Let Your Content Work For You! Part Three
By David Dye, Co-Founder
At ClearCadence, our mission is to deliver innovative digital business process solutions to our clients in fintech industries. With our long partnership with Alfresco for Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and Business Process Management (BPM), we’ve become trusted partners and experts in process solutions.
However, no matter how robust your content or process management systems are, they are not going to find favor with users if your systems are hard to navigate, don’t deliver content in an engaging way, or are poorly designed.
Here are 5 helpful tips to increase employee and customer usership of your online processes, interfaces, and tools.
1. Adopt the Alfresco Digital Workspace
With an open-source, Java-based framework, developers working in the Alfresco digital workspace have the freedom to add design customizations for an engaging user experience that strengthens your brand. With reusable Angular-based UI components and services, developers can reuse custom components. If there’s a need for a change or update, it is adapted across all components. Additionally, web applications are built to be responsive with easy integration to make the system more intuitive to user needs.
2. Keep Interfaces Simple
A simple rule of thumb for any type of interface – the fewer keystrokes required of users, the better. Be purposeful in the page layout so that it all makes sense as a whole, and only look to add items to the interface that add significant value. View the special arrangement of objects on the screen as a whole – are your eyes drawn to the most important information?
Ensure that there is consistency throughout the user interface. Nothing should feel out of place on the screen and within your brand. When using forms, see if certain fields can be pre-chosen or filled in ahead of time for the user. The less the user must do on their own, the more they will have a positive reaction to the interface.
3. Be Bold with the Graphic Design
Don’t be afraid to use vibrant colors in your graphic design. Color can set a mood and draw attention to the areas you want users to see most. A colorful page also elicits positive feelings. Work out a color palette that has some pop while being true to your brand.
Also, pay attention to typography. It needs to be easily readable but also able to set a hierarchy for the page. It should work in tandem with the graphic design to set the tone and provide clear context to the topic of the page. Pay close attention to the fonts you are using. Do they pair well to offset between headlines, CTAs, prompts, and copy?
Another area to explore is to incorporate a user persona – a character that is representative of your target customers. By utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) tools, the interface can be customizable to the user based on their data and behaviors.
Lastly, avoid any type of red/green color scheme, even for a holiday promotion. Besides red and green being contrasting colors, 8.5 percent of the world’s population have red-green color deficiency, meaning they won’t be able to accurately process the interface.
4. Streamline Forms
Forms need to be accessible and easy to understand. Instructions should be concise, and cues should be clear for users on what to do next. Make sure the questions are logical in their progression.
Form fields should have validation in place to alert the user if there’s an issue with an entry. The inclusion of drop-down fields will also aid in eliminating error entry. Consider a cancel or clear button in case the user wants to start over, and make sure there’s a clear routing button so the user doesn’t leave the page without submitting their information.
5. Enhance the Mobile Experience
Mobile apps have their own unique challenges, so be ready to pare down to essentials through an intuitive interface and design. Short, sweet, and to the point work best, with an interface that allows for transactions.
As mobile phones are edge devices, security is key, particularly in fintech. Users need that extra reassurance that your organization is serious about the protection of their data. By requiring multifactor authentication and notification of secure data status, you will build trust that the mobile platform is safe and secure.
The ClearCadence Advantage
As an Alfresco authorized consulting partner, ClearCadence has been the clear choice for our fintech clients regarding their digital business strategy and solutions. The first phase of our partnership with you is consultative, where we learn about your company and put forth a strategy for your content management needs.
We’re with you every step of the way through implementation, and we perform routine checks to straighten out any errors. Once everything is up and running, we’re always available to help out should any issues arise.
Ready to learn more about ClearCadence and Alfresco Solutions?
David Dye, co-founder and partner of ClearCadence, has over 20 years of successfully developing, selling, growing, maturing and managing profitable professional services practices for Digital Business Process Automation, Content, and Integration software companies.
ClearCadence has a long track record of assisting customers with analyzing, planning, designing, and implementing solutions. Visit the link above to received more information about our organization.
