strategic planning by corporate executives, business managers and other end users.” 




From [Techjury](https://techjury.net/blog/big-data-statistics/#gref)

- 80-90% of the data we generate today is unstructured
- Poor data quality costs the US economy up to $3.1 trillion yearly
- 95% of businesses cite the need to manage unstructured data as a problem for their business
- Using big data, Netflix saves $1 billion per year on customer retention
- Today it would take a person approximately 181 million years to download all the data from the internet



Statistics on big data management

With the increasing amount of information, another challenge has arisen: **data visualization.** In the past, companies collected data in finance and accounting. It meant the need to analyze and present tables made up of numbers.

Today there are many more data types - structured data, unstructured data, different formats (images, video, audio, emails, etc.). The flood of data has made it harder and harder to deal with. Does it have to be this way? Of course not. Data management design is the answer.

Data management design is the answer

What is data management design?

There are many advanced data management tools on the market. However, only a few of them consider big data UX, which means ease of use.  The user interface is one of the essential features of an application or website. That is why we propose to their authors a strategy and research to make it as easy to use as possible. 
You can create the user interface design process in three steps: 


These are often highly specialized solutions aimed at the B2B market. You can't create a data presentation interface and search mechanisms well without a deep understanding of the industry. 


1. Get to know the client and his industry thoroughly

No one expects that you will be an expert in a specific client's industry - don't be afraid to ask even simple questions. It's nothing unusual that a client forgets about this fact and assumes you understand everything. From specialised terms used by other stakeholders to business characteristics and principles.  You don't understand? Ask a question. Think you understand? Rephrase it and check if the client thinks alike and operates within the exact definition.

Starting from analyzing all business/branch-related terms, abbreviations, or jargon - you have to know the specialized language used by our clients and their users. It will help build more natural messages, descriptions, and labels. 


Learn the language

Usually, the business's initial approach is to show everything. The more numbers in the charts, diagrams, and dashboards, the merrier… Well, not here. Suppose you're about to design something useful and valuable for end-users. In that case, you can't just throw all the numbers into the pot and expect the data to be readable. Make a data triage and determine which data is the most critical, high priority to be displayed. And which are only supportive ones that shouldn't shout to the user from the start. 


Make a choice

You have to understand your client's numbers - get familiar with every business-specific notation, check and learn them. The sooner you know the data, the better, especially since the beginning of the project is the perfect moment to ask many questions about them.


Understand

The next step after getting to know the industry - you need to find out the answers to questions such as: who is the user of the system, where will they use it (an office with a few dozen inch monitor or a laptop on a construction site, or maybe a smartphone), what are they looking for, what is their business problem, what is important to them, etc.). 


2. Analyze the user in detail

The holy grail here is to perform shadowing sessions with real users to see the user-product context, but it's not always possible… Conduct analysis based on the customer's vision. Try to reach the users at least with a survey or other less time-consuming (for the user, of course) techniques and get to know them better. 


Perform a session

Data management tools are pretty complex, and starting user research directly with the end-users won't help you focus on the most critical elements. A good practice is to know the business' user perception and create some assumptions and hypotheses that would be validated and challenged later with the users - so business first, users later. 

Create a hypothesis

If the project is about redesign - try not to reinvent the wheel. Reuse some interface elements that most of the users are familiar with. Working with highly specialized products, you will fight with users' habits sooner or later, so try not to fight fiercely over minor functions that everyone knows well and are comfortable with. 

Reuse

At the same time, try to find every pain point of the actual interface or the lack of one to fight most of the users' problems. Find one unified solution to avoid ending with high interface customizability. Most users will stay with the default rendered interface rather than fiddle with additional options and customizations. The better you understand your personas, the fewer options, versions, and settings you would need.

Find a solution

Check if the numbers and data created by the company are easily readable by their end-users. It happens that the company thinks that their data presentation is clear for their clients. In fact, they don't raise any tickets or suggestions on this matter. Clients often filter received data through their own-made excel sheets to get the easy-to-interpret information, where errors are included.  

Check

Based on the previously collected information, create:

- method of data presentation, 
- search engine,
- filters, 
- forms of visualization (maps, charts, thumbnails). 

It isn't easy because, on the one hand, there is a lot of data in the system; on the other, showing too much data at once makes the image unreadable. On top of this, take care of the issue of speed of access to data, and in the case of applications using large data sets, the risk of a situation where the system gets slow is very high. 

