WHY IT MATTERS: Digital Transformation

WHY IT MATTERS: personalization is like sex for teenagers, everyone's talking about it but few have done it ;-)

WHY IT MATTERS: security has become central in our age of digital transformation. Yet, it seems, most people are either unaware of basic security principles, or not willing to invest time or money to do it. And I am not even talking of doing it *well*. Just implementing proper security measure. In this case it affect Parler, which in itself I don't much care about (they deserve it for such a stupid mistake). But their lack of security impacts their users privacy as well. And that includes potentially millions of people (in the photo, 68000 video have been geolocated - too bad for keeping your anonymity ;-)

WHY IT MATTERS: after 20 years, wikipedia is proof that "the web" can live up to its potential where the masses can contribute valuable information for the greater good. That being said, wikipedia remains a solution driven by english-speaking white males. The future lies in improving its diversity and maybe transferring some of its learnings to facebook, twitter and other social media. This article summarizes the growth and evolution after 20 years existence.

WHY IT MATTERS: setting performance budget for websites is a great practice to ensure that the final result behaves as expected.

WHY IT MATTERS: a good intro article about the differences between SSR and SSG. So you are buzzword compliant in 2021! ;-)

WHY IT MATTERS: been playing with static site solutions recently as it seems a natural evolution for websites, blog, etc. This article is a good case study of a web design firm that are now on their 2nd version of their static website. Lots of tech references and links for those like me still learning about the stuff.

WHY IT MATTERS: creating videos from web page content illustrates the power of AI-augmented human capabilities. Expect this in all fields: humans create content and AI generates alternative options that are convincing enough to fool others into thinking "a human did it". Generative design, text summary, netflix thumbnail creation photoshop image improvements are all examples that can be leveraged today.

WHY IT MATTERS: shopify as a marketplace is question I've been asking for months (or any other eCom solution). After all, once you build your own eCommerce website on Shopify, all the components are in place to create a marketplace: products, categories, inventory, etc. After all, a marketplace is nothing more than a superset, a combination of all those individual shops?

Well, not really. A marketplace is more than a collection of products. It is a destination that provides a single user account, consolidated shipping and delivery, a single destination to resolve customer issues. It is a service, not a technology.

Thus, even though Shopify has the *technology* to build a marketplace, it does not (yet?) have the infrastructure to provide the *service* that a marketplace requires.

WHY IT MATTERS: this maturity may be overly simplistic but the plan is sound. Start with exploration, proof-of-concepts, prototypes, etc. Then move on the unification of processes to finalize with transformation!

WHY IT MATTERS: sharing content across different websites, eCommerce, in-store displays and new devices (ie. Alexa, siri) is difficult. This survey provides insights into the reasons why sharing is difficult. Be aware this is biased towards headless CMS, but the conclusions appear valid IMHO.

WHY IT MATTERS: this short article from HBR provides trove of links for further reading on the subject that is on everybody's mind these days...

WHY IT MATTERS: a short description of 10 personalization techniques.

WHY IT MATTERS: architecture documentation of digital solutions often fails because it is not there (read the code most developers say) or is incomplete and difficult to read. The C4 model, far from being perfect, at least provides a consistent approach that is actually linked to the software code: everyone should be happy. I recommend for all developers!

There is even simple tools to use: https://structurizr.com/

WHY IT MATTERS: this report is by far the best reference I found to understand the pricing strategy of software as a service and subscription services. Should be mandatory reading to anyone selling online today.

WHY IT MATTERS: 17 years old and he manages to build 2 very popular and useful websites. Not rocket science just a lot of elbow grease and time. Little or no money though. Little or no experience though. There is something to learn for all of us "digital transformation experts" out there...

WHY IT MATTERS: all the stats you want about the web, split into categories and *regions*. Great reference.

WHY IT MATTERS: most of this is very basic but for those that need it, this is a good starting point.

WHY IT MATTERS:  programmatic ads on the web is the new trend, accounting for 25% of all ads you see online. This primer provides an amazing overview of the issues, technologies and privacy compliance requirements. Must read.

WHY IT MATTERS: this report provides data on cybersecurity attacks and the resources most at risk in organizations.

WHY IT MATTERS: there are 350 million top level domain names - TLDNs - from google.com to fmcs.digital. This report provides a set of data about TLDNs and how they are used for fraud. A bit geeky but very interesting read.

WHY IT MATTERS: 3rd party cookies are used by advertisers to track down users across websites. The end of support will require new solutions for marketers to continue tracking us all...

WHY IT MATTERS: with customer experience journeys and omni-channel integration the primary focus of marketing teams, web content management (WCMS) solutions are growing in scope to become digital experience platforms (DXP). Or so Gartner says. My recommendation is to be very critical as the implementation of those platforms become large-scale projects with impacts across many business units, leading to easier integration but often solutions you may not need or may not implement for years. Sometimes it is better to go with a smaller solution than a full fledged platform to deliver value short term, especially in less mature organizations...

WHY IT MATTERS: digital transformation often means moving legacy solutions to the web, which makes a good web design crucial. This article highlights some important trends, including some regarding the impact of design to help fight fake news. Worth reading. Not too technical.

WHY IT MATTERS: most organizations have multiple websites to manage (for different countries, regions, departments, products, focus areas, etc.) making multi-site WCMS solutions essential. Yet most multi-sites are not architected the right way ending up with different look and feel, technologies, databases, analytics, etc. This report provides some insights into key decisions to make.

WHY IT MATTERS: every developer - web or not - should apply those principles. Otherwise how else is the web ever going to be safe?