There is of course the gigantic thing called AI, and understanding how you can leverage it or how it can be leveraged against you is critical. A clear and present threat relates to security, included as the first thing to consider because of how AI could be utilised in this context. AI will most obviously help accelerate how you engage digitally, whether this be through increasing the speed of development, content creation, translations, etc. So yes, AI is a big thing, but its impact is so broad you must consider it in the context of just about everything else.   

1. Security 

2. Automated testing 

3. Effectiveness 

4. Versions 

5. Performance    

1. Security 

   It's not if but when will you be hit? And how hard? Your web infrastructure (websites, portals, etc.) is just one element of your overall 'attack surface' and is by no means the most likely route in, however, given the increasing demands of customers to enjoy relevant and tailored digital experiences, the type of integrations that this necessitates represent routes to sensitive and critical data and services. We have all seen phishing attempts become much more sophisticated and AI is only going to further enhance this level of sophistication. Security considerations must be a central tenet of everything you do to minimise the chance of getting hit, the impact if you do, and your subsequent reputation. 

   What should you do: 

   Make penetration testing an integrated part of your delivery process. While it is typical to bring in a penetration testing specialist just prior to the launch a major initiative, every subsequent release potentially opens the door. You can and should run penetration tests as part of every release, highlighting any potential issues before they have chance to become a problem. You should also consider if any certifications, such as Cyber Essentials, will help you understand and demonstrate just how secure your environments are and it could offer you that additional layer of job security should something bad happen on your watch.

   
   

2. Automated testing 

   Your organisation needs you to  provide clarity around not just what can be launched but when. Your website is often where key conversions happen, the hub that allows surrounding email and social campaigns to flourish. Introducing and evolving your use of automated testing will help ensure deliveries happen when they are supposed to, enabling digital campaigns to launch in a timely fashion and reducing the chances of embarrassing bugs making it into your live environment. 

   What should you do:

   Adopt a step-by-step approach to implementing Automated Testing, starting with one environment and the automation of an initial production regression pack, before adding UAT and/or further environments.

   
   

3. Focus on effective engagement

   What your websites mean to your business will vary, but whether it is to capture leads for your colleagues in sales or sell goods directly to your customers, the signals of what it means for your site to do these things effectively should be understood and measured. Often too little attention is paid in how to get eyes on content in the first place, What is the point on spending time and effort on producing great content that nobody will see? At Codehouse, we preach a mantra of 'Reward' - meaning that every experience should reward the visitor based on what they did last. Using the previous step to reward the next is a fundamental principle of personalisation and is something that is far easier to implement in its basic form than many realise.

   What should you do:

   Outline simple journeys that represent the key steps that you expect visitors to take when visiting your website and ensure you have the tracking in place to monitor these. Be honest with yourself about the difference these can make to the business and once you understand the elements that really move the needle, heavily focus on making these more effective.

   
   

4. Performance

   The speed of your site is a critical factor in your user’s experience of your brand. High speed broadband and 5G expose experiences that are slow. It’s never intentionally so on the part of the digital team. Site performance has implications in terms of SEO, but one place where slowness can particularly hurt is part of any onboarding, sign-up or purchase processes. All your other touchpoints have led someone to want to fully engage. However sub-par speed and performance at these conversion points, which can be slow due to integrations with (potentially legacy) third party applications, can be a real reputation killer. To have bought into a company only to then find becoming a customer is painful is far more likely to generate a negative review than just not having engaged at all. Remember the bit about 'reward', this applies even more importantly to those who are now your actual customers.

   What should you do:

   Fully test the end-to-end experience and identify bottlenecks in performance. Often simply introducing image compression and ensuring your content teams follow best practice in this regard will produce significant benefits. If the cause of performance issues is due to third party integrations these will be more complex to address. If you are yet to move to headless, then this is a more involved process but potentially a game-changing initiative to consider.

   
   

5. Software versions

   The various elements of your digital estate will be on different versions, which depending on their age will have implications on your vendor support arrangements and potentially a further impact on your ability to achieve certain certifications, such as Cyber Essentials. Version support cycles nearly always follow the calendar year so you may have just fallen out of support or may have until the end of 2024 to upgrade. Upgrades are not necessarily cheap so if you are nearing such a time, it is also time to consider whether money could be better spent on rebuilding rather than just an upgrade. If rebuilding is beneficial then invariably such a process will involve a redesign, which could easily end up taking the best part of a year. So if you have until the end of 2024, you have no time to lose. A rebuild is also the time to consider a replatform, so the more time you can give yourself to consider your options the better.  

   What should you do: 

   Discuss your support situation with your vendors and ensure you have plenty of time to make a considered decision. Your vendors will use your support cycle as a trigger for upsell and to move you on to terms more favourable to them. The earlier you can recognise any potential support implications then the greater your control over future events. 

These are just five things amongst potentially many more, but addressing these is to demonstrate a strong level of digital maturity and effectiveness. Codehouse have been enabling organisations to deliver on the power of digital for nearly two decades. Please get in touch, we would love to help you do the same.