Sounds simple? Not really, because these three points include several to a dozen or so weeks of hard work. But we know that it is worth investing this time to achieve great results and free up data in your organization. 


3. Data compilation for the end user

Why do companies need Big Data User Experience? 

The growing amount of data meant a need to generate more and more analyses and reports. Therefore, analysis departments have appeared in large organizations, staffed by people with considerable technical knowledge of software and analytical competencies - data managers and analysts. 

At the request of the business departments, the analysis staff generates reports answering the questions with the help of complex-to-use applications. The software is often unintuitive because teams of programmers developed it without user experience designers.

The developers often assume that business applications are used by professionals who can handle them, so there is no need for user experience design. They do not support the user in using data (e.g., they do not have a hint mechanism, they do not correct users' mistakes), and using them is practically impossible without proper training.

However, this solution has its limitations: business departments have to wait for their reports due to the workload of the analysis department. Information is not immediately available; sometimes, you have to wait for them even several days, depending on your workload.

If only big data analytics experts have access to the data, using it creatively diminishes dramatically. People working directly in marketing or production departments could generate reports independently and experiment with them - change the scope of analyzed data, look for new relationships, etc. They can read more from them than analysts. Some of the data may be needed immediately, directly in the production plant, on the construction site, or in any other place where business operations are conducted.



Examples from our work

We have had the opportunity to design interfaces for several digital projects in the consumer market.

Designing the way data is presented democratizes access to it within an organization. Analytics departments still have a lot of work to do, as they are responsible for the quality of the data collected, creating advanced reports and analyses. Still, they don't have to answer every user query, even the smallest ones.


Geospatial data management

One of our most exciting projects was designing and developing a method of data presentation in an application providing geospatial data. This data is needed to explore and identify attractive natural resource locations.

The software is a very advanced tool integrating structured and unstructured data needed in prospecting for raw materials. 

The application has great possibilities, and its recipients have been the only data managers who have been able to handle it. It has also been a challenge to present data from GIS (geographical information systems) with other data. Users struggled to find the optimum number of data to display on a single graph so that it was easy to read. 

The new interface has significantly simplified the use of the application. It has made it accessible to its target users, i.e., the geologists responsible for the project. They no longer have to wait for data managers to find time to prepare the necessary report. 

How to manage data on 150,000 items?

Another project we have completed is an after-sales system for an international factory equipment supplier. The advanced equipment it supplies consists of thousands of parts and, during intensive operation, requires servicing and replacement of worn-out components.

An advanced system that helps navigate through information on 150,000 components. It allows the collection and synchronization of data from multiple sources. The search engine allows both simple and more advanced searching and filtering results. Essential is the suggestion system, which recommends additional items that may fit the order.

The application in its original form was complicated to use, which meant that customers had to contact company representatives to place an order. We designed the application to make it available to customers so that they could place orders on their own. 

Our experience building e-commerce sites came in handy, but this type of B2B project has its characteristics. Few people will browse through all the resources in a given category in the same way as consumers browse through the content of online shops. The critical information for each part they are looking for will be whether it fits a specific model. 

data management.jpg

What You Should Know About Big Data Management User Experience 

Warehouse management systems (WMS) are integral to the success of logistics companies. They help businesses with inventory management, optimize warehouse space, and improve overall efficiency. However, as businesses grow, your WMS might need change and innovation.

That's where Autentika comes in - we're a UX-driven design and development team that specializes in creating new interfaces for existing WMS systems. We understand the challenges that come with managing a warehouse and strive to create easy-to-use dashboard designs for WMS that make the process as streamlined as possible. In this blog, we'll outline 8 benefits of the new WMS dashboard design and how it can help grow your business. Thanks for reading!


Warehouse management systems are to increase efficiency within a warehouse setting. By having a clear and concise interface, users can find the information they need quickly and easily. This can help to reduce the amount of time spent searching for items, thus increasing efficiency overall. In addition, features such as automated labeling can also help to speed up the process by reducing the need for manual input.

[Navigal](https://navigal.eu/en/smart-way-forward-en/) is a logistics company for which we designed the WMS interface for their custom application. We made it possible to develop the application with new functions in the future using design system elements.


1. Increased Efficiency 

A new user interface will also result in an improved user experience for warehouse workers. A well-designed dashboard will be easy to navigate and understand, making it simpler to find the information they need. This can help to reduce frustration and confusion and make the overall experience more enjoyable. In addition, an improved user interface can also make it easier to train new employees, as they will be able to understand the system more quickly.


2. Improved User Experience

WMS interface redesign can help to reduce costs in several ways. First, by increasing efficiency, a new dashboard can help to reduce the amount of time and resources that are needed to complete tasks. This can lead to significant savings for businesses. In addition, it can also help to optimize warehouse space and improve accuracy, which results in avoiding overstocking or losing items. By streamlining the process and reducing the need for manual input, businesses can save on labor costs.

3. Reduced Costs

- shorter onboarding of customers
- fewer calls to customer service
- cheaper system development using reusable components
- faster implementation of new programmers to create new functionalities
- clear documentation


For companies developing WMS systems, the benefits are as follows: 

One of the key benefits of warehouse management systems interface redesign is that it can provide greater visibility into inventory and storage space. This can be incredibly useful for businesses as it can help to avoid stock-outs and ensure that items are available when needed.  With a clear and concise interface, businesses can get a better understanding of how their warehouse is functioning. This can help to identify bottlenecks and areas for improvement. Greater visibility can also help businesses make better decisions about inventory management, as they will have a better understanding of what items are selling and which ones are not. This gives WMS creators more room to analyze user behavior and better plan product development.

4. Greater Visibility

Another benefit of WMS interface redesign is that it can help to enhance accuracy.  With a clear and easy-to-use interface, businesses can reduce the number of mistakes that are made in the warehouse. This can help to improve inventory accuracy and ensure that items are properly accounted for. In addition, automated systems can help to further improve accuracy by reducing the amount of human error. And as we know, happy customers pay more!

5. Enhanced Accuracy

The new design of the warehouse management system interface can lead to greater customer satisfaction. With improved accuracy and efficiency, businesses can ensure that customers receive their orders on time and without errors. In addition, a well-designed warehouse management system dashboard can help to improve customer service by providing faster response times and more accurate information.


6.  Greater Customer Satisfaction

Nowadays, it is extremely important to create mobile versions of warehouse management systems for warehouse workers. Older versions are often not adapted to be displayed correctly on mobile devices. A modern warehouse management system interface design should take into account the possibility of displaying on terminals and, for example, glove operation. WMS functionality supporting order picking has a great impact on the speed of logistic processes.


7.  Modernized functionality

Businesses of all sizes face unique challenges and needs. That's why it's important to have a custom solution that is tailored specifically to your company's requirements. When it comes to warehouse management systems, a custom solution for your interface design can make all the difference. It is important to understand unique challenges and needs and create a solution that is specifically tailored to business.


8. Customized solutions

One of the most interesting projects we recently worked on was an online store [Cleant](https://cleant.it/en), which offers very high-quality clothing in small editions. Our task was to integrate various elements of the logistic processes: 
- e-store application
- warehouse software
- invoicing software 
- label printer 

We have made the order completion process as simple as possible thanks to its... inversion. In the traditional approach, the customer's order enters the warehouse and employees collect the goods for shipment.

In the Cleant store, the opposite is true: the person responsible for shipping scans the code on the packaging with a barcode scanner. If the box contains, for example, a gray men's sweatshirt in size L, the system searches for the appropriate order on the customer side and automatically prints the bill of lading, downloading the recipient's address details. Work, and therefore the risk of mistakes, is reduced to a minimum.



How did we create a digital project for an online store? 

Proper design of the Warehouse Management System (WMS) interface is integral to the success of logistics companies. It helps businesses keep tracking inventory, customize workflow and improve overall efficiency. It is important that the user-friendly interface is modern, makes people's work easier, and optimizes company costs.  

Thanks for reading! We hope this article has helped to show the benefits of Warehouse Management System interface redesign. If you're interested in learning more, please contact us. We'd be happy to chat with you about your specific needs and how we can help.


warehouse.jpg

8 Benefits of Warehouse Management System (WMS) Interface Redesign

One of the branches of data management is GIS or Geographic Information System. It is a system that combines geographic data with other types of data. It’s often presented in the form of a map. GIS helps solve many problems worldwide, but how to deliver the collected information clearly so that users and scientists can understand it accurately? The solution is UX design or user experience design. 

Are you familiar with the standard web map user interface? They tend to have lots of tools in the same place, multiple layers, and no legend. This makes them difficult to use: 

1. What is UX Design in GIS? 

Software tends to be unintuitive when development teams create it, with no consultations from user experience designers. 

The UX/UI designer's job is to design the interface to make it as understandable as possible to the user or customer. UX/UI designers also take care of the attractive design and select the most relevant features. The designer should have experience in user testing and knowledge of design principles to do that. 

The best work is usually done in teams to take care of every little detail. Every element matters and can determine the success of a project. One of the most popular map applications with excellent UX / UI is Google Maps. The intuitive interface makes the application very easy to use by people all over the world: 


Geospatial design and user experience can reduce the time to science. With advanced technology, scientists save time in many ways:

- data processing takes much less time
- the process goes much smoother
- the waiting time for data download is significantly reduced. We know cases where scientists sometimes had to wait several days to collect all the data.

This translates into getting better results and, in the bigger picture, helping the world more. The biggest giants have already understood this. After a pandemic, where much of our lives have shifted to the online world, understanding the user seems more critical than ever. 

The chart below shows the enormous increase in popularity and relevance of UX/UI researchers in developing digital products. 


2. Why is User Experience in GIS important? 

A significant number of Geographic Information System app users primarily use it on mobile devices. They are helpful for couriers, farmers, geologists, and field workers in the energy, resource extraction, and utility sectors. 

A well-thought-out GIS UX design should consider the limitations of mobile devices - lower resolution and poorer color reproduction. An important consideration is that users often use it while on the move or wearing gloves. 

Additional challenges are the various limitations of users - some people do not distinguish colors correctly, and users with poor eyesight may overlook the nuances of the displayed image.

An important issue is to design the legend so that the symbols used are as clear and understandable as possible, preferably without an additional manual. 

The speed of the application is also essential. The mobile version should support employees while moving around the warehouse or on the road, where Internet access may be limited. 

Quick response to an inquiry is not only a matter of convenience but also work safety. Too much time focused on the smartphone causes the employee not to control the environment around him. 

An application designed with user experience should not interfere with work but smoothly support its execution. 

3. Mobile User Experience in GIS Matters 

We have many years of experience in designing GIS user interfaces. We work with companies that already have softwares, but they are outdated and need a new interface design or website version. 

We also design new applications, connecting them with older software in the company. If someone has an e-commerce platform with limited functions, we add there, for example, a tablet application that facilitates work in the warehouse. And this app connects with the old software and exchanges data.


4. Examples from our work

For one of the largest delivery companies in Poland, we have designed an application for couriers. Every day it facilitates the flow of several thousand deliveries. After collecting the shipments from the warehouse, the application determines the optimal delivery route and displays it on the map. Specialists developed the application engine in logistics solutions. We made sure that the interface used by the delivery person is helpful and not an obstacle in work. 


A mobile app for daily delivery operations

We worked on the interface design for a project for a software supplier for geological data analysis. The data is necessary for searching and identifying attractive locations of natural resources. The advanced application integrates structured and unstructured data needed in the exploration process. This data is presented using maps to indicate the optimal exploration location. 

Until now, only data managers could use the software. The new interface was designed so that geologists could also use it. It significantly speeds up the pace of work, as the intended users of the data do not have to wait for help from data managers but generate the necessary reports themselves.

Helping geologists

Bidroom is a booking.com-style app, but with a different business model. It's a club membership subscription that gives tangible benefits to travelers. You pay an annual fee and enjoy discounts on hotels and other travel-related services. 

Our team was responsible for both design and front-end development based on the API provided by the client. The biggest challenge was a map view (Google Maps implementation).

The map is the focal point of data visualization. It is the hotel room offerings. In this context, the map view is as important as the data itself because we often choose a hotel in terms of the area, access, stores, and attractions nearby.


Booking system app

The GIS industry is strongly connected to the world of design. In many cases, maps are themselves the interface. The choice and presentation of the data determine the success of either the software or the application. 

User experience (UX) design is the process design teams use to create digital products that provide relevant and meaningful experiences to users.  [Contact us ](lhttps://autentika.com/contact)if you plan to develop new software or application in your company or refresh the look of an existing one. 

We have over 17 years of design experience and would love to hear about your project. 



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4 things you should know about User Experience in GIS

WellCommerce is a solution which is a comprehensive response to the requirements of B2B sales platforms. The conversation below between Konrad Hildebrand of Autentika and Adam Piotrowski from WellCommerce addresses the challenges in creating such platforms.

**Adam Piotrowski:** For one of the leading distributors in the office supply industry, we have created a complex B2B platform, which supports more than a dozen stores. The system works as follows: the main store run by the mother company is connected to satellite stores, which are run by completely separate entities. The product offer is automatically downloaded along with pricing information (which differs depending on different branches), discounts, other issues related to storage and product availability for particular locations, etc. 

This solution is more reminiscent of an actual e-commerce platform or a franchise than a simple system to support wholesale outlets. From the perspective of our technology, you can say that this is an extremely complex multi-store system. Integration takes place through the use of .xml files, and import is automated for all information that is located in the client’s sales system, starting from products, through rebates, availability, product images, and categories.


Konrad Hildebrand: Can you tell us about the largest B2B implementation you carried out to date using the WellCommerce platform?

That’s exactly how it works. In practice, stores connected to the platform don’t have their own warehouses. It is a unique variant of dropshipping. The merchandise leaves the central storage and is dispatched through a particular point of sale. In reality, the satellite stores gather orders. They have their distinguished looks, payment forms, delivery methods, and dynamically calculated prices, but in the end, the order lands in the central store, and that’s where it is completed.

For another client, this time in the textile industry, WellCommerce is a type of overlay on Comarch Optima. The system has been optimised to allow for quick placement of orders for different variants of products. With all colour and size combinations at peak times, it supported 11 thousand combinations of pattern/colour/size.


Is WellCommerce used to control the central warehouse in this case? If I'm the franchisee, I take inventory from the HQ and join the platform to download all the information.

The second-largest implementation was delivered for a client we have supported since 2012. The solution includes two stores, one wholesale and one retail. We had to deliver a unique rebate system to meet the specific business needs of this particular client and then integrate this entire system with Subiekt GT.

Next to the wholesale system, we have implemented a separate store in the multistore mode to support retail customers. For wholesale customers, we also added an interesting feature, which allowed them to separate items in the shopping cart between regular and discounted prices.

Currently, the client owns a network of more than a dozen points of sale, and all of those locations use WellCommerce for their inventory instead of Subiekt. The system delivers information about inventory in particular locations and allows POS employees to complete their orders directly using the online store.

This was the largest implementation. How about any other interesting applications of WellCommerce for B2B?

Every implementation has some common points, but every client is different. Therefore, each platform has to meet completely different requirements. The role of a shopping system is to carry out the pricing policy which is required by the company at the given point in time. You can’t just bring it down to rebates. B2B solutions allow prices to be calculated based on the client and the particular group of products.

Every company has a different approach to its pricing policy. I haven’t seen two companies where prices would be calculated in the same way. At one of our partners, discounts are calculated based on the client, but for particular groups of discounts, for the given assortment category. The price presented to a B2B client is the result of three levels of discounts. It must be determined what location is the discount assigned to, for what group, and that fragment of the product code.


What should be kept in mind when creating a B2B platform?

B2B should sell like any other store. It shouldn’t just be a platform to present products to counterparties. This function is delivered by sales catalogs, not B2B e-commerce platforms.

Focus on implementing a pricing and logistics policy, like deliveries through multiple courier services, calculating shipping costs based on delivery dimensions. Business clients order merchandise in large quantities, delivered on pallets. A B2B system must allow for multi package delivery. Shipping generates costs, so you should remember to optimize those costs appropriately. 

What to pay attention to?

B2B requires different payment methods than those in retail. Retail has bank transfers, payment upon delivery, and online payments. In wholesale, we need merchant credit, delayed payment, split payment, and payments divided into down payments and settlements. Anyone who wants to implement this sort of system must consider what forms of payments suit their business.

You have to ask yourself, how can you serve those clients. There may come to a point where you have to implement solutions for account managers. You can have account managers for entire product groups who work with selected clients. This solution allows each client to have an assigned person who automatically receives information about their orders. 

What about payments and commissions?

When implementing a system like this, the biggest problem is always… logistics. That is, processing orders or user permissions. Those issues often require significant focus.

Another big challenge is the implementation of the pricing policy of the given company because, in every project, prices are calculated in a different way. You can’t simply create one single mechanism which will suit every business case. In every industry, clients have different requirements for price calculation mechanisms.

I’d like to emphasize that this is not a problem but a challenge. It’s an element that requires a thorough analysis.

What obstacles can occur during implementation?

Many of our clients are actual brick-and-mortar stores. Pricing policies used offline don’t always make sense in the online world, and sometimes not all mechanisms can be simply reflected. Giving away freebies, promotions, and different types of rebates at brick-and-mortar stores is different from what you can do online.

This is a challenge for the client because they must clearly define their expectations. We often suggest how certain things can be simplified, sometimes, this leads to the creation of better solutions than those used by the client before. This is one of the most time-consuming elements of system implementation.

For all other things, to some extent, we can use existing standard elements of WellCommerce: multi-store, discount groups, client groups, prices depending on order quantities, different discounting mechanisms, prices depending on location, prices at warehouses, and trolley rule mechanisms. In most cases, this will suffice for a moderately advanced B2B store.

What about a situation when a store also functions as a physical location?

We have delivered integration with Comarch Optima, which allowed us to obtain a dedicated proprietary integrator. This solution includes the possibility of integrating typical aspects of everyday service, like synchronizing prices, inventories, orders, and invoices. In addition, we also managed to implement recipe management for recipes used in products made of several ingredients. This can be used also with clothing or computer sets.

For a client in the aviation industry, we have carried out integration with their SAP system for their internal store. It’s a store with the pilot, flight crew, and ground crew uniforms, which are only available for employees. In this case, they don’t buy their work clothes in exchange for money but have certain allowances, a form of points, which they can use. On one hand, SAP is used to download information about the points and allowances. On the other, to pass orders for processing and creating invoices. But this integration did not include product management as such.

Once we have also carried out integration with SAP while delivering a project for a large beverage manufacturer. The goal was to allow juice containers to be marked with dedicated labels ordered by customers using a web creator. They could add their own inscription or image. The integration took place in the scope of a typical sale – is related to downloading inventory, tastes of juice available, and passing orders for processing. Quite simple integration in general.

What popular systems have you integrated WellCommerce with so far?

Anyone who carried out any integrations with SAP knows that every SAP system includes different solutions. There are no two similar SAP systems out there. You can’t just create a general mechanism because SAP in itself, by its implementation, will determine processes and the use of methods. If we have experience with one SAP, we can’t say we know other SAP-based systems. Every one of them is a new challenge.

 Simple integration with SAP?

An important element of those implementations are integrations with external wholesalers. For example, in the case of one of our clients, we are now working on an integration with thirteen different sources of merchandise.

In the case of another client in the cosmetics industry, there is no integration with a typical inventory system because the company uses Logistiko, warehouse outsourcing. It is a very interesting concept, which is becoming more and more popular in the market. The store outsourced its entire logistics to an external company that deals with invoicing, packaging, confectioning, and shipping to the client, as well as processing orders and returns. In this perspective, Logistiko becomes the warehouse system. This type of cooperation is very similar to Amazon Fulfillment, that is, those integrations where the merchandise is passed onto Amazon and processed by them completely.


How about other integrations?

If you’re planning to work on a software project for your company in the near future, [contact us](https://autentika.com/contact). We would love to hear about your project! 

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B2B Platforms – possibilities and issues from the perspective of a WellCommerce expert

The word "e-commerce" is usually associated with an online shop, where we satisfy our needs: we buy clothes, books, or electronic devices. 

However, B2B e-commerce, or business-to-business electronic commerce, in which companies supply companies, appears more and more online.  Autentika has completed many e-commerce projects, and we can say one thing: there is a big difference between B2B and B2C e-commerce! 

At first glance, shopping for business won't be much different than shopping for your own needs. However, you should pay attention that e-commerce for business has various dimensions.

From simple purchases such as small office equipment to the sale of wholesale quantities of goods for resale. The ability to purchase factory equipment, semi-finished products, and components for production lines or various types of professional equipment. 

Autentika has completed B2B e-commerce projects for many companies worldwide. A common feature of these projects was many analyses that had to be performed before building the online shop itself.

We noticed a lot of differences between business and consumer market, and the key ones are:


What is the difference between an online shop for businesses and an online shop focused on the regular consumer?

Let's show it with an example of a jumper. The customer is usually interested in the price, available colors, sizes, material.  Information on sleeve length or collar size is rare and not required. 

A B2B customer who wants to purchase a large batch of jumpers for resale will be interested in the exact dimensions, the weight of the packaging, the number of packages on a pallet, the logistics minimum, the conditions for return, and warranty claims, etc. 

In the case of advanced technical equipment, such as factory equipment, the number of parameters needed for the buyer may be enormous. A buyer will be more interested in a detailed technical drawing or a description of the machine installation than in color photos.

1) The need for a very accurate product description

The number of options available for a given product can be many times greater than in the consumer market. Sometimes products on the B2B market should be tailored to the specific requirements of the buyer.  

The sales offer may consist of several thousand products, available in many variants, with price ranges from a few euros to tens of thousands per item. Description and categorization of such a large number of products require a lot of work and must be well thought out. 

2) More variants and configuration possibilities

While the consumer buys things for himself or as a gift, we have many more options on the B2B market. Goods are purchased to satisfy the needs of a company ( office or production line equipment). They can also be intended for further resale. 

Further purchasers may be end-users or companies that offer services (the construction sector: roofs, windows, gates). They can also be industrial companies that use purchases in production (cars or electronic devices). The options are many, so the shop must adapt to this. 

3) The different ways in which consumers use the goods they buy

In the B2B market, whether offline or online, different buyers have different terms and conditions due to the volume of purchases, the length of time they have been working with a contractor, or simply the discounts they have negotiated. 

The online purchasing process must take this into account. In the consumer market, the price for a mobile phone or TV in a shop is the same for everyone. In the business market, each customer may have negotiated different terms and conditions.

4) Different prices, delivery and payment terms

In the case of the consumer market, the purchasing path is simple. First, you add things to your basket, confirm, and make a payment by credit card or directly from your account.  After a few clicks, the money is already in the company's bank account. The processing of your order begins. Formalities are reduced to a minimum. In a well-designed shop, placing an order and payment will take seconds. 

In B2B, goods may be put into a virtual basket by, for example, an employee of the purchasing department, but then the order requires the approval of the department's head, and in the case of the larger purchases - by a person or persons from the management board. If payment for the goods is deferred - the purchasing process must include a way of explicitly confirming the order and thus the obligation to pay. The purchase path must consider many more scenarios in the business version.

5) A different purchase path

Often advanced machines require additional consumables or complementary equipment. It is good to know whether they can work with other parts of the production line or what conditions are necessary for installation. In the purchasing process, it is worth including the possibility of consulting a person who can competently answer these questions.


6) Need for advice

The above list of differences between B2B and B2C markets shows the scale of the challenges you face when building an online sales channel in the business market. The purchase path in the Business-to-Business sector is much longer and more complicated. The value of the shopping cart is much higher. It can run into hundreds of thousands of euros. Each mistake can cost far more than an abandoned shopping cart with a DVD. 

To properly implement an online sales channel in the B2B sector in our projects, we do a lot of research and conceptual work before building a shop. Due to a complicated purchasing process, it is necessary to know the client's market in detail, its products, how they are purchased, and further use. Only such an analysis and its detailed description form the basis for future work on the online shop.

One is certain:  the B2B market has boldly opened up to the online sales channel and is growing. In the Salesforce report "[State of commerce](https://www.salesforce.com/content/dam/web/en_us/www/documents/reports/state-of-commerce-guide-final.pdf)" already 83 % of the surveyed companies from the B2B sector sell over the Internet. Of these, nearly one in three companies derive more than half of their revenue from digital sales channels. The importance of this sales channel is expected to grow.

A visible trend is the changing role of salespeople due to the development of digital forms of contact. Some projects involve the creation of self-service portals where companies can make simple, repeatable purchases. The role of sales representatives is evolving into consultants who can help with unusual issues. It means that expectations of their expertise are rising. 

The companies surveyed have reported the value of an average order made through a self-service portal being 50% lower than an order made directly with a merchant. The right combination of digital and traditional channels boosts sales. For this to happen, sales staff need to be close to their customers, keeping up to date with market developments and news. Companies that are particularly successful in the e-commerce sector go much deeper into the customer relationship and ask about their needs.

Interestingly, although digital sales channels allow recipients of goods to place orders themselves, this does not mean mass layoffs in sales departments. In the Salesforce report cited above, 37 percent of respondents indicated that e-commerce didn't change sales headcount, and 31 percent said that sales growth has even increased headcount. 

The report also shows that thanks to digital sales channels, salespeople have more time to listen to customers' needs and spend less time dealing with customers making small orders. It saves the time that they used to handle the phone and ... fax. Yes, fax is still alive in the B2B sector.

The Covid-19 pandemic locked us into our homes and interrupted the traditional forms of commercial meetings and shopping that had existed for years. At the same time, it accelerated the process of digitalization. The purchasing process was already moving online before the pandemic broke out. But the enforced lockdown has accelerated it at a hurricane speed. 

What does the future hold for B2B e-commerce? Will automation completely replace offline sales and human contact? In our opinion, not. The direction of development is well refined and thought-out portals, which enable self-service implementation of simple orders on the one hand. On the other hand, quick contact with a professional advisor who will help with complex projects.

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What is the difference between B2B and B2C e-commerce design?

**The previous year at Autentika is marked by a significant increase in the number of projects where we are responsible mainly for UX/UI design. This required us to adopt a new approach to handing over the effects of our work to the external team.**

“How is this any different from a project which you would develop on your own?” – you might ask. First of all – it’s about communication, particularly, how it gets more difficult when you have independent teams working on a project. Two companies (three, including the client!), a bunch of strangers, different procedures, a lack of common experiences, and real-time communication. There’s no place for miscommunication flowing over between project stages and hoping for immediate consults when necessary. Knowledge has to be comprehensive, complete, here and now. Moreover, it needs to be systemized and presented in a way that will be clearly legible for anyone who encounters our work for the first time ever. 

I know, it sounds strange, and it should be considered a bit tongue-in-cheek, but we did set this as our goal when putting together a plan for the final “package” to be handed over. We want to face the expectations of software developers and deliver the most possibly comprehensive set of materials and information. No more “Which screen should we go to after registration?” questions, or “Send us the icons for this screen” requests. As designers, we are always available, but let’s not get any questions that would make us look incompetent.

What’s more important is that on our end it was to be painfully repeatable. Regardless of the designer and the project, everyone has a clear manual on what and how to create.

We don’t take any calls!

Cut to the chase! What are you giving us?

First we draw up ** a project card**. It gathers information about the business goals, key measures, and performance indicators. It introduces the stakeholders. The project itself is presented in the form of a high-level scope, a kind of “helicopter view”. Risks and limitations are clearly listed. Finally, it also includes a schedule, and budget and indicates the settlement model.

The meaty part is called the product card. To draw it up we use the User-Centered Design methodology. We list the characteristics of the target group, along with their pain points, motives, and worries. The product is defined through the prism of ways to solve users' issues, as well as existing alternatives to the product. This part is summed up by the definition of competitive advantages of the planned undertaking and its unique value proposition – the benefit gained by the user when they use the product.

The chapter regarding the market is a description of the industry and its local and international competitive environment. Most often it includes a detailed competitive analysis, which in itself can include several hundred pages of material.

While speaking about the technological layer of the project we gather information about the environment in which it is supposed to operate: devices, systems, software. We are mostly interested in the ability to influence the area of UX/UI.

At this stage, we also analyze any research conducted by the client in the past. Data gathered from Google Analytics, Hotjar, or qualitative research is forged into particular conclusions, which help us make the right design decision. Here we often provide recommendations for further methods of analysis of user needs and behaviors.

The final element of the product card is the language of communication. We get to know the brand, its signature and visual identity, style of language used, and design system, although the latter is still rather rare, even among large corporations. We also review decision-makers from the perspective of their preferred graphic style (so-called draftest, which is our own proprietary method).

#1 The discovery phase

First, we divide the functional scope of the solution **into areas, and modules.** This allows us to draw up a framework, which makes it easier to pinpoint a particular process (hence the name “**process mapping**”). From the get-go, we impose a well-organized numbering model. For example

01. News
01.01 News admin
01.01.01 Adding news articles

The flow of each of the processes involved is presented in graphic form using a diagram. It demonstrates the beginning and each step of the process all the way to the result of the given scenario in a clear, legible way.


#2 The ideation phase

The bundle of files which are created at the design stage is made up to industry standards:

- Highly detailed mock-up for each of the views including states (validation, interactions). Naturally, this is compiled for desktop and mobile as necessary,
- graphic designs prepared based on the mockups,
- .sketch source files for mockups and graphic design with well-organized artboards and layers,
- presentation of the project in INvision along with a history of comments from the screen review process,
- UI Kit - a collection of graphic designs including their different states and interactions for the complete system interface,
- a clickable prototype (if required) in Invision,
animations which present the behavior of interactive elements,
fonts used in the project,
- assets, i.e. graphic elements included in the project (icons, images, illustrations), most often exported to .svg, .png, .jpg formats.

And this is where many designers end their involvement, while we add another portion of solid value for the implementation team…

#3 The design stage

Yes, we go back to the drawing board, or in our case, to the process map, a document, for which we have laid foundations previously. Enriched by the decisions taken at the design stage, we have to supplement the views we created with detailed descriptions of requirements. Graphic designs, although they say much, they don’t allow you to see what happens off-screen, on the backend, management side. 

We supplement processes with information regarding functional and non-functional requirements (qualitative, performance). Along with the created diagrams, they create a knowledge base including every single function within the system.


1.0 News

#4 Ideation stage continued – requirements

As a supplement we also describe microintentions, often using links to our own animations.


Each form is deconstructed into detailed elements in a form that is made ready to be implemented.